Twitter founder Jack Dorsey is definitely getting more and more involved in the cryptosphere, and in Bitcoin (BTC) in particular. After announcing the development of a Bitcoin hardware wallet last June, Square is about to manufacture machines specialized in BTC mining.
A new generation of ASICs to mine Bitcoins?
Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter and Square, likes to surprise his world and does not hesitate to make shocking announcements also on the side of the crypto community.
The latest one was published via a series of tweets, where the founder of the social network with the blue bird explains that his teams are thinking about designing a brand new type of ASIC. ASICs are computing machines equipped with electronic chips specialized in a given task. In this case, it is the mining of bitcoins via its proof-of-work (PoW) consensus.
“Square plans to build an open source, custom silicon-based Bitcoin mining system for individuals and businesses around the world. If we do, we will follow the [philosophical] model of our hard wallet: build open source in collaboration with the community. (…) “
Jack Dorsey
Mining problems soon solved?
The Square executive explains that he has detected 5 major problems in the current situation of bitcoin mining and wants to provide answers with his new machines.
First point: BTC mining “needs to be more distributed,” according to Jack Dorsey, because he reminds us that the more decentralized the Bitcoin network is, the more resilient it will be to attacks and censorship.
Secondly, mining must be “more efficient”, so that it requires the minimum amount of electrical energy. This will require innovations in silicon chips and software dedicated to mining.
Thirdly, the CEO of Square considers that the design of silicon chips “is too concentrated” in the hands of a few companies. This limits supply and makes these chips very expensive, and the creation of more such companies would help solve this monopoly situation.
Fourth point: vertical integration would “no longer be sufficiently taken into account”. The entire design of new ASICs – from hardware to software to production to distribution – should be aimed at delivery to an end customer, rather than improving one technology at a time.
Finally, the last (and most important) problem noted by Jack Dorsey is that “mining [bitcoins] is not accessible to everyone.” From his perspective, this requires not only simplifying access, but also improving the incentive to participate in this vital network consensus.
The onerous task of solving all this will fall on the shoulders of Jesse Dorogusker’s engineering team, who is in charge of hardware development at Square. Let’s also remember that Jack Dorsey’s other company is not idle with Bitcoin, as Twitter has announced BTC payments to its new tip system “Tips”.
