The African Development Bank (ADB) and Intel have announced a significant partnership to train three million Africans and 30,000 government officials in advanced artificial intelligence (AI) skills. According to the ADB, this training is expected to revolutionize the African digital ecosystem and contribute to economic growth. The program will tackle socio-economic challenges and enhance productivity […]
Bitcoin News
Chip Giant Intel Abandons Bitcoin ASIC Production
After announcing the production of bitcoin application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), Intel, the world’s largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, appears to be abandoning its blockchain chip production. On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the chip manufacturer explained that Intel has “end-of-lifed the Intel Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC.”
Intel Spokesperson Discloses Company Has End-of-Lifed the Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC
In February 2022, the California-based technology company Intel made headlines when it announced its plan to create “energy-efficient accelerators,” or ASIC technology, to contribute to the development of blockchain technologies. Later that month, at the 2022 International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), the company unveiled the Bonanza Mine BMZ1. At that time, Tom’s Hardware author Paul Alcorn stated that Intel was also developing a second iteration of the Bonanza Mine ASIC, known as the BMZ2.
Moreover, in March 2022, it was reported that mining firms such as Hive, Argo, Block, and Grrid were buying bitcoin mining chips from Intel. On Tuesday, Tom’s Hardware reporter Alcorn spoke to Intel about the project, and it appears that Intel is discontinuing its bitcoin accelerator production, also known as “Blockscale chips.” Alcorn further notes that “no future generations have been announced.” An Intel spokesperson stated:
As we prioritize our investments in IDM 2.0, we have end-of-lifed the Intel Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC while we continue to support our Blockscale customers.
In addition, Alcorn’s report notes that “Blockscale ASIC landing pages are now all inactive,” and product pages have been “scrubbed.” Intel also informed the reporter that customers have until October 2023 to order chips, but “shipments will end in April 2024.” So far, the dominant force in the ASIC manufacturing industry has been Bitmain, with few competitors. Aside from Bitmain, firms such as Microbt, Canaan, and Innosilicon also operate in this space. According to reports, Bitmain uses 5nm TSMC-made chips, while Microbt utilizes Samsung’s 5nm ASIC technology. Additionally, Samsung is reportedly in the process of creating 3nm ASIC chips.
What do you think this move means for the future of ASIC manufacturing? Do you see any ASIC manufacturing competitors coming to the industry? Share your thoughts about this subject in the comments section below.
Intel Doubles Down On Chips, Enters $30 Billion Deal To Build New Factory
Intel is not done yet. The company’s plan to become a big player in the semiconductor business is even more ambitious than we thought. Today’s news arrives via the WSJ, “Intel Corp. has struck an unusual billion funding partnership with Brookfield Asset Management Inc.” Both companies will finance and build a new factory in Chandler, Arizona. Apparently, this is the first of many similar deals for Intel.
The company wants to build chip manufacturing capabilities fast and it’s using co-investment as a way to raise money outside of the traditional banking system. For its part, Brookfield is a Canadian asset-management firm that has “more than 0 billion in assets under management.” If this goes well, these new pools of capital will allow Intel to build factories in other places.
In this case, Intel will fund 51% of the new facility and thus have “a controlling stake in the financing vehicle that would own the new factories.” Brookfield will finance and own the rest, and both companies “will split the revenue that comes out of the factories.” The deal would be “the first of what could be a series of such arrangements Intel pursues to underpin Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger’s push to make the company a leading contract chip maker and regain its manufacturing advantage over competitors in Taiwan and South Korea.”
What Does Intel ’s Chip Business Have To Do With Bitcoin?
These chips are a crucial part of the Blockscale ASICs, Intel’s “energy efficient” bitcoin miners. In fact, before Intel, all Bitcoin miners were practically dependent on the Taiwan and South Korea factories. When the Blockscale shipped, we quoted Raja Koduri, Intel’s Architecture, Graphics and Software (IAGS) division’s senior vice president:
“Intel AXG Custom Compute team is now shipping the Blockscale ASIC! First product will always be unforgettable, congratulations team. Excited to see how Argo, Griid and Hive improvise around Blockscale and our open design.”
