Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc Bitcoin Mining Update
10 May 2023 - 4:00PM
UK Regulatory
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 +39 335 296573
Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman
SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & +44 (0)20 3470 0470
Broker)
Jeff Keating
Kasia Brzozowska
Leander (Financial PR) +44 (0) 7795 168 157
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.
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