11 December 2024

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

( “QBT” or “the Company”)

 

 

Amendment and Grant of Options

 

The Board of Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc (AIM:QBT) wishes to inform its shareholders regarding the amendment of the exercise date of 52 million already granted Options over QBT’s ordinary shares of 0.25 pence each in the Company (Options), as follows:

 

-          28,500,000 Options with exercise price at 5p:

Number Options

Old Exercise Date (on or before)

New Exercise Date (on or before)

5,000,000

15/12/2024

06/05/2026

5,000,000

06/05/2025

06/05/2026

5,000,000

22/05/2025

06/05/2026

13,500,000

25/05/2025

06/05/2026

 

-          23,500,000 Options with exercise price at 10p:

Number Options

Old Exercise Date (on or before)

New Exercise Date (on or before)

2,500,000

15/12/2024

06/05/2026

5,000,000

06/05/2025

06/05/2026

5,000,000

22/05/2025

06/05/2026

11,000,000

25/05/2025

06/05/2026

 

 

For all these Options the new exercise date is on or before 6 May 2026.

 

Notably, within the above Options are included the following ones, issued to the Non-Executive Directors (the “NED Options”):

 

-          Peter Fuhrman

2,500,000 Options with exercise price at 5p and (previous) exercise date on or before 15 December 2024 2,500,000 Options with exercise price at 10p and (previous) exercise date on or before 15 December 2024

-          Mark Trafeli

2,500,000 Options with exercise price at 5p and (previous) exercise date on or before 15 December 2024

 

Moreover, the Company has also issued new 2,000,000 Options to a consultant, as follows:

-          1,000,000 Options with exercise price at 5p and exercise date on or before 06 May 2026

-          1,000,000 Options with exercise price at 10p and exercise date on or before 06 May 2026

 

The Company now has outstanding Options over 134,500,000 Ordinary Shares exercisable at 5 pence and Options over 134,500,000 Ordinary Shares, exercisable at 10 pence. These Options expire during 2026. The number of Options still available to be issued (as duly authorised at the General Meeting held on 6 May 2022) is 31,000,000.

 

Related Party Transaction

 

As 7,500,000 Options are held by Mark Trafeli and Peter Fuhrman, both non-executive directors of the Company, the extension to the expiry date of the NED Options is considered to be a related party transaction pursuant to AIM Rule 13 of the AIM Rules for Companies.

 

Accordingly, Francesco Gardin, being the director independent of the extension of the NED Options considers, having consulted with the Company’s nominated adviser, that the terms of extension of the NED Options is fair and reasonable in so far as ordinary shareholders are concerned.

 

 

For further information please contact:

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman                                                                   +39 335 296573

 

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker) Jeff Keating                                                                                                                           +44 (0)20 3470 0470  

Leander (Financial PR) Christian Taylor-Wilkinson                                                                                                +44 (0) 7795 168 157

 

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

QBT (AIM: QBT) is an AIM listed investment company with a strategic focus on technology related investments, including a special regard towards Quantum Computing, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and AI sectors. The Company has an aggressive R&D and investment programme in the dynamic world of Blockchain Technology, which includes cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications.

 

 

 

 

 

1.

Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person closely associated

a)

Name:

Peter Fuhrman

2.

Reason for the notification

a)

Position/status:

Non-Executive Director

b)

Initial notification/Amendment:

Amendment

3.

Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor

a)

Name:

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

b)

LEI:

213800FC5DEC582CRZ89

4.

Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted.

a)

Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument: Identification code:

Warrants on Ordinary shares of 0.25p each

b)

Nature of the transaction:

Extension of exercise date

c)

Price(s) and volume(s):

Price(s) Volume(s)

5p                                  2,500,000

10p 2,500,000

d)

Aggregated information: Aggregated volume: Price:

Single transaction as in 4 c) above Price(s) Volume(s)

5p                                  2,500,000

10p 2,500,000

e)

 24 October 2024

 

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies plc

("QBT" or "the Company")

 

 

Bitcoin Mining - Method C

Hardware AI Oracle Implementation and Performance Increase

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies (AIM: QBT), the AIM-listed investment company focused on a R&D and investment programme within blockchain technology, is pleased to announce a series of breakthrough achievements with regards its predictive Bitcoin Artificial Intelligence (AI) model mining tool, Method C.

 

 

HIGHLIGHTS

 

·      Method C's AI Oracle successfully and efficiently implemented onto Bitcoin Mining hardware

·      Method C performance increased significantly from 30% to 50%, at lower mining difficulty

·      Lab tests of Method C's AI Oracle at current level of mining difficulty confirm the effectiveness of the model

·      The Company believes this is a major innovation which undermines industry assumptions and is a significant step forward to commercialisation

·      Patent application to be filed before year end

 

 

Method C - Increased Performance

 

The Company announced on 13 March 2024 the development of a proprietary AI Oracle, broadly defined by the R&D team as Method C. While the Machine Learning model has previously been defined as Method C, the result of its `training' with relevant data is known in the industry as an AI Oracle. This Oracle is being used by QBT to implement its prediction engine.

 

Method C's AI Oracle is able to predict the likelihood of an input to SHA-256 (the core algorithm to mine Bitcoins) to produce a winning Hash. Should the AI Oracle calculate that the current SHA-256 will not be successful in finding the winning Hash, it skips that calculation and moves on to the next input. In the March 2024 announcement, the Company reported that irrelevant SHA-256 computations were being avoided almost 30% of the time.

 

It was further reported on 15 August 2024 that, following further testing, the AI Oracle was performing real-time simulated mining, at historic lower mining difficulty levels, for the purpose of industry demonstrations.

 

The Company is now able to report that at a lower level of mining difficulty, the performance of the AI Oracle generated by Method C, used at the mining rig level, has been materially improved from 30% to more than 50%. Simply stated, this means that on an average of 100 inputs to SHA-256, more than 50 of them are assessed as not worth being calculated, since no winning hashes will be generated from those inputs.

 

The Company believes this is a major innovation, which undermines a key Bitcoin Mining industry assumption that the SHA-256 algorithm output cannot be predicted. The implications are, therefore, significant in that a Bitcoin miner operating with the AI Oracle at a lower level of difficulty than the current one, would be able to:

 

·      Double the mining rate in the same time period, and

·      Keep energy costs at the same level.

 

While the Company is now finally able to demonstrate the above achievements in real time simulated mining, using QBT's AI Oracle hardware implementation (see below) and a simulation of the blockchain using historic data, it has to be noted that recent lab tests have also clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of the AI Oracle, as a result of the training of the Method C model, running at the current level of mining difficulty.

 

From a commercial perspective, QBT's vigorous testing has demonstrated that the performance of the AI Oracle on a single mining rig at a lower level of mining difficulty is such that more than 50% of the inputs to SHA-256 are discarded, without affecting the chance of the miner to find a winning Hash.

 

Detailed measurements of global efficiency for the AI Oracle generated by Method C are currently in progress so QBT can benchmark the improvements against existing mining devices operating at current levels of mining difficulty using key industry parameters, such as, energy saving and improved hashing power (Joule per Tera Hash).

 

The Company is now focused on two elements which are key to producing a commercial version of AI Oracle generated by Method C.  Firstly, it is investigating a route to maintain the AI Oracle's success at current and future mining difficulty levels, and secondly, the QBT Machine Learning team is working on producing a software-only version of the AI Oracle generated by Method C, that can be used by mining pools.

 

 

Method C - Hardware Implementation of the AI Oracle generated by Method C

 

The Board recognises that a commercial product is key to the future success of the Company, and it can report it has now taken a major step forward with the development of a real-time hardware implementation for the AI Oracle, which QBT sees as being both innovative and efficient.  The Company will be in a position to provide further details of this technical solution once it has filed a patent application, which it anticipates doing by the end of 2024.

 

Following the filing of the patent application, live demonstrations of the AI Oracle will be shared with potential partners. These demonstrations will aim to show the real-time superiority between a mining device running the AI Oracle compared to the same mining device without it.

 

 

Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman of QBT, commented, "The combined effort and close cooperation of the Machine Learning Team, in conjunction with the Hardware Team, has been one of the keys to unlocking this astonishing and impressive result.

 

"The Company's strategy to use AI to improve the performance of SHA-256, despite the industry's common view that this was impossible, is so far proving successful and represents a potentially effective new approach to Bitcoin Mining.

 

"Once the new patent application has been filed, we will start to demonstrate the real-time, disruptive application of the AI Oracle generated by Method C to potential key partners and clients."

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

 

For further information please contact:

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman  +39 335 296573

 

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker)

Jeff Keating, John Mackay   +44 (0)20 3470 0470

 

Leander (Financial PR)

Christian Taylor-Wilkinson    +44 (0) 7795 168 157

 

 

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

 

QBT (AIM: QBT) is a London Stock Exchange AIM listed Research & Development and investing company focused on an intensive R&D programme to disrupt the Blockchain Technologies sector, and which includes, cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications. The primary goal of the R&D programme is to develop Bitcoin mining tools and techniques, via its technology-driven approach, which the Company believes will significantly outperform existing market practices.

 

Glossary of Terms

 

Bitcoin Mining: Bitcoin mining is the process of using computer hardware to do mathematical calculations for the Bitcoin network in order to confirm transactions. Miners collect transaction fees for the transactions they confirm and are awarded Bitcoins for each block they verify.

 

Hash: A hash is the output of a hashing function, which is a mathematical function that converts an input of arbitrary length into an encrypted output of a fixed length.

 

Method C: A Machine Learning based development by QBT R&D team which is composed by an AI model to be trained and an AI Oracle (the result of the training of the model). The Oracle assesses in real time the likelihood of an input to SHA-256 to generate a winning Hash.

 

Oracle: It is an intelligent system which is designed for only answering questions and has no ability to act in the world.

 

SHA-256: Secure Hashing Algorithm (SHA)-256 is the hash function and mining algorithm of the Bitcoin protocol, referring to the cryptographic hash function that outputs a 256 bits long value.

2 October 2024

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

(”QBT” or ”the Company”)

Rollover of Director’s REPO

Following previous announcements made by the Company regarding the rollover of the Sale & Repurchase Agreement (the “REPO”) entered into between the Company’s CEO and Executive Chairman, Professor Francesco Gardin, and MC Strategies AG (“MCS”), the Company has been informed that Professor Gardin and MCS have agreed to amend the repurchase price and the repurchase date of the REPO as follows:

The term of the REPO under which Professor Gardin is to repurchase 5,000,000 ordinary shares of 0.25p each in the Company (“Ordinary Shares”) has been extended from 30 September 2024 to 31 December 2024. The repurchase price for the 5,000,000 Ordinary Shares has been amended from 3.441p to per 3.483p share (representing a 5% yearly interest rate on the initial purchase price of 3p). All other terms of the REPO remain unchanged.

 

In addition to the 5,000,000 Ordinary Shares which are the subject of the REPO, Professor Gardin is currently the beneficial owner of further 29,284,149 Ordinary Shares. The 29,284,149 remaining shares represent the 2.27% of the Company’s total issued share capital.

