Miners

Crypto User Builds a Mining Rig in the Back of His BMW Hybrid Car With Six Graphic Cards

28/01/2021 by Idelto Editor

A U.S. cryptocurrency miner installed a mining rig in a particular place with the motivation to “annoy gamers.” Simon Byrne installed the full infrastructure in the back of his BMW i8 hybrid car.

Miner Is Trying to Create a ‘Crypto Utopia’

According to PC Gamer, Byrne fit six Nvidia RTX 3080s graphic cards into the trunk of his car. The hybrid car’s internal battery provides the hardware power.

However, the car’s boot should remain open, or the whole mining rig setup will overheat, said the cryptocurrency miner. Hardware Times first spotted the BMW’s mining rig, who estimated that the car is worth $147,500 at the time it was acquired.

The electric vehicle is capable of accelerating to 100 kilometers per hour in just 4.4 seconds. Per Hardware Times’ report, the mining system is powered by an ASUS B250 Mining Expert board and an EVGA SuperNOVA 1600 T2 power supply.

Byrne claimed that he didn’t build the mining rig just for practical purposes. He just wanted to “annoy gamers.”

The miner says he is attempting to build a crypto “utopia” with the mining rig into his BMW i8. However, he didn’t elaborate on further details, said PC Gamer.

Byrne told Hardware Times that he owns another mining farm composed of 78 Geforce RTX 3080 graphics cards. The setup is capable of generating over $128,088 per year in profits. Photos show that the BMW i8 car has a Nevada license plate with “HODLER” highlighted on it.

Other Interesting Cases of Crypto Mining Setups

But this is not the first curious case of a crypto mining-related setup in the world. For instance, the concept of “cryptomatoes” born in March 2018. Kamil Brejcha, co-founder of the exchange Nakamoto X, published photos of tomatoes grown using excess heat from cryptocurrency miners.

The method aimed to channel the excess heat from the crypto mining for tomatoes’ sustenance, among other solutions. Brejcha wanted to point out that entrepreneurs could compile environmental-friendly methods into an “agriculture blockchain startup.”

Other rare uses for bitcoin (BTC) mining are found in the United States – specifically in Florida. During an interview with news.Bitcoin.com, electrical and computer engineering graduate of Cornell, Avi Aisenberg, said he acquired three Antminers and placed them in a distillery he owns.

The small mining setup goal was to take advantage of the 4000 W of exhaust heat to cycle his rum barrels’ temperature to accelerate the aging process. Of course, these types of cogeneration mining concepts are probably more useful to some observers than a BMW i8 hybrid car with a crypto miner built to simply “annoy gamers.”

What do you think about this curious crypto mining rig setup? Let us know in the comments section below.

Crypto Economy Shaves $100 Billion, Digital Asset Markets Recover Some Losses

22/01/2021 by Idelto Editor

Digital currency markets have dropped in value during the last two days as more than $100 billion was shaved off the entire crypto market valuation. Bitcoin slid to the lowest point of the year at $28,800 per unit on Thursday afternoon, and a number of other crypto-assets saw significant losses as well. Currently, as digital currency trading sessions head into the weekend, the crypto economy has regained some of the losses suffered during the last few days.

Crypto Markets Attempt to Heal

During the last 48 hours, the leading cryptocurrency in terms of market valuation has slid considerably in value. For instance, two days ago the price of bitcoin (BTC) was exchanging hands for $35,900 per coin and on Thursday afternoon (EST), the price dropped to $28,800 per unit. That’s a total loss of -19.77%, but BTC markets have rebounded since then and managed to climb right back over the $30k handle.

At the time of publication, bitcoin (BTC) is swapping at prices between $32,200 to $32,800 per coin and has a touch over a $600 billion market valuation.

On Friday there’s over $28 billion in global BTC trade volume, with tether (USDT) capturing 52% of all bitcoin trades today. BTC shed over 13% over the course of the week, but is still up 35% for the last 30 days. Over the 90-day span, BTC has gained 140% and 275% against the USD for 12 months. Following BTC’s lead is ethereum (ETH), as each ether is trading for $1,240 per unit. ETH’s market cap is currently hovering at around $140 billion during Friday morning’s (EST) trading sessions.

Behind tether’s (USDT) market valuation is polkadot (DOT) which is swapping for $17.36 per DOT. On January 22, XRP is currently trading for $0.27 per token and holds a $12 billion market capitalization. XRP is followed by cardano (ADA $0.34), litecoin (LTC $140.81), chainlink (LINK $21.37), bitcoin cash (BCH $448.74), and binance coin (BNB $40.57).

