1 New Bullish Sign That Bitcoin Is Worth Buying and Holding Forever
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By Alex Carchidi – Feb 26, 2026 at 8:30PM ESTKey PointsTechnically, Bitcoin could get hacked by a quantum computer, if a powerful enough one existed.Its developer community is now formally starting to react to that threat.That bodes well for the coin's long-term viability. CRYPTO: BTCBitcoinMarket Cap$1.3TToday's Changeangle-down(-0.81%) $554.88Current Price$67654.00Price as of February 26, 2026 at 10:58 PM ETProgress is going to start being made against one of the coin's major risks.Investors love to talk about Bitcoin (BTC 0.81%) as if it were carved in stone. But, the truth is that its protocol is actually capable of being altered, even dramatically so, under certain narrow circumstances. The circumstances warranting those dramatic changes are now coming about. The protocol will get at least one major patch over the next few years, and there's a fresh sign that supports the idea of buying Bitcoin with the intention of holding it forever. Here's what's going on and why it's bullish for this coin's long-term viability. Image source: Getty Images. This threat is distant, but it's real Most of the time, the biggest risks to your Bitcoin holdings are fairly boring, like storing your coins somewhere that you then forget how to access. But there's one big theoretical risk that sounds like it's from science fiction that you can't overlook: quantum computing. The quantum computing risk is different because it targets the cryptography that proves you are allowed to spend your coins. In plain English, a sufficiently capable quantum computer could run algorithms that make today's widely used cryptography schemes much easier to break than they are now. Breaking the encryption would give an attacker the ability to steal anyone's coins right from their wallet. If that happened, it'd send Bitcoin's price toward zero, more or less instantly. ExpandCRYPTO: BTCBitcoinToday's Change(-0.81%) $-554.88Current Price$67654.00Key Data PointsMarket Cap$1.3TDay's Range$66642.00 - $68781.0052wk Range$60255.56 - $126079.89Volume45B No such computer exists today, nor is one likely to exist within the next five years. Still, if you're buying Bitcoin with a multi-decade mindset, as I am, you'd want to see evidence that the ecosystem takes the threat seriously, preferably well before it becomes urgent. We now have a piece of that evidence. Preparations are slowly starting In February 2026, a new Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP), BIP-360, was formally introduced to the developer community's active discussion list of issues. The idea is now on a structured track for review, iteration, and perhaps eventually implementation. And that's a big bullish sign. So what is BIP-360 trying to do? In short, it'll replace an element of the blockchain's functionality that's known to be quantum-vulnerable with another element that isn't. There is a chance it will slightly alter Bitcoin's transaction fees, but that depends heavily on the proposal's final implementation. More importantly, BIP-360 is groundwork. It doesn't make Bitcoin fully quantum-resistant on its own, but it shows that there are credible technical pathways to mitigating the risk, which are being specified early enough to be debated, tested, and eventually bundled into a broader migration plan. The people doing the engineering work are moving in the right direction, which is exactly the kind of signal long-term holders should look for, and it's also exactly what the Bitcoin developer teams have been doing for years without incident. The odds of buying the asset today and holding it indefinitely without any security issues stemming from quantum computing just increased substantially. This is just the start of the upgrades that'll be needed. But it's a start.Read NextFeb 26, 2026 •By Ryan VanzoHow Much Bitcoin Should Be in Your Portfolio?Feb 25, 2026 •By Chris MacDonaldHere's Why Bitcoin Is Making An Incredible Rebound Wednesday, Surging More than 7%Feb 25, 2026 •By Dominic BasultoGot $500? 2 Cryptocurrencies to Buy and Hold for Decades.Feb 23, 2026 •By Chris MacDonaldBitcoin Had a Rough Weekend. Here's What Drove the Near-5% Drop In the World's Largest Cryptocurrency.Feb 23, 2026 •By Leo SunHow Accurate Are Polymarket's Bets on $150,000 Bitcoin, Really? A Long-Term Investor's Take on Short-Term Crypto OddsFeb 23, 2026 •By Neil PatelCrypto Market Sell-Off: 1 High-Conviction Cryptocurrency to Buy and 1 to AvoidAbout the AuthorAlex Carchidi is a contributing Motley Fool healthcare and cryptocurrency analyst covering biotech, pharma, cannabis, and digital asset companies. Previously, Alex was a bench scientist and science writer at several biopharma companies and began his career as a researcher at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Boston University and a master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.TMFacarchidiX@alexcarchidiStocks MentionedBitcoinCRYPTO: BTC$67654.00 (0.81%) $554.88*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.