According to CryptoPotato, Block Inc., the fintech company led by Jack Dorsey, has announced the completion of its advanced Bitcoin mining chip. This marks a significant milestone for the company's mining project. The three nanometre (3mn) Bitcoin mining chip is now undergoing its full design tapeout with a leading semiconductor foundry. The chip will utilize the most advanced semiconductor process currently available, aiming to deliver the performance required for mining operators of all types to survive and thrive in the fifth mining epoch and beyond.
The fifth mining epoch began last Friday after Bitcoin block 840,000, reducing Bitcoin’s fixed block subsidy from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block. This decrease marks a significant cut to miner revenues, necessitating that miners acquire the most energy-efficient equipment to stay effective. Many public mining firms have noted that small-scale, at-home Bitcoin mining would become more competitive after the Bitcoin halving, if not outright impossible to do economically. In response to this trend, Dorsey announced his firm’s Bitcoin mining ambitions in early 2022, aiming to keep both Bitcoin’s hash rate and the distribution of mining hardware as decentralized as possible.
Block Inc. is continuing to incorporate feedback from the Bitcoin and mining industry into its chip design. Upon launch, the company will become the first Bitcoin mining hardware vendor with a solution of its kind. The company hopes this will help unlock mining system innovation and support the development of new mining system form factors and use cases. In addition to the mining chip, the company is also working on a full Bitcoin mining system of its own design and is still seeking design feedback on this system in areas related to reliability, maintenance, and software features.
In other efforts to aid Bitcoin development, Jack Dorsey and Block have financed legal protection for Bitcoin developers and pioneered Bitcoin-based tips over Twitter. Block also unveiled its Bitcoin hardware wallet 'Bitkey' last year, which provides multi-signature cold storage Bitcoin custody in a way that’s usable for crypto newcomers.