 

For further information please contact:

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman  +39 335 296573

 

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker)

Jeff Keating, John Mackay   +44 (0)20 3470 0470

 

Leander (Financial PR)

Christian Taylor-Wilkinson    +44 (0) 7795 168 157

 

 

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

 

QBT (AIM: QBT) is a London Stock Exchange AIM listed Research & Development and investing company focused on an intensive R&D programme to disrupt the Blockchain Technologies sector, and which includes, cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications. The primary goal of the R&D programme is to develop Bitcoin mining tools and techniques, via its technology-driven approach, which the Company believes will significantly outperform existing market practices.

 

 

NOTIFICATION AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF TRANSACTIONS BY PERSONS DISCHARGING MANAGERIAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND PERSONS CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THEM:

 

1.

Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person closely associated

a)

Name:

Francesco Gardin

2.

Reason for the notification

a)

Position/status:

CEO and Executive Chairman

b)

Initial notification/Amendment:

Initial notification

 

3.

Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor

a)

Name:

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

b)

LEI:

213800FC5DEC582CRZ89

4.

Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted.

a)

Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument: Identification code:

Ordinary shares of 0.25p each ISIN: GB00B50P5B53

b)

Nature of the transaction:

Extension of expiry date of repurchase over 5,000,000 Ordinary Shares.

c)

Price(s) and volume(s):

Price(s) Volume(s)

3.483p 5,000,000

d)

Aggregated information: Aggregated volume: Price:

Single transaction as in 4 c) above Price(s) Volume(s)

3.483p 5,000,000

e)

Date of the transaction:

30 September 2024

f)

Place of the transaction:

Outside of a trading venue

 

This correction amends PRN of 7am, 23 September 2024: The following amendments have been made to the Financial Review Section – Group net assets were reported instead of net liabilities; net current assets should be €3.8 million, rather than €3.9 million. All other details remain unchanged.

 

 

 

 23 September 2024

 

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies plc

("QBT", “the Group” or "the Company")

 

 

INTERIM RESULTS

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies (AIM: QBT), the AIM-listed investment company focusing on a R&D and investment programme within blockchain technology, is pleased to announce its Interim Results for the six months ended 30 June 2024.

 

 

For further information please contact:

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman  +39 335 296573

 

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker)

Jeff Keating, John Mackay   +44 (0)20 3470 0470

 

Leander (Financial PR)

Christian Taylor-Wilkinson    +44 (0) 7795 168 157

 

 

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

 

QBT (AIM: QBT) is a London Stock Exchange AIM listed Research & Development and investing company focused on an intensive R&D programme to disrupt the Blockchain Technologies sector, and which includes, cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications. The primary goal of the R&D programme is to develop Bitcoin mining tools and techniques, via its technology-driven approach, which the Company believes will significantly outperform existing market practices.

 

 

 

 

Chairman’s Statement

 

During the first half of 2024, QBT continued to focus its efforts on developing the first commercial Bitcoin mining products and services that utilises its intensive R&D programme.

 

R&D

 

The R&D programme has achieved several positive milestones so far:

 

-          Asic UltraBoost: Designed to improve Bitcoin mining by eliminating redundant computations in a key part of the mining algorithm, resulting in faster and more efficient operations. A patent application has been filed with patent offices in the UK and the EU (which also covers the UK), as well as the USA, Canada, Australia and South Korea.

 

-          Asic Enhanced Boost: An optimised approach to SHA-256 computation for Bitcoin mining that enables partial pre-computation of future blockchain blocks. A patent application has also been submitted to the UK and EU patent offices.

 

-          Quantum Mining: A quantum version of the Bitcoin mining algorithm that utilises qubit-based quantum computation and quantum logic gates. A patent application for this is being drafted and expected to be filed as soon as practicable in jurisdictions to be determined.

 

-          Method A: A Machine Learning (“ML”) based approach aimed at reducing the SHA-256 search space compared to the brute-force method used in Bitcoin mining currently.

 

-          Method B: Another innovation leveraging ML and statistical optimisation to reduce the SHA-256 search space, but with a fundamentally different approach than Method A.

 

-          Method C: An AI Oracle developed by the R&D Machine Learning team to assess in real-time the likelihood that an input to SHA-256 will generate a winning hash. A patent application is under consideration.

 

Company Objectives:

 

The Company’s short-term goal is to develop commercial products and services from the above R&D activities, prioritising Methods A, B and C. The longer-term goals are to develop an in-house ASIC chip for Bitcoin mining as well as a quantum computing based miner.

 

Current Developments:

 

Currently, the Company is testing Methods A and B through pool-based live mining. These tests are being conducted in order to assess the improved performance of commercial ASIC chips when these chips are controlled by the two Methods. Significantly, the two Methods can be applied to existing ASIC-based mining machines simply as a client-server software upgrade. QBT’s recent software switch from CG Miner to ESP-miner is expected to assist and facilitate the testing programme. If the results of the live testing are successful, Method A and B could thereafter be made available as SaaS products.

 

Method C, which requires its integration at chip-level, is undergoing real time mining tests using slower FPGA chips on historic blockchain blocks. This provides the Company with a Bitcoin mining difficulty compatible with the hashing power of available FPGAs in order to allow the team to understand the chip mapping process for the purpose of scaling up towards commercial ASIC integration.

 

Should any of the tests confirm the R&D team’s findings, the Company may consider potential partnerships with either miners or chip manufacturers to quickly deploy Method A and Method B on ASIC Mining Machines and Method C on an ASIC chip. In preparation for this eventuality, QBT has already initiated high-level discussions with key industry players.

 

QBT’s longer-term strategy of using its Quantum Mining Algorithm still requires more advanced quantum computing power than is currently available, so the Company will review this project in 2025.

 

QBT’s previously announced project to build in-house its own Bitcoin mining chip. This is anticipated to commence once the relevant patents have been granted. As previously stated, the chip will be based on a large format ASIC and, while it will not be competitive in the market, it will serve as a demonstrator model for the major Bitcoin miners serving to prove the disruptive nature of QBT’s enhancements. A second option under consideration whereby the Company may exploit its patents (once granted) would be to partner with a chip designer and, through a licensing arrangement share QBT’s patented Method C intellectual property.   This second option is less capital intensive than QBT manufacturing its own chips but the Company also anticipates that such an approach would be expected to reduce future revenue.

 

Conclusion

Despite the slower than anticipated progress with the results from the R&D programme, which should not be considered unexpected given QBT’s stated objectives, the Company firmly believes in the results it has obtained so far and it is working diligently to complete all the necessary testing in order to launch one or more Bitcoin products.

 

 

Legacy Assets

The board believes that its legal matters are moving closer to a positive resolution.

 

The Company continues its court action against the former management and statutory committee of Sipiem Srl In Liquidazione (“Sipiem”). The claim is being conducted by QBT’s wholly owned subsidiary, Clear Leisure 2017 Ltd (“CL17”).

 

In April 2024, CL17 reached an agreement with certain of the Sipiem jointly liable defendants with an agreement to settle these defendants’ liabilities for €700,000 (this amount, net of costs, was received by CL17). CL17 also secured the right to 30% of any future sums recovered through the litigation by acquiring the Sipiem Receiver’s rights for €170,000. The intention was to provide CL17 with damages already received (€700,000) as well as maximise eventual receipt of those damages QBT hopes to recover pursuant to the 2022 judgment of the trial court in CL17’s favour (the remaining €5.575 million plus interest and inflation adjustments – together with the damages already received, the "Settlement"). The Settlement, however, was itself subject to the approval of trial court in Venice being granted prior to the Venice Court of Appeal making a ruling on the appeal of the 2022 judgment filed by the defendants.

 

This sequence of events did not occur as foreseen in the Settlement, however, for in June 2024, the Venice Court of Appeal issued its appeal judgement upholding the 2022 ruling in favour of CL17, with a minor exception of certain items of damages that were judged as awarded on inadequate grounds amounting to €105,412,19 while confirming the award of €6,083,562 (plus interest and inflation adjustments) in damages, along with overall €134,176 in legal fees accrued since the start of legal proceedings. Since, however, the Appeals court’s decision was issued before the trial court’s approval of the Settlement, the terms of the Settlement were not confirmed.

 

The Company is currently reviewing the situation with its legal team but retains the funds received to date, less the €170,000 payment to the Sipiem Receiver. Discussions are ongoing with all relevant parties to assess the legal and contractual implications of the voided Settlement.

 

In other litigation activity, the Company continues to also pursue its claim against the former management of Sosushi Srl, amounting to approximately €1 million. The matter is subject to arbitration and although the arbitration process has stalled, QBT intends to relaunch it soon.

 

Regarding QBT’s investee companies, the Company is happy to report that in late June 2024 Forcrowd Srl obtained authorisation to extend its crowdfunding licence across all EU jurisdictions. With respect to PBV Monitor Srl (now More Legal Srl), the Company's stake has decreased to approximately 0.45% following a recent fundraising round.

 

Finally, as announced on 9 January, QBT reached an agreement with MC Strategy S.A., the sole bondholder of its €3.5 million Zero-Coupon Bond issued in 2020, to extend the bond’s maturity from 15 December 2024 to 15 December 2026, and to increase the yield on maturity from 1% to 3%. Similarly, bondholders of QBT's Zero-Coupon Bond issued in 2013 agreed to extend the maturity date from 15 December 2024 to 15 December 2026, and to amend the conversion price from £0.05 to £0.03.

 

 

Financial Review

 

The Group reported a total comprehensive loss for the period of €1.3 million (30 June 2023: loss €1.4m). The operating loss for the period was €1.1 million (30 June 2023: operating loss €1.2m). There were no charges relating to the recognition of share options within administrative expenses (2023: €370,000) however, within finance costs there are charges for the revaluation of derivatives totaling €231,000 (2023: €142,000). The difference of these items is strictly dependent on the volatility of the Company’s share price during the first half of 2024, used for the calculation according to the relevant accounting standards.

 

At 30 June 2024, the Group is in a net liabilities position of €3.5 million, compared to a net liabilities position of €2.6 million at 31 December 2023. The Group is also at a net current assets position of €3.8m compared to net current liabilities of €3.1m at 31 December 2023.

 

The Company’s cash position at the period end was €1.6m, compared to €2m at 31 December 2023.

 

Post 30 June 2024 Events

 

In August 2024 the Company announced that, with regards to the porting of the Methods to existing commercial ASIC-based, it decided to migrate away from CGMiner to AxeOS (ESP-miner), a more recently developed and, in the Company’s opinion, a better designed public domain operating system software for Bitcoin mining devices.

 

In September 2024, the QBT announced the appointment of Mr. Jose Rios as Strategic Adviser Mr. Rios is the former General Manager of Blockchain and Business Solutions in the Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group at Intel Corp, where he spent 25 years. He was instrumental in the Blockscale ASIC project - Intel’s dedicated chip for Bitcoin mining – and he brings extensive expertise in ASIC chip design, production and proprietary architecture development to QBT.

 

Outlook

 

The Board remains committed to return value to its shareholders by:

 

-          continuing to focus on its R&D programme, which is providing promising and consistent results;

-          investing in the technology sector (both in a direct and an indirect manner);

-          managing the Legacy Assets portfolio, where positive outcomes are expected from the Company’s various legal claims; and

-          Further reduction of the debt position (if and when the conditions are deemed appropriate).

