While the cryptocurrency industry focuses on analysing papers on the possibility that quantum computers could crack blockchain encryption, one startup has posed the opposite question. It is asking whether quantum hardware can make blockchains better.

According to a recent CoinDesk report, Postquant Labs launched the Quip.Network testnet based on a method in which quantum computers and conventional computing technology solve problems together. Some 13,000 researchers worldwide, including at MIT and Stanford, have signed up for the testnet, and six teams have submitted actual computational work.

Quip.Network tests multiple solutions at the same time rather than checking possible solutions one by one in sequence using subatomic particle physics. It is fundamentally different from conventional supercomputers.

D-Wave chief development officer Trevor Lanting (트레버 랜팅) said participants can contribute through quantum processing units, central processing units and graphics processing units, allowing the project to assess together how different computing approaches perform.

Developers and researchers can receive QUIP tokens for solving complex mathematical problems with quantum devices, GPUs or standard CPUs. QUIP is a utility token that can be exchanged on the network for computing resources provided by quantum and classical miners.

Postquant Labs CEO Colton Dillion (콜턴 딜런) said annealing quantum computers have begun producing better results faster and at lower energy cost than conventional methods for optimisation problems such as logistics and manufacturing. He said the goal is to use that quantum advantage across blockchain networks.

The D-Wave Advantage2 used by Postquant Labs is different from the quantum computer mentioned in a Google paper. It is annealing hardware specialised for optimisation problems such as path planning and resource allocation, and it cannot run Shor's algorithm used to crack bitcoin encryption.

Postquant Labs said in initial internal tests that D-Wave Advantage2 outperformed 80 H100 GPUs and 480 CPU cores on certain optimisation problems, but CoinDesk said the results have not yet been independently verified.

CoinDesk said D-Wave is not a formal partner or investor, and its role is limited to advising on testnet development and providing access to the Advantage2 system.