Intel receives patent for energy-efficient Bitcoin mining

The world's second-largest semiconductor chip maker, Intel, has received a patent for a Bitcoin mining system using an "energy-efficient hardware accelerator." According to a patent titled “Optimized SHA256 Datapath,” the newly invented “high-throughput” Bitcoin mining process could reduce overall energy consumption by 15 percent.

Intel Corporation is well known as a competitive chipset manufacturer. The company has been granted a patent for an energy-efficient Bitcoin development project by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which describes a specialized processing system for developing the SHA256 algorithm. The patent application was filed on June 29, 2016, and the concept was presented by three developers from Hillsboro, Oregon.

The invention, according to the explanatory note, is a more efficient data processor with hardware accelerators that can reduce overall power consumption compared to modern application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The patent specification is 29 pages long and contains drawings that illustrate the processing system. “Uses of the present invention include energy-efficient ASIC-based SHA motors that consume less power for Bitcoin mining operations,” the patent explains.

This is not the corporation’s first foray into cryptocurrency solutions. At the Money 20/20 event in 2016, Bitpay announced that Copay wallet users would receive "hardware-level security" with the Intel Software Guard Extension (SGX). A year later, digital wallet manufacturer Ledger announced a collaboration with Intel. 

However, the company's latest patent appears to focus more on Intel's core production of high-performance semiconductor chips. At the moment, Intel holds second place in the market of semiconductor manufacturers in the world, competing with Samsung, which occupies a leading position.