Bitcoin cash has a market valuation of around $8.1 billion and is down 12% during the last seven days. During the course of the month, BCH is up 56% and 56% for the 90-day span as well. Against the U.S. dollar over the course of the last 12 months, bitcoin cash (BCH) is up 32%.

Institutional Appetite for Bitcoin

In a note to investors, Etoro crypto analyst Simon Peters spoke about bitcoin’s (BTC) recent price movements and volatility. Peters said that lower prices could be “on the cards” but the analyst does not “believe it would last for long, [as] the cat is out of the bag with bitcoin.”

“This price movement is a perfectly natural correction, one which happens in all assets once the market has perceived them to be a little overbought,” Peters wrote. “And although the price is dropping, sitting at just over $31,000 at the time of writing, the demand for bitcoin is not.”

The Etoro crypto analyst added:

Appetite among institutional investors is still growing with the likes of investment trust Grayscale buying $600m of the crypto asset in a single day this week and Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, announced two of its funds will trade in bitcoin derivatives in the future.

Onchain Analyst Says Bitcoin Miners May Have Dumped

On Friday, the CEO of Cryptoquant, Ki-Young Ju detailed the recent sell-off may have been sparked by some mining pools selling. “This dump might have started from BTC miners in F2pool,” the Cryptoquant executive tweeted.

The onchain researcher also shared charts of the action which showed the Miners’ Position Index and miner to exchange inflows. “I got these bearish alerts yesterday,” Ki-Young Ju further added. “Miners’ Position Index went above 2.5, 569 people deposited BTC in a single block (10 min), [and] 78 miners deposited BTC in a single block (10 min).”

Growing FUD

No one truly knows what will happen from here in the land of crypto assets and the growing economy. During the last few weeks, lots of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) has been circulating wildly while crypto-assets like bitcoin (BTC) have been bullish.

So in 1 month we had:
✅ Mnuchin regulatory scare
✅ tether fud
✅ ledger hack
✅ Mt.Gox fud
✅ Yellen, Lagarde, Dragi scare
✅ Faketoshi nonsense
✅ scam & spam attacks
✅ bitcoin software bug bullshit

Some would say that is a bit too much coincidence. Just saying.

— PlanB (@100trillionUSD) January 22, 2021

There’s been considerable regulatory scares, uncertainty surrounding the Biden administration, negative comments from Janet Yellen and Christine Lagarde, Mt Gox discussions, environmental debates over proof-of-work, tether (USDT) controversy, and the recent Ledger customer data hack. Despite all the FUD, cryptocurrency proponents still seem very optimistic about the future of crypto assets in 2021.

Want to check out all the crypto market action with prices in real-time? Check out our crypto market aggregator at markets.Bitcoin.com.

What do you think about the recent crypto price action? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Rapid Profits: Bitcoin Hashrate Accelerates While Mining Difficulty Touches All-Time High

14/01/2021 by Idelto Editor

The Bitcoin network’s hashrate has been operating at very high processing speeds during the last few weeks, as the overall hashrate touched a whopping 171.2 exahash per second (EH/s) on Monday. Moreover, the network’s mining difficulty has also touched an all-time high (ATH) at 20.61 trillion, the highest difficulty the network has ever experienced in the last 12 years.

One aspect of the Bitcoin (BTC) network that people look at to measure the protocol’s overall health and growth is the hashrate. At the time of publication, the BTC hashrate is processing at speeds of around 165.38 EH/s and the miner’s collective hashpower has been nearing all-time highs again. For instance, on December 30, 2020, the network hashrate spiked to a colossal 178.6 EH/s and 12 days later the hashrate hit 171.2 EH/s.

What has surpassed its ATH is BTC’s network mining difficulty or difficulty adjustment algorithm (DAA). This week the mining difficulty is the highest the difficulty has ever been in Bitcoin’s lifetime to-date. After the significant price dip on Monday and the accelerated hashrate the same day, the protocol pushed the mining difficulty to 20.61T.

Because the hashrate is so high entering the second week of January 2021, the Bitcoin network’s difficulty will increase +9.98% or 22.66T, another ATH in less than two weeks. This will take place in roughly nine days from now, give or take, depending on the average output of blocks per day.

