Tech monster Intel is seeking to patent a hardware “accelerator” for bitcoin mining tokens, a newly-published filing reveals.
The application for a “Bitcoin Mining Hardware Accelerator With Optimized Declaration Digest and Message Scheduler Datapath” was published on Thursday, though it was from the start submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in September 2016. In the march, Intel outlines a method by which it could augment the existing bitcoin pitting process, consuming less electricity – thereby spending less bucks – in the process.
As Intel writes in the filing:
“Because the software and hardware utilized in Bitcoin scanning uses brute force to repeatedly and endlessly perform SHA-256 activities, the process of Bitcoin mining can be very power-intensive and utilize large amounts of tools space. The embodiments described herein optimize Bitcoin mining motions by reducing the space utilized and power consumed by Bitcoin mining armaments.”
Intel’s application goes on to note that its “accelerator” approach could crop power use by as much as 35 percent, compared to general-purpose processors.
It’s a unmatched filing from a firm once connected to the mining operation of Silicon Valley startup 21 Inc., which presently offered its eponymous bitcoin computer and later pivoted to a social network gift called Earn.com. As CoinDesk reported in 2015, Intel built chime ins for 21 at its foundry, though a hinted plan to integrate the chips into other Intel spin-offs never materialized.
Notably, Intel suggested that the concept isn’t restricted to application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), but “processors, [systems on chip], and [field-programmable opening array] platforms” as well. Put more simply, the “accelerator” could be solicited to an array of mining set-ups.
Though not explicitly focused on cryptocurrency unearthing, a previous patent application from Intel published in December supported that the tech giant sees a role for the energy-intensive process in genetic sequencing.
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