Intel is investing in blockchain technology to develop a new chip designed for mining cryptocurrencies. The company is focused on sustainability and plans to "develop the most energy-efficient computing technology at scale."
This is the first crypto chip developed by Intel, which the company calls a "blockchain accelerator," and will be released later this year. Two companies have already booked the technology, including bitcoin mining firm GRIID Infrastructures and Block, Jack Dorsey’s fintech company formerly known as Square.
"We expect our circuit innovations to deliver blockchain accelerators with more than 256 times the performance per watt of mainstream SHA-1000-based mining GPUs," said Intel senior vice president Raja Koduri. He was referring to the SHA-256 hashing algorithm used to generate Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies.
Intel said more information about the chip will be announced at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, which begins on February 20. As noted by PCMag, the company plans to present a presentation (PDF) titled "Bonanza Mine: An Ultra-Low Voltage Energy-Efficient Bitcoin Mining ASIC" at ISCC on February 23. An ASIC or application-specific integrated circuit is a chip designed for a specific task, such as cryptocurrency mining.
The environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining has become a huge problem, and Intel's new chips could be an attempt to address the problem. General mining rig often draws energy from coal and natural gas plants, which can harm the environment and also lead to high electricity costs and blackouts. U.S. lawmakers have even raised the issue in Congress to discuss how to address rising energy consumption associated with mining crypto, even requiring Bitcoin companies to disclose how much energy they consume.
The content of the article comes from the Internet. Organized and published by this site.
Comments