Before that, we quoted Intel ‘s CEO Pat Gelsinger overselling it a bit:
“Intel is about to bring forward a blockchain chip that’s dramatically better. That is orders of magnitude better in terms of power performance. So, we’re helping solve the climate issue.”
We even quoted President Joe Biden poetically describing Intel ’s other chip factory:
“If you travel 20 miles east of Columbus, Ohio, you’ll find 1,000 empty acres of land. It won’t look like much, but if you stop and look closely, you’ll see a ‘field of dreams,’ the ground on which America’s future will be built.”
BTC price chart for 08/24/2022 on Bitstamp | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
There’s No Business Like The Chip Business
Back to the WSJ report, the numbers that Intel ‘s CEO is expecting for all of this hassle are astronomical:
“Mr. Geslinger and other industry officials have said they expect annual semiconductor sales to roughly double by the end of the decade—topping trillion—even if short-term demand softness is weighing on chip-industry earnings.”
They are betting big, “Intel also has said it could spend as much as 0 billion each on new plant complexes in Ohio and Germany.” And they’re not the only ones, Taiwan and South Korea are also doubling down on semiconductors, and even The European Union is trying to get in on the action. In Intel ´s case, the already mentioned President Biden might have something to do with all of these investments:
“In the U.S., whose share of the chip market has fallen to about 12%, according to Boston Consulting Group, President Biden this month signed legislation allocating more than billion for domestic chip manufacturing and research. Intel and other chip manufacturers lobbied heavily for the bill. The European Union is considering incentives to double its share of global chip-making to 20% by 2030.”
Is this good for bitcoin, though? Everything is good for bitcoin. Having more chip options for the new generation of bitcoin miners that’s coming down the pipeline is even more so.
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NewsBTC
Intel Ships Blockscale ASIC Chips To Selected Bitcoin Mining Companies
It’s official, Intel is part of the bitcoin mining business. The gargantuan technology company announced its “ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient” ASIC chip barely six months ago, and it’s already here. Under normal circumstances, infrastructural support from a multinational company like Intel would be tremendous for the bitcoin market. How will it react in the middle of all this chaos? Will it react at all? The news didn’t immediately do much, but the long-term effect remains to be seen.
Intel AXG Custom Compute team is now shipping the Blockscale ASIC! First product will always be unforgettable, congratulations team
Excited to see how @ArgoBlockchain @griid and @HiveBlockchain improvise around Blockscale and our open design. pic.twitter.com/0rxtNTLMfw
— Raja Koduri (Bali Makaradhwaja) (@RajaXg) June 29, 2022
Raja Koduri, Intel’s Architecture, Graphics and Software (IAGS) division’s senior vice president, recently tweeted:
“Intel AXG Custom Compute team is now shipping the Blockscale ASIC! First product will always be unforgettable, congratulations team. Excited to see how Argo, Griid and Hive improvise around Blockscale and our open design.”
Notably absent from the list is BLOCK, Jack Dorsey’s company. Does that mean something or is BLOCK just fourth on the list? Three months ago, Bitcoinist quoted Raja Koduri emphatically saying:
“Our blockchain accelerator will ship later this year. We are engaged directly with customers that share our sustainability goals. Argo Blockchain, BLOCK (formerly known as Square) and GRIID Infrastructure are among our first customers for this upcoming product.”
The Bitcoin Miners React To Intel’s Announcement
Green mining company Hive was the first to react, they tweeted “HIVE is proud to have partnered with Intel, and we can’t wait to put the new ASICs to good use mining BTC!” A few months ago, the company was much more eloquent in a press release NewsBTC quoted. “These miners are expected to be delivered over a period of one year starting in the second half of calendar 2022, the effect of which, if they are all installed, would be an expected increase of up to 95% in our aggregate Bitcoin mining hashrate from 1.9 Exahash per second.”
