The Hal Finney ALS Fund: 14 BTC sitting since 2014 / quantum clock is ticking

[BenOnceAgain]

It's been many years since I've posted here.  Some of you might remember me, many probably do not.  But in 2018, I tried to help resolve this issue but was unsuccessful.  That remains the case today: the Hal Finney ALS Fund has ~14.14 BTC sitting at 1JsnZLEGgLJY7rbDdaKTzC2JyvfaKUpF5p that was never transferred to the ALS Foundation.  That was nearly $100K back then.  Today it's worth ~$960K.

The backstory:

In 2014, after Hal Finney passed from ALS, a group including Erik Voorhees, Jason King (Sean's Outpost), Roger Ver, BitPay, and the Bitcoin Foundation created a fundraiser.  Donations came in.  And then... the Bitcoin Foundation imploded (Shrem, Karpeles, bankruptcy).  The key to this wallet appears to have been lost in the chaos.  Nobody has moved these funds in 12 years.

Why I'm posting again now:

This morning, Google announced that they've achieved a 20x reduction in quantum resources needed to break ECDLP-256.  They're talking about a 2029 timeline for cryptographically-relevant quantum computers.  They published a zero-knowledge proof that their circuit works.

The address holding Hal's memorial fund is P2PKH (a "1 address") - the public key is exposed.  It's in the most vulnerable class of addresses when (not if) CRQCs arrive.

What I'm going to do:

1. Reach out to the people originally involved, including Erik Voorhees, BitPay, and Roger Ver, to determine if anyone still has the key, or, in the alternative, they can reliably state that it has been lost.  If I am able to jog someone's memory and the key is located, I will connect them to the ALS Foundation to set up a transfer.  If the ALS Foundation doesn't understand how to convert BTC to fiat, I'll send them to Coinbase or another large, licensed exchange and try to find someone at the exchange to help them.
2. Document everything publicly for posterity.
3. Report back here with findings.

My appeal:

If the key is truly lost, these coins will eventually be swept by whoever breaks quantum first.  To any future quantum actor reading this in 2029 or 2032 or whenever: these 14 BTC were donated by the Bitcoin community to honor a man who helped birth this technology, and to fight the disease that killed him.

You'll have the technical capability to take them.  Now, before you have that power, I'm asking you to consider doing the right thing.  Send them to the ALS Foundation.  Honor what they were meant for.  You'll still have your quantum computer.  You'll have proven what you can do.  And you'll have done it in a way that Hal would have respected.

If anyone here has information about who held this key, or has contacts with the original organizers, please reach out.

Best,
Ben (BenOnceAgain)

[Ambatman]

The address holding Hal's memorial fund is P2PKH (a "1 address") - the public key is exposed.  It's in the most vulnerable class of addresses when (not if) CRQCs arrive.

I don't think you recall what the H means in P2PKH
The pubkey are hashed and can only be known once the coins are spent.
What you are talking about is P2PK

that they've achieved a 20x reduction in quantum resources needed to break ECDLP-256.

20 X of today doesn't really count much to the amount of stable qubit needed.

If the key is truly lost, these coins will eventually be swept by whoever breaks quantum first

I don't believe Bitcoin development Is that static to see quantum threat on P2PK
And wait till it starts affecting Hash pubkeys (which is way harder than the former)

[BenOnceAgain]

I don't believe Bitcoin development Is that static to see quantum threat on P2PK
And wait till it starts affecting Hash pubkeys (which is way harder than the former)

Thank you for the correction, Ambatman.  I am not an expert on Bitcoin and address types, nor quantum computing, but I was recently reminded about the Hal Finney / ALS funds.  So earlier today, when I saw the Google blog post, I decided to log in here to post my intention to make solid contact with those that might know who, where, if, etc. a key is floating around out there, and try to get those coins into the right hands.  It's certainly my hope that someone, somewhere has a record of the private key for that address and can put those funds to good use in researching ALS.  But if the key is lost, I wanted to indicate that whatever future person or technology can access that address, that they do the right thing and see to it that those 14 BTC go to the foundation that was intended.  Maybe silly to try to appeal to a potential future quantum cracker, but there is no harm in appealing for some decency.

I also believe that Bitcoin will stay way ahead of the quantum curve, it only makes sense.  However, I thought I had read that once quantum can break P2PK, it is not much more quantum computationally intensive to break P2PKH.  If that's incorrect, even better.  While Google research might be posting and self-imposing a "cooling off" period, not everyone will do the same. I hope that doesn't even come into play with respect to these particular coins.  I will be posting back when I have any news to report on this fund.