A Quantum-Inspired Miner That Never Shares Its Secret Sauce

Quantum Blockchain Technologies has a secrecy problem that most mining companies would envy: its technology only works if nobody else gets to see it. In an interview with Proactive, chief executive Francesco Gardin explained how the company is solving that puzzle — running its Bitcoin mining methods from its own servers while the rigs themselves stay in other people's hands.

The company, listed in London and Frankfurt, has developed three mining optimisation methods, known as Methods A, B and C. According to the interview, the main goal was implementing Method C on a manufacturer's mining rig, then generalizing that work into a software layer inside the rig's operating system. That layer supplies the instructions each method needs and returns feedback from the miner.

Built on an old workhorse

The path to that software layer ran through an unlikely starting point: Bitmain's older S9 machine. Gardin said prospects would not want technology demonstrated only on single chips with an open-source operating system, so from the summer of last year the company put S9 machines it already had in storage to work at a university.

The team chose Braiins' BOS Miner, written in Rust, over Bitmain's last open-source S9 version, according to the interview. Testing Method A on the S9 let the company write specifications for the changes and data it needs from the operating system — specifications that aftermarket control-board companies could implement in about a week or a couple of weeks. Gardin said the S9 shares a similar structure with the newer S19 and S21 rigs despite different chips, so the specification approach should transfer. Method A is now configurable for Bitmain S19 and S21 rigs.

Remote control, near-zero bandwidth

The secrecy model is central to how the system operates. QBT keeps its technology on its own server and does not share it, Gardin said, while control-board makers do not share their source code either. The server receives data from the miner, including data from a reference miner, and the learning core sends back a simple instruction set about every ten minutes. Gardin described bandwidth use as close to zero and sustainable within the normal interaction between a miner and a mining pool.

Testing has now moved beyond the lab's older machines. According to the interview, QBT is testing Methods A and B on a manufacturer's machine — and Gardin stressed the testing is about how the methods work with that machine, not simply whether they work.

Lab mining, not a mining business

Gardin was careful to draw a line around what the company actually does with Bitcoin. QBT is technically mining, he said, but only limited lab mining with a limited number of devices for testing and research — not as a commercial miner. It has collected Satoshis over the years, does not need to sell them, and said any sale would amount to only a few tens of thousands, so revenue is not the goal.

The bet, in other words, is on selling smarter mining rather than mined coins: optimisation software that runs remotely, keeps its methods private, and works across the rigs miners already own.

Written by the BidAsk Newsroom. Based on reporting from the sources below.