1st Quantum-Resistant Bitcoin Transaction Mined by MARA Slipstream

Today, the first known quantum-resistant Bitcoin transaction was mined on mainnet.

StarkWare GM Avihu Levy executed the transaction using "Quantum Safe Bitcoin," a technique he developed adding a layer of quantum-resistant security to Bitcoin transactions while they are in flight in the mempool.

MARA mined the transaction through Slipstream at block height 964,199

Although Bitcoin held behind hashed public keys (e.g., P2PKH) is already considered quantum-resistant while funds are at rest, spending Bitcoin requires revelation of wallet public keys, making transactions quantum-vulnerable while waiting to be confirmed.

Quantum Safe Bitcoin is believed to close this gap, enabling quantum-resistant protection throughout the Bitcoin spending process — without the need for a soft fork or changes to Bitcoin's consensus rules.

The technique leverages "Binohash," developed by BitVM creator Robin Linus, protecting transactions through proof-of-work signature grinding whose security relies on hash functions considered resistant to quantum attacks.

While the technique introduces meaningful tradeoffs — for instance, by employing a non-standard transaction format that requires the use of private mempools (e.g., Slipstream) — it is the only known way to execute quantum-resistant Bitcoin transactions today, while Bitcoiners wait for a consensus-level upgrade.

Head of MARA Foundation Isabel Foxen Duke noted, “While we don’t believe private mempools are an appropriate long-term solution for Bitcoin quantum resistance, we’re happy to explore ways Slipstream can support break-glass techniques while we wait for a consensus change.”

The MARA Foundation continues to support research and development into Bitcoin quantum resistance under different attack scenarios, and looks forward to exploring ways that Slipstream may be used to execute quantum-resistant Bitcoin transactions in the short-to-medium term.