On August 20, 2025, a voice discussion took place on X/Twitter about a topic currently stirring the crypto community: the Qubic project and its mining approach combining Monero and artificial intelligence (AI) computations.
Here is a clear and factual summary to better understand the issues at stake.
Qubic: How Does It Work?
Qubic’s software reportedly allows users to mine both Monero (XMR) and perform artificial intelligence-related tasks, with automatic switching between the two activities.
Miners are then rewarded in $Qubic, the project’s native token.
This approach, called uPoW (Unified Proof of Work) by the project, aims to combine several types of computation in order to offer a mining model different from the one traditionally used by Monero.
Three Possible Scenarios Around Qubic
Several hypotheses exist regarding Qubic’s actual objective and potential impact:
- uPoW is genuinely functional: it could then represent a long-term threat to Monero by attracting a significant portion of its mining power.
- The model mainly relies on speculative growth of the Qubic token: in this case, miners’ interest could quickly decline if the token’s value drops.
- It is primarily a marketing operation: the goal would then be to artificially inflate the announced computing power in order to attract new miners and investors.
Inconsistencies in Their Model
Several points raise questions.
A Question of Profitability
If artificial intelligence computations are truly much more profitable than Monero mining, why not dedicate all computing power to AI?
This question fuels speculation about a possible hidden objective targeting Monero.
Why Target Monero?
Monero is a cryptocurrency whose mining is generally not very profitable in most situations, except when miners have access to very cheap or free electricity.
Furthermore, its community has historically been known for its resilience and its commitment to decentralization and censorship resistance principles.
This makes the choice of Monero as a target particularly questionable.
Unconvincing Results
Two weeks after their first attempt to massively increase mining power (early August), Qubic failed to significantly increase its influence over the Monero network.
An anomaly of around 1 GH/s was detected on a pool, which could suggest an attempt to artificially inflate the announced hashrate. However, this power remains far below the levels required to represent a real threat of network control.
Even with 60 to 70% of the hashrate, Qubic would not be able to perform widespread double-spending attacks on Monero. The potential impact would be limited to canceling their own payments over a short period (around 20 to 30 minutes maximum), making such an operation economically unattractive.
Qubic: Hostile or Simply Opaque?
The project claims not to be hostile toward Monero.
However, several elements raise concerns:
- the project’s funders remain anonymous;
- its leader has a controversial history, including selling IOTA back to its own community;
- some elements of the project’s communication may appear unusual, such as mystical references like the “Columns of Solomon”.
These elements do not, by themselves, prove malicious intent, but they encourage caution.
What Should We Think About It?
The consensus emerging from the discussion is fairly clear: there is currently no reason to panic.
The best approach is to let the Qubic project and its token prove themselves over time, without giving them excessive importance.
As a simple precaution, it may nevertheless be wise to avoid large transactions when a potential attack is ongoing or suspected.
The Real Threat to Watch
The main long-term threat to Monero would probably not be a hybrid mining project like Qubic.
The real danger would instead be an attempt to move Monero to a Proof of Stake (PoS) model.
Such a change could introduce centralization risks and go against the fundamental principles of the project.
If this type of narrative starts appearing around Monero, it is important to remain particularly vigilant: it could come from actors seeking to weaken its decentralization properties.
Source
- X/Twitter Space from 08/20/2025 (in french)
This article is a faithful transcript of audio or video content.