Shalini Nagarajan

US tech giant Intel has cooled on bitcoin mining after discontinuing its practically new Blockscale 1000 chip series.



The move comes about a year after Intel <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/intel-unveils-latest-energy-efficient-asic-mining-chip" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced its standalone</a> crypto mining chip, pegged to be more powerful and energy efficient than top-of-the-line ASICs.



“As we prioritize our investments in IDM 2.0, we have end-of-lifed the Intel Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC while we continue to support our Blockscale customers,” Intel told Blockworks via email on Wednesday.



IDM 2.0 refers to Intel’s strategy of utilizing third-party foundries to manufacture products including graphics and chipsets.



Intel’s decision to axe its mining chips was first reported by tech outlet <a href="https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-discontinues-bitcoin-mining-blockscale-chips-no-future-gens-announced" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tom’s Hardware</a>, which noted the company often cites a focus on IDM 2.0 when it plans to tighten resources or pull out of businesses.



Intel had previously announced its Blockscale ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) would ship in the third quarter of 2022, and named Argo Blockchain, Block (formerly Square), GRIID Infrastructure and Hive Blockchain as its first customers. 



Hive Blockchain later touted Intel’s chips as <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/hive-intel-efficiency-upgrade" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">playing an important role</a> in improving the efficiency of its ASIC fleet.



But the company now anticipates it will cease taking orders for Blockscale in another five months and stop shipping the chip by April 20 next year, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/intel-ends-its-bitcoin-mining-chip-series-2023-04-18/?taid=643f247ad1c4560001084ed5&amp;utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&amp;utm_medium=trueAnthem&amp;utm_source=twitter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reuters</a> reported, citing a document on Intel’s website.&nbsp;



A plunge in bitcoin prices and the crypto winter has <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/more-crypto-miner-bankruptcy-2023" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">weighed</a> on Intel clients’ businesses, particularly those who’d <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crashing-prices-expose-bitcoin-mining-industrys-addiction-to-leverage" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">taken on high-interest debt</a> during the bull market, with a mind to rapidly expand.



When first announcing its energy-efficient computing technology in Feb. 2022, Intel’s former graphics chief Raja Koduri said a <a href="https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/newsroom/opinion/thoughts-blockchain-custom-compute-group.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">custom compute group</a> would be created within the company’s Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics business unit.&nbsp;&nbsp;



However, Intel <a href="https://www.siliconrepublic.com/machines/intel-graphic-chips-division-split" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">split</a> the unit in December to focus on “critical growth engines” and Koduri returned to his previous position as Intel’s chief architect.



Not long after, Koduri left Intel to create an AI-focused software company, CEO Pat Gelsinger <a href="https://twitter.com/PGelsinger/status/1638234519647174657">said</a> on Twitter.



Intel signaled that it isn’t completely turning away from the bitcoin market. “We continue to monitor market opportunities,” the chipmaker said.



Other chipmakers have been impacted by the bear market in varying degrees, particularly <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/nvidia-to-pay-sec-5-5m-for-allegedly-failing-to-disclose-crypto-revenue-boost" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nvidia</a> and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/27/22697339/amd-crypto-mining-ceo-lisa-su-gpu-code-conference" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AMD</a>, whose gaming graphics cards were popular among Ethereum miners before the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/whats-next-for-ethereum-in-a-post-merge-world" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">switch to proof of stake</a> late last year.



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Intel Axes Bitcoin Mining Chip

Ben Strack

Hive Blockchain has installed about a quarter of its expected new fleet of customized mining rigs powered by Intel processors — one key component of a push the company said would result in a &#8220;massive efficiency upgrade.”



The Canada-based bitcoin miner moved to set up a supply arrangement with Intel in March 2022. Hive executives said at the time that the company would work with a separate manufacturer to integrate Intel’s blockchain accelerators into an air-cooled bitcoin mining system that, once in place, would boost its bitcoin mining hash rate by roughly 95%.



Now, going on a year since the agreement was made public, Hive has put to work more than 1,400 of the new Intel-driven units — the company calls them HIVE BuzzMiners — the mining operator said this week. A total of 5,800 have been slated for production.



The crypto mining firm’s stock (HIVE) soared some 22% by mid-afternoon Thursday in New York, one of a number of publicly trading crypto companies to book double-digit intraday gains on the heels of <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/cpi-falls-in-december">cooling US inflation</a> metrics released Thursday.&nbsp;



Though the stock has plummeted 76% over the past 12 or so months, the last 30 days have brought about quite the rebound: up roughly 46% from a month ago.&nbsp;



The recent installation of 1,423 HIVE BuzzMiners, as well as 2,050 Bitmain S19j Pro miners, are part of the company’s push to capture market share in the distressed bitcoin (as well as other proof-of-work blockchains) mining sector.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Hive expects all of the 5,800 HIVE BuzzMiners to be manufactured, tested and shipped by the end of January 2023.



