Quantum Compute

# Quantum Compute (Bittensor Subnet 48)

## Introduction

The Quantum Compute subnet is unlike any other subnet on Bittensor. It taps into Bittensor's decentralized incentive mechanism to make one of the world's most powerful, scarce, and most expensive resources—quantum computers—available to users from all walks of life, who might otherwise not have access to them. For those who might have had access, they would not experiment freely due to prohibitive costs and limited availability. Now they can.

## Why Is This Important?

Quantum computing holds the promise to fundamentally transform the world. Many of humanity's biggest problems are currently bound by the limits of classical computational power; quantum computing holds the promise to meaningfully impact them, if not to outright solve them.

While amazing progress has been made in the production of quantum computers in recent years, the advancement of algorithms and the applications of known algorithms is much slower. This is because quantum computers are:

- **Expensive:** Costing between $5,000-$15,000/hr
- **High Error Rate:** It's not uncommon for error rates to be above 0.1% per operation for single-qubit operations and above 1% per operation for two-qubit operations.
- **Scarce:** The total number of computational qubits on Earth is in the tens of thousands, and the number of systems is fewer than 100. For the systems that are accessible, users have to wait hours or days to access them.

Leveraging Bittensor's innovative incentive mechanisms, we are making quantum computing substantially more accessible to innovators from all walks of life. In many cases, it will be free.

We are doing this because we believe that inviting more brilliant minds to innovate will unlock game changing improvements by 1) applying known quantum algorithms to real world use cases, 2) making incremental and step function improvements to existing quantum algorithms, and 3) discovering new quantum algorithms that will unlock entirely new swaths of potential.

## Why Bittensor?

Bittensor is on a mission to transform the world by democratizing innovation through decentralized incentives for the entire universe of innovators, creating an equal playing field for all.

While Bittensor's brilliant strategy, incentive mechanisms, core technology, and innovative investors and supporters will be critical to the success of this subnet and to the delivery of this unparalleled value, traditional miners will have a smaller role in this subnet, especially in the first phase, as miners will be the elite few who can bring physical access to these scarce resources—quantum computers.

With this vision in mind, let's explore participation.

## Who Can Mine?

Critical to all of this is quantum compute capacity. This subnet relies on quantum computer capacity, with as few layers of middlemen as possible. This approach enables us to ensure that the quantum compute resources are being faithfully used, while ensuring that costs are not overly inflated through layers of middlemen. In this vein, miners of the Quantum Compute subnet must own or operate a physical quantum computer capable of executing gate-based quantum circuits using OpenQASM 2.0/3.0, or have a direct and documented partnership with an owner/operator.


## How to Mine

If you own or operate a quantum computer, or are directly and formally partnered with an owner/operator, and are looking to create a revenue stream by selling extra compute capacity on your quantum computer, then this is for you.

Begin by reaching out to us at [email protected]. If you meet the initial requirements, we will quickly set up a meeting to talk through the process and, if appropriate, we will begin the rigorous onboarding process.

Building on accessibility, let's further explore the service provided to end users.

For technical integration details see [miner.md](qbittensor/miner/miner.md).

## How Much Does It Cost?

At launch, Quantum Compute offers base-level quantum computing free of charge to end users. How long it remains free will depend very much on a number of factors, including, but not limited to: supply vs. demand, queue lengths, subnet alpha performance, use cases, etc.

While the basic computing is provided for free, OpenQuantum.com will also provide premium upgrades that can be paid for.

These include:

1. Priority Execution: Have a deadline? This paid feature lets you jump to the front of the line, to get your quantum job done next.

2. Increasing the Number of Shots: By default, a limited number of shots are provided for free. These shots vary by platform but are more limited than most users need for serious computing. Users can pay to increase the cap on the number of shots.

3. Private Execution: Users can also opt to execute jobs off-chain, in a completely private way. This passes the execution costs through to the end-user, but ensures that their quantum circuit and the results are both kept private and are not broadcast to our network of validators and miners, but instead is routed directly to and from the QPU.

## Data Transparency in the Free Tier

To benefit from the free tier of quantum computing, users broadcast quantum circuits to a network of validators and miners, with execution results broadcast back. Because of this, the data is essentially public. By using the public tier of access, users are agreeing to broadcast that data, and in turn, to give us access to their circuit, the results, the performance, and some required metadata that must be tagged with the execution.

While we will not be making any personal information public, we will also capture anonymous demographic data and associate it with the circuits.

This dataset will quickly become one of the most robust datasets available to answer questions about the market's adoption of quantum computing. What types of algorithms are the most popular? Which quantum computers perform the best? What are certain regions or demographics doing when co