Block, formerly known as Square, a payments firm, has revealed its plans to develop a Bitcoin mining system in response to the challenges faced by mining operators. In a blog post on April 23, Block announced that it had successfully developed a three-nanometer chip specifically designed for BTC mining, which led to the company’s decision to create a “full Bitcoin mining system.” Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Block (previously Square), had previously proposed a collaborative approach to decentralize Bitcoin mining in October 2021.
Block stated that they had extensively consulted with various bitcoin miners to understand the difficulties encountered by mining operators. Based on these insights and their objective of supporting mining decentralization, Block intends to offer both a standalone mining chip and a complete mining system that they have designed themselves.
In May 2023, Block completed the prototype design of a five-nanometer BTC mining chip. At that time, they expressed concerns about the centralization of chip development in the hands of a few companies, emphasizing its harmful effects on the ecosystem. They invited the mining community to provide additional feedback on the system, particularly regarding challenges related to purchasing miners, maintenance, transparency, and software issues.
In 2023, Intel announced its plan to discontinue shipping its Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) mining chips in April as part of cost-cutting measures. These chips are commonly used for mining proof-of-work cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin.
The recent Bitcoin halving on April 19 reduced the block reward for miners from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. This event is expected to have a significant impact on the market as miners now compete for fewer rewards for the same amount of work until the next halving, which is projected to occur in four years.
In other news, there are concerns that Bitcoin’s path is conflicting with promises of achieving “Net Zero” emissions.