Jack Dorsey (the founder of Twitter) announced that Block Inc., formerly Square was looking into joining the bitcoin mining market in mid-October 2021. Three months later, Dorsey tweeted that his firm was “officially building an open bitcoin mining system.”
The Block’s Hardware General Manager: ‘We See Bitcoin Mining as a Long-Term Need for a Future That Is Fully Decentralized and Permissionless’
Jack Dorsey and the Block’s hardware general manager Tom Templeton discussed the company’s focus on bitcoin mining this week. Templeton explainedThree months ago, the Block had hinted that it would build a Bitcoin mining system. The firm eventually decided to enter the field.
Templeton insists the goal is to make mining “more distributed and efficient in every way” and this includes maintenance, purchases, and setting up. “We’re interested because mining goes far beyond creating new bitcoin. We see it as a long-term need for a future that is fully decentralized and permissionless,” Templeton tweeted.
They found that there are several issues people have to deal with in regards to Bitcoin mining. These include availability of mining rigs, reliability and machine performance. “Some mining rigs generate unwanted harmonics in the power grid,” Templeton said. “They’re also very noisy, which makes them too loud for home use.”
Templeton further added that the company has evaluated a number of “IP blocks, open-source miner firmware, and other system software offerings.”
Moreover, the Block’s hardware team is building out a crew of application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and software designers. Templeton also noted that the company is hiring analog designers and layout engineers.
Data on January 16, 2022, shows there’s only a handful of ASIC bitcoin mining rig manufacturers today including Bitmain, Ebang, Canaan, Microbt, Innosilicon, Ipollo, and Strongu. Today’s top machines, in terms of profit per day and SHA256 terahash performance, are made by Bitmain, Ipollo, Microbt, and Canaan.
Bitmain Antminer S19 Pro can run between $10K and $15K for a single unit (100 TH/s). This machine, in particular, using today’s BTC exchange rates and $0.12 per kilowatt-hour in electricity will generate an estimated $16.23 per day in profits.
What do you think about Jack Dorsey’s payment company the Block getting into bitcoin mining? Please comment below to let us know your thoughts on this topic.
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