Intel said it is ending production of its Blocksale chips, dedicated to Bitcoin mining.
Summary
Bitcoin mining and the discontinuation of production of Intel’s Blocksale chips
According to reports by CoinDesk, big tech Intel has reportedly declared that it is ending its production of its series of chips dedicated to Bitcoin mining.
These are the so-called Intel Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC chips that will apparently see their end of production soon.
And indeed, an Intel spokesperson stated the following:
“As we prioritize our investments in IDM 2.0, we have end-of-lifed the Intel Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC [application specific integrated circuit] while we continue to support our Blockscale customers.”
Still, Intel’s chips could have broken an effective duopoly in the dedicated Bitcoin mining market, dominated mainly by Bitmain and MicroBT.
Still, the company said it will continue to monitor market opportunities, perhaps to unveil a new design.
Bitcoin mining: no more Blocksale chip orders from 20 October 2023
Following with the statements, it seems that Intel already knows the expiration date for its Blocksale chips.
And in fact, in this regard, the spokesperson said that after 20 October 2023, no more new orders will be accepted. Not only that, the last product will be shipped by 20 April 2024.
Considering these dates, it can be said that Intel’s blocksales will have only 1 year and a few months to live. Indeed, it was April 2022 when Intel’s new Bitcoin mining ASIC was heralded.
Presented as an ultra-low voltage and high energy efficiency tool by the company itself, Intel’s signature chips had already been praised by other industry giants. Such as cryptocurrency mining company, Hive Blockchain Technologies, which had claimed that Blocksale had the potential to increase the company’s hashrate by up to 95%.
The proposed law in the US Congress
Last month, the US Congress proposed a new law in favor of Bitcoin mining. That proposal saw Proof-of-Work (PoW) contributing to energy goals and growth of the country’s economy.
A true revelation about the importance of Bitcoin mining, which until now has been totally denigrated, especially on the issue of its energy consumption and environmental sustainability.
Instead, supporting the mining of BTC and all PoW cryptocurrencies was Pete Sessions, who defines it as an essential process that allows a blockchain network to remain reliable, open and decentralized.
On energy consumption, Sessions said that concerns are unwarranted, as this consumption is transparent and verifiable. And in fact, according to Sessions’ resolution, the energy impact of the practice is 0.14% of the total energy supply.
What’s more, Bitcoin mining would improve the overall economic viability of renewable energy projects because of its ability to utilize excess supply.