$HIVE is proud to have partnered with @intel, and we can’t wait to put the new ASICs to good use mining $BTC! https://t.co/qDWKnU95MI
— H I V E (@HiveBlockchain) June 29, 2022
For their part, Argo also went the simple route and tweeted. “Thanks, Raja Koduri and Intel. We’re excited to be innovating with these new ASIC chips in our custom immersion mining rigs. Our thanks to ePIC Blockchain for joining us on the ride.” That new player, ePIC Blockchain Technologies produces self-proclaimed “North American Designed ASIC RIGs.” So, innovation and customization are on the way.
Thanks, @RajaXg and @intel. We're excited to be innovating with these new ASIC chips in our custom immersion mining rigs. Our thanks to @ePICBlockchain for joining us on the ride. https://t.co/pKlxDjkm08
— Argo (@ArgoBlockchain) June 29, 2022
Last but not least, let’s remember Raja Koduri’s words when Intel’s bitcoin mining experiment started:
“Today, we at Intel are declaring our intent to contribute to the development of blockchain technologies, with a roadmap of energy-efficient accelerators. Intel will engage and promote an open and secure blockchain ecosystem and will help advance this technology in a responsible and sustainable way.”
Remember that statement as we pass to the next section.
BTC price chart for 07/04/2022 on Bitfinex | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Mainstream Media Mocks Intel
In the eyes of mainstream media, bitcoin or anything related to it can’t do anything right. And this bear-market-of-sorts we’re into gives them the perfect ammunition to attack the technology and the billion-dollar market around it. Luckily, bitcoin doesn’t care. In the first mainstream article about Intel shipping its Blockscale ASIC chips ahead of time, The Register starts with valuable information:
“Blockscale is shipping a couple days ahead of Intel’s previously stated release window for the third quarter, which begins Friday. Even if it’s a tiny head start, it is nonetheless an achievement for a corporation that is becoming notoriously under-schedule across multiple products, including the Sapphire Rapids server chips and the discrete Arc GPUs.”
Only to then, start dunking on bitcoiners and Intel alike. They start with this:
“Experts and company officials are warning that the world of blockchain-fueled digital currencies is entering a crypto winter, a period where the value of virtual coins plunge and remain low. This last happened between early 2018 and mid-2020.”
And then, they dedicate 1000 words to the market’s condition instead of discussing Intel’s SEG energy-efficient intentions. Or the perfectly executed roll-out strategy that the company exhibited these last few months. Or the fact that bitcoin is humanity’s only hope.
Featured Image: Blockscale promotional image from this tweet | Charts by TradingView
NewsBTC
Intel ‘s ASIC Bitcoin Miner Will Cost Half, Be 15% More Effective Than Most S19s
Will the Intel ASIC disrupt the Bitcoin mining game? If Tom’s Hardware numbers are correct, the answer is an unequivocally yes. “The company’s mining hardware could have the best price-to-performance ratio on the market,” says Tom. However, there’s no guarantee that the prices that Intel gave to mining company GRIID will be the same as a general consumer will get.
In fact, there’s no guarantee that GRIID is talking about the Intel Bonanza Mine in the SEC documents that this report follows. “A recent SEC filing by one of Intel’s premier partners has revealed both the pricing and performance of Intel’s second-gen Bonanza Mine (BMZ2) Bitcoin miners.” A couple of weeks ago, NewsBTC reported on Intel’s first batch of clients:
“We can’t prove it, but, all of these companies probably knew years ago about Intel’s plans to release a bitcoin mining chip. Again, Raja Koduri:
“Our blockchain accelerator will ship later this year. We are engaged directly with customers that share our sustainability goals. Argo Blockchain, BLOCK (formerly known as Square) and GRIID Infrastructure are among our first customers for this upcoming product.”
