This change will force a new approach to cryptocurrency encryption and change the way generative artificial intelligence is used. Although for many analysts the introduction of quantum computers is decades away, QuTwo intends to prepare companies for this leap now – importantly, the startup’s ambitions are as high as the amount for which the CEO sold the previous startup to AMD.
Wall of efficiency and quantum emergency exit
Sarlin’s diagnosis is simple and unpleasant – AI is hitting an efficiency wall. Models grow, energy consumption increases, and returns decrease. Quantum computers may solve this problem, but no one knows exactly when. Instead of speculating on timelines, QuTwo is building QuTwo OS: an orchestration layer that allows companies to seamlessly shift compute workloads from classical to quantum environments, taking advantage of hybrid computing along the way. Theoretically, this is infrastructure ready for tomorrow, operating today.
The concept of “quantum-inspired” computing – i.e. classic hardware simulating quantum behavior – plays a key role here. No cryostats, no quantum errors, no headaches. It now works by bypassing the barriers that still block true quantum hardware. Sounds too optimistic? Definitely, but this is the vision that Sarlin sells and it seems that he does it very effectively.
QuTwo’s dream team, which is to attract investors
The composition of the team says a lot about its ambitions. From the quantum side: Kuan Yen Tan, co-founder of IQM, and Antti Vasara, who sits on the board of SemiQon – a Finnish startup of quantum semiconductor chips. On the enterprise side: Sarlin himself and Kaj-Mikael Björk, his former co-founder from Silo AI. Pekka Lundmark – former CEO of Nokia, a man who knows what it means to lead a global telecommunications company through technological transformation – also joined the management board. A total of over 30 scientists in the areas of AI and quantum computing.
Absurd, i.e. customers pay before the product is ready
What catches the most attention is the commercial approach from day one. QuTwo already runs large “design partnerships” worth tens of millions of dollars. Among the partners: the European fashion giant Zalando, with which QuTwo is developing the so-called lifestyle agents – AI tools that go beyond simple product searches and proactively suggest shopping experiences.
The second partner is OP Pohjola, one of Finland’s largest financial services providers – a joint research initiative in the area of quantum AI.
Design partnerships are a smart play: the customer co-creates the product and bets on its own privileged position when quantum computers actually become widespread. For QuTwo, this is invaluable feedback and cash flow at the same time. Although selling a product before it is ready seems abstract, companies and CEOs seem to understand that the quantum future may come sooner than analysts predict.
In such a turn of events, all companies prepared for such a Q-Day will be 100 steps ahead of the competition. And this no longer sounds like an abstract strategy 😉
BTC versus Q-Day, or Bitcoin preparing for a quantum attack
Q-Day, the day when quantum computers will become powerful enough to break current cryptographic standards, is not science fiction, but a mathematical certainty postponed in time. The Bitcoin ecosystem does not intend to wait idly.
NIST has already published approved post-quantum algorithms: CRYSTALS-Kyber and CRYSTALS-Dilithium, and the BTC community is discussing a potential hardfork replacing the ECDSA digital signature algorithm with a quantum-resistant equivalent.
There is one goal: before quantum computers become commonplace, the world’s largest cryptocurrency must be quantum secured. QuTwqo shows that the quantum future may come sooner than analysts expect, especially considering the current geopolitical situation and China’s desire to emphasize its technological dominance over the West.
