Jack Dorsey’s Block Advances Bitcoin Mining Industry with New ASIC Prototype
On April 28, 2023, Block, a company owned by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, announced the completion of the prototype design of a 5-nanometer high-performance Bitcoin mining ASIC.
The US firm acknowledged the challenges of developing Bitcoin mining ASICs, both technically and financially, which resulted in a centralized supply chain. This centralization is deemed harmful to miners and the Bitcoin network.
The company has made significant advances in the past few months to experiment with design variants and provide affordable Bitcoin mining chips. Additionally, Block has purchased a batch of ASIC chips from Intel, which had suspended production of ASIC chips for Bitcoin mining earlier in March.
Block’s development of proprietary mining kits using 3-nanometer chips, the most advanced chip technology available, aims to leverage Intel’s decision to discontinue its Blockscale chips by April 2024.
Block’s goal is to be a key player in the Bitcoin mining industry and to transform the current mining dynamic with its open-sourced development of proprietary chips.
Unlike other mining equipment providers in the market, Block’s software aind programs are available to any person or company for testing, updating, and use in their own projects. Decentralizing the production of Bitcoin mining equipment is expected to benefit the Bitcoin network and ecosystem.
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In March, Block declared its intention to create a mining toolkit to expand access to Bitcoin mining. The ASIC chip’s primary component is the semiconductor chips, which will form the base of a complete range of Bitcoin mining items.
Furthermore, the mining kit will incorporate an industrial-grade Bitcoin mining board intended for use with custom control systems and third-party controllers like Raspberry Pi.
The recent BTC price increase has made Bitcoin mining profitable once again, prompting many miners to switch on their machines and benefit from the bull season.