And in the SEC filing, GRIID talks about a “Distinguishing Supply Agreement With Leading U.S. Based Chip Designer.” Who else could they be talking about, considering that both Bitmain and MicroBT are China-based? It has to be Intel, right?
What Does The SEC Filling Reveal About The Intel Bonanza Mine?
When the world first heard about Intel’s ASIC ambitions, the company cleverly described the machines as “ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient.” How efficient will they actually be? Tom’s hardware answers:
“According to the listing, BMZ2’s performance weighs in at 135 TH/s with 26 J/THs of efficiency. Additionally, the miner is roughly half the cost of a competing Bitmain S19 Pro while being 15% more efficient, rivaling the best hardware on the market from competing companies.”
That puts it at the top of the food chain in terms of power; “second only to Bitmain’s S19j XP system,” and that’s “by a small margin.” However, Intel’s ASIC is also 15% more efficient. “Peak performance for the BMZ2 system weighs in at a competitive 135 TH/s. A bit of basic math reveals the system runs at approximately 3510W.”
BTC price chart for 01/03/2022 on BinanceUS | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Perfect, But, How Expensive Will It Be?
When it comes to pricing, that’s where Intel’s new machines shine. Since they will presumably be manufactured in the U.S.A., Intel won’t have to deal with “the 25% tariffs for products that originate in China and are exposed to the volatility associated with a longer supply chain.” So, the company’s positioned to win in the west.
Ok, but, how much will the ASICs actually cost? Tom’s Hardware again:
“GRIID says the new Intel mining systems cost ,625 per miner. Given that GRIID has guaranteed access to 25% of Intel’s production capacity, we expect the company to benefit from volume pricing. In either case, that’s roughly half the price of the ,455 Bitmain S19j Pro, but it’s noteworthy that pricing for the S19j Pro can fluctuate wildly.”
Will the general consumer get the same price as GRIID? Probably not. But the number seems promising. And their clients won’t have to wait for their ASICs to arrive from China.
Conclusions And Questions
Last week, NewsBTC quoted Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger trying to promote the company’s new product:
“Intel is about to bring forward a blockchain chip that’s dramatically better. That is orders of magnitude better in terms of power performance. So, we’re helping solve the climate issue.”
Are these specs enough to solve climate change? Is a 15% efficiency going to stop global warming? Probably not. It’s a massive improvement, but, maybe Gelsinger shouldn’t have made such a big promise.
In the quoted SEC filing, GRIID lists the company’s competitive advantages. One of those is, “Chip supply agreement with U.S. Fortune 50 company ensures unrivaled mining hardware access.” Chances are that the deal GRIID made with Intel is going to increase in importance as time goes by. If the machines are as good as the specs suggest, that is.
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NewsBTC
What’s Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger Saying While Promoting The Bitcoin Mining Chip?
What is Intel ’s Pat Gelsinger doing? Who is he talking to while promoting Intel’s new bitcoin mining chips? In a recent Bloomberg interview, Gelsinger uses every ESG buzzword in the book to promote their “energy-efficient ASIC chip.” Is this the right strategy? Who will be Intel’s clients? And why is this man lying about bitcoin’s energy consumption when the real numbers would do just fine?
The host, Emily Chang, starts by asking him about 2019, when the Intel CEO said that Bitcoin was badly designed, “extreme, and climate intolerant.” Does Gelsinger still hold that opinion? Of course, he does. And that’s just the beginning.
Intel CEO regurgitates ESG FUD talking points while shilling for his new #Bitcoin mining chip. Feb 14 2022 pic.twitter.com/x7r31FCwp9
— BITC0IN
(@BITCOINALLCAPS) February 17, 2022
The Intel CEO Is Here To Fix Bitcoin
Gelsinger starts by saying that when he misdiagnosed bitcoin that one time, “most of the uses where illicit.” In 2019? Nothing could be further from the truth, Sir. Bitcoin’s first use case, the unbanked, were discovering the solution to their problem little by little. And the seeds for everything that has happened in the last few years were already planted.
