TECH TALK
Big Fish Intel Enters the Mining Pool
Jarred Walton
PERHAPS A SIGN of the coming cryptapocalypse, Intel recently disclosed that it has been testing the waters for mining ASICs for years. It also revealed its first-generation BMZ1, codenamed Bonanza Mining, and looked ahead to BMZ2, its second-generation chip that will be manufactured on a cutting edge node rather than the 14nm process used for BMZ1. Most surprisingly, it was noted that BMZ1 was created as a ‘product exploration’ in 2018.
To recap, Bitcoin peaked at over $19,000 in late 2017, then dropped to around $4,000 by the end of 2018. Bitcoin prices fluctuated in the $4,000–$12,000 range until the latest surge in prices in 2020. Bitcoin passed the $20,000 mark in December 2020 and hasn’t looked back, with prices ranging from a low of $33,000 to a high of $65,000—though by the time you read this, it might have exceeded either of those boundaries. That volatility perhaps kept Intel from seriously pursuing mining at the time, but now it’s ready to dip its toe into the waters.