The BTC hashrate has increased a great deal over the years, as the entire network’s hashrate was only one exahash per second back in January 2016. On May 8, 2017, news.Bitcoin.com reported on the BTC network hashrate touching 4,216,797,036 GH/s or over 4 EH/s. Since then and through the 2018 and 2019 bear market, the Bitcoin hashrate has grown over 3,700%.

Before the May block reward halving, bitcoin miners got 12.5 BTC per block found but these days, a bitcoin mining pool only gets 6.25 BTC per block reward. Today’s 165 EH/s is the aggregate hashrate of all 18 bitcoin mining pools putting in “work” in the SHA256 “proof-of-work” consensus algorithm.

With a block reward found every ten minutes or so, the Bitcoin block inflation rate per annum is only 1.78% during the first month of 2021. So far, even with this week’s BTC price drop miners are still profiting a great deal by dedicating hashrate to the chain. Statistics show at even $0.12 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) more than 200 application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) devices that process the SHA256 algorithm are profiting today.

Bitcoin proponents are quite confident with the overall hashrate and security of the cryptocurrency network. In a thread about BTC confidence, the bitcoiner Pierre Rochard explained that if people are “confident about Bitcoin’s fundamentals, then the exchange rate volatility is just— a joyful melody.”

Rochard also said:

Confidence in being able to send bitcoin. Bitcoin’s global peer-to-peer network of nodes and the massive mining hashrate ensure that your bitcoin gets to where you are sending them without foreign interference.

Meanwhile, a number of dominant cryptocurrency exchanges are joining the mining industry. On Wednesday, the reporter Colin Wu (@Wublockchain) discussed how Huobi is entering the mining economy. “China’s largest exchange Huobi is about to start the sale of BTC mining machines,” Wu said.

“Investors can purchase machines + custody services. The lock-in period is two years. Chinese exchanges are entering the mining field more. The Binance mining pool, which was launched in 2020, once ranked second in the total BTC network, surpassing a large number of traditional mining pools,” the finance reporter from China added.

What do you think about Bitcoin’s increased hashrate and the difficulty’s all-time high? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Russian Oil Giant Provides Excess Gas to Operations Powering Bitcoin Mining Devices

10/01/2021 by Idelto Editor

The firm Gazpromneft, an oil subsidiary of the Russian natural gas and global energy company Gazprom, is giving bitcoin mining operations the chance to power operations by using excess gas for electricity. The Russian firm has allowed a small mining operation to benefit from the excess gas by mining bitcoin on-site at the oil field.

According to multiple reports, the Russian oil drilling subsidiary Gazpromneft is giving bitcoin miners the ability to utilize excess gas from oil drilling to mine the leading cryptocurrency.

A small mining operation called Vekus was the first to leverage Gazpromneft’s excess gas just like mining operations in North America such as Greenidge Generation, Crusoe Energy Systems, EZ Blockchain, and Upstream Data. The regional publication Forklog said that Vekus installed a container filled with 150 Antminers and during the test pilot the group used “49,500 cubic meters of associated gas and produced 1.8 BTC.”

The CFO of Vekus, Yuri Kudryashov, commented on the project and said:

The lion’s share of the cost of mining is electricity costs. For this reason, Vekus is constantly looking for reliable sources of cheap electricity. We gladly responded to the proposal of Gazpromneft to organize a pilot project at one of the fields.

Gazpromneft supplied the electricity processed from the excess natural gas and the electricity prices Vekus received were far cheaper than purchasing it directly from the grid. Reports also note that Vekus has handled all the equipment maintenance and collection of statistics as well. The Russian energy giant plans to invite more bitcoin miners to the facility so they can benefit from the excess natural gas.

Kudryashov detailed that the biggest hurdle the small mining operation faced was the coordination with the oil field’s employees and getting the necessary permits for the operation.

“Delivery of the equipment does not take too long. The main part of the work is the preparation of permits, coordination of actions with oilmen, installation of equipment, and connection to the field’s power grid,” Kudryashov stressed.

The Vekus executive further added:

At the same time, you have to solve problems that do not arise in the city: set up the Internet, build a hangar to protect equipment from dust, and organize the life of people who are involved in servicing the container.

The signs of bitcoin miners using excess gas and renewable energy sources to mine the cryptocurrency, cements the fact that the bitcoin mining industry is going industrial. Just like Gazpromneft offering miners a chance to leverage the excess gas to mine bitcoin, the New York-based company Greenidge Generation offered the same type of services last year.

