$3 micro bitcoin miners aren’t going to make money, but that’s not the point: inventors

Although they lack power, micro bitcoin mining devices should be viewed as a countermeasure to what is rumored to be the biggest flaw in the bitcoin ecosystem, their inventors argue.

Micro bitcoin mining devices — often open-source and pocket-sized — serve a niche portion of the market, offering buyers a fully assembled device or do-it-yourself kit to mine Bitcoin (BTC) alone.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, the developers of these kits admit buyers are unlikely to make a huge profit, but argue that it’s important to fight the “secrecy and exclusivity” of the bitcoin mining industry.

One company, BitMaker, recently claimed that one could be made for as little as $3 and offered an output of 50 kilohashes per second.

BitMaker’s $3 portable miners running at 50 Kh/s. Source: BitMaker

A spokesman for BitMaker – a company that has been working on micro-miners since June 2022 – argued that all known Bitcoin ASIC mining rigs are closed source, as opposed to Bitcoin’s source code.

This has limited the manufacture and supply of bitcoin miners to commercialized companies, they said.

“The bitcoin mining machine is arguably the most important piece of hardware in the bitcoin ecosystem – and they’re all made in complete secrecy.”

Data shows that 35.4% of the Bitcoin hash rate comes from the United States, followed by Kazakhstan (18.1%), Russia (11.2%), and Canada (9.6%). US-based Marathon Digital, Riot Blockchain and Singapore-based Bitdeer Technologies Group are among the largest mining companies in the world.

Skot, a builder of the Bitaxe miners, shared a similar sentiment, telling Cointelegraph that the design’s open source solution allows much-needed transparency in the industry.

“The mining industry has traditionally been treated secretly and exclusively. The emergence of these open source projects serves to shed light on this often opaque area and make it more transparent and accessible to the public,” explained Skot.

There is a growing trend towards open source ASIC mining. (See #NerdMiner, @DCentralTech, @skot9000,…) making it affordable and more decentralized again. #Bitcoin is brimming with innovation on all fronts.
You just have to know where to look.

— Dimitri-H (@Dimi_h) September 1, 2023

A Bitaxe spokesman said that the engineers behind these projects are open-source documents that detail how to make a hashboard and other mining devices without having to rely on big manufacturers:

“This allows anyone interested to build their own miner or multiple miners, helping to decentralize the system to some extent.”

However, Skot acknowledged that buyers shouldn’t expect to make a lot of bitcoin right away. He said that while Bitaxe’s engineers worked to make the miners more efficient, he also argued that the purpose of portable miners is not about profit:

“It’s not necessarily about profit, it’s about learning, understanding and in some cases being part of a community.”

Related: How bitcoin mining is a model for modern industrial loads

Skot also stressed that the portable miners are not designed to compete with the commercialized players in the space, but rather give people the ability to run a drill rig at home without having to pay for a clunky, overheated, and expensive mining rig .

ESP-Miner and ESP32 SoC-based #BitAxe and #Nerdminer are crucial developments in Bitcoin mining.

Developed by bitcoin folks like @skot9000 @BitMaker_ @Public_Pool_BTC and others, these free and open-source projects are laying the foundation for next-gen #bitcoin mining hardware
⛏️ pic.twitter.com/FDBTi0PsG1

— Altair Technology® ⛏️ (@altair_tech) August 30, 2023

Other small form factor bitcoin miners on the market include Bitmain AntRouter and Mars Lander. Meanwhile, innovators are also experimenting with how Bitcoin can be mined via mobile phones.

Magazine: Hall of Flame: Wolf Of All Streets worries about a world where Bitcoin hits $1 million

Learn Crypto Trading, Yield Farms, Income strategies and more at CrytoAnswers
https://nov.link/cryptoanswers