PR Newswire
LONDON, United Kingdom, March 24
24 March 2026
Quantum Blockchain Technologies Plc
(«QBT» or «the Company»)
Commencement of Testing of the AI Oracle on a Bitmain Mining Rig
Quantum Blockchain Technologies plc (AIM: QBT), the AIM-listed investment
company focused principally on a research, development and investment programme
within blockchain technology is pleased to confirm that an internal project,
which it started in August 2025, to use a Bitmain Antminer S9 («S9») mining rig
as a testing and commercial demonstration environment for the software version
of QBT’s Method C’s AI Oracle, has now reached the live in-house testing stage.
The purpose for this project is to enable the Company to demonstrate to
potential customers results of the AI Oracle’s enhanced performance on a
commercial grade mining rig.
Historically, QBT’s R&D team has provided results based on the performance of
its software simulator which the Company has been running in its Milan
laboratory for over a year. However, following a number of meetings with larger
US-based Bitcoin mining companies, it is the view of the QBT Board that the AI
Oracle’s results can be expected to appeal to a wider market if the Company were
to showcase successfully the software’s efficiencies on an industry recognised
commercial mining rig, such as the S9.
A key factor in the decision to select the S9 was that it is the last Bitmain
mining rig to use a publicly available open-source operating system and firmware
for field-programmable gate array(«FPGA») on the control boards. All new mining
rigs produced by Bitmain (e.g. S19, S21 and S23) no longer provide open-source
accessibility.
So far, QBT has successfully modified both the operating system and FPGA
firmware on the S9 in order to make it suitable for the software version of
Method C’s AI Oracle installation which will be done in three steps:
· Data collection of the ASIC Hashing behavior to train the AI
Oracle,
· Integration of the AI Oracle with the existing S9 software
environment and,
· Testing and fine tuning of AI Oracle’s performance during live
mining.
QBT’s S9 provides an excellent testbed to demonstrate the performance of the
Company’s technology on a real industrial mining rig which can facilitate proof
of concept which QBT can then deploy on current commercial mining rigs.
The Company anticipates that the ability to demonstrate the increased quality
hashing performance on the S9 is a key step in securing commercial
demonstrations with large Bitcoin miners. QBT’s commercial targets are therefore
represented by companies that fall into two categories and QBT plans to target
both:
· those which have, in recent years, made material investments to develop
their own proprietary versions of Bitmain’s control boards, operating systems
and firmware, and,
· the aftermarket control board system integrators, which have developed
similar hardware and software.
As regards aftermarket control boards manufacturers, QBT has engaged in ongoing
discussions with these companies and anticipates that access to these
aftermarket control boards (and related operating systems and firmware) can be
obtained once a commercial agreement has been made.
It is important to clarify that the porting of Method C’s AI Oracle onto the
recently delivered third party ASIC manufacturer’s mining rig, now delivered and
operational in QBT’s R&D laboratory in Milan University (as announced on 6 March
2026) is a separate project to the S9 one. Results from the tests on the ASIC
manufacturer’s rig will not be able to be shared with the general Bitcoin mining
market, hence the need to complete identical testing on a generic miner, such as
the S9.
The Company can state, however, that the previously reported increased mining
efficiency demonstrated on QBT’s laboratory simulator is now being tested on
commercial miners. Having performed exhaustive tests on the simulator for many
months, the Company believes that the AI Oracle will duly perform when scaled-up
to a multiple ASIC miner although there cannot be guarantee at this stage.
These two simultaneous projects with the S9 and ASIC manufacturer’s mining rigs
will be the first commercial tests of the software version of QBT’s AI Oracle.
Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman of QBT, commented, «I am extremely
pleased with the results achieved so far, which show how the Company has
mastered the inner most details of all levels of a commercial mining rig. The
set-up of the AI Oracle on the S9 is a key milestone which has taken us from
using Method C on a software simulator which QBT has been running in its Milan
laboratory for over a year, to the full multi-ASIC mining rig.
We stated in our announcement of 19 June 2025 that QBT was targeting the
installation of its technology onto the aftermarket control boards operating
system software and the core firmware of commercial mining rigs. Subsequently,
based on the many meetings we have held with potential partners and customers on
the implementation of this strategy, the Company took a view that it would
implement this strategy simultaneously on the Bitmain Antminer S9, the only
available rig with an open-source operating system software and core firmware.
We believe the increased mining efficiency demonstrated by this project will
open up a much larger target market for our products.»
-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/ Caroline Rowe / Devik Mehta
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 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.
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https://news.cision.com/quantum-blockchain-technologies-plc/r/porting-ai-oracle-onto-an-antminer-s9,c4325600
