The Bitfury Group, a San Francisco-based blockchain technology solutions company, has launched a new generation of bitcoin mining hardware based on its newest bitcoin mining ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) chip 'Bitfury Clarke'. An ASIC chip is custom designed for a specific application. It is customized for an application and hence can be designed to meet the power and performance of that specific application.
The new 14nm Bitfury Clarke ASIC chip, according to the company, is fully customized for SHA256 bitcoin mining. It further describes the chip stating that it can execute a hash rate up to 120 Giga hashes per second (GH/s) and a power efficiency rate as low as 55 millijoules per Giga hash (mJ/GH) and the supply voltage required by Bitfury Clarke can be as low as 0.3 volts. In short, the ASIC chip is claimed to be energy-efficient and designed to keep mining operation low-cost and environmentally responsible.
The company says that the Bitfury Clarke ASIC offers the strongest performance characteristics among bitcoin mining chips and is unparalleled in performance and efficiency. Bitfury is also planning to integrate Bitfury Clarke into its other industry-leading bitcoin mining hardware, including its mining servers and BlockBoxes, as well as in its own bitcoin mining centers in Canada, Norway, Iceland and the Republic of Georgia. Valery Vavilov, CEO of Bitfury, said:
“Bitfury is looking at all factors, including silicon packaging, chip efficiency, optimal power distribution, cooling designs and speed of development when designing our mining hardware. We think that this will lead to solutions that deliver the best ROI [return on investment] to our customers — regardless of ASIC size.”
Founded in 2011, Bitfury is the security and infrastructure provider for the Bitcoin Blockchain. It also designs and produces hardware that keeps cryptocurrencies and blockchains secure, including custom semiconductor chips and mobile data centers. Bitfury is also a software provider for the some of the applications through its private blockchain framework, Exonum, its advanced analytics platform Crystal Blockchain, and its specialized engineering team for the open-source Lightning Network, LightningPeach.
Last month, China-based second largest producer of bitcoin mining rigs, reportedly launched the world's first bitcoin mining television set, called 'AvalonMiner Inside'. The set has a hash rate (computing rate) of 2.8 trillion hashes per second whereas the most powerful mining hardware my Canaan has a hash rate of 11 trillion hashes per second. It also released a 7-nanometer (7 nm) chips in the 30T Avalonminer A9, a Bitcoin mining device which doubles up as a household heater.
Also Read: Nvidia Exits the Crypto-Mining Industry
Earlier this month, the price of Bitcoin surged to an all-time high of $24,000 on an Iranian cryptocurrency exchange EXIR, after its President Hassan Rouhani approved the plans to make cryptocurrency mining a mainstream industry in the country.