 

 

The Board remains positive as the technology investments are deemed sound and promising in fast growth markets, while the legal claims have strong merit against defendants who are expected to remain solvent, thereby enhancing the prospect of collection of the judgment debts.

 

 

 

Francesco Gardin

Quantum Blockchain Technologies PLC

CEO and Chairman

 

 

 

GROUP STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 30 JUNE 2024

 

 

 

Note

Six months to 30 June 2024

Six months to 30 June 2023

Year ended   31 December 2023

 

 

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

(Audited)

Continuing operations

 

€’000

€’000

€’000

Revenue

 

-

-

-

 

 

   -

-

-

Administrative expenses

 

(1,111)

(1,190)

(4,025)

Other operating income

 

-

1

-

Operating loss

 

(1,111)

(1,189)

(4,025)

Other gains and losses

 

-

-

32

Share of loss from equity-accounted associates

 

-

-

(59)

Finance charges

 

(231)

(292)

(296)

Loss before tax

 

(1,342)

(1,481)

(4,348)

Taxation

 

-

42

142

Loss for the period attributable to owners of the parent

 

(1,342)

(1,439)

(4,206)

 

 

 

 23 September 2024

 

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies plc

("QBT", “the Group” or "the Company")

 

 

INTERIM RESULTS

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies (AIM: QBT), the AIM-listed investment company focusing on a R&D and investment programme within blockchain technology, is pleased to announce its Interim Results for the six months ended 30 June 2024.

 

 

For further information please contact:

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman  +39 335 296573

 

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker)

Jeff Keating, John Mackay   +44 (0)20 3470 0470

 

Leander (Financial PR)

Christian Taylor-Wilkinson    +44 (0) 7795 168 157

 

 

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

 

QBT (AIM: QBT) is a London Stock Exchange AIM listed Research & Development and investing company focused on an intensive R&D programme to disrupt the Blockchain Technologies sector, and which includes, cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications. The primary goal of the R&D programme is to develop Bitcoin mining tools and techniques, via its technology-driven approach, which the Company believes will significantly outperform existing market practices.

 

 

 

 

Chairman’s Statement

 

During the first half of 2024, QBT continued to focus its efforts on developing the first commercial Bitcoin mining products and services that utilises its intensive R&D programme.

 

R&D

 

The R&D programme has achieved several positive milestones so far:

 

-          Asic UltraBoost: Designed to improve Bitcoin mining by eliminating redundant computations in a key part of the mining algorithm, resulting in faster and more efficient operations. A patent application has been filed with patent offices in the UK and the EU (which also covers the UK), as well as the USA, Canada, Australia and South Korea.

 

-          Asic Enhanced Boost: An optimised approach to SHA-256 computation for Bitcoin mining that enables partial pre-computation of future blockchain blocks. A patent application has also been submitted to the UK and EU patent offices.

 

-          Quantum Mining: A quantum version of the Bitcoin mining algorithm that utilises qubit-based quantum computation and quantum logic gates. A patent application for this is being drafted and expected to be filed as soon as practicable in jurisdictions to be determined.

 

-          Method A: A Machine Learning (“ML”) based approach aimed at reducing the SHA-256 search space compared to the brute-force method used in Bitcoin mining currently.

 

-          Method B: Another innovation leveraging ML and statistical optimisation to reduce the SHA-256 search space, but with a fundamentally different approach than Method A.

 

-          Method C: An AI Oracle developed by the R&D Machine Learning team to assess in real-time the likelihood that an input to SHA-256 will generate a winning hash. A patent application is under consideration.

 

Company Objectives:

 

The Company’s short-term goal is to develop commercial products and services from the above R&D activities, prioritising Methods A, B and C. The longer-term goals are to develop an in-house ASIC chip for Bitcoin mining as well as a quantum computing based miner.

 

Current Developments:

 

Currently, the Company is testing Methods A and B through pool-based live mining. These tests are being conducted in order to assess the improved performance of commercial ASIC chips when these chips are controlled by the two Methods. Significantly, the two Methods can be applied to existing ASIC-based mining machines simply as a client-server software upgrade. QBT’s recent software switch from CG Miner to ESP-miner is expected to assist and facilitate the testing programme. If the results of the live testing are successful, Method A and B could thereafter be made available as SaaS products.

 

Method C, which requires its integration at chip-level, is undergoing real time mining tests using slower FPGA chips on historic blockchain blocks. This provides the Company with a Bitcoin mining difficulty compatible with the hashing power of available FPGAs in order to allow the team to understand the chip mapping process for the purpose of scaling up towards commercial ASIC integration.

 

Should any of the tests confirm the R&D team’s findings, the Company may consider potential partnerships with either miners or chip manufacturers to quickly deploy Method A and Method B on ASIC Mining Machines and Method C on an ASIC chip. In preparation for this eventuality, QBT has already initiated high-level discussions with key industry players.

 

QBT’s longer-term strategy of using its Quantum Mining Algorithm still requires more advanced quantum computing power than is currently available, so the Company will review this project in 2025.

 

QBT’s previously announced project to build in-house its own Bitcoin mining chip. This is anticipated to commence once the relevant patents have been granted. As previously stated, the chip will be based on a large format ASIC and, while it will not be competitive in the market, it will serve as a demonstrator model for the major Bitcoin miners serving to prove the disruptive nature of QBT’s enhancements. A second option under consideration whereby the Company may exploit its patents (once granted) would be to partner with a chip designer and, through a licensing arrangement share QBT’s patented Method C intellectual property.   This second option is less capital intensive than QBT manufacturing its own chips but the Company also anticipates that such an approach would be expected to reduce future revenue.

 

Conclusion

Despite the slower than anticipated progress with the results from the R&D programme, which should not be considered unexpected given QBT’s stated objectives, the Company firmly believes in the results it has obtained so far and it is working diligently to complete all the necessary testing in order to launch one or more Bitcoin products.

 

 

Legacy Assets

The board believes that its legal matters are moving closer to a positive resolution.

 

The Company continues its court action against the former management and statutory committee of Sipiem Srl In Liquidazione (“Sipiem”). The claim is being conducted by QBT’s wholly owned subsidiary, Clear Leisure 2017 Ltd (“CL17”).

 

In April 2024, CL17 reached an agreement with certain of the Sipiem jointly liable defendants with an agreement to settle these defendants’ liabilities for €700,000 (this amount, net of costs, was received by CL17). CL17 also secured the right to 30% of any future sums recovered through the litigation by acquiring the Sipiem Receiver’s rights for €170,000. The intention was to provide CL17 with damages already received (€700,000) as well as maximise eventual receipt of those damages QBT hopes to recover pursuant to the 2022 judgment of the trial court in CL17’s favour (the remaining €5.575 million plus interest and inflation adjustments – together with the damages already received, the "Settlement"). The Settlement, however, was itself subject to the approval of trial court in Venice being granted prior to the Venice Court of Appeal making a ruling on the appeal of the 2022 judgment filed by the defendants.

 

This sequence of events did not occur as foreseen in the Settlement, however, for in June 2024, the Venice Court of Appeal issued its appeal judgement upholding the 2022 ruling in favour of CL17, with a minor exception of certain items of damages that were judged as awarded on inadequate grounds amounting to €105,412,19 while confirming the award of €6,083,562 (plus interest and inflation adjustments) in damages, along with overall €134,176 in legal fees accrued since the start of legal proceedings. Since, however, the Appeals court’s decision was issued before the trial court’s approval of the Settlement, the terms of the Settlement were not confirmed.

 

The Company is currently reviewing the situation with its legal team but retains the funds received to date, less the €170,000 payment to the Sipiem Receiver. Discussions are ongoing with all relevant parties to assess the legal and contractual implications of the voided Settlement.

 

In other litigation activity, the Company continues to also pursue its claim against the former management of Sosushi Srl, amounting to approximately €1 million. The matter is subject to arbitration and although the arbitration process has stalled, QBT intends to relaunch it soon.

 

Regarding QBT’s investee companies, the Company is happy to report that in late June 2024 Forcrowd Srl obtained authorisation to extend its crowdfunding licence across all EU jurisdictions. With respect to PBV Monitor Srl (now More Legal Srl), the Company's stake has decreased to approximately 0.45% following a recent fundraising round.

 

Finally, as announced on 9 January, QBT reached an agreement with MC Strategy S.A., the sole bondholder of its €3.5 million Zero-Coupon Bond issued in 2020, to extend the bond’s maturity from 15 December 2024 to 15 December 2026, and to increase the yield on maturity from 1% to 3%. Similarly, bondholders of QBT's Zero-Coupon Bond issued in 2013 agreed to extend the maturity date from 15 December 2024 to 15 December 2026, and to amend the conversion price from £0.05 to £0.03.

 

 

Financial Review

 

The Group reported a total comprehensive loss for the period of €1.3 million (30 June 2023: loss €1.4m). The operating loss for the period was €1.1 million (30 June 2023: operating loss €1.2m). There were no charges relating to the recognition of share options within administrative expenses (2023: €370,000) however, within finance costs there are charges for the revaluation of derivatives totaling €231,000 (2023: €142,000). The difference of these items is strictly dependent on the volatility of the Company’s share price during the first half of 2024, used for the calculation according to the relevant accounting standards.

 

At 30 June 2024, the Group is in a net assets position of €4.3 million, compared to a net liabilities position of €2.6 million at 31 December 2023. The Group is also at a net current assets position of €3.9m compared to net current liabilities of €3.1m at 31 December 2023.

 

The Company’s cash position at the period end was €1.6m, compared to €2m at 31 December 2023.

 

Post 30 June 2024 Events

 

In August 2024 the Company announced that, with regards to the porting of the Methods to existing commercial ASIC-based, it decided to migrate away from CGMiner to AxeOS (ESP-miner), a more recently developed and, in the Company’s opinion, a better designed public domain operating system software for Bitcoin mining devices.

 

In September 2024, the QBT announced the appointment of Mr. Jose Rios as Strategic Adviser Mr. Rios is the former General Manager of Blockchain and Business Solutions in the Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group at Intel Corp, where he spent 25 years. He was instrumental in the Blockscale ASIC project - Intel’s dedicated chip for Bitcoin mining – and he brings extensive expertise in ASIC chip design, production and proprietary architecture development to QBT.

 

Outlook

 

The Board remains committed to return value to its shareholders by:

 

-          continuing to focus on its R&D programme, which is providing promising and consistent results;

-          investing in the technology sector (both in a direct and an indirect manner);

-          managing the Legacy Assets portfolio, where positive outcomes are expected from the Company’s various legal claims; and

-          Further reduction of the debt position (if and when the conditions are deemed appropriate).

 

 

The Board remains positive as the technology investments are deemed sound and promising in fast growth markets, while the legal claims have strong merit against defendants who are expected to remain solvent, thereby enhancing the prospect of collection of the judgment debts.

