http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/08/15/german-startup-says-its-new-chip-halves-bitcoin-mining-energy/A German start-up is looking for funding to produce a new high-performance microchip that it says would make bitcoin mining much less energy intensive, and thus cheaper.
This is important because ‘mining’ the cryptocurrency—essentially a process of solving complex mathematical problems —requires vast computing power and cooling systems so that the purpose-built processors, called application-specific integrated circuits [ASICs], don’t overheat.