Bitcoin mining first used the central processing units of home computers, which were designed for general use. Mining is the process by which a limited number of bitcoins are mined by miners. That is, essentially, those who solve cryptographic puzzles to verify transactions on the blockchain. Subsequently, graphics processing units (GPUs) began to be used as the puzzles became more difficult. Still a little later, application-specific integrated circuits took center stage. Today, “mining pools,” which consist of multiple ASIC data centers, are the most widely used way to mine bitcoins.
What are the ASIC rules?
The most profitable ASIC on the market today is the Antminer S19 Pro. It is made by Bitmain, a company specializing in mining hardware. At the heart of the ASIC is a very sophisticated computer chip designed to exploit the SHA-256 code.
SHA-256 refers to a cryptographic hash function used to authenticate transactions. Miners look for machines with low power consumption and using the SHA-256 cryptographic hash function. Cryptography is the art of hiding data using special mathematical techniques. Intel is now targeting the miner market, launching a blockchain accelerator optimized for SHA-256, whose performance per watt is said to be more than 1,000 times greater than that of GPUs used for SHA-256 mining.
Bitmain’s water-cooled ASIC is here – ANTMINER S19 Pro+ Hyd. 198TH/s
The new blockchain chip will ship later in 2022. Intel already has chip supply deals with Argo blockchain, Block (Jack Dorsey’s payments company, formerly Square), and GRIID Infrastructure. Could it be used in Block’s next open-source mining project? Time will tell us. The chip’s architecture, which is essentially the arrangement of its sub-circuits, is implemented on a small piece of silicon.
Decades of research in cryptography, hashing techniques, and ultra-low-voltage circuitry have enabled Intel to achieve this. Intel is also launching a new Custom Compute Group within its Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics business unit, which will design chips for various applications.
Smaller chips are more energy efficient
Reducing the size of a chip is one way to make the chip more energy efficient. Bitmain’s seven-nanometer (billionths of a meter) technology is currently the most efficient in the industry. The smaller the processor, the more transistors can be etched onto the raw silicon. This means that electricity travels a shorter distance between transistors on a chip to do practical work. This results in faster calculations, reduced power consumption and better heat dissipation.
It is not yet known how large Intel’s new block chip will be. The smallest chip they have offered is 10nm, while the 7nm chip is expected to hit the market in 2023.
Conclusion
It was only a matter of time before the same process that hit PC graphics cards and CPUs hit mining machines.
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