The giant Intel has (partially) announced its new processor dedicated to Bitcoin: Bonanza Mine. A processor described as an Asic chip, more efficient and environmentally friendly.
According to Griid, a company specializing in Bitcoin mining, this is a new generation of chips that allow more economical mining for the miner, but also more environmentally friendly because of the specificity of Asics.
Asics (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits) are ultra-low voltage chips specially programmed for cryptocurrency mining. They are known to optimize their tasks, unlike CPUs and GPUs.
The first images of the bitcoin-mining machine have been leaked, but it is not yet known at what precise stage of development the product is, although Intel has shown shots exposing some assembled machines.
It’s also unclear whether the product will be aimed at the general public or whether it’s a research project, although the former seems the more likely scenario. Bitcoin miners should now carefully follow the American company to wait for the official launch.
As you know, efficiency is a key consideration for the Bitcoin network miner. Bitcoin protocol validators must have sustainable computing power if they hope to win a miner award. Its power consumption must be as low as possible if the miner wants to maximize his investment.
What do we know about the features of this next-generation chip?
Intel doesn’t seem to want to play with the little guys and this player didn’t come out of nowhere. In fact, its teams have been working on it for several years, as evidenced by a patent held since 2018 by Intel.
This document proves that the company has held a patent since November 27, 2018, allowing it to protect its new technology designed to make the SHA-256 hashing algorithm more efficient). The intel researchers developed a novel structure for the circuits and data paths that would physically and arithmetically reduce the number of calculations required.
In addition, the chip designed for bitcoin mining would also be smaller than its predecessors. This set should lead to a reduction in energy requirements for mining of the order of 15%.
According to representatives of the Griid company, the new chip would have the following characteristics: 135 terahash/second (TH/s) at an energy efficiency of 26 joules/terahash (J/TH). This has not been officially confirmed.
If these words were to be true, this new machine should surpass the Bitmain S19 Pro, which operates with a hash rate of 198 TH/s with an efficiency of 27.5 J/TH. However, it would still be behind the Antminer S19J XP (140 TH/s at 24 J/TH).
For the time being, nothing is known about a possible release date. It is also not known whether or not several models, with different characteristics, will be offered to the general public.
