Block Inc. announced the Proto Rig, a modular reinvention of Bitcoin mining hardware developed with Core Scientific. The design emphasizes modularity to enable rapid part swaps, seamless upgrades, reduced repair frequency, and lower maintenance costs. The Proto Rig reframes competitiveness away from raw ASIC efficiency toward hardware uptime and maintainability, arguing profitability depends on continuous operation. The design applies data center best practices to mining infrastructure. The announcement signals a potential challenge to Bitmain's long-standing ~80% market share in mining hardware manufacturing. Block's approach aims to professionalize rig design and lower operational burdens for miners.
The Proto Rig has the potential to disrupt and challenge Bitmain's effective monopoly over mining hardware manufacturing, with approximately over 80% of the market, a position it has enjoyed for most of Bitcoin's history. But the main innovation does not come from more powerful or energy-efficient chips - not yet anyway - rather from making everything else around the chip drastically better, designed to lower repair frequency and maintenance costs. Its modular design supports seamless upgrades and part replacements that can be swapped in seconds.
Perry Hothi, blockchain solutions architect at Block, focused on the mining division since 2022 said the device was more than just competitive with the Bitmain line of mining rigs; "When people hear competitive, they automatically think efficient, right? I always say it's profitable... If it's not running, efficiency doesn't matter." It changes the focus of the conversation in mining from the specs of ASIC chips toward the amateur design of mining rigs as a whole.
Collection
[
|
...
]