Was bitcoin also used for illicit purposes? Of course. Bitcoin is money for your enemies. Everyone can use it.
Another thing the Intel CEO believed about bitcoin is that “it couldn’t be regulated, so it couldn’t become a currency for nations and for people to use broadly.” Well, considering it’s already currency in one nation, El Salvador, we could say that Gelsinger’s predictions are pretty much off the mark.
The idea of an American ASIC mining chip, though, that’s a great one. And if it consumes less energy, so be it. Even though people will probably just push the pedal to the metal and mine more. In any case, the Intel CEO informs us that one of the company’s mantras is that they’re “shaping technology as a force for good.” It sounds like Google’s “Don’t be evil,” and we all know how that turned out.
In any case, Gelsinger thinks the easily debunkable attack points he exposed make bitcoin a controversial character. However, “that doesn’t mean it’s not a good technology, but we’re not using it good yet.” So, Intel is here to fix it.
BTC price chart for 02/19/2022 on Fx | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
What’s Gelsinger Promising, Exactly?
One thing’s for sure, Intel is very confident about their product. The CEO said:
“Intel is about to bring forward a blockchain chip that’s dramatically better. That is orders of magnitude better in terms of power performance. So, we’re helping solve the climate issue.”
Are they, though? In any case, a “dramatically better” chip is always welcome. When the company announced their first clients, we quoted their press release:
“Today, we at Intel are declaring our intent to contribute to the development of blockchain technologies, with a roadmap of energy-efficient accelerators. Intel will engage and promote an open and secure blockchain ecosystem and will help advance this technology in a responsible and sustainable way.”
And we, jokingly and earnestly, applauded their efforts:
“That’s right, they’re tackling the problem “in a responsible and sustainable way.” And they’re calling the mining chips “accelerators” for some reason.”
However, the Intel CEO raises doubts. “We want to work with the industry to find ways that technologies like blockchain can be properly regulated, managed, as well. So they truly can be fully realized,” he said. Forgetting that Intel just arrived to the space and was here to make chips.
“This is one of those areas that, yeah, we’re going to work on fixing this one. Because this is a powerful technology. An immutable leveraged digitized entry system can transform currency, transactions, supply chain, so, yeah, this one is exciting.”
This man doesn’t have the faintest clue about bitcoin’s real power. And, what’s an “immutable leveraged digitized entry system” anyway? There’s a popular saying in the bitcoin community: “You don’t change bitcoin. Bitcoin changes you.” It seems like Intel is going to find that to be true the hard way.
Featured Image: Gelsinger on Bloomberg, screenshot from this video| Charts by TradingView
NewsBTC
Intel Announces Mining Chips’ First Clients: BLOCK, Argo Blockchain, and GRIID
Intel ’s play to get into the bitcoin mining market might end up being the story of the year. In a post titled “Blockchain and the New Custom Compute Group,” Raja Koduri reveals a little of the company’s playbook. At Intel, he’s the senior vice president and general manager of the Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group.
Related Reading | Jack Dorsey’s Block To Democratize Bitcoin Mining With Open Source Mining System
In the article, Koduri says, “we are focusing our efforts on realizing the full potential of blockchain by developing the most energy-efficient computing technologies at scale.” Intel’s play is deeper and harder than previously thought. They’re going all-in in the blockchain business. With a twist that every corporation is claiming for.
“Today, we at Intel are declaring our intent to contribute to the development of blockchain technologies, with a roadmap of energy-efficient accelerators. Intel will engage and promote an open and secure blockchain ecosystem and will help advance this technology in a responsible and sustainable way.”
