[2018-04-01] Intel May Make Bitcoin Mining Profitable for Individuals Again

[BitcoinArsenal]

According to a United States Patent Application released on March 29th, technology giant Intel is interested in creating specialized hardware for Bitcoin mining. The patent application was filed on September 23rd, 2016, and describes a Bitcoin mining hardware accelerator.
Full article on Bitcoinist

[aso118]

According to a United States Patent Application released on March 29th, technology giant Intel is interested in creating specialized hardware for Bitcoin mining. The patent application was filed on September 23rd, 2016, and describes a Bitcoin mining hardware accelerator.
Full article on Bitcoinist

How will this make bitcoin mining profitable for individuals again? As per the article, the hardware would make bitcoin mining less energy intensive. But this would mean that the big mining farms and pools would be the first to adopt this technology. Individuals would then discover that mining is not feasible. The only way for individuals to get back into the mining game is if the block reward algorithm itself changes.

[Palmerson]

I don't believe Intel can do anything decent. In mining have the value of all the parameters. Electricity is only a small part of the cost. Conventional Intel processors are more expensive than the GPU. Maybe for this reason the patent from 2016 is still not implemented. Now mining has become even less profitable. I don't believe Intel can make a difference.

[Betwrong]

According to a United States Patent Application released on March 29th, technology giant Intel is interested in creating specialized hardware for Bitcoin mining. The patent application was filed on September 23rd, 2016, and describes a Bitcoin mining hardware accelerator.
Full article on Bitcoinist

Unfortunately this article consists of words only and no numbers regarding "Intel’s new technology" which supposedly will make Bitcoin mining less energy consuming. Currently Bitmain’s BM1387 chip delivers 0.098 J/GHs and if Intel is going to provide something more efficient they would better show some numbers or otherwise it looks like valueless promises.

[KatyaDurst]

Pools and mining farms will be more profitable even after this innovation. Reduction of energy consumption is great, but it won't change the situation. Unfortunately, ISIC mining is almost dead

[odolvlobo]

That article is full of misconceptions.

... Intel’s new hardware would theoretically make Bitcoin mining less energy intensive ...

It is not possible to make Bitcoin mining less energy intensive. It is designed to be energy intensive.

This, in turn, has forced out many small-time miners while increasing the stranglehold on the sector by large-scale operations ...

Price drops affect large and small miners equally. It is the cost of power that matters most, not the size of the operation.

Intel’s new technology could make small-time mining profitable once again

Wouldn't big miners use it too? I don't think it will have an effect on the profitability of small miners.

Once this new Intel technology comes to market, ultimately more people will mine again because it’s profitable again, driving down the market value of the coins, and finding a new market balance that will again put locations with lower electricity costs back at the advantage.

More people mining means a higher difficulty that negates the benefits of higher efficiency. Profitability is not affected.
The profitability of mining has no effect on the price. The opposite is true, though. The price affects profitability.
That quote is confusing. It seems to say that more people will mine because it will supposedly more profitable, but more people won't mine because of electricity costs.

[Kloosterboer]

I'm afraid it's too late for individual mining and Intel won't change the situation. Now we have an era of collective mining and this type is still profitable, isic - not anymore

[Alex077]

It's unclear how they going to solve  this problem, but if they already filed a patent application they should have some kind of developments by now.

[Jating]

I don't see the correlation between Intel make new ASIC and profitable mining for individual/more efficient mining since big miners simply buy these more efficient Intel ASIC with their lower electricity/maintenance price.
The only good thing that i can agree is prevent ASIC domination by Bitmain.

Exactly, as least there are someone as big that will challenge Bitmain's dominance as far as bitcoin mining hardware is concern. But I don't know if they can produce much cheaper as bitcoin though. We all know that Intel loves to go after and file a patent, and if they owe one then it will be very difficult for others to enter the arena as well because they have to pay something in return so I don't think that individual mining will be profitable because the cost will be high as well.

And it will very hard to manufacture less energy intensive hardware anyways, as bitcoin mining is getting difficult every 4 years or so. Another garbage article and is very misleading specially for newbies thinking that they can still join the bandwagon of individual solo mining.

[DIA7]

By the time that Intel drops the new hardware. Mining could be already back to be profitable but the main problem will be the new Ethereum Asic miners that will definitely throw the GPU mining rigs out if the door .it will be released in the final third of 2018 and you can see now that GPU prices are already going down and with these news will be going down further. That's why no one should start buying new rigs for the time being as it's already wouldn't get profit out of it even if coin market goes up again I recommend getting used bargain rigs to mine some and hold till the prices go up again.

[TimmyCortonde]

Sounds like utopia to be honest, I don't see the way of making individual mining great again in this patent

[chenbo*)]

Too late to get the hardware to the market for anyone to optimize the benefit from it if it's true. I'm not sure if there's that much profit left for a new player, much more an individual, to make money out of the remaining bitcoins to be mined. And as with the rest commenting on this article, I don't see how any individual would stand a chance against the warehouse sized operations out there. It's like bringing a cigarette lighter to fight off someone using a flamethrower.

[stompix]

According to a United States Patent Application released on March 29th, technology giant Intel is interested in creating specialized hardware for Bitcoin mining.

It's only a patent.
From this to making mining at home profitable it's a long shot.

Once a miner is release an individual will buy 1 or 2, a company can buy 1000 and with cheaper energy and lower prices on bulk purchases they will still drive the home miner out of the game.

The only way for individuals to get back into the mining game is if the block reward algorithm itself changes.

How? Hybrid PoS/PoW ?
There is no way in mining that an individual can compete with a businesses that has only this in mind.

[sindikat]

Must be a joke. The processor can match the productivity of the rig. I'm not talking about asics. Perhaps we are talking about rig based on a set of CPU. But I can only guess how much this device will cost. No, I don't believe that. Intel was late for 3 years minimum. They can't take that time back. Maybe they invented a time machine?

[La Maree Noire]

If Intel will manage to create something and give community a chance to reload individual mining - would be great, but I do not think it is possible right now. Things have already changed

[vit05]

There is no reason to believe that mining could ever be an individual activity again. Starting with electricity costs, which are the biggest impediments to most people. But having a greater number of competitors building mining hardware would be very welcome.