Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc Bitcoin Mining Update

 
TIDMQBT 
 
10 May 2023 
 
                      Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc 
                           ("QBT" or "the Company") 
 
    Significant improvements in bitcoin mining success rate and energy use 
 
                  driven by advances in proprietary software 
 
Quantum Blockchain Technologies plc (AIM: QBT) has now completed a key testing 
phase of its proprietary bitcoin mining search algorithm and is pleased to 
announce satisfactory results. The test results show that QBT's algorithm, 
known as Method B, has theoretically increased the rate of successful bitcoin 
mining by 2.6 times compared to standard bitcoin mining industry practices 
widely used over the same time period. 
 
The research results and the statistical methodology used to validate them give 
the Company confidence that the research approach being used has uniquely 
identified some properties of the    SHA-256 space that other research teams 
have not detected. 
 
The Company's algorithm also theoretically reduced electricity consumption by 
4.3%. To illustrate this, a mining farm - with 100,000 miners(1) - would save 
up to $4.5 million per year when applying Method B and only considering the 
impact of the reduced energy consumption. 
 
Given the expense and accessibility of current bitcoin mining equipment, ASIC 
chipsets and mining strategies, these results are based on a bitcoin mining 
difficulty(2) lower than the difficulty currently in the market. However, the 
research results and the statistical methodology used to obtain them give the 
Company confidence that its algorithms should be scalable for commercial use. 
This would enable a step-change improvement in the probability of successfully 
mining bitcoin using the current bitcoin mining standards in mining equipment, 
ASIC chipsets and mining strategies akin to what is in commercial use globally. 
 
Up until now, the bitcoin mining industry has mainly sought to achieve improved 
mining efficiency by optimising hardware and its integrated firmware. The 
Company's R&D team of senior researchers from leading European universities has 
taken a different approach. It is focusing its intensive R&D efforts on 
identifying and exploiting certain key predictive properties in the operation 
of bitcoin's SHA-256 cryptographic hash functions as originally designed by the 
United States National Security Agency and first published in 2001. 
 
Assuming continued successful progress with testing, the Company believes its 
proprietary software has the potential to significantly improve the financial 
performance of bitcoin mining once deployed at full-scale. It is currently 
expected by the board that QBT's algorithm could successfully improve the 
likelihood of mining success while lowering the energy cost of the process. 
 
Francesco Gardin, chairman and CEO of Quantum Blockchain Technologies 
summarises the Company's recent experimental success, "Following nearly two 
years of research by our Machine Learning R&D teams, we believe we have 
achieved conceptually what appears to be a real breakthrough in the bitcoin 
mining industry. Under rigorous testing conditions, our algorithms are 
achieving a marked increase in the frequency of successfully mining bitcoin, 
while lowering electricity use. 
 
"We will now speed up the next phase of testing allowing us to confirm our 
current results at a degree of difficulty as close as possible to conditions 
now prevailing in the bitcoin mining industry.  In addition, we intend to begin 
development of the industrial commercialisation phase of our bitcoin mining 
Method B, including deployment on mining rigs of the type currently in 
widespread use by larger bitcoin mining corporations. 
 
"The Company's R&D work is both designed and carried out by a team of senior 
researchers, including scientists previously working as full tenured professors 
at leading European universities. 
 
"In parallel, the Company continues its R&D efforts to design and fabricate a 
next generation bitcoin mining ASIC, as well as utilise quantum computing 
hardware and software to similarly improve the success rate of mining bitcoin." 
 
(1) Assumptions are nominal 100 Th/s hashing power, 3050W energy consumption 
per miner and cost of electricity of 0.04 $/kWh. 
 
(2) Every blockchain has a mining process by which miners can generate new 
coins. An algorithm regulates how difficult it is for the miners to mine a 
certain block. This difficulty is represented by a number known as mining 
difficulty. The more the hash rate, the more difficult it will be to find valid 
hashes for a block. Currently, it takes about 10 minutes to mine a Bitcoin 
block. After every 2,016 blocks are mined, Bitcoin adjusts its mining 
difficulty, in order to keep the total block time at 10 minutes. The difficulty 
increases based on the number of miners and their combined hash rate. In 2009, 
difficulty started from 1, today it is more than 48T. 
 
                                    -ends- 
 
For further information please contact: 
 
Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc                               [phone] 
Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman 
 
SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser &              [phone] 
Broker) 
Jeff Keating 
Kasia Brzozowska 
 
Leander (Financial PR)                                      [phone] 
Christian Taylor-Wilkinson 
 
About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc 
 
QBT (AIM: QBT) is an AIM listed investment company which has recently realigned 
its strategic focus to technology related investments, with special regard to 
Quantum computing, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and AI sectors. The Company has 
commenced an aggressive R&D and investment programme in the dynamic world of 
Blockchain Technology, which includes cryptocurrency mining and other advanced 
blockchain applications. 
 
 
 
END 
 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 10, 2023 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)