Nine financial and Bitcoin-related companies announced the formation of the Bitcoin Security Consortium on July 23rd, with members pledging a combined $15 million over three years for Bitcoin security research and development.

The founding members are Anchorage Digital, ARK Invest, BlackRock, Block, Blockstream, Coinbase, Fidelity Digital Assets, Galaxy, and Strategy.

According to the announcement, each company will distribute its contribution independently to developers, researchers or organizations of its choosing. 

The consortium will not control a central funding pool. The announcement did not disclose the amount pledged by each member or identify the initial funding recipients.

Mike Schmidt, executive director of the nonprofit Bitcoin development organization Brink, will coordinate the consortium’s daily activities as a volunteer. 

Brink provides grants, education and mentoring to open-source Bitcoin developers.

The consortium described its purpose as supporting existing work on the security and resilience of the Bitcoin network. 

One area identified in the announcement is research into protections against potential quantum-computing attacks.

Large-scale quantum computers capable of compromising Bitcoin’s cryptography do not currently exist. 

Although the timeframe for developing such machines remains uncertain, the consortium presented advance preparation as a long-term security priority.

Post-quantum security is also the subject of broader research outside the Bitcoin industry. 

In 2024, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology finalized three cryptographic standards designed to resist attacks from future quantum computers. 

Applying comparable protections to Bitcoin would require separate technical proposals, testing and adoption within the Bitcoin community.

Coinbase outlined plans to contribute engineering resources to open-source post-quantum work, including proposals such as BIP-360. 

The company also plans to co-host a technical session with Stanford involving Bitcoin developers, cryptographers and researchers.

The consortium emphasized that it will not develop or direct the Bitcoin protocol, endorse specific changes, or speak on behalf of Bitcoin developers. 

Protocol development will remain with Bitcoin’s decentralized community of contributors and users.

The group also intends to publish information about Bitcoin security for investors, the public and the media. 

The announcement did not provide a publication schedule or details about the consortium’s first projects.