The Evobits “farm” 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 “proof of work” 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’s “proof of stake”, but bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, still runs on proof of work and consumes 0.5 per…