A Hive spokesperson did not immediately return a request for additional comment.&nbsp;



Intel said last April that Block, GRIID Infrastructure and Argo Blockchain were signed up to be among the first customers of the newly launched <a href="https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/blockchain/custom-asic-product-brief.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Intel Blockscale ASIC</a> product. The ASICs are capable of powering up to 580 giga hashes per second (GH/s) in hash rate and can reach power efficiency of 26 joules per terahash (J/TH) — ranking on the more efficient end compared to a number of competitors. 



Intel Chief Architect Raja Koduri <a href="https://twitter.com/RajaXg/status/1542214091426521089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1542214091426521089%7Ctwgr%5Ee1c7bc3759da8255bd56f222184367752cba3358%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theregister.com%2F2022%2F06%2F30%2Fintel_ships_cryptomining_asic_at%2F" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a> in June that the computing conglomerate had started shipping its Blockscale ASIC to a number of miners.



“Excited to see how <a href="https://twitter.com/ArgoBlockchain" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Argo Blockchain</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/griid" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Griid</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/HiveBlockchain" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hive Blockchain</a> improvise around Blockscale and our open design,” he said at the time.



Intel did not immediately return a request for comment.



Hive’s growth comes during a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/more-crypto-miner-bankruptcy-2023">tough time</a> for the crypto mining sector. Hive Executive Chair Frank Holmes <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ex-eth-miner-hive-blockchain-eyes-buying-opportunities-post-merge">told Blockworks</a> in September that Hive had enough cash on hand to pay for the Intel miners — adding that the company was going after other buying opportunities as abandoned machines flooded the market.



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Hive’s ‘Massive Efficiency Upgrade’ Led by Intel-powered Miner Rollout

Sebastian Sinclair

Privacy-focused protocol Secret Network — intended to be anonymous and confidential — has disclosed a security vulnerability that threatened to reveal user transaction histories.



The bug, discovered by researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in October, allowed extraction of a so-called “consensus seed,” effectively a master decryption key for Secret Network.



“Exposure of the consensus seed would enable the complete retroactive disclosure of all Secret-4 private transactions since the chain began,” the team said. SCRT Labs, the group behind the blockchain’s development, patched the vulnerability earlier this month.



The attack vector involved exploiting flaws in Intel&#8217;s Software Guard Extension (SGX). SGX is a set of security-related instruction codes built into some Intel central processing units (CPUs), including their latest 10th, 11th and 12th-generation chips.&nbsp;



The SGX bugs first became public knowledge in early August, and the researchers say they also discovered related flaws in video software PowerDVD.&nbsp;



Secret Network, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/secret-network-announces-400m-ecosystem-funding-reveals-big-name-investors" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">backed</a> by scandal-ridden firms Alameda Research and Terraform Labs, runs on delegated proof-of-stake consensus, a method first utilized by EOS. The protocol is considered somewhat of a competitor to other privacy-centric networks such as Monero and Zcash, albeit with a much smaller market capitalization around $150 million (compared to $2.5 billion and $550 million).



Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, which allow anyone with the right equipment (and in the latter’s case, enough ether) to join the network, Secret Network token holders select 50 trusted third parties to maintain specialized validating nodes that keep the blockchain flowing.



But the researchers didn’t have to become fully-fledged network validators to exploit the bug. They were able to extract their Secret Network master key by running a full node (which anyone can do) with a machine powered by the vulnerable processors.&nbsp;



Full nodes download a complete copy of the blockchain onto the related machine, and in Secret Network’s case, a “sealed consensus seed” along with it.



Secret Network node software uses what’s known as a trusted execution environment (TEE). These are secure regions of a main processor that only certain trusted devices, codes, or applications can access. The researchers were able to exploit this part of Secret Network’s stack, alongside Intel’s SGX, to decrypt the sealed consensus seed and thus reveal all private transactions on the protocol’s ledger.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">We were able to get onto the network with compromised nodes, which actually would have been very hard for Secret to prevent (IAS said our devices were trusted). The problem is that in doing so, we were able to deanonymize all the transactions since the chain began&mdash; Tom Yurek (@tom_yurek) <a href="https://twitter.com/tom_yurek/status/1597658913587232768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div><figcaption>Tom Yurek, part of the discovering team, discusses the bug on Twitter</figcaption></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Secret Network users urged to reconsider their operational security</h3>



SCRT Labs has assured users that to the best of its knowledge, no malicious actor had exploited the vulnerability in the wild prior to it being patched. 



