The ESG-focused mining company HIVE is the latest organization to sign a deal with Intel. It joins Block, Argo Blockchain, and GRIID, as the first clients and testers of the giant’s new ASICs. Intel’s Bonanza Mine project is quickly becoming one of bitcoin’s stories of the year. It’s funny that, so far, no one has seen the equipment. The idea of a bitcoin miner made in the US is appealing, though. Plus, the project’s rollout has been masterful so far.
The headline here is that “HIVE owns state-of-the-art, green energy-powered data centre facilities in Canada, Sweden, and Iceland, where we source only green energy to mine.” In a recent press release, the company announced the Intel deal and its intention to expand into the US. “The Company is planning for a 100 MW deployment at one of Compute North’s renewable energy campuses in Texas.”
HIVE self-proclaimed itself “the first cryptocurrency mining company with a green energy and ESG strategy”. The company’s other significant characteristic is that they’re holders. “Since the beginning of 2021, HIVE has held in secure storage the majority of its ETH and BTC coin mining rewards.” That goes in line with new data that shows that miners are quietly accumulating bitcoin as the market bleeds.
BTC price chart for 03/08/2022 on Capital.com | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
What Do We Know About HIVE ‘s Deal With Intel?
Not much, really. “HIVE has entered into a Supply Agreement with Intel which is one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers, for their upcoming blockchain accelerator.” Notice how HIVE calls the ASICs “blockchain accelerators,” just as Intel did in the company’s blog. Will the name catch on?
The press release doesn’t specify how many bitcoin miners will HIVE buy, but, it provides some relevant data:
“These miners are expected to be delivered over a period of one year starting in the second half of calendar 2022, the effect of which, if they are all installed, would be an expected increase of up to 95% in our aggregate Bitcoin mining hashrate from 1.9 Exahash per second.”
It also quotes HIVE ‘s president, Aydin Kilic, who about the deal said:
“After months of careful planning, we are very excited to take this step forward with a global technology leader like Intel. HIVE is committed to implementing these next-generation blockchain accelerators in its green energy infrastructure.”
The ESG aspect of the whole endeavor is another important point here.
Bitcoin Keeps Going Greener And Greener
Recently, GRIID’s filling with the SEC revealed several characteristics of Intel’s new bitcoin miners. As always, NewsBTC got you the 411:
“When the world first heard about Intel’s ASIC ambitions, the company cleverly described the machines as “ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient.” How efficient will they actually be? Tom’s hardware answers:
“According to the listing, BMZ2’s performance weighs in at 135 TH/s with 26 J/THs of efficiency. Additionally, the miner is roughly half the cost of a competing Bitmain S19 Pro while being 15% more efficient, rivaling the best hardware on the market from competing companies.”
Would 15% really make that much of a difference? If it can rival the S19 Pro, it would. And Intel wouldn’t make this much noise if they didn’t have a winner in their hands, would they? Maybe HIVE ‘s president, Aydin Kilic, can shed some light on that:
“Intel’s energy-efficient and high performance blockchain accelerator is expected to reduce our power consumption over current ASIC miners on the market. HIVE will participate in the system development process from design verification, through to the prototype stages, and then factory & test engineering regimens to arrive at a production model; we are well-positioned and excited to undertake the process ahead.”
That’s right, the first few clients will help with the testing and development of Intel’s final product. That makes all the sense in the world. Let’s wish them luck, because an ASIC miner made in the US would certainly help break Bitmain’s quasi-monopoly. The bitcoin ecosystem needs more decentralization in that aspect.
Featured Image: HIVE's logo, screenshot from this video | Charts by TradingView
Canadian crypto miner HIVE Blockchain said on Monday it had signed a deal with chipmaker Intel to buy the company’s new ASIC chips for use in building mining equipment. HIVE said the deal was part of its plan to expand into the United States.
The company also announced a preliminary deal with mining infrastructure provider Compute North to host 100 megawatts of mining capacity at a renewable energy facility in Texas.
Intel deal to nearly double HIVE’s BTC mining rate
HIVE said the new equipment will be delivered starting from the second half of 2022, and when installed, will boost its Bitcoin mining hash rate by up to a whopping 95%. The miner said it had also tied up with an original design manufacturer to build custom equipment incorporating Intel’s chips.
Hive currently mines Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ethereum Classic. Its combined liquid BTC and ETH holdings had a gross value of about $168 million, as of December 31.
Intel had marked its first foray into blockchain technology when it unveiled the new chips last month. The chipmaker claimed that the new silicon chips would perform over 1000 times better than existing hardware used in mining.
Intel also said that Argo Blockchain, and Jack Dorsey’s BLOCK Inc would be the first to receive the new chips later this year. ASIC, or application-specific integrated circuit, are a type of chips built with very specific applications in mind, in this case being crypto mining.
