D-Wave CEO says quantum computing will eventually break Bitcoin proof-of-work

Alan Baratz said the crypto industry should start weighing quantum-native mining alternatives, including an experimental protocol D-Wave says could be far more energy efficient than Bitcoin’s current system.

BTC

28d ago

Fact Check

The Yahoo Finance X post directly quotes Alan Baratz saying quantum computing will break Bitcoin's proof-of-work, confirming the headline attribution verbatim. D-Wave's official newsroom and blockchain pages confirm the company developed a 'Proof of Quantum Work' protocol it claims is up to 1,000x more energy efficient than classical Bitcoin mining, matching the claim's reference to a quantum-native, more energy-efficient mining alternative. The u.today aggregation is consistent with these primary sources. All claim elements are corroborated.

Summary

D-Wave CEO Alan Baratz said quantum computing will eventually break Bitcoin’s proof-of-work protocol and argued the cryptocurrency industry should begin considering quantum-native alternatives before the technology matures. In a Yahoo Finance interview, Baratz said sufficiently advanced quantum machines will one day outperform the hardware used to mine Bitcoin, though he did not give a timeline. Baratz also said D-Wave has already demonstrated an experimental quantum proof-of-work protocol built around quantum optimization problems that can be solved efficiently by quantum systems. He said the approach is roughly 1,000 times more energy efficient and could eventually serve as an alternative to Bitcoin’s current mining mechanism, though any shift away from Bitcoin’s long-established proof-of-work model would likely face strong community resistance. The comments come as the broader debate over future threats to cryptography expands beyond quantum computing alone. While most experts do not see current quantum hardware as an immediate danger to Bitcoin, recent Anthropic research cited by U.Today has raised questions about whether increasingly capable AI systems could accelerate cryptographic breakthroughs. Bitcoin evangelist Samson Mow has said there is no need to rush adoption of post-quantum cryptography.

Terms & Concepts

proof-of-work: A mining-based mechanism that secures a blockchain by requiring computational work to validate transactions and add new blocks.
quantum proof-of-work: A proposed mining system that uses problems suited to quantum computers rather than conventional hardware.
post-quantum cryptography: Cryptographic methods designed to remain secure even if powerful quantum computers emerge.