Financial technology conglomerate Block has closed the first order for its new mining chips. According to a July 10 announcement, Block will supply its new 3-nanometer (3nm) mining application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) to Bitcoin miner Core Scientific.
The companies have not disclosed the deal’s financials, but the purchase is expected to add nearly 15 exahashes per second (EH/s) of hashrate to Core’s mining capacity — currently at 24.6 EH/s.
Core Scientific and Block have been working on the new chips for the past few months, with the miner firm providing inputs for a modular platform designed to scale for mining operators.
The collaboration was led by Block’s Proto team, which is behind the company’s mining tools and wallet. “This agreement is a good example of how we envision our mining products pushing forward the advancement and decentralization of the mining industry,” said Thomas Templeton, lead of the Proto team at Block.
Block’s pivot to mining
Jack Dorsey’s Block is one of the biggest fintech players in the industry. The company is behind popular payment gateways such as Square and Cash App, but since 2021, it has moved to tackle challenges around Bitcoin (BTC) mining amid a global chip shortage.
In October 2021, the company started developing its own semiconductor chips. By early 2023, it had completed a prototype design for a 5nm Bitcoin mining chip, disclosing plans to make mining technology “open source by selling standalone ASICs and other hardware components.”
Bitcoin mining requires significant computational resources to solve complex cryptographic problems, validate transactions, and secure the network. Smaller, more efficient 3nm chips can enhance the processing of mining hardware while reducing energy consumption.
Block has previously described its endeavor on ASIC rigs as costly and complex. It claims that a small number of companies control a large portion of the specialized Bitcoin mining silicon, leading to a concentration of BTC mining technology.
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