Investment accounts
Adult accounts
Child accounts
Choosing Fidelity
Choosing Fidelity
Why invest with us Current offers Fees and charges Open an account Transfer investments
Financial advice & support
Fidelity’s Services
Fidelity’s Services
Financial advice Retirement Wealth Management Investor Centre (London) Bereavement
Guidance and tools
Guidance and tools
Choosing investments Choosing accounts ISA calculator Retirement calculators
Share dealing
Choose your shares
Tools and information
Tools and information
Share prices and markets Chart and compare shares Stock market news Shareholder perks IPOs and placings
Pensions & retirement
Pensions, tax & tools
Saving for retirement
Approaching / In retirement
Approaching / In retirement
Speak to a specialist Creating a retirement plan Taking tax-free cash Pension drawdown Annuities Investing in retirement Investment Pathways
Quantum Blockchain reveals new mining method, warns of porting difficulties
(Sharecast News) - Quantum Blockchain Technologies shares were in the red on Wednesday afternoon, after it issued an update on its research and development endeavours in advancing Bitcoin mining technologies. The AIM-traded firm said a significant breakthrough, named Method C, had emerged from its efforts.
It said Method C harnesses machine learning and predictive artificial intelligence (AI) oracle technology, showing promising results during testing phases.
Demonstrating predictive capabilities in about 30% of cases, Method C aimed to determine if an input to SHA-256, the core algorithm for Bitcoin mining, would generate a winning hash.
The potential achievement suggested substantial energy savings, which the company said would be a significant advancement for the SHA-256 algorithm and the Bitcoin mining industry as a whole.
Quantum Blockchain said it was evaluating Method C's potential cost savings for end-users, considering the need for additional logic gates on ASIC chips to execute the method.
Despite the energy requirement, the reduction in SHA-256 computations by nearly 30% could lead to considerable energy savings overall.
Unlike previous methods, it said Method C necessitated direct implementation onto ASIC chips during the manufacturing stage.
However, Quantum Blockchain said it was exploring avenues to potentially integrate Method C without hardware implementation, streamlining its application in the mining process.
At the same time, Quantum Blockchain said it had initiated discussions with prominent Bitcoin rig manufacturers and mining companies in the US under non-disclosure agreements.
Additionally, Quantum Blockchain said it had started developing a proprietary ASIC chip tailored for Bitcoin mining.
The prototype would integrate optimised versions of SHA-256, and Method C, confirming the feasibility and performance of the company's intellectual property.
It said the porting of Method A and Method B onto commercial mining rigs had meanwhile proven challenging, with its research and development team actively seeking solutions for reliable product delivery.
Despite complexities, the company said it was committed to advancing its patent applications, including a third application for a proprietary quantum version of SHA-256.
"The exceptional lab results achieved with Method C represent further evidence that QBT's approach, of applying advanced AI and machine learning techniques to improve the SHA-256 algorithm performance for Bitcoin mining, is correct," said chief executive officer and executive chairman Francesco Gardin.
"All of che Company's current efforts are now focused on turning Methods A, B and C, into commercial products.
"This has proved a very time consuming, due to the tremendous reverse engineering efforts involved in using totally undocumented third-party ASIC chips."
Gardin said all of the large North American and Chinese Bitcoin mining and chip manufacturing companies with which the company had engaged were waiting for the results of the live tests, in particular with Method A and B, using currently available commercial mining rigs, before moving to the commercial stage.
"As announced on 20 October, we can confirm that Method A and B have been redesigned to be technically available as a software-as-a-service client-server cloud application."
At 1404 GMT, shares in Quantum Blockchain Technologies were down 18.81% at 1.2p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
Share this article
Related Sharecast Articles
Important information: This information is not a personal recommendation for any particular investment. If you are unsure about the suitability of an investment you should speak to one of Fidelity’s advisers or an authorised financial adviser of your choice. When you are thinking about investing in shares, it’s generally a good idea to consider holding them alongside other investments in a diversified portfolio of assets. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.
Award-winning online share dealing
Search, compare and select from thousands of shares.
Expert insights into investing your money
Our team of experts explore the world of share dealing.
Policies and important information
Accessibility | Conflicts of interest statement | Consumer Duty Target Market | Consumer Duty Value Assessment Statement | Cookie policy | Diversity and Inclusion | Doing Business with Fidelity | Fidelity gender pay report | Investing in Fidelity funds | Legal information | Modern slavery | Mutual respect policy | Privacy statement | Remuneration policy | Security | Statutory and Regulatory disclosures | Whistleblowing policy
Please remember that past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance, the performance of investments is not guaranteed, and the value of your investments can go down as well as up, so you may get back less than you invest. When investments have particular tax features, these will depend on your personal circumstances and tax rules may change in the future. This website does not contain any personal recommendations for a particular course of action, service or product. You should regularly review your investment objectives and choices and, if you are unsure whether an investment is suitable for you, you should contact an authorised financial adviser. Before opening an account, please read the ‘Doing Business with Fidelity’ document which incorporates our client terms. Prior to investing into a fund, please read the relevant key information document which contains important information about the fund.
This website is issued by Financial Administration Services Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) (FCA Register number 122169) and registered in England and Wales under company number 1629709 whose registered address is Beech Gate, Millfield Lane, Lower Kingswood, Tadworth, Surrey, KT20 6RP.