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(Sharecast News) - Quantum Blockchain Technologies said on Friday that it had resumed its quantum computing research programme focused on potential applications in Bitcoin mining.
The AIM-traded investment company, which is focused on blockchain technology research, development and investment, said the work had been put on hold at the end of 2023 because quantum computers did not then have enough qubits to run its quantum version of SHA-256.
QBT said the same team at Milan University that was selected for the original project would continue to work on the programme, allowing the company to build on previous research and accelerate progress.
The company said quantum computing remained potentially disruptive for cryptography and blockchain systems, adding that even incremental improvements in solving proof-of-work problems could offer short-term economic benefits in Bitcoin mining.
QBT said it had developed an internal quantum implementation of the SHA-256 algorithm, describing it as a proprietary asset that would be used within its independent benchmarking framework to assess emerging quantum computing platforms.
The resumed programme would focus on the development of quantum algorithms applicable to cryptographic hashing, alongside monitoring advances in quantum hardware, computing architectures and platform scaling.
While QBT said quantum computing was not yet capable of delivering practical advantages in Bitcoin mining, it said the pace of development meant that could change rapidly, and that its strategy was to remain technically prepared for any future breakthroughs.
"We are excited about the resumption of our quantum computing programme with the same university team, allowing us to build directly on the work already completed and accelerate our progress," said chief executive and executive chairman Francesco Gardin.
"QBT already possesses a quantum implementation of SHA-256, which we believe represents a meaningful step forward and provides us with a strong foundation for benchmarking and future development.
"While quantum computing is not yet ready for practical deployment in Bitcoin mining, we believe that early investment and proprietary capability in this area could translate into a significant competitive advantage in the future."
At 1239 BST, shares in Quantum Blockchain Technologies were up 2.5% at 0.37p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
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