- Quantum Blockchain Technologies has filed a patent application for its innovative Message Scheduling For Cryptographic Hashing technology
- Quantum’s MSFCA technology offers a solution to a complex challenge in Bitcoin mining by enabling partial pre-processing of future blockchain blocks
- The development could lead to significant cost savings in BTC mining ASIC chips
Quantum Blockchain Technologies PLC, a prominent Bitcoin mining group, has filed a patent application for a technology that could revolutionize Bitcoin mining. Quantum’s Message Scheduling For Cryptographic Hashing (MSFCA) innovation allows for the possibility of partially pre-mining the next Bitcoin block, reducing the overall mining cost for operators, with the system designed for ASIC mining equipment.
Pre-mining Would Save Energy
Quantum’s technology addresses an area of Bitcoin mining that is currently only at the theoretical stage: pre-mining. The idea behind this is to save energy and costs by pre-mining the next block in the blockchain, and Quantum’s MSFCA technology would in theory allow mines to prepare some parts of future blockchain blocks in advance. By reducing the number of logic gates in the mining circuit, Quantum can make the process faster and more efficient, something that will be attractive to all miners.
Although MSFCA doesn’t directly enhance the computation performance time of the SHA-256 algorithm used in mining Bitcoin, it enables partial SHA-256 pre-processing of blocks, resulting in significant hardware resource savings. Quantum acknowledges that implementing MSFCA will require a specific ASIC architecture, but the company believes it can achieve this with feasible modifications to its current SHA-256 proprietary implementation.
8% Savings Suggested
Quantum’s ASIC designer estimates that the projected potential saving of MSFCA in terms of SHA-256 ASIC chip areas is approximately 25% for one instance of SHA-256 out of the three involved in Bitcoin mining. When combined with other optimization techniques, the overall effective potential area saving is expected to be around 8% on average.
Francesco Gardin, the Chief Executive and Chairman of Quantum Blockchain, expressed excitement about the innovative solution without revealing specific details developed by the company’s R&D cryptography team:
This is quite a radical change of the paradigm, and we believe it is well worth a patent application. The current advantage of this approach is the partial pre-processing of future BTC blocks, thereby potentially making redundant a large number of logic gates of a BTC mining ASIC chip, representing a material cost saving, considering the hundreds of thousands of ASIC chips used in any mid-to-large sized BTC mining facility.
Gardin gave no idea of when the technology might be available, but the second half of the decade is more likely than the first at best.
