Intel says its new encryption chip aims to improve energy efficiency
Intel is using a new chip investment blockchain technology aimed at mining cryptocurrencies (through Reuters). The company focuses on sustainable development and plans to "develop the most energy-efficient computing technologies on a large scale".
Intel's first chip, called the Block chain Accelerator, which focuses on encryption, will be available later this year. Two companies have ordered the technology, including bitcoin mining companies GRIID Infrastructures and Block, and a financial technology company owned by Jack Dorsey, formerly known as Square.
The impact of encrypted currency mining on the environment has become a huge problem.
"We expect our circuit innovation to provide a blockchain accelerator with more than 1000 times higher performance per watt than mainstream GPU in SHA-256-based mining," Intel Senior Vice President Raja Koduri explained in the announcement, referring to the algorithms used by SHA-256 hashes to generate bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies.
Intel said more information about the chip would be announced at the International Conference on solid-State Circuits, which begins on February 20. As PCMag points out, the company plans to release a presentation (PDF) entitled "Bonanza Mine: ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient bitcoin mining ASIC" on ISCC on February 23. ASIC or application-specific integrated circuits are chips designed for a specific task, such as cryptocurrency mining.
The impact of cryptocurrency mining on the environment has become a huge problem, and Intel's new chip may be an attempt to solve this problem. Power-consuming mining equipment usually gets energy from coal and natural gas plants, which can damage the environment and lead to high electricity costs and power outages. U. S. lawmakers even raised the issue in Congress to discuss how to address the rising energy consumption associated with mining encryption, and even asked bitcoin companies to disclose how much energy they consumed.
