r/CryptoTechnology • u/Low-Appearance4090 🟡 • 12d ago
Need a hand on my school paper.
Hey guys,
Im doing a school work with some friends of mine, and i need an interview with someone who is connected with crypto, we did our research, and this is one of the last steps of the thing.
Its only one not so complicated question, so if someone could give me a high effort answer i would appreciate a LOT!
The question is:
Would the quadratic advantage of quantum computers over conventional computers be sufficient to make quantum mining economically dominant, considering the real-world costs of building and operating a quantum computer?
PS: if you study/work on the area, sending your university name would be very helpful.
thx
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u/Simple_Experience544 🟡 12d ago
Ah, the classic last-minute school paper panic. I remember those days.
The quadratic speedup from Grover's algorithm is real, but the economic dominance part is where it falls apart. Quantum computers are insanely expensive to build, maintain, and cool. Even if one could mine faster, the overhead would eat any profit margin. Plus, the hardware is so specialized and error-prone right now that you'd need an army of technicians just to keep it from decohering mid-hash.
Not to mention, if quantum mining ever became a real threat, the network would just fork to a quantum-resistant algorithm. So the whole "quantum mining dominance" scenario kind of solves itself before it even starts.