TechFlow News, March 6: According to a Cointelegraph report, quantum computing company PsiQuantum has begun constructing its million-qubit computing facility—a scale scientists say would be sufficient to break Bitcoin’s cryptographic protocols. Peter Shadbolt, co-founder of PsiQuantum, shared photos of the construction site in Chicago on social media, noting that 500 tons of steel had been installed within six days.
Last September, the company announced it had raised $1 billion to build the facility in collaboration with chipmaker Nvidia, with the goal of making quantum computing commercially viable and supporting “next-generation AI supercomputers.”
Although some members of the Bitcoin community express concern that quantum computing could threaten cybersecurity, Terry Rudolph, PsiQuantum’s co-founder, stated in July that the company has no intention of using quantum computing to attack Bitcoin. Research by cryptocurrency asset management firm CoinShares indicates that even if quantum computers were capable of breaking Bitcoin’s cryptography, the actual risk would be limited to approximately 10,230 BTC—valued at roughly $728.2 million at current market prices.
