Hey Boris and list,

> What if all vulnerable coins are temporarily locked during phase B, with a 
> clearly defined future block height X (e.g., in 5-10 years) at which point 
> these coins become EC-spendable again?



Great idea. It gives us more time to get the zk-STARK proof system for phase C 
tightened up, but we still have the option of deploying phase B independently 
to protect procrastinators against a fast-arriving quantum adversary, even if 
the STARK system isn't ready yet. If quantum progress is slower (or phase C 
development is faster) than anticipated, we also have the option to merge the 
phases B and C together into a single deployment.

If we do that, should we apply the same logic to phase A though, and eventually 
permit sending to pre-quantum addresses at height X? Because as described, once 
phase A is locked in, we can never again permit sending to pre-quantum 
addresses (without a hard fork).

Maybe we should also talk about BIP360 P2QRH addresses and how they'd be 
treated by these phases. As Ethan pointed out, P2QRH addresses can contain EC 
signature spending conditions (OP_CHECKSIG). Would phase B's stricter rules 
also block EC spends from P2QRH UTXOs?

If yes, and phase B restricts EC spending from P2QRH, users may accidentally 
send money to P2QRH addresses whose leafs all require at least one EC signature 
opcode. This locks the money up until phase C, even though the purpose of phase 
A was to avoid exactly this from happening. Restricting P2QRH EC spending also 
makes hybrid spending conditions, which require both EC signatures and PQ 
signatures for extra safety, harder to implement explicitly in P2QRH script - 
We'd need dedicated EC/PQ hybrid checksig opcodes (which is an option if we 
want it).

If no, and phase B doesn't restrict EC spending from P2QRH, then P2QRH UTXOs 
with exposed EC spending leafs will be even more vulnerable to a quantum 
attacker than those who have exposed pubkeys in pre-quantum UTXOs: Pre-quantum 
UTXOs would have better protection, since they are temporarily locked by phase 
B but P2QRH UTXOs aren't.

Personally i think phase B should restrict ALL EC spending across all script 
types, because at least then users can eventually reclaim their BTC when phase 
C rolls out. We can ameliorate the situation by properly standardizing P2QRH 
address derivation, providing libraries to generate addresses with ML-DSA and 
SLH-DSA leafs. We should recommend strongly against creating P2QRH addresses 
without at least one post-quantum spending path.

To better support hybrid spending conditions in P2QRH, we should modify phase B 
as follows: Fail any EC checksig opcode unless at least one PQ checksig opcode 
was executed earlier in the script. This implicitly blocks spending of 
pre-quantum UTXOs (until the predefined height X as Boris suggested). P2QRH 
addresses can explicitly define flexible hybrid signature schemes in the P2QRH 
tree using a two-leaf construction: one leaf with just `OP_CHECKSIG`, and one 
leaf with both `OP_CHECKSIG` and a PQ checksig opcode (such as 
`OP_MLDSACHECKSIG`).

To nodes who have upgraded to phase A (or earlier), funds sent to this address 
could be unlocked with the `OP_CHECKSIG` branch using a relatively small 
witness stack. On the other hand, nodes upgraded to phase B would reject the 
`OP_CHECKSIG`-only branch, because there is no PQ-checksig opcode in the same 
script. Phase B nodes require the `OP_MLDSACHECKSIG + OP_CHECKSIG` branch to 
validate the spend. This branch needs a much larger witness stack, but would 
still permit a hybrid spend, covered by the combined security of Schnorr + 
Dilithium.


regards,
conduition

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