The researchers, however, have stated there’s no way to know for certain whether the attack had been executed previously.



SCRT said it held off releasing details of the bug due to a mutual agreement between itself, Intel and the researchers to mitigate potential for the vulnerability to be exploited, a common move in software development.



In any case, the team that discovered the flaw have urged “privacy-conscious” users to reassess their online footprints, considering that their past “secret” transactions may be exposed.



“SCRT Labs &#8216;fixed&#8217; it now, but all past transactions are compromised,” the team said. Secret Network’s native token has remained relatively steady since the disclosure, only dropping around 2%, although it’s already collapsed 85% in the year to date alongside swathes of other crypto projects.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="284" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-11.02.28-1024x284.png" alt="" class="wp-image-40559" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-11.02.28-1024x284.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-11.02.28-1024x284.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-11.02.28-1024x284.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-11.02.28-1024x284.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-11.02.28-1024x284.png?w=2048 2048w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-11.02.28-1024x284.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-11.02.28-1024x284.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-11.02.28-1024x284.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-11.02.28-1024x284.png?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-11.02.28-1024x284.png?w=50 50w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>The researchers break down the attack into two phases: Prepare and Exploit | Source: <a href="https://sgx.fail/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SGX.fail</a></figcaption></figure>



New Secret Network nodes are currently limited to “server-class” hardware while SCRT has vowed to ratchet security-focused features for the network. The stewards also said they would strengthen their communications with Intel to ensure users receive early warning of future undisclosed vulnerabilities.



Funds on Secret Network are considered safe (only the confidentiality of the network has been compromised, not user private keys). The researchers noted the most concerning application of the attack is bulk surveillance of Secret users’ personal finances.



There was still opportunity to front-run DeFi applications and breach private metadata tied to NFTs deployed on the network. “Any digital assets that rely on private metadata, such as NFTs exchanging secret authentication keys, would be at risk of theft,” they wrote.



David Canellis contributed reporting.



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Secret Network Crypto Transactions Not So Secret After All

<div id="highlights-block_624bb769e8dca" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Intel is attempting to position its new chip for use in proof-of-work networks by balancing hashing throughput and energy efficiency</li>
 <li>The tech giant is hoping its latest product will help address environmental and energy efficiency concerns</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



US tech giant Intel said Monday it will be releasing a standalone crypto mining chip by year&#8217;s end, capable of delivering &#8220;energy-efficient&#8221; hashing power for proof-of-work (PoW) consensus networks.



Major crypto mining firms Argo Blockchain, Block Inc., Hive Blockchain Technologies and Griid Infrastructure will be among the first companies to develop new systems based on Intel&#8217;s tech, according to a <a href="https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/newsroom/news/intel-launches-new-intel-blockscale-technology.html#gs.vrh4yi" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog post</a>.



Following on the heels of its bitcoin mining system <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/can-intel-chip-away-at-the-17b-bitcoin-mining-market-with-new-asic/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bonanza Mine</a> in February, the California headquartered firm said its latest Blockscale ASIC would be capable of delivering up to 580 gigahashes per second in hashing power with up to 26 joules per terahash in power efficiency.



Intel comes up against entrenched rivals including Bitmain, the Chinese crypto mining giant whose profits obtained from bitcoin mining regularly exceeds $1 billion.



“On paper, Intel’s chip has the potential to be competitive with Bitmain’s bleeding-edge machines in terms of power and efficiency,&#8221; William Foxley, media director at Compass Mining told Blockworks. &#8220;However, the chips require another vendor to create the actual machine which could drop the final product’s competitiveness, so it’s a game of wait and see.”



Intel, which is one of the world’s largest semiconductor chip makers by revenue, said it is attempting to capitalize on market demand by assisting miners to achieve both &#8220;sustainability&#8221; and &#8220;hash rate scaling objectives&#8221; via its new product.



Computational requirements for PoW networks have steadily risen since bitcoin&#8217;s inception more than a decade ago. Intel said the PoW mechanism often requires vast amounts of energy to operate, putting the onus back on computing technologies to drive down financial and environmental costs.



Indeed, the sector has not been short of critics denouncing the PoW consensus mechanism — seen in bitcoin&#8217;s production — as wasteful and environmentally hazardous, including concerns voiced by politicians, environmentalists and technologists in recent years.



&#8220;To power this new era of computing, Intel is delivering solutions that can offer an optimal balance of hashing throughput and energy efficiency regardless of a customer’s operating environment,&#8221; Intel Vice President Balaji Kanigicherla said. &#8220;Intel’s decades of R&amp;D in cryptography, hashing techniques and ultra-low voltage circuits make it possible for blockchain applications to scale their computing power without compromising on sustainability.&#8221;



Shipments of the Blockscale ASICs to customers are expected to commence during the third quarter of this year, Intel said.