Hive expands into the United States
HIVE’s deal with Compute North marks its first move into the United States, the company said. The operation will be powered entirely by renewable energy, given recent concerns over crypto mining’s carbon footprint.
Last year, the company had gained a U.S. stock listing on the Nasdaq exchange. Its primary listing is in Canada, on the Toronto exchange. The firm currently has data centers in Canada, Sweden and Greenland.
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Intel played a big role in President Biden ’s State of the Union address. He highlighted the company’s plan to manufacture semiconductor chips in Ohio, and said, “Make more cars and semiconductors in America. More infrastructure and innovation in America.” Was he secretly approving Intel’s plan to produce ASIC bitcoin miners? Or did he not know that those semiconductors are an integral part of those machines?
Make no mistake, semiconductor chips or integrated circuits are an integral part of almost every technological device around you. And Intel is a huge company with many products and many clients. Those semiconductors Intel is planning to produce will go everywhere. However, there’s no denying that ASICs are a big part of the company’s future plans.
Recently, NewsBTC quoted Intel’s CEO Pat Gelsinger saying:
“Intel is about to bring forward a blockchain chip that’s dramatically better. That is orders of magnitude better in terms of power performance. So, we’re helping solve the climate issue.”
Exaggerations aside, Pat Gelsinger was a big part of President Biden ‘s State of the Union address the other day.
What Did President Biden Say About Intel?
One of Biden ‘s big success stories was Intel’s $20B investment in Ohio. The plant they plan to build will manufacture semiconductor chips. There’s a global shortage for those, and more than 170 industries depend on them. Nowadays, China, South Korea, and Taiwan are the main producers of integrated circuits. And those factories are working full time to fulfill an ever-increasing demand.
Enter Ohio. As The Columbus Dispatch put it:
“Intel plans to employ 3,000 workers at an average salary of $135,000. The project is also expected to create 7,000 construction jobs and 10,000 indirect jobs.”
They also quote President Biden channeling his inner poet:
“If you travel 20 miles east of Columbus, Ohio, you’ll find 1,000 empty acres of land. It won’t look like much, but if you stop and look closely, you’ll see a ‘field of dreams,’ the ground on which America’s future will be built.”
And then and there, he mentioned Pat Gelsinger by name, as the man to make it happen. President Biden didn’t mention bitcoin mining, though.
BTC price chart for 03/03/2022 on Bitstamp | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
The U.S.’s Plan To Manufacture Semiconductors
The global chip shortage presents an obvious opportunity, and the U.S. wants to take advantage of it. Intel´s play is part of a bigger move. In the article “Bitcoin Mining And The Global Semiconductor Shortage Are On A Collision Course,” security expert Shinobi informed us:
“The United States Senate has recently passed the “U.S. Innovation and Competition Act,” which will spend $52 billion dollars on increasing domestic semiconductor fabrication capacity, and the “CHIPs for America Act” being introduced in the Senate to create income tax credit for semiconductor companies.”
So, Intel is going to benefit from all of that. Plus, they´re going to use those semiconductor chips to aggressively step into the bitcoin mining business. A business traditionally controlled by Chinese companies Bitmain and MicroBT. Can Intel compete with them? According to a recent SEC filing NewsBTC reported on, they can:
“When the world first heard about Intel’s ASIC ambitions, the company cleverly described the machines as “ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient.” How efficient will they actually be? Tom’s hardware answers:
“According to the listing, BMZ2’s performance weighs in at 135 TH/s with 26 J/THs of efficiency. Additionally, the miner is roughly half the cost of a competing Bitmain S19 Pro while being 15% more efficient, rivaling the best hardware on the market from competing companies.”
To better understand the plan, let’s quote Shinobi once again:
“The dynamics of who can and can’t produce semiconductors in general is already coming to the forefront of politics as nations realize the importance of minimizing reliance on foreign actors to maintain such capacity. It is only a matter of time before how these issues relate to Bitcoin mining starts to come to their attention as well.”
President Biden And Intel Are Not Playing Around
As you can see, both President Biden and Intel have an ambitious game plan. Is bitcoin mining a part of the plan? In Intel’s case, the answer is an obvious yes. On the other hand, Joe Biden didn´t even mention the topic in his speech. It was always there in the background, though. At least according to us.
Let’s close with another quote from Biden ‘s State of the Union address:
“I have a better plan to fight inflation. Lower your costs, not your wages. Make more cars and semiconductors in America. More infrastructure and innovation in America.”
That’s great, but… about that “plan to fight inflation”… what about stopping the rampant money printing?
Featured Image: President Biden's State of the Union address, screenshot from this video | Charts by TradingView