According to CoinMeta, D-Wave CEO Alan Baratz warned in an interview with Yahoo Finance that quantum computing will ultimately be able to crack Bitcoin's proof-of-work protocol. He stated that sufficiently advanced quantum computers will surpass the current hardware used for mining. Although the timeline is not yet clear, he believes the cryptocurrency industry should begin to consider quantum-native alternatives. Baratz also claimed that D-Wave has demonstrated a new quantum proof-of-work protocol that could serve as an alternative to Bitcoin's existing mining mechanism. This protocol relies on quantum optimization problems, which can be solved efficiently by quantum systems. He said that this method is about 1,000 times more energy-efficient than the current mechanism. Although this proposal is still in the experimental stage, he believes it could potentially become a viable alternative to Bitcoin in the future. Bitcoin's current proof-of-work algorithm has been in use for many years, and such a potential shift could face strong opposition from the community. Most experts believe that current quantum hardware is still far from posing a direct threat to the network.