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Quantum just got a government-sized check
The U.S. government didn’t exactly whisper its intentions here. Through a Thursday award, Commerce handed out equity stakes tied to $2 billion in quantum-computing support, with IBM getting roughly $1 billion to help build America’s first pure-play quantum foundry. D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, and GlobalFoundries also came away with funding.
If you own any of the pure-play quantum names, this is the kind of headline that can send traders sprinting for the buy button like it’s the last Taylor Swift ticket drop. These stocks already have thin floats, so even a whiff of policy support can turn into a pretty dramatic pop.
Why Bitcoin people suddenly care
The article’s other big point is the spooky part: quantum computing isn’t just a lab curiosity anymore. Theoretically, a powerful enough machine could crack the encryption that protects Bitcoin wallets and a bunch of other digital infrastructure. That’s the kind of thing that sounds like a movie plot until it starts showing up in government funding decisions and prediction markets.
Traders vs. reality
Prediction markets are still putting relatively low odds on a near-term “Q-Day” — the moment quantum computing can actually break today’s encryption — but the direction of travel matters. The government is effectively saying, “We think this tech matters enough to back it now.” Traders, meanwhile, are still betting the apocalypse is not arriving before your next phone upgrade.
Big picture: this is less about one day’s stock pop and more about quantum shifting from lab experiment to strategic national priority. That’s a pretty big change, even if the timeline is still blurry.