At the beginning of 2024, a publication titled “The road to useful quantum computing” reviewed advancements toward "logical qubits" from 2023. It suggested that 2024 would be an opportune time to focus on this technology. Now in 2025, a review of 2024's developments with an emphasis on the financial sector reveals three key trends.

Early in the year, it was reiterated that finance remains a primary focus of quantum computing research. This was already widely recognized before 2024. Mid-year, following the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) finalizing several post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standards, there was a notable increase in recommendations for migration to these new standards.

Later in the year, while there was a decline in articles overall, there was an uptick in research aimed at demonstrating commercial advantage eventually.

In relation to the second trend concerning PQC standards, a publication titled "Are you ready?" was released on November 28, 2024.

A list compiling top news stories from 2024 has been made available for further insights. This list is not exhaustive but excludes generic combinatorial optimization and algorithm papers, focusing instead on publications specifically mentioning the financial sector or its use cases.