Intel prepares chip for cryptocurrency mining

Intel is entering the digital cryptocurrency hardware market by creating a new mining chip called the Bonanza Mine. “Team Blue” is rumored to present the new processor at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC 2022). 

The ISSCC will be held online from February 20 to 24. Last year, the conference used a hybrid format, with some companies choosing to present their discussion in person, while others in digital. However, with Omnicron expanding around the world and governments stopping travel to several locations, the committee decided to be completely digital this year to keep up with this change.

The ISSCC conference is being promoted as “the most important global forum for presenting progress in semiconductor cars and SoC". The conference offers a unique opportunity for engineers working on the design and application of IC to network with leading experts.

On February 23, 2022, at 7 am (PST), Intel will present its discussion in a live presentation "Bonanza Mine: Ultra-Low-Voltage Energy-Efficient Bitcoin Mining ASIC". An application-specific integrated circuit, or ASIC, is an integrated chip designed for a specific purpose, in this case, the mining of the digital currency Bitcoin. Intel's new processor will enable low levels of power consumption and remain very efficient while helping with bitcoin mining. There is an expectation that Intel could put itself in direct competition with Bitmain in the specialized market for bitcoin mining.

Bitmain offers specialized hardware to digital currency miners for more efficient use. As Intel approaches its designs for ASIC Bitcoin mining, Bitmain will have to provide something different that Intel cannot offer for digital currency mining.

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Intel hopes to discourage all graphics card users, especially potential ARC Alchemist consumers, from using their latest cards for mining purposes. The company knew that the need for Intel's crypto mining option would be necessary for the future and remain competitive with other major manufacturers, such as AMD and NVIDIA. Bitcoin cannot use graphics cards for mining purposes, which is why this step by Intel is so crucial. Their graphics cards are currently digging into digital currencies such as Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies.

Intel did not release any information before their presentation next week, for example, whether "Bonanza Mine" is considered a research project of the company or will be available for future use. There is little speculation that this will be a planned release in the future, as the presentation falls into the category of "Highlighted Chip Releases: Digital / ML".