MARA Foundation Launches to Strengthen Bitcoin Network Resilience

MARA CEO Peter Thiel announced the formation of the non-profit MARA Foundation on Monday, representing the firm’s “strategic commitment to supporting the health of the Bitcoin network,” according to the announcement. The organization is committed to the long-term health, resilience, and adoption of the Bitcoin protocol and will focus on the “free and open-source development of Bitcoin technologies” as part of its multi-pronged strategy.

MARA is one of the largest Bitcoin miners by hashpower and the fourth-largest corporate Bitcoin holder, according to The Block’s data.

Quantum Computing Resilience

The MARA Foundation will support research and development of quantum-resistant tools, including so-called PQ wallets and proposals like BIP 360, co-authored by Isabel Foxen Duke, a market strategist for MARA.

“Quantum computing is not an immediate threat to Bitcoin. But because the network evolves deliberately and upgrades take time, early preparation matters,” the foundation stated on its website.

While Bitcoin’s quantum threat is largely theoretical at this point, some experts have raised concerns about the pace at which quantum computing is developing and the rising possibility that powerful enough machines will eventually be able to break the elliptic curve cryptography used by some Bitcoin addresses to derive private keys from exposed public addresses. Estimates range widely for how many bitcoins may be at risk, though experts are primarily agreed that the risk is limited to addresses that have revealed their public keys, such as reused addresses or early “Satoshi-era” wallets.

Security Budget and Mining Economics

The MARA Foundation will also direct resources to securing Bitcoin’s security budget, another long-term potential issue as the Bitcoin mining subsidy continues to shrink programmatically by half every four years and will eventually stop altogether, at which point Bitcoin miners will be entirely reliant on transaction fees as a source of revenue.

The “security budget” refers to the total economic incentives paid to miners, including the current 3.25 BTC mining subsidy and the cumulative fees from the transactions included in a block. If that block reward dips below the costs miners accrue for contributing hashpower to secure the network, Bitcoin could theoretically become more vulnerable to attacks. As part of its mandate, the foundation said it aims to “support the development of a robust and healthy fee market for Bitcoin transactions.”

Additional Focus Areas

The foundation is also focused on global, multi-lingual education initiatives, expanding access to self-custodial tools, and other areas of advocacy geared at policymakers and activists.

FAQ

What is the MARA Foundation? The MARA Foundation is a non-profit organization announced by MARA CEO Peter Thiel on Monday, committed to the long-term health, resilience, and adoption of the Bitcoin protocol through free and open-source development of Bitcoin technologies.

Why is the MARA Foundation focused on quantum computing? While quantum computing is not an immediate threat to Bitcoin, the foundation believes early preparation matters because the network evolves deliberately and upgrades take time. The foundation supports research into quantum-resistant tools like PQ wallets and proposals such as BIP 360.

What is Bitcoin’s security budget? The security budget refers to the total economic incentives paid to miners, including the current 3.25 BTC mining subsidy and transaction fees. As the mining subsidy halves every four years and eventually stops, miners will rely entirely on transaction fees, potentially affecting Bitcoin’s security if revenues fall below network protection costs.