Huobi, a cryptocurrency exchange platform originally from China, is looking to expand into the European market with a new office in London to be launched later this year, the company announced on Monday. Huobi operates several brands covering cryptocurrency trading, asset management, among other services. Huobi Pro is the affiliate headquartered in the Seychelles that […]
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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council and the Ministry of Finance have been issued a notice by the Delhi High Court challenging a circular that bars financial lenders from providing services to cryptocurrency exchanges. The notice from the High Court is reportedly in response to a claim filed […]
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Tech wizards like Ken Shirriff are repurposing old electronics into bitcoin mining rigs.
bitcoin is the most valuable cryptocurrency in the world and mining is one of the means by which can be acquired. It involves using computers to solve complex mathematical problems with a fixed number of bitcoins given to the mining node that arrives at the solution first. These days, bitcoin mining is a with bitcoin mining complexes in countries like China, Iceland, and the United States.
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Companies like produce application-specific integrated circuit mining (ASIC) rigs that are a complex array of processors capable of performing trillions of hashes per second. These units are quite expensive and might be out of reach of the recreational bitcoin hobbyist. For these crypto enthusiasts on a budget, following Ken Shirriff’s lead might be a good way to go.
Shirriff has made a name for himself in the bitcoin community by converting old computers and retro gaming hardware into mining rigs. Shirriff who is reputed as being able to code has been able to create a few bitcoin mining rigs from old electronics.
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In 2017, he converted a 1973 Xerox Alto into a mining rig using the obsolete BCPL language to code the hash algorithm. He also repurposed a 1959 IBM 1401 mainframe and a 1985 Nintendo gaming console into rigs. What is even more laudable about the latter is that the operating system for old Nintendo gaming consoles ran on 8-bit encryption whereas SHA-256, the bitcoin mining algorithm uses 32-bit encryption.
Mining Capabilities of Upcycled bitcoin Mining Rigs
The big question is can these repurposed mining rigs compete with their ? Well, the answer, for now, is no. Shirriff’s creations by his own admission can only reach about which is less than a drop in the ocean compared to the trillions of hashes that ASIC mining rigs can accomplish. For now, these repurposed rigs are useful as a hobby for those who might be fascinated in retrofitting old electronics.
bitcoin Mining on Xerox Alto. Source:
Shirriff’s work even proves that Moore’s Law is a considerable understatement since the improvement in the complexity of computers seems to be more than doubling every year.
Samsung, as part of its , made a bitcoin mining rig out of . The project was carried out by the company’s C-Lab, a team of engineers that handle the more creative projects in the Samsung product catalog. The mining rig was premiered at a 2017 developers conference in San Francisco where it also showcased other upcycle devices. Upcycling of old electronic devices can be a useful way to keep old devices working and reduce the pollution brought about by discarded electronics.
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