Martin Shkreli used an Oct. 12 appearance on the All-In Podcast to make a blunt case against near-term quantum-computing hype.
Shkreli argued that current quantum machines run at hundreds or thousands of hertz rather than CPU-style gigahertz speeds, lack practical quantum RAM for large inputs and are poor general-purpose computers. He described Shor-style cryptographic speedups as the “greatest, coolest magic trick ever.” He also said he and his wife had tried available systems and: “We cannot multiply 300 by 200 on any of these.”
The strongest part of his argument is not the raw clock-speed comparison. Quantum computers are not CPUs, so hertz-to-gigahertz comparisons are imperfect. His stronger point is that useful quantum advantage depends on specialized algorithms, error correction and hardware that is still unsettled.
That lines up with our recent assessment that the industry still has no winning architecture. DARPA’s current Stage C program is testing neutral atoms, silicon spins, superconducting processors, trapped ions, topological qubits and photonics rather than backing one clear design. We also covered the agency’s latest four-team advancement.
Where he goes too far is calling quantum essentially a one-algorithm technology. The field includes several algorithm families and simulation workloads. But his broader caution on commercial timelines is reasonable. As our recent Bitcoin quantum assessment concluded, today’s machines cannot break Bitcoin; a future fault-tolerant system could still threaten exposed public keys through Shor’s algorithm.
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