 

 

 

Francesco Gardin

Quantum Blockchain Technologies PLC

CEO and Chairman

 

 

 

 

GROUP STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 30 JUNE 2024

 

 

 

Note

Six months to 30 June 2024

Six months to 30 June 2023

Year ended   31 December 2023

 

 

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

(Audited)

Continuing operations

 

€’000

€’000

€’000

Revenue

 

-

-

-

 

 

   -

-

-

Administrative expenses

 

(1,111)

(1,190)

(4,025)

Other operating income

 

-

1

-

Operating loss

 

(1,111)

(1,189)

(4,025)

Other gains and losses

 

-

-

32

Share of loss from equity-accounted associates

 

-

-

(59)

Finance charges

 

(231)

(292)

(296)

Loss before tax

 

(1,342)

(1,481)

(4,348)

Taxation

 

-

42

142

Loss for the period attributable to owners of the parent

 

(1,342)

(1,439)

(4,206)

 

 

 

 

 

12 September 2024

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

("QBT" or "the Company")

 

 

Appointment of Strategic Adviser

Former Intel Blockscale Executive

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies (AIM: QBT), the AIM-listed investment company focused on an R&D and investment programme within blockchain technology, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Jose Rios as Strategic Adviser.

 

Mr. Rios is the former General Manager of Blockchain and Business Solutions in the Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group at Intel Corp, where he spent 25 years. He was instrumental in the Blockscale ASIC project - Intel's dedicated chip for Bitcoin mining - and he brings extensive expertise in ASIC chip design, production and proprietary architecture development to QBT.

 

Mr. Rios has been privately consulting for the Company since the latter part of 2023, and has now agreed to accept the position of Strategic Adviser. He has already played a pivotal role in forging key relationships with some of the leading players in the global Bitcoin industry and he has also provided strategic guidance on the market positioning of QBT's technology. Mr. Rios has actively assisted QBT at major industry events including, Bitcoin Amsterdam 2023, Bitcoin Disrupt 2024 in Miami and Bitcoin 2024 in Nashville, with plans to attend Amsterdam Bitcoin 2024. His close involvement with the Company will ensure QBT's growing recognition at the forefront of industry events and developments.

 

 

Francesco Gardin, CEO and Chairman of QBT, commented: "QBT was a keen supporter of Intel's Blockscale project, from the end 2022 to the early months of 2023, when the ASIC chip production was discontinued. Around that time, we were introduced to Mr Rios, its project manager and, following a period of mutual understanding into what QBT was looking to create, Jose initially agreed to consult for the Company in a private capacity. This has resulted in extremely valuable insights for QBT with regards to the Bitcoin industry, the major players in the sector and the analysis of key trends.

 

"Today's announcement that Mr Rios has agreed to become Strategic Adviser is an important step for us and one which we value very highly knowing the contribution he will bring to the Company."

 

 

About Jose Rios:

Mr. Rios, aged 51, is a seasoned technology executive with over two decades of experience in sales, engineering and product development within the semiconductor industry in Silicon Valley.  Jose has a strong background in custom silicon design, having overseen multiple high-performance computing projects across AI, automotive and blockchain sectors. His expertise spans from initial concept through to production, with a focus on optimising solutions for complex, data-intensive workloads. Mr. Rios' extensive background in ASIC chip development and his strategic acumen in blockchain technology align perfectly with QBT's mission to innovate in the Bitcoin mining space. His expertise will be a tremendous asset as QBT seeks to expand its influence and technological capabilities within the industry.

 

 

-ends-

 

For further information please contact:

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc  +39 335 296573

Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman

 

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker) +44 (0) 20 3470 0470

Jeff Keating, John Mackay

 

Leander (Financial PR)  +44 (0) 7795 168 157

Christian Taylor-Wilkinson

 

 

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

 

QBT (AIM: QBT) is a London Stock Exchange AIM listed Research & Development and investing company focused on an intensive R&D programme to disrupt the Blockchain Technologies sector, and which includes, cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications. The primary goal of the R&D programme is to develop Bitcoin mining tools and techniques, via its technology-driven approach, which the Company believes will significantly outperform existing market practices.

 

 

15 August 2024

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

(“QBT” or “the Company”)

 

 

R&D and Business Update

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies (AIM: QBT), the AIM-listed investment company focusing on a R&D and investment programme within blockchain technology, is pleased to provide an update of its recent R&D activities for the development of its disruptive Bitcoin mining technologies.

 

Overview

The R&D activity during the past four months has been focused on two main directions:

 

·      Further improvement in the results obtained in the laboratory for the three Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) Methods: A, B and C, and

 

·      The porting of these Methods onto existing commercial mining hardware.

 

The short-term strategic goal is to achieve real-time bitcoin mining via one, or more, of the existing Bitcoin mining pools, through a collaboration or in partnership with a leading Bitcoin miner.

 

In addition, the team is continuing to apply to secure patents for its IP by working with the Company’s Patent Attorney as follows:

 

·      to extend the two existing patent applications by applying for international patents,

·      by continuing the work on its third patent application, and

·      by defining the scope for a new, fourth patent application.

 

Finally, Chief Research Officer, Francesco Gardin and senior colleagues have recently attended two of the major US Bitcoin conferences. As well as showcasing QBT’s technology, the Company met with a number of potential North America mining partners and consultants, in order to consolidate its existing business contacts and establish new ones, in preparation for the planned commercial deployment of the three Methods.

 

R&D Activity

While QBT’s AI-based mining technology has shown consistent results under laboratory conditions, supported by verifiable experimental data, the Company’s research teams are continuously challenging the efficiency of the obtained results to further improve them.

 

QBT’s software engineers are continuing to attempt to successfully port the Methods to existing commercial ASIC-based mining hardware and software system, via CGMiner. This remains challenging due to the severe limitations of most current ASIC architectures for implementing SHA-256. These limitations are mainly due to the speed and power consumption inefficiencies created by the designers, which impact the ability to use any arbitrary input to SHA-256.

 

A decision has been taken, therefore, to migrate away from CGMiner to AxeOS (ESP-miner), a more recently developed and, in the Company’s opinion, a better designed public domain operating system software for Bitcoin mining devices. The Company has found that CGMiner, which is considered the leading operating system for Bitcoin mining, added elements of unpredictability to a number of processes, due mainly to the code being developed over the last 13 years by a large number of contributors, each adding a new elements to the mining software. Therefore, while CGMiner was initially used by QBT to achieve the porting of its Methods, its high-level of inefficiency has now been recognised and the change to ESP-miner has been implemented.

 

ESP-miner was created by Open Source Miners United (OSMU), of which QBT is a sponsor, and incorporates the essential firmware-like functionalities of the FPGA component, which is the second processor of the current mining rigs’ control boards that provides time communication with the hashing boards.

 

ESP-miner uses the same processor for both the operating system and the firmware-like functionalities: the ESP32-S3 Espressif MCU (micro controller unit).

 

The combination of ESP-miner and the new family of BM1366 ASIC is now QBT’s new real-time operational environment for porting and testing the three Methods in a real-time mining mode. Other hardware and software platforms from OSMU are currently being assessed.

 

Method A

The key data from Method A’s neural network training dataset is the accurate real-time measurement of the hashing time; specifically, the more precise the measure, the better the performance of the Method.

 

The Company’s main objective has been to collect such information in real-time while hashing is taking place on the ASIC chip. This was obtained by developing specific modifications to CGminer, replacing indirect time measure with direct measure.

 

The same functionalities will be implemented in ESP-miner and the Company believes it will lead to even better real-time hashing time measuring, given the easier access to the firmware-like functionalities of this new software environment.

 

Method B

The porting of Method B will continue using the new ESP-miner software platform, making the control of the BM1366 chips easier, more efficient, stable and reliable.

 

In parallel to this, a new tool has been developed by QBT for real-time mining testing which will bypass CGminer and any other mining operating systems, reducing potential errors introduced by the complexity of this mining operating system. This tool is likely to be ported directly onto the ESP32-S3 Espressif MCU.

 

In addition to the porting activity, a new major alternative performance improvement technique has been developed, based on solid mathematical theory, which has been tested off-line in the laboratory, with consistent positive results. Once the ESP-miner porting has been completed, this new version of Method B will undergo real-time mining testing.

 

Method C

The laboratory results of Method C continue to be confirmed, while the R&D team is working on perfecting both the underlaying AI model used by the Method and the selection of data used for training it.

 

Tests have been conducted, so far, off-line on historic data, ‘ex-post’, by using a simulation of a Bitcoin pool operating in the past.

 

The reason for this approach is due to Bitcoin’s current level of mining difficulty; that is, the probability of finding a winning hash is statistically almost impossible, unless using hundreds of mining rigs simultaneously. Therefore, by using the difficulty level of old blocks of the Blockchain, combined with current mining hardware, a real-time testing of Method C would, the Company believes, be possible.

 

The Company has therefore adapted Method C to enable live demonstrations, by finding winning hashes at lower levels of difficulty, i.e. in the old blocks of the Blockchain, in order to give real time evidence to potential partners, or clients, within the average ten minutes new block hashing time to prove the hashing advantage of Method C, compared to standard non-AI-based hashing.

 

Patents

Both existing patent applications have been filed internationally. As a result, UK patent protection can be sought through the European Patent Office rather than through the UK Patent Office.

 

The first international patent application has already been filed at the European Patent Office. If granted, the patent will include UK protection and the original priority date will not be affected. The first international patent application has also been filed in the US, Canada, Australia and South Korea. When the deadline for the national phase of the second international application approaches, the Company will file that international application at the European Patent Office and will decide on any additional jurisdictions to choose.

 

Drafting of the third patent application, the proprietary quantum version of SHA-256, continues. The subject matter is particularly complex, hence the delay in finalising the document.

 

A fourth patent application, related to Method C, but not on the nature of the Method, will start to be drafted very soon, with a filing expected to be made by the end of 2024.

 

The Company’s decision for the IP protection of Methods A, B and C is to keep them as industrial secrets, although patent applications which preferably make use of those methods could be filed, as in the case the one related to Method C, without the need to reveal those Methods.

 

Business Developments

Over the past few months, the Company has continued its discussions with the major Bitcoin sector companies, which are mainly located in North America. These discussions have now reached a level where the Company is looking to provide live mining test demonstrations, as soon as any one of the Methods is available for real-time mining, as confirmed by recent meetings in the US at Mining Disrupt 2024 in Miami and Bitcoin 2024 in Nashville.

 

The Company believes the recent decision to migrate onto the ESP-miner operating system, running on ESP32-S3 Espressif MCU and using Bm1366 ASIC chips, is expected to achieve successful real-time mining testing of methods A, B and C.

 

Once this technical milestone has been completed, the Company expects to commence conversations with the small number of companies who have developed their own versions of the mining operating system, firmware and drivers, that operate the current crop of commercial mining rigs. The plan is to port QBT’s client version of its Methods to the miners’ proprietary software environments, providing access to a potential market of millions of currently operational mining rigs.

 

 

Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman of Quantum Blockchain Technologies commented: “Most of the current and recent efforts of the Company are focused on the porting of the Methods on to commercial hardware mining platforms.

 

“The skill set for the porting projects is completely different from AI know-how used in the design and development of the three Methods by our R&D teams.

 

“A very experienced software engineer from Milan University joined the core software engineers’ group nine months ago, and we feel this group now has all the necessary skills to successfully undertake the porting task to a real-time Bitcoin mining environment.

