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Vol. III·A daily reading of the quantum economy
Friday, May 15, 2026
Boulder · Colorado
signal over hype, since Issue 001

The Quantum Ledger

A daily brief, a working primer, a curated cohort directory, and the policy and capital trackers the sector reads before coffee.

Today's brief·updated 06:00 ET

Washington puts a date on fault tolerance: DOE issues a 2028 RFI as IQM files for a U.S. listing and Nord Quantique marks up to $1.4B

The U.S. Department of Energy formally asks the market for a scientifically useful fault-tolerant machine by 2028. IQM submits its F-4 for the RAAQ merger. Nord Quantique closes a Fidelity-led round at a $1.4B mark. Form-factor shifts at Equal1 and Origin Quantum point to a productization year.

The Ledger Desk·May 15, 2026·updated continuously
Read today's brief

From the desks · 2 on file

Recent essays

01IPO Watch · Analysis

Reading Quantinuum's S-1

Six numbers that matter, four that don't, and where the IPO actually prices. The closest reading we have produced of any S-1 to date.

May 13, 2026·13 min read·Connor Reuter
02Framework · Essay

How to think about quantum computing as an investor

A framework for separating physics from financials, distinguishing utility from supremacy, and using DARPA to discount marketing budgets.

May 13, 2026·14 min read·Connor Reuter

The cohort · 41 names tracked

A snapshot of the quantum economy

Universe

41

Listed + material private

Listed / Private

11 / 30

By ownership status

Listed parent-company cap

$5.7T

IBM, MSFT, GOOGL, HON, IONQ et al.

Ledger Score

58

Cautiously constructive

Parent-company cap is the headline market cap of listed names in the cohort — for IBM, Microsoft, Google, and Honeywell, quantum is a small fraction of that figure. Pure-play public market cap is closer to $40–60B. Private names use last-round post-money as a cap proxy. The Ledger Score above is the sector average across the rated firms.

The Ledger · all rooms

Where to go next

01Daily · 06:00 ET

Today’s brief

The ten stories we read, ranked. The headline you should have heard about by noon.

02Live wire

The firehose

Every story in the last 72 hours. Filter by topic and sentiment.

03Cohort · 41 names

The directory

A screener for the listed and material private quantum economy, ranked by Ledger Score.

04Primer · 5 chapters

How to read quantum

Five interactive widgets, five working frames. The shortest path to fluency.

05Tracker · Q4 2026

DARPA QBI

The most credible independent benchmark in the field. Live tracker for Stage B and Stage C.

06Capital

Quantinuum IPO watch

The most consequential listing the sector has seen. Filing, pricing, lockup, comps.

07Coverage

The real deployments

A curated registry of paying-customer quantum workloads, by sector.

08Policy

Post-quantum migration

NIST standards, vendor readiness, and the sectors most exposed to the refresh cycle.

09Outlook

What the Ledger expects

One, three, five, and ten-year horizons with forecast bands and regime breaks.

The cohort is small, the news cycle is loud, and the numbers won't be honest for another five years. We write one page a day against that asymmetry.

— The Ledger Desk

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