In addition to exhibiting the 'blockchain accelerator' chip, Intel also exhibited a Bitcoin mining machine with a maximum power of 3,600 watts.
This machine uses at least 300 BMZ1 'Bonanza Mine' chips which in total have a hash rate of up to 40 terahash per minute. In comparison, the Antminer S19j miner from Bitmain has a hash rate of 90 terahashes per second with 3,100 watts of power.
Even Bitmain claims to have a new miner with a water cooler that has a hash rate of 198 terahas per second with a power consumption of 5,445 watts, as quoted by Techspot, Tuesday (22/2/2022).
In terms of mining speed, Intel's Bonanza Mine is not very attractive compared to its competitors. But on the other hand, the BMZ1 chip is relatively small (7x7.5mm), which means that up to 4,000 chips can be made per wafer.
So it is not impossible that the chip production costs will be lower. Intel is also developing a second-generation blockchain accelerator chip, which has a better performance-per-watt ratio than the Bonanza Mine.
So far, two companies have ordered this Intel technology, namely a Bitcoin mining company named Griid and Block, a fintech company created by Jack Dorsey, previously called Square.
"We expect our circuit innovation to deliver a blockchain accelerator that has 1000x better performance per watt than using mainstream GPUs for SHA-256-based mining," said Raja Koduri, Intel Senior Vice President.
SHA-256 is the algorithm used by Bitcoin and several other cryptocurrencies.
So far, crypto mining has at least one big problem. Namely the impact of crypto mining on the environment, because of its large power consumption. In addition, large crypto mines usually get their power from coal-fired power plants and natural gas, which are feared to harm the environment.
Even this mining also contributes to the high cost of electricity and can also lead to a lack of electricity supply in certain areas.