 

“This complex technical step of the process is the precondition for deploying QBT’s technology and entering into pragmatic partnership and commercial discussions with the major players of the sector, all of whom are very aware of QBT’s technology and all of whom are just waiting for real-time.

 

“The decision to switch to the ESP-miner operating system, running on ESP32-S3 Espressif MCU and using Bm1366 ASIC chips, will definitely accelerate moving in this direction.”

 

 

 

For further information please contact:

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies PlcFrancesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman +39 335 296573

 

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker)Jeff Keating

John Mackay +44 (0)20 3470 0470

 

Leander (Financial PR)Christian Taylor-Wilkinson +44 (0) 7795 168 157

 

 

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

 

QBT (AIM: QBT) is an AIM listed investment company with a strategic focus on technology related investments, including a special regard towards Quantum Computing, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and AI sectors. The Company has an aggressive R&D and investment programme in the dynamic world of Blockchain Technology, which includes cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications.

 

Glossary of Terms

 

ASIC: An Application-Specific Integrated Circuit is an integrated circuit chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use. ASIC chips are typically fabricated using metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) technology, as MOS integrated circuit chips.

 

Bitcoin Mining: Bitcoin mining is the process of using computer hardware to do mathematical calculations for the Bitcoin network in order to confirm transactions. Miners collect transaction fees for the transactions they confirm and are awarded Bitcoins for each block they verify.

 

CGminer: Is the most popular software system for GPU/FPGA/ASIC based miners. CGminer is an open-source GPU miner written in C available for several platforms like Windows, Linux and OS X.

 

Hash: A hash is the output of a hashing function, which is a mathematical function that converts an input of arbitrary length into an encrypted output of a fixed length.

 

Method A: A Machine Learning based development by QBT R&D team, aimed at reducing the SHA-256 search space, compared to the brute force method used by BTC mining rigs today.

 

Method B: A Machine Learning and statistical optimisation technologies developed by QBT R&D team, reducing the SHA-256 search space, but radically different from Method A.

 

Method C: A Machine Learning based development QBT R&D team is an AI Oracle with  to assess in real time the likelihood of an input to  SHA-256 to generate a winning hash. (Method A, Method B and Method C, collectively, the Methods.)

 

Neural networks: A neural network is a machine learning program, or model, that makes decisions in a manner similar to the human brain, by using processes that mimic the way biological neurons work together to identify phenomena, weigh options and arrive at conclusions.

 

Porting: In computer science, it is a process of adapting, sometimes with modifications, a software component to enable its use on a platform different from the original one. Porting is done when the software is somehow adjusted, not when the source code is completely rewritten in a different programming language.

 

SHA-256: Secure Hashing Algorithm (SHA)-256 is the hash function and mining algorithm of the Bitcoin protocol, referring to the cryptographic hash function that outputs a 256 bits long value.

1 August 2024

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

( “QBT” or “the Company”)

 

 

Related Party Transaction

 

QBT announces that, on 7 April 2023, the Company entered into a consultancy agreement (the  “Agreement”) with Infusion (2009) Ltd  (“Infusion”),  a company controlled by  QBT’s executive chairman and chief executive officer, Francesco Gardin (“FG”),  and of which FG is a director. The Agreement commenced with effect from 1 January 2022.

 

Under the Agreement, Infusion provides QBT the services of FG as chief research officer responsible for coordinating and leading QBT’s research and development activities. The Agreement may be terminated by either party providing six months’ notice and, in certain circumstances, QBT may terminate the Agreement without notice.  

 

The fee payable by QBT to Infusion under the Agreement is £12,500 per month plus an additional amount, awarded at the discretion of the board of QBT, to reflect exceptional performance. In the years to 31 December 2022 and 2023, amounts of €200,000 and €288,000 respectively were paid by QBT to Infusion for the services of FG provided under the Agreement and have been disclosed in the Company’s annual report and accounts for each of those years.

 

The entering into the Agreement by QBT is a related party transaction under Rule 13 of the AIM Rules for Companies. With the exception of Francesco Gardin, who is involved in the transaction as a related party, the directors of the Company consider, having consulted with the Company’s nominated adviser, that the terms of the transaction are fair and reasonable insofar as its shareholders are confirmed.     

 

 

For further information please contact:

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman +39 335 296573

 

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker) Jeff Keating +44 (0)20 3470 0470  

Leander (Financial PR) Christian Taylor-Wilkinson +44 (0) 7795 168 157

 

 

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

QBT (AIM: QBT) is an AIM listed investment company with a strategic focus on technology related investments, including a special regard towards Quantum Computing, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and AI sectors. The Company has an aggressive R&D and investment programme in the dynamic world of Blockchain Technology, which includes cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications.

11 July 2024

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

(”QBT” or “the Company”)

 

 

Forcrowd Update

 

The Board of Quantum Blockchain Technologies (AIM: QBT) is pleased to provide an update on its investee company, Forcrowd Srl ("Forcrowd"), the Italian equity-crowdfunding platform, in which it holds a 41% stake.

 

Forcrowd has recently secured registration with the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) as an authorised provider of crowdfunding services per Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 with resolution 23169. This registration was achieved through a rigorous application process conducted via CONSOB (the Italian financial market regulatory authority) and the Bank of Italy (the Italian Central Bank). Forcrowd has obtained authorisation to extend its crowdfunding licence across all EU jurisdictions (“EU Passport”). The EU Passport enables Forcrowd to offer its crowdfunding services – specifically hosting campaigns and raising funds through investors – in other EU member states, following a direct request to the relevant member state authority.

 

The successful EU Passport application was supported by professional advisors such as Grant Thornton Financial Advisory Services Srl  that have been instrumental in assisting Forcrowd throughout the process and will continue to provide support.

 

Following the complex ESMA authorisation process, Forcrowd is now planning to relaunch its crowdfunding activities, with several campaigns already in the pipeline and scheduled for launch in the second half of 2024.

 

Forcrowd's planned crowdfunding campaigns will focus primarily on two sectors:

 

Real Estate: supporting renovation, redevelopment and energy efficiency of private and commercial properties. Energy: promoting sustainable growth through transition to renewable energy using innovative solutions and technologies.

Francesco Gardin, CEO and Chairman of the Company commented: “We are delighted that Forcrowd has obtained its EU Passport following a nearly year-long application procedure, which will allow them to fully launch their crowdfunding operations in two strategic sectors potentially across the whole of Europe; a significant increase in its market.”

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman  +39 335 296573

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker) Jeff Keating  +44 (0)20 3470 0470 Kasia Brzozowska

Leander (Financial PR) Christian Taylor-Wilkinson  +44 (0) 7795 168 157  

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

QBT (AIM: QBT) is an AIM listed investment company with a strategic focus on technology related investments, including a special regard towards Quantum Computing, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and AI sectors. The Company has an aggressive R&D and investment programme in the dynamic world of Blockchain Technology, which includes cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications.

 

1 July 2024

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

(”QBT” or ”the Company”)

 

 

Rollover of Director’s REPO

 

Following previous announcements made by the Company regarding the rollover of the Sale & Repurchase Agreement (the “REPO”) entered into between the Company’s CEO and Executive Chairman, Professor Francesco Gardin, and MC Strategies AG (“MCS”), the Company has been informed that Professor Gardin and MCS have agreed to amend the repurchase price and the repurchase date of the REPO as follows:

 

The term of the REPO under which Professor Gardin is to repurchase 5,000,000 ordinary shares of 0.25p each in the Company (“Ordinary Shares”) has been extended from 30 June 2024 to 30 September 2024. The repurchase price for the 5,000,000 Ordinary Shares has been amended from 3.3989p to 3.441p per share (representing a 5% yearly interest rate on the initial purchase price of 3p). All other terms of the REPO remain unchanged.

 

In addition to the 5,000,000 Ordinary Shares which are the subject of the REPO, Professor Gardin is currently the beneficial owner of further 29,284,149 Ordinary Shares. The 29,284,149 remaining shares represent the 2.27% of the Company’s total issued share capital.

 

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman  +39 335 296573

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker) Jeff Keating  +44 (0)20 3470 0470 Kasia Brzozowska

Leander (Financial PR) Christian Taylor-Wilkinson  +44 (0) 7795 168 157

 

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

QBT (AIM: QBT) is an AIM listed investment company which has recently realigned its strategic focus to technology related investments, with special regard to Quantum computing, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and AI sectors. The Company has commenced an aggressive R&D and investment programme in the dynamic world of Blockchain Technology, which includes cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications.

 

  

NOTIFICATION AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF TRANSACTIONS BY PERSONS DISCHARGING MANAGERIAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND PERSONS CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THEM:

 

1.

Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person closely associated

a)

Name:

Francesco Gardin

2.

Reason for the notification

a)

Position/status:

CEO and Executive Chairman

b)

Initial notification/Amendment:

Initial notification

3.

Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor

a)

Name:

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

b)

LEI:

213800FC5DEC582CRZ89

4.

Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted.

a)

Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument: Identification code:

Ordinary shares of 0.25p each ISIN: GB00B50P5B53

b)

Nature of the transaction:

Extension of expiry date of repurchase over 5,000,000 Ordinary Shares.

c)

Price(s) and volume(s):

Price(s) Volume(s)

3.441p 5,000,000

d)

Aggregated information: Aggregated volume: Price:

Single transaction as in 4 c) above Price(s) Volume(s)

3.441p 5,000,000

e)

Date of the transaction:

28 June 2024

f)

Place of the transaction:

Outside of a trading venue

 

 

 

26 June 2024

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

(”QBT” or ”the Company”)

 

FINAL RESULTS

 

QBT (AIM: QBT), is pleased to announce its final results for the year ended 31 December 2023.

 

The Company’s Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) will be held at Company’s registered address, 1st Floor, 1 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1LF at 12.00 pm on Wednesday, 31 July 2024.

 

The Annual Report and Accounts together with the AGM Notice and Form of Proxy (together the “Documents”) are available on the Company’s website under the “Investor Relations – Annual Reports and Circulars” section. The Documents will be posted shortly to those shareholders who have requested to receive printed documents.

 

For further information please contact:

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman  +39 335 296573

 

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker) Jeff Keating  +44 (0)20 3470 0470 Kasia Brzozowska

 

Leander (Financial PR) Christian Taylor-Wilkinson  +44 (0) 7795 168 157  

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

QBT (AIM: QBT) is an AIM listed investment company which has recently realigned its strategic focus to technology related investments, with special regard to Quantum computing, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and AI sectors. The Company has commenced an aggressive R&D and investment programme in the dynamic world of Blockchain Technology, which includes cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications.

 

 

CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT

 

I am pleased to present the Group’s Final Results for the year ended 31 December 2023. The Group consists of Quantum Blockchain Technologies PLC (the “Company” or “QBT”), which undertakes the Group’s Research and Development (“R&D”) Programme and holds the Legacy Assets, and its wholly owned subsidiary, Clear Leisure 2017 Ltd (“CL17”), which deals with the legal claims and related litigation.

