Block Inc’s Jack Dorsey Announces Open Bitcoin Mining System for All

Block Inc Jack Dorsey confirmed on Thursday, January 13, that the company is building an open Bitcoin mining system that reduces the entry barrier in Bitcoin. The new open Bitcoin mining system will be open for all, small and new miners, making it easy for users to mine from the comfort of the couch.

Currently, with the heavy costs involved with Bitcoin mining hardware, the mining industry is largely concentrated in the hand of big players. Block is making a new effort to make it more decentralized in nature. As a result, the company has already started hiring new members and building a team for the same.

Thompson Templeton, Block’s general manager for hardware made an announcement explaining the further scope of the project. On his Twitter thread, Templeton wrote:

“We want to make mining more distributed and efficient in every way, from buying, to set up, to maintenance, to mining. We’re interested because mining goes far beyond creating new bitcoin. We see it as a long-term need for a future that is fully decentralized and permissionless”.

The executive further added that Block Inc’s team has started working on customer pain points for addressing specific technical challenges.

Addressing Three Important Challenges for Bitcoin Mining

1. Availability: Te availability and procurement of the mining equipment is one of the biggest challenges for new Bitcoin miners. Besides, the equipment is expensive and deliveries are unpredictable. Block Inc wants to make it easy for users to purchase the mining rigs, anytime, anywhere.
2. Reliability: Functional issues of Bitcoin mining equipment are on the rise along with issues of overheating. This results in a time-consuming reboot and loss of mining revenue. block Inc is also looking to address this issue at hand.
3. Performance: The use of mining rigs results in the generation of unwarranted harmonics in the power grid. This makes it extremely noisy for home use. Block Inc will be thus working on creating a balance between lower power consumption and higher hashrates.

To overcome these challenges, Block Inc is currently exploring options by “evaluating various IP blocks (since we’re open to making a new ASIC), open-source miner firmware, and other system software offerings”.