The Next Quantum Milestone Last week brought some excitement to the quantum computing industry… The developments were a welcome relief after an excruciating several months. Since mid-October 2025, industry bellwethers like D-Wave (QBTS), IonQ (IONQ), and Rigetti (RGTI) have suffered gut-wrenching declines after extraordinary climbs in 2025, dropping 71%, 67.6%, and 77%, respectively, through the end of March this […] Last week brought some excitement to the quantum computing industry… The developments were a welcome relief after an excruciating several months. Since mid-October 2025, industry bellwethers like D-Wave (QBTS), IonQ (IONQ), and Rigetti (RGTI) have suffered gut-wrenching declines after extraordinary climbs in 2025, dropping 71%, 67.6%, and 77%, respectively, through the end of March this year. It wasn’t that there was any stall in progress in the industry, or at any of the affected publicly traded quantum computing companies. It was just that the sector had gotten way ahead of itself on the excitement of what quantum computing would bring, resulting in astronomical valuations that simply weren’t sustainable in the short term. Then came the tumble… A Nonsensical Prediction The “pop” happened on October 10, 2025, when IonQ raised an impressive $1.53 billion in a secondary offering. Incredible timing by IonQ to pull in a raise of that size days before the collapse. Those institutional investors are feeling the pain right now. 1-Year Chart of IonQ (IONQ) IonQ’s incredible raise followed on the heels of D-Wave’s $390 million secondary in June 2025 and Rigetti’s $346.7 million secondary in May 2025. Their success in the secondary offerings clearly gave IonQ the confidence to go very big on theirs. But the more than $2.26 billion raised across these three quantum computing companies acted like a clamorous warning bell that valuations were overheated, causing nearly everyone to dump stocks in quantum computing companies.