 

During 2023, the main focus of the Company has been the R&D Programme, launched in 2021, which aims to develop a proprietary disruptive technology for mining Bitcoin through the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Quantum Computing and a special architecture for ASIC chips design for mining rigs. The capitalisation of the Bitcoin market as at the date of this report exceeds USD1.3 trillion, therefore, a technology which could bring a competitive advantage to existing Bitcoin miners is considered by the Company as potentially valuable.

 

The Company has several independent R&D teams working on each of the above technologies, based in London (UK), Munich (Germany) and Milan (Italy).

 

The first goal of QBT’s R&D Programme is to create AI software to improve the mining power of existing Bitcoin mining rigs. By applying AI and Machine Learning (ML) technologies, three different R&D teams have independently achieved very promising results from internal laboratory tests for the Company’s three proprietary methods, called “A”, “B” and “C”. While they are materially different, each method has substantiated the Company’s initial assumption, i.e., that SHA-256, the core algorithm for mining of Bitcoin, is to some extent predictable. Hence calculations can be limited only to those cases where the chance of successfully mining Bitcoin is higher, resulting in better overall performance of the mining process.

 

The Company is now working on adapting its three Bitcoin mining methods to existing mining rigs in order to launch the first commercial QBT products, as Software as a Service (“SaaS”) for Bitcoin miners.

 

A second goal, which has a mid to long term timeframe, is the development of a proprietary mining chip which includes all the internal R&D results, as per the two patent applications filed in 2021 and 2023.

 

Finally, the third objective will be the implementation of “Quantum Mining”, which is a proprietary quantum version of SHA-256 algorithm for Bitcoin mining. A patent application for this implementation is in the process of being drafted at the time of publication of this report.

 

In order to use QBT’s proprietary quantum algorithm for Bitcoin mining, a quantum computer with more qubits than is currently commercially available is required. Therefore, the Company is planning ahead to be in a position to use this opportunity when such quantum computer is available.

 

During 2023, the Company continued to deal with its Legacy Assets, with special focus on the litigation against the former management and internal audit committee of Sipiem in Liquidazione Spa (“Sipiem”), which is held via CL17. In late 2022, the Venice Court ruled in favour of CL17 and ordered Sipiem defendants to pay CL17 €6,274,000 in damages (exclusive of interest and adjustments for inflation), and legal fees (together the “Award Payment”).

 

The Company also continued to deal with its other Legacy Assets, such as the Sosushi Srl (“Sosushi”) €1m litigation, and Company’s investments in PBV, Forcrowd and Geosim, although there are no specific updates available at this time.

 

During the period under review, as announced on 1 June 2023, QBT raised a total of £1 million (before expenses) pursuant to the issue of 71,428,571 new ordinary shares of 0.25 pence each in the Company (“Ordinary Shares”) at a price of 1.4 pence per Ordinary Share. Further to that, as announced on 30 October, the Company raised a total of £2 million (before expenses) pursuant to the issue of 133,333,333 new Ordinary Shares at a price of 1.5 pence per Ordinary Share.

 

On 7 July 2023, the Company announced that it had received a conversion notice from MC Strategies AG to convert €1 million of the Zero-Coupon Bond into new Ordinary Shares at a conversion price of 1 pence per Ordinary Share (EUR: GBP exchange rate of 0.89 – fixed per terms and conditions of the Zero-Coupon Bond) (as originally disclosed by the Company on 9 November 2020). As a result, the Company issued 89,000,000 new Ordinary Shares to MC Strategies AG on 14 July 2023.

 

As disclosed on 31 May 2023, QBT granted seven million new options over new Ordinary Shares to certain consultants, members of the R&D team and in-house staff. As a result, at the time of this report, the Company has outstanding options over 133,500,000 new Ordinary Shares exercisable at 5 pence and outstanding options over 133,500,000 new Ordinary Shares exercisable at 10 pence, set to expire between December 2024 and December 2026.

 

In conclusion, the Company believes that exciting times are ahead, as it expects that its products, once available, could truly energise the cryptocurrency mining industry, while eventually being able to monetise its Legacy Assets through legal settlements.

 

Financial Review

The Group reported a total comprehensive loss of €4,206,000 for the year ended 31 December 2023 (2022: €5,026,000) and a loss before tax of €4,348,000 (2022: €5,252,000). Operating losses for the period were €4,025,000 (2022: €4,547,000). Included within administrative expenses are charges relating to the recognition of share options totalling €416,000 (2022: €1,854,000) and within finance costs are charges for the revaluation of derivatives representing a profit of €9,000 (2022: loss of €324,000). The movement in these items is dependent on the volatility of the Company’s share price used for the calculation according to the relevant accounting standards. The undiluted Net Asset Value (“NAV”) of the Group decreased by €675,000 in 2023, compared to a decrease of €398,000 in 2022. The Group had Net Current Liabilities of €3.1m as at 31 December 2023 (2022: Net Current Assets €4.4m).

 

Post-Balance Sheet Events

In January 2024, the Company announced it has agreed with MC Strategy S.A., the sole Bondholder of the Company’s €3.5m Zero-Coupon Bond issued in 2020, to extend the maturity of the Bond from 15 December 2024 to 15 December 2026. QBT and MC Strategy S.A. have agreed to change the yield on maturity from 1% to 3%.

 

With regards to the Company’s Zero-Coupon Bond originally issued in 2013, at the Bondholders meeting held on 22 February 2024 (previously duly called on 18 January 2024) the bondholders agreed to extend the maturity of the Zero-Coupon Bond from 15 December 2024 to 15 December 2026, and to amend the conversion price from £0.05 to £0.03.

 

In March 2024, the Company announced a new development, called Method C, based on Machine Learning and using predictive AI technology that is producing consistent results during testing. In testing environments Method C had favourably demonstrated predictive ability in c. 30% of instances where it was input to SHA-256 producing a winning hash, resulting in a potential saving of energy.

 

At the same time, QBT announced that it had commenced development of a proprietary ASIC chip. A working prototype is about to undergo development to confirm performance levels, and the Company entered into early-stage exploratory discussions with Bitcoin rig manufacturers and US Bitcoin mining companies. Also in March, the Company noted that the porting of Method A and Method B into commercial rigs had proven to be very challenging.

 

The R&D team engaged in testing different solutions for the final stage in order to deliver a fully reliable product. Finally, per the same announcement, QBT disclosed that its first two patent applications (ASIC UltraBoost and ASIC EnhancedBoost) were making positive headway and that a third patent application was being drafted concerning the proprietary quantum version of SHA-256.

 

In May 2024, the Company announced that at the end of April 2024, it reached an agreement with certain of the Sipiem litigation co-liable defendants who have settled their position for €700,000 (which, net of certain costs, has been received by CL17) .

 

At the same time, CL17 also reached an agreement with the Sipiem’s receiver, acquiring its right to receive 30% of any sums collected (net of legal and other costs) from the Sipiem litigation, as envisaged in the 2019 claim purchase agreement (through which CL17 acquired the Sipiem litigation) for an amount of €170,000, giving CL17 rights to all funds recovered, namely the €700,000 of the above agreement and the balance amounting to €5.575 million plus interest and augmentation for inflation, together (the “Settlement”)

 

As announced on 16 May 2024 the above agreements were subject to the Venice Court scheduling of a hearing to approve the Settlement, before the issue of the appeal ruling.

 

In June, QBT confirmed that the payment of €700,000 had been completed, and that €170,000 has been paid by CL17 to Sipiem’s Receiver with respect to the acquisition by CL17 of the Receiver’s right to receive 30% of any further sums collected in connection with the claim (net of legal fees).

 

Subsequently, in June 2024, the Company announced that the Venice Court of Appeal confirmed the ruling of the 2022 lower court Judgment in favour of CL17 (save for €105,412), amounting to €6,083,562 (plus interest and adjustments for inflation) in damages, plus €134,166 for legal expenses. As the appeal ruling has been issued prior to the scheduling of the hearing regarding the Settlement, such settlement is now deemed void.  While the above matter is currently being assessed by the Company’s legal team, the Company still hold the above Settlement funds, minus the €170,000 paid to the Receiver for the 30% rights. In the meantime, all the parties involved, namely the Receiver, the Sipiem’s statutory auditor’s lawyers and the insurer’s lawyers are being contacted to discuss the contractual implications of the voided Settlement.

 

 

Outlook

The Board remains committed to return value to its stakeholders by:

continuing to focus on its R&D Programme, which is providing promising and consistent results for the disruption of the Bitcoin market; investing in the technology sector (both in a direct and an indirect manner); managing the legacy portfolio assets, where positive outcomes are expected from the Company’s legal claims; and further reduction of the debt position (if and when the conditions are deemed appropriate).

The Board remains positive as the technology investments are deemed sound and promising, while the legal claims have strong merit and against defendants that are expected to remain solvent, thereby enhancing the prospect of collection of the judgment debts.

 

 

 

Francesco Gardin

Chairman

25 June 2024

 

GROUP STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

 

 

Note

2023

2022

 

 

€’000

€’000

 

 

 

 

Revenue

 

-

-

 

 

-

-

 

 

 

 

Administrative expenses

7

(4,025)

(4,547)

Other income

 

-

-

Operating loss

 

(4,025)

(4,547)

 

 

 

 

Other gains and losses

 

32

-

Share of loss from equity-accounted associates

8

(59)

(69)

Finance costs

9

(296)

(636)

Loss before tax

 

(4,348)

(5,252)

Tax

12

142

226

Loss for the year

 

 (4,206)

(5,026)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE LOSS FOR THE YEAR

 

(4,206)

(5,026)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earnings per share:

 

 

 

Basic loss per share (cents)

13

€0.382

€0.508

Diluted loss per share (cents)

13

€0.256

€0.312

 

There was no other comprehensive income during the year.

 

The accounting policies and notes form an integral part of these financial statements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GROUP AND COMPANY STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL POSITION

AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2023

 

 

Notes

Group

2023

Group

2022

 

Company

2023

Company

2022

18 June 2024

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

(”QBT” or ”the Company”)

 

 

Sipiem Appeal Judgment

 

The Company announces that on 10 June 2024, the Court of Appeal of Venice (the ”Court”) issued a judgment on the appeals lodged by the defendants in Company subsidiary Clear Leisure 2017 Ltd’s (”CL17”) lawsuit against the former directors and statutory auditors of Sipiem in Liquidazione Srl (”Sipiem”) and the related counterappeals filed by CL17.

The Court of Appeal rejected all of the Sipiem defendants’ appeals with the exception of a minor claim. As a result, all damages awarded to CL17 as announced on 1 November 2022 were upheld by the Court, with the sole exception being the reduction of liability for one of the former directors by an amount of €105,412, reducing the total damage award to c.€6.1m, (the ”Judgment”).

The Court confirmed the liability of the former directors and statutory auditors of Sipiem and also extended the finding of liability to the members of the internal audit committee, former directors and the main defendant’s family members whom the Court had, at a preliminary holding in the appeal, suspended enforcement of the lower court’s Judgment pending the appeal’s outcome.  Finally, the Court accepted a withdrawal of an appeal by from one of the former Sipiem directors against her insurer.

