45 EH/s in US bitcoin miner imports
But Intel quits plan to disrupt that market
Tom’s Hardware reported this week that Intel has “end-of-lifed” the Blockscale bitcoin ASIC — a news story widely picked up by other hardware and crypto media outlets.
It’s big news because the global chip giant debuted its first generation of bitcoin ASIC chip and full miner system only one year ago. Intel’s chip would have been bullish news for U.S. buyers because they would no longer have to entirely depend on China-based chip designers.
TheMinerMag’s new research this week estimated that at least 45 EH/s of bitcoin mining machines made by Bitmain, MicroBT and Canaan have been imported to the U.S. since March 2022. 54% of the shipments were received by the top five importers: DDH North America (a Genesis Digital Assets subsidiary), Synos (MicroBT’s factory partner), Cipher, Celsius and Core.
Intel could have brought more challenges to the bitcoin mining hardware market with a stronger base in North America and better chip-fabbing resources. After releasing rather disappointing specifications in March 2022, Intel said it was working on the second generation of chips called the Blockscale series with several notable buyers and made it clear it was only selling chips.
That means buyers need to figure out the full system on their own or through original design manufacturers. Since November 2022, HIVE has received and installed 5,600 BuzzMiners that were built with the Blockscale chips. ePIC Blockchain also recently launched the BlockMiner. However, no efficiency specifications have been made public so far.
Regulation news
Kosovo Seizes 200 Crypto Mining Devices in Serb-Majority North - BNE.eu
'It's been a disaster:' Residents warn neighboring areas of crypto mine impacts - WTVC
Hardware & Infrastructure News
Stronghold raises $10mm in Private Place to Fund Bitcoin Miner Purchases - Link
TeraWulf Fully Deploys 50 MW at Nautilus Site - Link
Iris Energy Increases Installed Hashrate to 4.6 EH/s - Link
Mawson to Sell Texas Sites for $8.5M to Singapore Fund Manager - CoinDesk
Research & Data
Breaking Down U.S Bitcoin Miner Imports by Recipients - TheMinerMag
Hashrate Index Q1-2023 Report - Hashrate Index
Overview of Bitcoin Miners’ March Production and Liquidation - TheMinerMag
Bitdeer v.s Riot in Revenue Diversification for FY’22 - TheMinerMag
Feature
Bitcoin Miners Escape the Bear Trap - Reuters
Bitcoin Mining Pools Will Have Less Power With This Upgrade - Decrypt
What the Next Level of Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Will Bring - Decrypt
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