Quantum Blockchain brings in cryptography expert for Bitcoin strategy

Quantum Blockchain Technologies said on Wednesday that, as part of its new research and development strategy on “advanced proprietary techniques” for Bitcoin mining, it had entered into a one-year service agreement with a UK-based international cryptography expert whose specialism is cryptocurrency mining blockchain optimisations.

The AIM-traded firm said it believed there were “tangible and disruptive” optimisations that could be made at multiple levels within the end-to-end Bitcoin mining process, which could result in faster execution and energy saving.

Implementation on a first set of existing optimisations was expected to be ready for testing in the coming weeks.

The board said the aim of the work was to improve the efficiency of Bitcoin mining, targeting a material reduction in energy usage and faster hash processing, which would increase the probability of successful mining.

Quantum Blockchain said it intended to apply for patents over any relevant intellectual property generated from the process.

Additionally, it said “already existing and imminent” optimisations were expected to be made available for mining on commercial cores within the next three months, on FPGA chips within the next six months, and ultimately on ASIC chips by the second half of 2022.

The new line of research and development, which relied on artificial intelligence (AI) “deep-learning” and cryptanalysis amongst other techniques, represented one of the “out-of-the-box” directions the firm was taking to achieve “highly competitive” Bitcoin mining results.

Quantum Blockchain and its new consultant would also explore other proof-of-work cryptocurrencies and their competitive mining advantages.

As part of the one-year service agreement, the consultant was awarded options over 10,000,000 new shares at an exercise price of 5p each, which could be exercised between 15 February and 15 August 2022.

“Securing the services of an international expert, who already has significant experience and know-how in Bitcoin mining optimisations, is one of the first concrete moves by the company to challenge the substantial Bitcoin market,” said chairman and chief executive officer Francesco Gardin.

“The company is addressing, in parallel, other cutting-edge approaches to Bitcoin mining, including, among others, the use of quantum computing.

“We believe that this out-of-the-box approach gives us the potential to play a disruptive role in the Bitcoin mining industry.”

At 1507 BST, shares in Quantum Blockchain Technologies were up 10.55% at 1.41p.