BTQ Technologies has activated the first working implementation of Bitcoin (BTC) Improvement Proposal 360 (BIP 360) on its Bitcoin Quantum testnet v0.3.0, bringing a quantum-resistant transaction format into a live testing environment for the first time.
The release comes roughly six weeks after BIP 360 was merged into Bitcoin's official proposal repository in February - but with no implementation work underway in Bitcoin Core itself.
BIP 360 introduces a new transaction format called Pay-to-Merkle-Root (P2MR), designed to avoid exposing public keys on-chain.
The concern is concrete: Coinbase analyst David Duong has estimated approximately 6.51 million BTC - around 32.7% of circulating supply - already sit in addresses with exposed public keys that would be vulnerable if a sufficiently powerful quantum computer emerged.
What the Testnet Does
The v0.3.0 release enables end-to-end testing of the full P2MR transaction lifecycle: address creation, funding, construction, signing, mempool acceptance, and confirmation.
It uses NIST-standardized Dilithium (ML-DSA) post-quantum signatures within Taproot's tapscript framework and includes enhanced block capacity to accommodate the larger transaction sizes that post-quantum cryptography requires. The testnet currently has more than 50 miners and has processed over 100,000 blocks.
The design preserves compatibility with Lightning Network, BitVM, and Ark, while removing the key-path spend mechanism that Taproot introduced - the specific feature that exposes public keys in certain transaction paths.
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The Governance Gap
BTQ built the implementation outside Bitcoin's standard development process rather than waiting for Bitcoin Core consensus. That decision is deliberate.
A May 2025 Chaincode Labs analysis found all Bitcoin post-quantum initiatives "remain at an early and exploratory stage." Historical precedent is instructive: SegWit took approximately 8.5 years from conception to widespread adoption, and Taproot took roughly 7.5 years.
"It's a social problem," BTQ head of innovation Christopher Tam said of the coordination challenge. BIP 360 also addresses only future transaction exposure - it does not retroactively secure older addresses where public keys are already visible on-chain.
U.S. federal agencies face an April 2026 deadline to submit post-quantum cryptography transition plans under National Security Memorandum 10. BTQ stock fell approximately 7% on Thursday despite the announcement.
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