That’s right, they’re tackling the problem “in a responsible and sustainable way.” And they’re calling the mining chips “accelerators” for some reason. Will the name catch on?
“Intel Labs has dedicated decades of research into reliable cryptography, hashing techniques and ultra-low voltage circuits. We expect that our circuit innovations will deliver a blockchain accelerator that has over 1000x better performance per watt than mainstream GPUs for SHA-256 based mining.”
This new line of Intel products responds directly to the ESG, bitcoin-consumes-too-much-energy FUD, crowd. Soon enough, they’ll have to face Intel ’s PR machine. How can bitcoin consume too much energy if Intel’s product “has over 1000x better performance per watt than mainstream GPUs for SHA-256 based mining”?
BTC price chart on Bitbay | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Who Are Intel ’s First Clients?
We can’t prove it, but, all of these companies probably knew years ago about Intel’s plans to release a bitcoin mining chip. Again, Raja Koduri:
“Our blockchain accelerator will ship later this year. We are engaged directly with customers that share our sustainability goals. Argo Blockchain, BLOCK (formerly known as Square) and GRIID Infrastructure are among our first customers for this upcoming product. This architecture is implemented on a tiny piece of silicon so that it has minimal impact to the supply of current products.”
When NewsBTC analyzed Intel’s chip announcement, we summarized the situation as:
“This could be huge. Intel plans to enter the Bitcoin mining space with a cleverly marketed “ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient” ASIC chip. Considering that the chip shortage severely delayed the next generation of ASIC miners, this is tremendous. And, more importantly, it opens up the door for Bitcoin miners manufacturing in the USA. And in the rest of the Western world, even. ”
After that, we analyzed the situation’s implications:
“Now, the open-source Bitcoin miner that Jack Dorsey’s Block is working on makes a lot more sense. Theoretically, the silicon chip is the only part of an ASIC machine that can’t be bought in a hardware store. With that problem solved, by no less than an industry leader with immense manufacturing power, the sky’s the limit. If this whole thing materializes, expect a huge leap forward in the further decentralization of Bitcoin mining.”
Notice how Block is one of the first clients. And how Intel had the energy-efficient ASIC chip marketing ready from the get-go. And how Koduri even addressed the chip shortage in the last line there.
Intel’s Bonanza Chip’s Future
Reading between the lines, it’s clear that this is not a secondary project for Intel. They have high hopes for this low-energy chips play. Here, Koduri discusses the Custom Compute Group:
“The objective of this team is to build custom silicon platforms optimized for customers’ workloads, including blockchain and other custom accelerated supercomputing opportunities at the edge.
Onward, we aspire to leverage technologies from our zetta-scale computing initiative to deliver energy-efficient solutions.”
Related Reading | Green Energy: In NY, Bitcoin Mining Saved The Oldest Working Hydroelectric Plant
You read it here first, Intel ’s play to get into the bitcoin mining market might end up being the story of the year.
This is not financial advice, though.
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NewsBTC
Intel To Present Low Voltage, Energy Efficient Bitcoin Mining Chip At Conference
This could be huge. Intel plans to enter the Bitcoin mining space with a cleverly marketed “ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient” ASIC chip. Considering that the chip shortage severely delayed the next generation of ASIC miners, this is tremendous. And, more importantly, it opens up the door for Bitcoin miners manufacturing in the USA. And in the rest of the Western world, even.
Related Reading | Why Did China Ban Bitcoin Mining? Here Are The Seven Leading Theories
In December, Raja Koduri hinted at Intel’s intention to get into the Bitcoin mining space. Even though he’s the chief architect and senior vice president of Intel’s architecture, graphics and software division, no one expected Intel to deliver so soon.
Intel jumping into the #Bitcoin mining ASIC manufacturing is a huge. We need way more chip fab in the USA. It will result in:
– Improved National Security– Supply Chain robustness
And it will also result in less reliance on Taiwan, who is being threatened by China aggression.
