Intel is developing a chip designed to mine cryptocurrencies, according to a report from The Information. The company is reportedly working on a so-called “10-nanometer” chip that could be used in devices like smartphones and laptops. Cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual tokens that use cryptography to secure their transactions and to control the creation of new units. Bitcoin, the first and most well-known cryptocurrency, was created in 2009. Since then, dozens of other cryptocurrencies have been created. Mining cryptocurrencies involves solving complex mathematical problems with the help of specialised hardware. This process is called “mining” because it helps create new units of the currency. Miners who solve these problems can earn rewards in the form of cryptocurrency. Intel’s 10-nanometer chip could make mining more efficient than ever before. According to The Information, the chip could allow devices to mine cryptocurrencies at much higher speeds than current processors can handle. This could lead to increased demand for cryptocurrency mining hardware, which in turn could lead to increased prices for cryptocurrencies. While Intel’s 10-nanometer chip is still in development, it marks an important step forward for the company’s efforts to become a leading player in the cryptocurrency market. ..
Intel hyped up its new chip, which it calls a “blockchain accelerator,” by focusing on both performance and energy efficiency.
In the announcement for its new chip, Raja Koduri, Intel’s senior vice president, says, “We expect that our circuit innovations will deliver a blockchain accelerator that has over 1000x better performance per watt than mainstream GPUs for SHA-256 based mining.”
That’s a substantial amount of currency generated per watt of power used compared to graphics cards, which require significant energy to run.
Outside of the preliminary information about the chip, Intel says it will reveal more details about the chip at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, which runs from February 20 through February 24.
Mining cryptocurrency with graphics cards has led to two significant problems. First, there’s the environmental impact caused by all of these GPUs running all day. There’s also the difficulty of finding GPUs. Graphics cards are currently the best way to mine crypto, such as Bitcoin, which makes the cards more desirable. That, along with the chip shortage, makes finding GPUs almost impossible.
Hopefully, Intel’s crypto mining chip lives up to the company’s claims, as it could cause crypto miners to move over to it. That would decrease the strain on the environment and the graphics card shortage.
