Intel Is Making Custom Blockchain Chips

Blockchains are essentially public ledgers that contain information about all cryptocurrency-related transactions taking place on a given network. They are decentralized, meaning that the transactions take place without a central authority, and are approved on a peer-to-peer basis by a network of thousands of computers. As these transactions require massive computing power, they are spread over countless PCs that consume a whole lot of energy. There’s a reason why there’s such a buzz around the environmental impact of Bitcoin or Ethereum mining — the power required by these machines is not a joke.

Although the crypto market has been going through a rough time as of late, it’s hard to deny that blockchain technology as a whole only continues to evolve. Koduri acknowledges this in his statement, highlighting the benefits of the blockchain: “Blockchain is a technology that has the potential to enable everyone to own much of the digital content and services they create. Some even call it an inflection point in computing, fundamentally disrupting the way we store, process, and transact our digital assets as we usher in the era of metaverse and Web 3.0.”

This is, supposedly, where Intel’s new chip comes in. Intel has already found its first customers, including Argo Blockchain, BLOCK, and GRIID Infrastructure. If Intel’s chip will truly feature supercomputing powers at a lower energy cost, it might be a good thing for the future of crypto mining and the planet as a whole, or at the very least, a small step in the right direction.