Nine of the most prominent institutional Bitcoin entities launched the Bitcoin Security Consortium on Thursday. The group is backed by $15 million in member pledges spread over three years to fund work focused on the network's long-term security, including preparations for a future era of quantum computing.

Founding members include Anchorage Digital, ARK Invest, BlackRock, Block, Blockstream, Coinbase, Fidelity Digital Assets, Galaxy, and Strategy. This diverse lineup spans asset managers, exchanges, custodians, infrastructure and payments providers, and major holders. Several of these firms—BlackRock, Fidelity, and ARK Invest among them—now operate spot Bitcoin ETFs following U.S. regulatory approval in January 2024, deepening their commercial stake in the network's reliability and explaining the timing of a coordinated security commitment.

The consortium's daily operations will be overseen by Mike Schmidt, who serves in a volunteer capacity. Schmidt is the executive director of Brink, a non-profit developer organization.

Schmidt tweeted about the role, saying, “I said yes because supporting Bitcoin’s developers and helping people understand their work are the two things I’ve spent my time in Bitcoin on, through Brink and Optech. This group wants to do both: fund the people already securing Bitcoin, and bring accurate information about that work to audiences it doesn’t currently reach.”

The $15 million figure represents an aggregate of independent financial commitments rather than a pooled fund; each member will direct its own capital to the developers, researchers, and organizations of its choosing. Additionally, the consortium plans to function as a reference point on Bitcoin’s security for the media, the public, and investors, publishing educational materials that will be updated as the technological landscape evolves.

Scope and Limitations

The consortium has established firm boundaries regarding its operational scope. It stated that it does not direct or develop Bitcoin’s protocol, takes no stance on specific protocol upgrades, and does not claim to speak for Bitcoin or its developer community. The group models itself after traditional industry alliances that fund the open-source software they rely on without exerting control over the actual development.

“Bitcoin’s development is, and will remain, the work of a global, decentralized community of contributors,” the group stated.

“As long-term holders, we have every incentive to see Bitcoin remain secure for generations,” said Phong Le, Chief Executive Officer of Strategy. “Funding the people who do this work, and helping inform the conversation around it, is a natural way for us to contribute.”

Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock’s Global Head of Digital Assets, emphasized that Bitcoin Core developers “do incredibly important work,” adding that the members are making “significant additional funding available to support Bitcoin’s long-term security needs.”

Brink, the non-profit coordinating the consortium's efforts, has been funding open-source Bitcoin development since 2020. The organization has distributed more than $1 million to developers in a single year and facilitated the first third-party security audit of Bitcoin Core. Schmidt co-founded Brink alongside developer John Newbery. Bitcoin Core, the network's dominant software implementation, has historically relied on a relatively small group of active contributors supported primarily by grants and donations rather than corporate engineering budgets—a gap the consortium's pledges aim to narrow.

Addressing the Quantum Computing Threat

A primary focus of the consortium is the challenge posed by quantum computing. While large-scale quantum computers capable of breaking Bitcoin's cryptography do not currently exist, credible estimates suggest such capabilities could emerge in the coming years.

The consortium frames post-quantum protection as a long-term priority that the technical community is actively addressing, positioning itself as a reliable source of information as this work progresses.

This initiative aligns with a broader institutional shift toward quantum readiness. Recently, Coinbase formed a quantum computing advisory board, Galaxy initiated its own quantum readiness program with developer grants, and BlackRock has flagged quantum computing as a risk in its spot BTC ETF filings.

Developers have already begun proposing migration strategies, such as BIP-360, which would allow users to move coins to quantum-resistant addresses. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin Policy Institute has warned that the timeline for quantum threats is compressing.

Opinions on the urgency of the threat vary, a divide reflected even among the consortium's members. Adam Back, founder of Blockstream, has called the quantum threat decades away, while other experts believe a capable quantum machine could be developed within the next several years.

The stakes are significant regardless of the exact timeline. According to Coinbase research, an estimated 20% to 50% of the BTC supply—primarily held in older wallet formats—could be vulnerable to a long-range quantum attack.

Rather than entering the timeline debate, the consortium is focusing its role on funding and education. The group's own assessment concludes that while the quantum risk is real, the network is actively preparing. The consortium's practical impact will ultimately depend on how effectively members direct their individual commitments and whether its educational materials can bridge the gap between technical complexity and broader public understanding.

This post first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and was written by Micah Zimmerman.