Quantum computing firm IonQ hires former JPMorgan Chase applied research head

IonQ has hired the former head of applied research at JPMorgan Chase to help corporate clients of the quantum firm adopt next-generation hardware, algorithms and security, CNBC has learned.

Marco Pistoia, who was head of JPMorgan’s internal research group from 2020 to this year, will join IonQ as senior vice president of industry relations, the quantum computing firm is expected to announce on Monday.

JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank by assets, recently overhauled the leadership of its research group, which worked on quantum computing and other advanced technologies. Quantum computing has the potential for tremendous advances over traditional computing, and tech giants as well as small publicly traded companies are racing to commercialize it.

IonQ is one of the larger examples of pure-play quantum companies. The company and competitors including Rigetti Computing and D-Wave have seen their shares surge over the past year, fueled by excitement in the nascent field.

In his new role, Pistoia will report directly to IonQ CEO Niccolo de Masi and focus on helping corporations adopt both quantum computing and quantum-safe encryption, he said during an interview last week.

A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could theoretically break the encryption methods that keep the world’s financial data secure.

“There is a huge risk that quantum poses against cryptography, so we need the entire world to transition to quantum-safe cryptography,” Pistoia said.

Bad actors could “take any public key and reverse-engineer the corresponding private key,” he said.

The advent of a commercially usable quantum computer is rapidly approaching, according to Pistoia.

“I believe that usable quantum computers are much closer now; we are talking about two to three years from now,” he said.

Pistoia said he hoped to continue collaborating with JPMorgan on quantum projects, as well as with other financial firms.

JPMorgan declined to comment on Pistoia’s hiring.