Block, formerly known as Square, is very much keen to start mining bitcoins. The payments startup run by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, wants to make bitcoin mining more distributed and efficient in every way. In October 2021, Dorsey had tweeted that mining needs to be more distributed. He believes that it will make the bitcoin network more resilient.
Thomas Templeton, the general manager for hardware at Block, said the company aims to make buying, setting up, maintenance and mining distributed and efficient. Block wants to make the mining process more accessible. It believes that mining is more than creating a new bitcoin. Block sees mining as a long-term need for a future that is fully decentralized and permission-less.
Block also wants to address the problem of mining rigs which are expensive and hard to find. This makes delivery unpredictable. As such, the payments startup wants to make a new ASIC – a specialized gear used for mining bitcoin. Block’s hardware team led by Afshin Rezayee is working on this project.
Templeton shared that Block will enhance the reliability and user experience of mining. There are some common issues – heat dissipation and dust, with the current systems. They become unworkable and much time goes towards rebooting them. Moreover, the system is very noisy. Block wants to build a system that works.
Dorsey believes mining bitcoin should be as easy as plugging the rig into a power source. He pointed out that individuals don’t get enough incentives to overcome the complexity of running the miner. The CEO wants to democratize access to bitcoin mining. And this is Block’s mission statement for this ambitious project.
Block’s plans for bitcoin mining come as the US reigns as the world’s top destination for bitcoin miners.
