Competition in the Ethereum mining industry is getting hotter, even as the second largest blockchain by market capitalization appears to have started a formal path to get rid of its dependence on the entire industry.
A powerful new Ethereum mining machine
Crypto mining company Linzhi Inc., based in Shenzhen, China, is launching a new ASIC machine for Ethereum mining - here the quotation in real time - dubbed the Phoenix which is reportedly three times more powerful than the best alternatives available today.
Work to produce a more powerful and efficient Ethash ASIC miner began about two years ago by Chen Min, former CTO of mining giant Canaan. Mining pool F2 Pool released a demo of the new machine on YouTube last Saturday.
The Phoenix beats the next best A10 + Pro at 2.600 megahashs per second (MH / s) at around 500 MH / s. Linzhi's new machine is also more energy efficient with a clock of 3.000 watts per hour versus the A1.300 + Pro's 10 W, says F2 Pool.
Wolfgang Spraul, Linzhi's director of operations, said there have been delays in the launch of the new machine, some due to the underestimation of the technology, others due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Spraul said the company is launching pre-orders for a limited amount dedicated to "developers, communities, pool operators, etc." Innosilicon sells the A10 + Pro for around $ 4.440 per unit while Linzhi has not yet presented a figure for the retail price.
Scrapping of Ethereum mining
The new product comes as the Ethereum network has initiated a technical transition from a proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. This process began on December 1st with the launch of the Beacon Chain.
This chain serves as the central framework for the new blockchain network that uses coin deposits as a means of securing the network, called "staking", In addition to mining. However, miners have at least two years of experience with PoW on Ethereum.
The current network, Eth 1.x, will not be moved to the new PoS blockchain until Eth 1.5 phase 2.0. Linzhi's new Phoenix will need at least one upgrade to be useful before that transition, F2 Pool demonstrated. The directed acyclic graph (DAG) of the Ethereum network - a component of Ethereum's PoW algorithm called Ethash - sits at just under 4GB, while each Phoenix Linzhi has only 4,4GB of memory.
The upcoming A10, on the other hand, can accommodate 6 to 8 gigabytes, says F2 Pool. The Phoenix will need an increase in memory size or aftermarket components if it is not to become obsolete before phase 1.5.
Spraul said the company is "working on a successor with an increase in DAG memory," but there is no specification yet, he said. Of course, other Ethash-based cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum Classic will continue to use proof-of-work, meaning there will still be a market for Phoenix even after Eth 1.5's 2.0 phase.