— Dennis Porter (@Dennis_Porter_) January 18, 2022
Details are scarce. There’s nothing on Intel’s official site. A quick search reveals that “Access to additional search results for “bonanza” is restricted”. However, we have the 411 on the project that goes by the code name “Bonanza Mine.”
What Do We Know About Intel ’s “Bonanza Mine”?
The product will be an “ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient Bitcoin mining ASIC.” According to Tom’s Hardware, the page that broke the news, Intel will reveal their new chip at:
“The ISSCC conference is a yearly gathering of the best and brightest minds in the chip industry. This year, Intel has a presentation scheduled in the ‘Highlighted Chip Releases’ category to outline a new “Bonanza Mine” processor, a new chip described as an “ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient Bitcoin mining ASIC.”
Apparently, Intel has been developing the product since at least 2018, when they registered “a patent for a specialized processing system that uses an optimized SHA-256 datapath.”According to Tom’s Hardware, “Intel has a wealth of experience in hardware-assisted SHA-256 algorithms due to the use of these instructions in its CPU products.”
This is huge news!
More competition in the hardware mining sector is welcome pic.twitter.com/C7I1FQJxH6
— Dan Held (@danheld) January 18, 2022
A more recent indication of the company’s intentions came when the already mentioned Intel executive Raja Koduri “appeared on popular streamer Dr. Lupo’s show.” He told him point-blank:
“Being able to do much more efficient blockchain validation at a much lower cost, much lower power, is a pretty solvable problem. And you know, we are working on that, and at some point in time, hopefully not too far into the future, we will kinda share some interesting hardware for that.”
BTC price chart for 01/18/2022 on Bitstamp | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Why Is This Development Important?
Until now, ASIC Bitcoin miners manufacturing is controlled by Bitmain and Microbt, with Canaan, Strongu, and Ebang handling a minority of the market. All of those companies are Chinese. The chips are all made in Taiwan and South Korea. This poses a centralization problem for the Bitcoin network that seemed unsolvable until Intel’s soft announcement.
Now, the open-source Bitcoin miner that Jack Dorsey’s Block is working on makes a lot more sense. Theoretically, the silicon chip is the only part of an ASIC machine that can’t be bought in a hardware store. With that problem solved, by no less than an industry leader with immense manufacturing power, the sky’s the limit. If this whole thing materializes, expect a huge leap forward in the further decentralization of Bitcoin mining.
Intel, a 0 billion industry leader, is preparing to launch ASIC hardware for bitcoin mining.
Bitcoin is a computer network. Every technology company will eventually plug themselves into it. https://t.co/pbTFiRqx0B
— Pomp (@APompliano) January 18, 2022
Also, Intel’s announcement certainly legitimizes Bitcoin mining as a business to watch for the next 100 years. As podcaster Anthony Pompliano said, “Bitcoin is a computer network. Every technology company will eventually plug themselves into it.” With this announcement, Bitcoin not only gets Intel’s seal of approval. The giant company now has skin in the game.
Related Reading | Intel, Microsoft Took 10+ Years to See Gains, Crypto Investors in Good Position
To close this off, let’s quote Tom’s Hardware one more time:
“For now, it isn’t clear if Intel will release the Bonanza Mine chip as a product for the public or if it remains confined to a research project. However, given that the chip is in the “highlighted Chip Releases: Digital/ML” track and Koduri’s comments, it’s logical to expect that these chips will be offered to customers in the near future.”
So, everything we said is not a done deal just yet. It smells good, though.
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NewsBTC
Microsoft, Intel Back Ethereum-Based Token to Reward Consortium Efforts
The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance has created a token to incentivize firms to participate in consortiums. The system is backed by Microsoft and Intel.nn
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Enterprise Ethereum Alliances Reward Token System Backed by Microsoft, Intel
n Microsoft and Intel are backing a new system of reward tokens created by the Enterprise Ethereum Alliancen
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