As a result, the Company may now seek to fully enforce the Judgment against all of the defendants for an aggregate amount of €6,083,562 in damages (plus interest and adjustments for inflation to accrue from different dates until the date of satisfaction of the Judgment), plus €85,499 in legal expenses for the trial court action and €48,677 in legal expenses for the appeal (such latter expense to be satisfied by one of the defendants’ insurers). Other legal expenses were reciprocally compensated and €5,000 were assessed against all parties.  

As previously disclosed in the Company’s announcements of 16 May and 4 June 2024, a settlement agreement of €700,000, with certain defendants and their professional insurer (the “Settlement”), was subject to the scheduling, by the Venice Court, of a hearing to approve the Settlement, before the issue of the appeal ruling. The appeal ruling has however been issued prior to the scheduling of the hearing, and therefore, the €700,000 settlement agreement shall now be deemed void.

Consequently, the agreement with the Sipiem Receiver (”Receiver”) for the purchase of the Receiver’s right on the 30% of any sum collected (net of legal fees) is no longer legally valid, as it was conditional on Court approval of the above Settlement. Hence, the Receiver will maintain its right to 30% of the damages recovered net of all connected costs borne by CL17 for the recovery, as per the original agreement of these terms between CL17 and the Receiver in 2019.

While the above matter is currently being assessed by the Company’s legal team, the Company still hold the above Settlement funds, minus the €170,000 paid to the Receiver for the 30% rights. In the meantime, all the parties involved, namely the Receiver, the Sipiem’s statutory auditor’s lawyers and the insurer’s lawyers are being contacted to discuss the contractual implications of the voided Settlement.

An update of the above negotiations in respect of the voided Settlement will be announced as soon as practicable.

As a final result:

-          The Venice Court of Appeal confirmed the ruling of the 1 November 2022 lower court Judgment in favour of CL17 (save for €105,412), amounting to €6,083,562 (plus interest and adjustments for inflation) in damages, plus €134,166 for legal expenses.

-          The Venice Court of Appeal, by ruling, also removed any opposition to the enforceability, by CL17, of the above amounts against all defendants.

-          Sipiem’s statutory auditors have been ordered to pay the full amount of the Judgment upheld by the Court, i.e. €1,000,000 - which is part of the €6,083,562 - (plus interest and adjustments for inflation to accrue from different dates until the date of payment), instead of the agreed €700,000 under the resolved Settlement agreement announced by the Company on 16 May 2024.

 

Francesco Gardin, Executive Chairman of QBT, commented: ”We are extremely pleased with the Venice Court of Appeal result, which confirms previous ruling while extending the scope of its enforceability. QBT subsidiary CL17 will now focus on the collection of the €6.083m plus interest and adjustments for inflation. CL17 has also been awarded €134,166 for legal expenses. The Company will ensure that CL17 proceeds with maximum effort to seek and collect the funds from the defendants.”

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

For further information please contact:

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman +39 335 296573

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker) Jeff Keating +44 (0)20 3470 0470 Kasia Brzozowska

Leander (Financial PR) Christian Taylor-Wilkinson +44 (0) 7795 168 157  

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies PlcQBT (AIM: QBT) is an AIM listed investment company which has recently realigned its strategic focus to technology related investments, with special regard to Quantum computing, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and AI sectors. The Company has commenced an aggressive R&D and investment programme in the dynamic world of Blockchain Technology, which includes cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications.

 

 

 

4 June 2024

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc( “QBT” or “the Company”)

 

 

First Sipiem Settlement – Confirmation of receipt of funds

 

With reference to the Company’s earlier announcement dated 16 May 2024, the Board of Quantum Blockchain Technologies (AIM: QBT) is pleased to confirm that, with respect to the First Sipiem Settlement, the payment of €700,000 has now been completed.

 

The Company and CL17 also confirm that €170,000 has been paid to Sipiem’s Receiver to complete the acquisition by CL17 of the Receiver’s right to receive 30% of any further sums collected in connection with the claim (net of legal fees).

 

Furthermore, the Receiver has released the €30,000 which was held in an escrow account as part of the initial claim purchase agreement (as first announced on 10 September 2019).

 

The Company would reiterate that despite its receipt in full, the €700,000 settlement remains subject to formal approval by the Venice Court of Appeal. The interested parties have already filed a joint application with that Court for this purpose.

 

 

Francesco Gardin, Executive Chairman of QBT, commented: “We are very satisfied to have concluded this double negotiation with certain defendants and the Receiver. It is a tangible result which provides us with further strength to pursue the remaining judgment amount (€5.575 million plus interest and adjustment for inflation) from the remaining Sipiem defendants, without having to split any future recovered sum with any other party.”

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

 

For further information please contact:

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies PlcFrancesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman  +39 335 296573

 

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker)Jeff Keating   +44 (0)20 3470 0470Kasia Brzozowska

 

Leander (Financial PR)Christian Taylor-Wilkinson   +44 (0) 7795 168 157

 

 

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

 

QBT (AIM: QBT) is an AIM listed investment company which has recently realigned its strategic focus to technology related investments, with special regard to Quantum computing, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and AI sectors. The Company has commenced an aggressive R&D and investment programme in the dynamic world of Blockchain Technology, which includes cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications.

 16 May 2024

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

(" QBT" or the "Company")

 

 

First Sipiem settlement and

Acquisition of 30% of the claims collection rights

 

The Company is pleased to announce that the first preliminary settlement has been agreed between its wholly owned subsidiary, Clear Leisure 2017 Limited ("CL17"), and some of the Sipiem in Liquidazione S.r.l ("Sipiem") case defendants.

 

Simultaneously, an agreement has been reached with Sipiem's receiver ("Receiver") to acquire its right to receive 30% of any sums collected, which was a provision of the initial claim purchase agreement (as announced on 10 September 2019). As a result, all judgment debt and/or settlement funds hereafter collected by CL17 will be entirely retained by it.  Under the terms of the 2019 agreement, CL17 acquired the rights to certain claims against the former Sipiem directors and members of the statutory audit committee from Sipiem's liquidator, for €50,000 (of which €30,000 is being held in an escrow account) plus 30% of any sums collected, net of legal and other costs conditional on the ruling against the defendants.

 

In October 2022, the Venice Court ruled in favour of CL17 for a sum of €6.275 million plus interest and inflation adjustment, to be paid by the defendants (the "Judgment").

 

In February 2023, all defendants appealed the ruling and filed a request for the collection actions by CL17 to be frozen until the outcome of the appeal.  The application was approved in part by the Venice Court, with the exception of the main defendant and one former director who continue to remain subject to enforcement of the Judgment.

 

More recently, most of those Sipiem defendants who benefited from the February 2023 court order offered CL17 a settlement, subject to, among other things, the Receiver's waiving pursuit of any possible civil and/or criminal claims against them. Such settlement would involve an insurance provider for these specific defendants

 

Following negotiations between CL17 and the Receiver regarding the proposed settlement and the potential length of time to successfully conclude any collection actions, the Receiver has agreed, with the approval of the Rovigo Insolvency Court Judge in charge of the Sipiem bankruptcy case to sell to CL17 its rights reserved in the 2019 agreement, namely  30% of any sums collected from the Sipiem matter, net of legal costs for a fixed amount of €170,000.

 

As a result, CL17 has agreed with these specific defendants currently protected by the February 2023 court order to settle a portion of the judgment awarded to CL17. The settlement is for a total cash consideration of €700,000, to be paid in two installments, respectively within 20 and 30 days from the execution of the preliminary settlement agreement completed on 29 April 2024.

 

The aforementioned €700,000 settlement further remains conditional upon the approval by the Venice Court of Appeal. The interested parties have already filed a joint application with that Court for this purpose.

 

In the event, however, that the Venice Court of Appeal does not set the hearing date to approve the settlement before its ruling on the appeal before it against the original Judgment, the preliminary agreement will be void.

 

 

The remaining value of the Judgment (provided the settlement is confirmed by the Court) is approximately €5.575 million (plus interest and inflation adjustment). CL17 continues its efforts to collect this amount from the remaining main defendant and the other defendant not subject to the settlement agreement.

 

Francesco Gardin, Executive Chairman of QBT, commented: "We are very happy with the outcome of this double negotiation with the Defendants and the Receiver, which allows us to cash in the first tangible result of the Sipiem Litigation and now gives us the rights to all funds recovered, namely the €700,000 of this agreement and the balance amounting to €5.575 million plus interest and augmentation for inflation.

 

This provides us with an improved negotiating position regarding the collection of the remaining amount due to us"

 

 

For further information please contact:

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman  +39 335 296573

 

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker)

Jeff Keating  +44 (0)20 3470 0470

Kasia Brzozowska

 

Leander (Financial PR)

Christian Taylor-Wilkinson  +44 (0) 7795 168 157

 

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

QBT (AIM: QBT) is an AIM listed investment company which has recently realigned its strategic focus to technology related investments, with special regard to Quantum computing, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and AI sectors. The Company has commenced an aggressive R&D and investment programme in the dynamic world of Blockchain Technology, which includes cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications.

4 April 2023

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc(“the Company”)

 

 

Rollover of Director’s REPO

 

Following previous announcements made by the Company regarding the rollover of the Sale & Repurchase Agreement (the “REPO”) entered into between the Company’s CEO and Executive Chairman, Professor Francesco Gardin, and MC Strategies AG (“MCS”), the Company has been informed that Professor Gardin and MCS have agreed to amend the repurchase price and the repurchase date of the REPO as follows:

The term of the REPO under which Professor Gardin is to repurchase 5,000,000 ordinary shares of 0.25p each in the Company (“Ordinary Shares”) has been extended from 31 March 2024 to 30 June 2024. The repurchase price for the 5,000,000 Ordinary Shares has been amended from 3.3578p to 3.3989p per share (representing a 5% yearly interest rate on the initial purchase price of 3p).

 

All other terms of the REPO remain unchanged.

 

In addition to the 5,000,000 Ordinary Shares which are the subject of the REPO, Professor Gardin is currently the beneficial owner of further 29,284,149 Ordinary Shares. The 29,284,149 remaining shares represent the 2.27% of the Company’s total issued share capital.

 

For further information please contact:

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies PlcFrancesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman   +39 335 296573

 

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker)Jeff Keating    +44 (0)20 3470 0470Kasia Brzozowska

 

Leander (Financial PR)Christian Taylor-Wilkinson    +44 (0) 7795 168 157

 

 

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

QBT (AIM: QBT) is an AIM listed investment company which has recently realigned its strategic focus to technology related investments, with special regard to Quantum computing, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and AI sectors. The Company has commenced an aggressive R&D and investment programme in the dynamic world of Blockchain Technology, which includes cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications.

 

 

NOTIFICATION AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF TRANSACTIONS BY PERSONS DISCHARGING MANAGERIAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND PERSONS CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THEM:

1. 

Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person closely associated

a)

Name:

Francesco Gardin

2. 

Reason for the notification

a)

Position/status:

CEO and Executive Chairman 

b)

Initial notification/Amendment:

Initial notification

3. 

Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor

a)

Name:

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

b)

LEI:

213800FC5DEC582CRZ89

4. 

Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted.

a)

Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument: Identification code:

Ordinary shares of 0.25p each ISIN: GB00B50P5B53

b)

Nature of the transaction:

Extension of expiry date of repurchase over 5,000,000 Ordinary Shares.

c)

Price(s) and volume(s):

Price(s)

Volume(s)

3.3989p

5,000,000

 

 

d)

Aggregated information: Aggregated volume: Price:

Single transaction as in 4 c) above

Price(s)

Volume(s)

3.3989p

5,000,000

e)

Date of the transaction:

04 April 2024

f)

Place of the transaction:

Outside of a trading venue

 

26 March 2024

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc( “QBT” or “the Company”)

Change of Auditor

Quantum Blockchain Technologies plc (AIM: QBT) wishes to notify it has appointed A.C.T. Audit Limited as the Company’s auditor.

 

In accordance with section 519 of the Companies Act 2006, the previous auditor has deposited with the Company a statement confirming that there are no matters to be brought to the attention of the Company’s members or creditors.

 

For further information please contact:

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies PlcFrancesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman  +39 335 296573

 

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker)Jeff Keating   +44 (0)20 3470 0470Kasia Brzozowska

 

Leander (Financial PR)Christian Taylor-Wilkinson   +44 (0) 7795 168 157

 

 

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

 

QBT (AIM: QBT) is an AIM listed investment company which has recently realigned its strategic focus to technology related investments, with special regard to Quantum computing, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and AI sectors. The Company has commenced an aggressive R&D and investment programme in the dynamic world of Blockchain Technology, which includes cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications.

 

13 March 2024

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

(“QBT” or “the Company”)

 

 

R&D and Business Update

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies (AIM: QBT), the AIM-listed investment company focusing on a R&D and investment programme within blockchain technology, is pleased to provide an update of its recent R&D activities in the development of its disruptive Bitcoin mining technologies.

 

New Development: Method C

 

Method C – a new development based on Machine Learning and using predictive Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) oracle technology is producing consistent results during testing. Method C in testing environments has favorably demonstrated predictive ability in c. 30% of the cases, if an input to SHA-256 will produce a winning hash, resulting in a potential saving of energy.

 

Laboratory testing of a new Machine Learning Method applied to SHA-256 computational optimisation, Method C, is nearing completion. Consistent results have been achieved over the last few months, which confirm the performance of this new QBT proprietary predictive AI oracle, based on neural networks and other Machine Learning methods.

 

The fundamental feature of Method C is its ability to predict whether an input to SHA-256, the core algorithm for Bitcoin mining, is likely to generate a winning hash, or not. The underlying assumption for Method C is that an oracle decision is materially less computationally demanding than the SHA-256 calculation for the same input string.

 

The current average predictive performance of Method C in a testing environment is nearly30% , meaning that SHA-256 will avoid processing an input when the oracle will assess, within the current block, or the adjacent future Bitcoin blockchain blocks, that it is highly unlikely to generate a winning hash, namely almost 30% of the times. The Company believes this achievement to be a major technical advancement for the SHA-256 algorithm, and therefore for the Bitcoin mining industry.

 

The Company is currently in the process of assessing projected overall cost savings to end users of Method C particularly given that, in order to execute Method C, the ASIC chip must run additional logic gates in conjunction with SHA-256. It is believed that through reduction of the number of SHA-256 computations by almost 30%, additional energy saving costs will be made despite the energy used by the oracle. 

 

Method C differs from previously reported QBT’s Methods A and Method B in that the former needs to be directly implemented onto the ASIC chip at the manufacturing stage, whereas Methods A and B can be supplied to already existing miners as a SaaS product.             

 

In parallel, following recent lab results, the Company is also evaluating the use of Method C in conjunction with second patent application technology (which itself is the subject of a current patent application) that could avoid the need of such hardware implementation on an ASIC chip, in order to operate Method C.

 

 

 

Business Developments

 

The Company has entered into early-stage exploratory discussions with Bitcoin rig manufacturers and US Bitcoin mining companies. The Company believes that these discussions represent the first steps towards entering into commercial and technical negotiations.

 

The Company has, over the past nine months, entered into early-stage exploratory discussions, under Non-Disclosure Agreements (“NDA”), with two large mining rig manufacturers in China and North America and with two of the largest US Bitcoin mining companies. The board believes that these discussions represent the first steps towards entering into commercial and technical negotiations with the largest players in both the Bitcoin mining market and in the Bitcoin mining rig manufacturing industry.

 

 

QBT Proprietary ASIC chip

 

The Company has commenced development of a proprietary ASIC chip. A working prototype is about to undergo development which will confirm performance levels.

 

The Company has started a process to design and build a proprietary ASIC chip for Bitcoin mining. Initial chips will be designed in an established process node during the testing phase. The prototype will implement the proprietary optimised version of SHA-256, as per the Company’s two patent applications (i.e., ASIC UltraBoost and ASIC EnhanceBoost) as well as the new Method C. It is expected that a working prototype will confirm the architecture feasibility and performance of this new QBT proprietary intellectual property.

 

Once manufactured, the chips will not be used for industrial Bitcoin mining, instead they will be utilised as an affordable real-world proving ground for QBT’s disruptive Bitcoin mining technology. The Company believes that by creating its own chip it will be better situated to construct its new architecture from the ground up. The Company has decided to facilitate this development with a mature process node chip due to its lower manufacturing costs rather than for example, a market-leading 5nm prototype ASIC, which would cost nearly £2m.

 

 

Update on the Porting of Method A and Method B onto commercial mining rigs

 

The porting of Method A and Method B onto commercial rigs has proven to be very challenging. The R&D team is currently testing different solutions for the final stage in order to deliver a fully reliable product. An exact date for market roll-out cannot be provided at this stage.

 

In the latter part of 2023, the Company selected two target mining rigs for the porting of Method A and Method B including a Chinese machine based on the BM13XX family of ASIC chips.

 

Transferring the Company’s documented laboratory test results, in particular Method B, to use in conjunction to a commercial ASIC chip, has proven to be challenging and further work is currently ongoing. Due to the very specific, architectural choices in the Chinese manufacturer’s design of BM13XX chips along with no formal collaboration between QBT and the manufacturer, the Company first needed to understand the architecture of the chip and how to best implement Methods A and B. The R&D team is testing different solutions for this final stage in delivering the product, however the exact date of delivery cannot be provided at this stage.

 

In addition to the above, the development of Method B, as an extension to CGminer, a standard operating system used by almost all commercial mining rigs, has been particularly complex, given the intricacies of more than 50,000 lines of open-source C-code developed by the CGminer community. The key issues have been addressed and the Company is performing intensive live mining tests 24/7 using ASIC-based Bitcoin mining devices connected to two large mining pools.

 

 

Patent Applications

 

The Company is making positive headway with its first two patent applications. A third patent application is being drafted for the proprietary quantum version of SHA-256.

 

The Company’s first patent application (ASIC UltraBoost) has now been filed with the European Patent Office, while the second patent application (ASIC EnhancedBoost) is going through a standard exchange of questions and answers with the UK Patent Office.

 

A third patent application is being drafted for the proprietary quantum version of SHA-256 and will be submitted as soon as practical.

 

 

Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman of Quantum Blockchain Technologies commented: “The exceptional lab results achieved with Method C represent further evidence that QBT’s approach, of applying advanced AI and Machine Learning techniques to improve the SHA-256 algorithm performance for Bitcoin mining, is correct. All of the Company’s current efforts are now focused on turning Methods A, B and C, into commercial products. This has proved a very time consuming, due to the tremendous reverse engineering efforts involved in using totally undocumented third-party ASIC chips.

 

 “All of the large North American and Chinese Bitcoin mining and chip manufacturing companies with whom QBT has engaged, are waiting for the results of our live tests, in particular with Method A and B, using currently available commercial mining rigs, before we can move to the commercial stage  As announced on 20 October 2023, we can confirm that Method A and B have been redesigned to be technically available as a SaaS client-server cloud application.”

 

 

 

For further information please contact:

 

Quantum Blockchain Technologies PlcFrancesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman +39 335 296573

 

SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser & Broker)Jeff Keating +44 (0)20 3470 0470Kasia Brzozowska

 

Leander (Financial PR)Christian Taylor-Wilkinson +44 (0) 7795 168 157

 

 

About Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc

 

QBT (AIM: QBT) is an AIM listed investment company which has recently realigned its strategic focus to technology related investments, with special regard to Quantum computing, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and AI sectors. The Company has commenced an aggressive R&D and investment programme in the dynamic world of Blockchain Technology, which includes cryptocurrency mining and other advanced blockchain applications.

 

 

 

Glossary of Terms

 

ASIC: An Application-Specific Integrated Circuit is an integrated circuit chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use. ASIC chips are typically fabricated using metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) technology, as MOS integrated circuit chips.

 

 

ASIC EnhancedBoost: The Company’s second patent application, as announced on 24 July 2023. For further information, visit quantumblockchaintechnologies.co.uk/patents-ip

 

ASIC UltraBoost: The Company’s first patent application, as announced on 30 September 2021. For further information, visit quantumblockchaintechnologies.co.uk/patents-ip

 

Bitcoin Mining: Bitcoin mining is the process of using computer hardware to do mathematical calculations for the Bitcoin network in order to confirm transactions. Miners collect transaction fees for the transactions they confirm and are awarded Bitcoins for each block they verify.

 

Block: Blocks are found in the Bitcoin blockchain. Blocks connect all transactions together. Transactions are combined into single blocks and are verified every ten minutes through mining. Each subsequent block strengthens the verification of the previous blocks, making it impossible to double spend Bitcoin transactions.

 

BM13XX: ASIC Family for Bitcoin mining chips manufactured by a very large Chinese manufacturer of mining rigs.

 

C: Is a general-purpose very popular programming language.

 

CGminer: Is the most popular software system for GPU/FPGA/ASIC based miners. CGminer is an open-source GPU miner written in C available for several platforms like Windows, Linux and OS X.

 

Hash: A hash is the output of a hashing function, which is a mathematical function that converts an input of arbitrary length into an encrypted output of a fixed length.

 

Hash rate: The hash rate is how the Bitcoin mining network processing power is measured. In order for miners to confirm transactions and secure the blockchain, the hardware must perform intensive computational operations which is output in hashes per second (THs is tera hashes per second).

 

Nanometer (nm): A nanometer is a unit of measurement that is equivalent to one billionth of a meter. It is widely used as a scale for building tiny, complex, and atomic-scale computing and electronic components, such as ASIC chips.

 

Neural networks: A neural network is a machine learning program, or model, that makes decisions in a manner similar to the human brain, by using processes that mimic the way biological neurons work together to identify phenomena, weigh options and arrive at conclusions.

 

Oracle: It is an intelligent system which is designed for only answering questions and has no ability to act in the world.

 

Porting: In computer science, it is a process of adapting, sometimes with modifications, a software component to enable its use on a platform different from the original one. Porting is done when the software is somehow adjusted, not when the source code is completely rewritten in a different programming language.

 

Process Node: In the semiconductor industry, a technology node, also known as a process node, process technology, or simply node, is a specific semiconductor manufacturing process and its design rules. Different nodes usually mean different circuit generations and architectures.

 

SHA-256: Secure Hashing Algorithm (SHA)-256 is the hash function and mining algorithm of the Bitcoin protocol, referring to the cryptographic hash function that outputs a 256 bits long value.