in December 2020 , the University of Science and Technology of China broke all records when its photonic quantum computer “ Jiuzhang ” achieved the mammoth task of carrying out a Gaussian boson sampling — a quantum computational task too formidable for classical computers — in mere 200 seconds , an effort that would have taken Fugaku , the world ’ s fastest supercomputer , 600 million years to complete . 1
In the race to attain supremacy in the field of quantum technology , the European Union ( EU ) is inching closer to its rivals , the U . S . and China . Startups and research programs are booming across the continent with groundbreaking anti-financial crime ( AFC ) tools that are starting to make artificial intelligence ( AI ) seem obsolete .
The promise of quantum technology is poised to revolutionize every aspect of our lives — from the creation of unprecedented medical drugs to how traffic is managed . CB Insights , a market intelligence firm , believes that the anti-fraud and anti-money laundering ( AML ) market is the third biggest key revenue opportunity in the financial world for quantum computing ($ 30 billion a year ), just behind portfolio optimization ($ 50 billion a year ) and market simulation ($ 35 billion a year ). 2
As financial crime continues to evolve , technology and regulation must keep up with the ever-changing AML landscape . Let us explore the potential of quantum computers in their fight against money laundering , why European projects and startups are revolutionizing AFC and what the EU is doing to enhance its quantum computing programs across its members states .
The potential of quantum computers
A quantum computer is a computer that harnesses the phenomena of quantum mechanics , or the physics and nature of atomic and subatomic particles — for example , photons or electrons .
Classical computers operate on a binary code of ones and zeros , also known as bits . Instead , a quantum computer uses qubits , or one , zero , and one and zero simultaneously , a property known as superposition . 3 Qubits are also subject to quantum entanglement , a mysterious phenomenon in which particles become connected so that the state of one particle can affect the state of the other . 4
Thanks to superposition and entanglement , along with other properties , quantum computers can operate in what is known as parallelism , or the ability for a quantum computer to solve problems in parallel instead of one point at a time , which is what classical computers are programmed to do . 5
This allows quantum computers to greatly increase the speed of information processing , perform operations from colossal sets of data in seconds and solve problems that are impossible or impractical for classical computers to process .
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