Quantum computers won’t make Bitcoin mining practical: BTQ study

• BTQ is developing resilient transaction designs and advocating adoption of NIST-standardised signature schemes and a Pay-to-Merkle-Root model to future-proof Bitcoin’s transaction authentication.

BTQ Technologies Corp. has released a research paper asserting that quantum computers are not a viable path to accelerating Bitcoin mining and that the real quantum-era threat lies in breaking Bitcoin’s digital signatures.

In “Kardashev Scale Quantum Computing for Bitcoin Mining,” author Pierre-Luc Dallaire-Demers concludes that competitive quantum mining would demand astronomical resources.

At Bitcoin’s January 2025 difficulty, a quantum fleet would require roughly 10^23 physical qubits and 10^25 watts—an energy draw approaching the output of a star.

“To push mining into non-trivial consensus effects, one must invoke astronomical quantum fleets operating at energy scales that lie far above present-day civilisation,” Dallaire-Demers said.

“The real cryptographic crisis is the signature vulnerability, and that clock is already ticking.”

Classical digital signatures

The paper challenges a common industry assumption that “quantum-accelerated mining” poses an imminent threat to Bitcoin’s consensus. Instead, it argues that real-world hardware and energy costs render the approach a dead end, shifting attention to the vulnerability of classical digital signatures to future quantum attacks.

BTQ says the findings bolster its “Bitcoin Quantum” initiative, which focuses on hardening authentication layers with post-quantum cryptography. The company is developing resilient transaction designs and advocating adoption of NIST-standardised signature schemes and a Pay-to-Merkle-Root model to future-proof Bitcoin’s transaction authentication.

“Quantum computing may reshape digital money, but not by making legacy Bitcoin mining practical,” said Christopher Tam, President and Head of Innovation at BTQ. He urged the industry to prioritise securing wallets and transaction mechanisms against quantum adversaries.

Beyond security, the research advances BTQ’s Quantum Proof of Work (QPoW), a consensus concept tailored to quantum hardware. According to BTQ, models indicate a quantum sampler could consume about 0.25 kWh over a 10-minute block interval versus roughly 390 kWh for classical equivalents—a claimed 1,560x energy advantage.

The study concludes that the future of digital money will likely emerge from quantum-native consensus systems purpose-built for next-generation machines, rather than retrofitting classical mining to quantum processors.