The leading microprocessor manufacturer based in California – Intel Corporation has taken an interest in coming up and developing hardware with the focus on mining Bitcoin [BTC] that would support mostly individual and small time miners to turn-in more profit.
Based on a released Patent Application on March 29th, Intel is attracted very much towards the creation of specialized hardware for mining Bitcoin. The information describes a BTC mining accelerator which patent application was filed on Sep 23rd, 2016.
“A System on Chip implementing a Bitcoin mining hardware accelerator [which] may include a processor core and a hardware accelerator coupled to the processor core.” The hardware accelerator is intended to “mine digital currency,” and “may include a first computational block, including a message digest datapath,” as well as “a second computational block.”
To simple it out – the new hardware would make mining more profitable by making it first less energy spending.
For the time being, Bitcoin mining is being dominated by Bitmain Technologies Ltd., which is based with its HQ in Beijing China. Parallel with running the largest mining pools for Bitcoin, ASIC chips and mining hardware that use the chips are manufactured. The profit that was gained in this way by Bitmain in 2017 was around $3-$4 billion.
But, if everything goes by plan – Intel will be showcasing major competition for the centralized mining monopoly that Bitmain has become. Based on the patent filing, Intel has developed a way to lower the power consumed and the space utilized for Bitcoin mining hardware.
Bitcoin mining is currently incredibly energy-inefficient and has proven to be less profitable the more the price of Bitcoin decreases. This, in turn, has forced out many small-time miners while increasing the stranglehold on the sector by large-scale operations, such as Bitmain.
However, individuals and small-time mining could become once again profitable with the new technology that should be introduced in the new future by Intel. Accordingly it will help wrest control for the grasp of the mining giants.
President of Velocity Micro – a Richmond Virginia Intel partner and system builder – Randy Copeland, stated to CRN:
Once this new Intel technology comes to market, ultimately more people will mine again because it’s profitable again, driving down the market value of the coins, and finding a new market balance that will again put locations with lower electricity costs back at the advantage.
