A British technology company has taken a step closer to making Bitcoin mining faster and cheaper, after securing formal approval from the US patent office for an invention designed to strip out redundant calculations from the process.
Quantum Blockchain Technologies PLC (AIM:QBT, FRA:BYA1) said on Monday that the US Patent and Trademark Office had approved its application for “Message Scheduling for Cryptographic Hashing” – a method that underpins the company’s ASIC Ultra Boost technology. The invention targets the SHA256 message-scheduling step in Bitcoin mining, eliminating unnecessary computational work that slows down existing hardware.
“Quantum Blockchain Technologies wins US patent approval for Bitcoin mining efficiency technology.”
The approval, however, does not yet amount to a final grant of patent rights. Quantum Blockchain must still complete a series of formalities, including the payment of issue and publication fees. The company said it had instructed its UK patent lawyer to coordinate the payment with its US attorney.
In a statement, the firm said it would now explore licensing and other commercial arrangements with established manufacturers of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), the specialised chips used in cryptocurrency mining. It is also on the lookout for semiconductor-sector advisers to support the monetisation process.
But management cautioned that there was no certainty over the timing, structure, or near-term revenue that might flow from the patent. The announcement nonetheless marks a milestone for the AIM-listed company, which has been developing its mining technology for years.
If successfully commercialised, the efficiency gains could give miners a competitive edge in an industry where electricity costs are the single biggest expense. With Bitcoin’s price volatile and mining difficulty rising, any improvement in hashing efficiency is closely watched by the crypto community.
Quantum Blockchain’s shares were trading higher on the news in early London deals.