The Greenidge operation is different, however, because it hosts its own 7,000 bitcoin miners, but in April 2020 the ‘behind-the-meter’ bitcoin mining operation sold 106 petahash of hashpower to an undisclosed buyer.

What do you think about Gazpromneft allowing bitcoin miners to benefit from the excess gas from the Russian oil field? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Clocking Terahash: Three Next-Generation Bitcoin Mining Rigs Launched During the Last Quarter

08/12/2020 by Idelto Editor

Just recently, the China-based bitcoin mining rig manufacturer Microbt released a new ASIC device that clocks up to 112 terahash per second (TH/s). The new machine is one of the top-performing mining rigs on the market, according to today’s network difficulty and electrical rates below $0.06 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Meanwhile, bitcoin mining rig manufacturing competitors like Strongu and Canaan have also released new products dedicated to SHA256 consensus algorithms.

While bitcoin markets have been on a recent tear, bitcoin mining profits have been significant during the last three months of 2020. This year, a number of new and next-generation miners have been released by firms like Bitmain, Microbt, and Canaan. The most profitable SHA256 mining rig today, one that can mine digital assets like BTC, BCH, and BSV, is the Bitmain Antminer S19 Pro, which clocks hashrate speeds of up to 110TH/s.

At a rate of $0.06 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and current bitcoin prices, the S19 Pro (110TH/s) Antminer pulls in a daily profit of around $10 per day for each unit. Bitmain released the Antminer Pro S19 in May 2020 and during the last quarter of the year, three more powerful bitcoin miners have been released.

For instance, the mining rig manufacturer Microbt has released the new Whatsminer M30S++. The new miner is the next iteration of the M30 versions and the website claims the “hash king” can process speeds of up to 112TH/s. The machine pulls 3,742W off the wall, according to specifications. The Whatsminer machine leverages Samsung-brand 12nm semiconductors. Interestingly, the previous Whatsminer M30S+ version (100TH/s) utilized 8nm Samsung chips. On Microbt’s official mining rig shop, the Whatsminer M30S++ is selling for $3,900 per unit.

The latest Microbt miner is much smaller than the S19 Pro and petite compared to Canaan’s new Avalonminer 1246 as well. On December 5, news.Bitcoin.com reported on how a great number of mining rig manufacturers have been out of stock when it comes to next-generation devices.

At that time, Microbt’s website indicated there was a 120-day wait until the product shipped after settlement. However, during the writing of this report, news.Bitcoin.com has noticed Microbt’s website is now quoting “delivery within 2 weeks after 100% payment.”

Meanwhile, Canaan has released the new Avalonminer 1246 or A1246, which comes with a hashrate of 90TH/s and power consumption of around 3,420W, according to the web portal’s stats. Canaan’s new miner can be purchased today, but curious customers must set up a consultation to find out about pricing.

Second-market rig shops seem to be selling A1246 units for prices between $2,369 per miner to $2,725 per unit. The new Avalonminer is bigger than the Whatsminer M30S++ as it has four 12038 fans installed. The Canaan A1246 size is comparable to the size of Bitmain’s S19 Pro model. Canaan’s chip is called the “A12” and it is assumed the semiconductor is 12nm.

Canaan’s latest model was recently reviewed in a test report written by Cybtc.com. The test verified “under the normal working conditions, the hashrate is about 90TH/s.” “After the miner started, the hash rate quickly reached 90TH/s in a short time, the fan speed was about 6800, and the average hash rate was 90.05TH/s for a long time,” the review explains. Another company that has released a new mining rig during the last quarter of 2020 is the firm Strongu.

Strongu recently released the Hornbill H8 Pro which claims to mine at speeds up to 84TH/s. The Hornbill H8 Pro has a power consumption of 3360W off the wall and like the new Microbt Whatsminer, the latest Hornbill is also a much smaller miner. Specifications show the Hornbill H8 Pro leverages 8nm semiconductors. The company is selling the latest 84TH/s miner for $1,100 per unit according to the official web page.

All three new miners process the SHA256 consensus algorithm and can mine BTC, BCH, and BSV. At the time of publication, BTC’s overall hashrate is around 130 exahash per second (EH/s). The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network is around 1.9EH/s and Bitcoinsv (BSV) is 1.2EH/s respectively.

What do you think about the latest bitcoin miner with 112 terahash speeds and the other bitcoin mining rig manufacturing competitors? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

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