The Evobits 鈥渇arm鈥 in Romania mines the Ethereum and Zilliqa cryptocurrencies Akos Stiller/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Quantum computers could be used to mine existing cryptocurrencies like bitcoin or future, more energy-efficient ones, slashing their electricity use, according to two new analyses.
Cryptocurrencies that rely on a 鈥減roof of work鈥 method perform computationally intensive calculations to produce new coins and certify transactions, at great energy cost. Some networks have moved to less power-hungry techniques, like Ethereum鈥檚 鈥減roof of stake鈥, but bitcoin, the world鈥檚 largest cryptocurrency, still runs on proof of work and consumes 0.5 per cent of electricity globally.…