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Intel Unveils Latest ‘Energy Efficient’ ASIC Mining Chip

<div id="highlights-block_61e748863d90e" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Intel is expected to reveal its low voltage, energy efficient Bitcoin mining ASIC next month</li>
 <li>While its possible Intel&#8217;s ASIC could see long run potential in further professionalizing Bitcoin’s mining market, entrenched players were likely to continue dominating, according to one mining expert</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Intel, one of the world&#8217;s largest semiconductor chip makers by revenue, is expected to unveil its bitcoin mining chip later next month in an attempt to capitalize on crypto&#8217;s booming mining sector.



The chip giant will unveil its &#8220;Bonanza Mine: An Ultra-Low-Voltage Energy-Efficient Bitcoin Mining ASIC,&#8221; according to <a href="http://submissions.mirasmart.com/ISSCC2022/PDF/ISSCC2022AdvanceProgram.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">program details</a> for the upcoming International Solid-State Circuits Conference to be held Feb. 19-26.



ASIC, or application-specific integrated circuits, refer to an integrated circuit chip designed for specific use cases. In the case of crypto mining, ASICs are designed in such a way as to more optimally solve a crypto mining puzzle through hashing power.



Intel is hoping its advance into crypto mining will help it claw back some of its lost market share after a <a href="https://www.techzine.eu/blogs/infrastructure/66919/intels-strategy-has-failed-wont-recover-until-2025/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">disastrous decision</a> in 2014 to opt-out of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) machines used in the production process of advanced chips.



The machines that Intel decided against at the time use a laser with EUV light in the manufacturing process and allow competing manufacturers, like Taiwan&#8217;s TSMC, to create chips that can be produced at a much smaller scale than traditional means while containing more transistors per chip. Intel hopes to have its own fleet of EUV machines in operation sometime this year.



Providing the picks and shovels to miners amid another crypto bonanza has proved profitable for large players like Bitmain and Whatsminer. Intel is banking that its latest venture will allow it to buoy some of the company&#8217;s poor decisions in the past.



Depending on the month, the total profits obtained from bitcoin mining revenue sit between $1 billion to $1.7 billion or yearly revenue of around $17 billion, data from <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/data/on-chain-metrics/bitcoin/bitcoin-miner-revenue-monthly" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Block</a> shows. Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/news/crypto-mining-giant-bitmain-going-public-4050-billion-valuation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sales revenue</a> of mining rigs from the likes of Bitmain were estimated to be in the billions.



&#8220;It’s not surprising to see hardware manufacturers seek out new lines of production to increase their bottom line,&#8221; said William Foxley, media director at Compass Mining. 



Foxley also said that while it was possible Intel&#8217;s ASIC could see long-run potential in further professionalizing Bitcoin’s mining market, Bitmain, and to a lesser extent Whatsminer, would continue to be the dominant ASIC manufacturer.



&#8220;There’s simply too far a gap for players like Intel to make up,&#8221; said Foxley.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Ultra-Low-Voltage and Energy-Efficient</h3>



While details on Intel&#8217;s new ASIC are scant, the name suggests the chip giant is attempting to target one major area of concern in the Bitcoin mining process and increased hashing power — energy efficiency.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">3/Silicon design is too concentrated into a few companies. This means supply is likely overly constrained. Silicon development is very expensive, requires long term investment, and is best coupled tightly with software and system design. Why aren’t more companies doing this work?&mdash; jack⚡️ (@jack) <a href="https://twitter.com/jack/status/1449110245670801408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Criticism often points to bitcoin&#8217;s energy use as an environmental hazard, though <a href="https://bitcoinminingcouncil.com/q4-bitcoin-mining-council-survey-confirms-sustainable-power-mix-and-technological-efficiency/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">research</a> released by The Bitcoin Mining Council on Tuesday points the discussion in a different direction.



According to the research, it is estimated the sustainable electricity mix for the global crypto mining industry grew to 58.5% in Q4 2021, up 1% from the previous quarter, which made it &#8220;one of the <a href="https://twitter.com/Bitfarms_io/status/1483570431936413703?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">most sustainable</a> industries globally.&#8221;



Keeping the cost of production down is key in any market to maximizing profit, doubly so when it comes to the cost of mining cryptocurrencies. Competition is fierce, and choosing the right machines as well as locations around the world that are <a href="https://minebest.com/blog/how-big-is-the-cryptocurrency-mining-industry" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">well-suited and politically favorable</a> towards miners are the key differences between the success and failure of miners&#8217; operations.



Whether Intel can chip away at some of the entrenched players and provide a more profitable product for miners remains to be seen.



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