We fidget like fleas in the cryptosphere. Semiconductor giant Intel is to unveil an “ultra-low-voltage, energy-efficient” dedicated bitcoin processor. The Holy Grail for greener and more economical mining? Not so fast.
A chance discovery while reading the program of a conference. This is how the specialized site Tom’s Hardware presents the ‘case. By looking at the special events that will take place at the end of February 2022 during the ISSCC, the American high mass for electronic engineers, an appointment piques curiosity.
A dozen researchers working for Intel have planned to unveil a new high-performance integrated circuit (ASIC) to mine bitcoin . Hardware that is both less power-hungry and more technologically efficient.
In the absence of an official reaction from the semiconductor giant for the moment, the rumor mill and the social network promise factory is obviously racing. Especially since the Intel scientists were able to put the flea in the ear by entitling their intervention “Bonanza Mine”, an assumed reference to a vein in New Mexico, historically known for its abundance in precious minerals.
⚡️The Techno Giant # Intel is going to unveil an “ultra-low-voltage, energy-efficient ASIC” for Bitcoin. In other words, an integrated circuit designed for power-efficient mining. Whether it’s a consumer product or a research project remains to be seen.
-via @tomshardware pic.twitter.com/QsdAGp3w7C— Francois Remy (@francois_remy) January 18, 2022
R&D for several years
In the early days of bitcoin, hobbyist miners used standard CPUs to participate in the network. As the difficulty of mining increased, the various players learned to adapt their means, resorting to more powerful graphics processing units (GPUs). But the ecosystem had to quickly become industrialized and ASICs appeared around 2012.
Bitcoin since requires hardware accelerators, said ASICs, which are certainly powerful but require a lot of energy. These ASICs process data inherent in cryptographic communication (such as nonces embedded in blocks —for number only used once—that miners calculate to operate the transactions). Despite advances, hardware accelerators still sequence transactions in multiple redundant steps. Optimization work keeps more and more engineers busy.
The giant Intel does not suddenly arrive in this area of crypto rich in announcement effects. Its teams have been working on the subject for several years now. Since 2018, Intel has even held a patent for this famous technology intended to improve support for bitcoin’s own (SHA-256 secure hash) algorithm. And two of the patented inventors just happen to be on the list of speakers expected at the ISSCC next month.