Jack Dorsey Buys Intel's Bitcoin Mining Chip

JAKARTA - Jack Dorsey's fintech, Block, is reported to have purchased an Intel's Bitcoin (BTC) mining chip to improve its equipment production plans. Reporting from DailyHodl, the purchase of the ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) chips from Intel will accelerate Block's plans to enter the Bitcoin mining market.

Blocks had previously designed their own ASICs when an opportunity emerged to buy equipment from Intel, as Intel was rumored to be halting their ASIC production.

"In the past year, we have completed a high-performance design of the ASIC Bitcoin mining at a 5-nanometer semiconductor node. Our original plan was to perform a complete tape out of this design this quarter. However, when we planned this tape out, we learned the opportunity to buy large volume ASIC Bitcoin mining from Intel, and recently completed a purchase agreement with Intel. This direct access to production ASIC accelerates the development of our mining system, allowing us to enter the market more quickly," Block wrote in a blog post.

Block also stated that this purchase allowed them to focus on their own 3-nanometer cutting-edge chip design. The company said it was in the process of finalizing a 5-nanometer chip design for Bitcoin mining.

"In addition, we can now focus on our design team exclusively in the development of an ASIC 3-nanometer that cuts edge. In supporting the development of our ASIC 3-nanometer, this month we are continuing with the preparation of a prototype of our completed 5-nanometer design," added the official Block blog statement.

This is an encouraging milestone that will allow us to experiment with design variations, validate our design work, and calibrate our tests on original silicon. We hope to receive the prototype back this fall. They will be valuable inputs in our ASIC 3-nanometer development work," the post continued.

Block said they decided to enter the Bitcoin mining equipment market because they have experience in the ASIC, which they use for their point-of-sales payment app, as well as for the integrity of the Bitcoin network as a whole.

"And perhaps the most important, our main motivation for this initiative is to increase decentralization, transparency and resilience of the Bitcoin network," Block said.