Quantum Blockchain Technologies PLC (AIM:QBT, FRA:BYA1), the blockchain research and investment company, has disclosed that its ASIC Ultra Boost patent application is facing objections from both European and US patent authorities.
The European Patent Office has issued an Examination Report on the application, which covers a message scheduling technique designed to improve the efficiency of cryptographic hashing used in Bitcoin mining.
The report raises two categories of objection: one relating to patentable subject-matter based on how the claims are currently worded, and a second challenging novelty on the basis of prior publications, including a thesis by the inventor, a paper by researcher Nicolas Courtois, and a US patent application filed by Intel.
QBT said its patent attorneys consider the subject-matter objection to be formal in nature and addressable through minor amendments, while the novelty objections are viewed as a question of claim scope rather than a fundamental flaw in the underlying invention.
The company has until 23 August 2026 to respond to the EPO and is preparing revised claim wording alongside technical arguments to support the application.
In the United States, the situation is at a more advanced and uncertain stage.
The US Patent and Trademark Office had previously issued a Final Rejection of the equivalent application, and QBT's attorneys held an interview with the US examiner on 24 April to discuss a path forward.
The examiner indicated that certain technical details from the application's description needed to be incorporated into the claims, and amended claims have since been submitted.
QBT said it expects feedback from the US examiner within one to two weeks.
Chief executive Francesco Gardin said the EPO feedback did not challenge the core technology but rather the framing of the claims, and expressed confidence that the issues were addressable.
He acknowledged that the US process may require multiple further iterations, describing this as typical for innovative technologies.
ASIC Ultra Boost is designed to optimise the message scheduling component of the SHA-256 hashing algorithm used in Bitcoin mining hardware.