Bitmain Launches Its Most Advanced Bitcoin Miners Yet

Initially founded in 2013 by Jihan Wu and Micree Zhan, Bitmain quickly exploded into popularity for producing specialized Bitcoin mining equipment known as an ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit).  The biggest company in mining recently filed for an IPO in September, after disclosing its financial information for the first time. According to the IPO filing, Bitmain is reported to have revenues of $2.85 billion with a net profit of $1.12 billion — 95 percent of this coming from the sale of 2.56 million ASIC miners. However, this was met with much criticism in the industry as suspicions that the company was, in fact, operating with a loss, lingered. The company announced that two versions of the 7nm Antminer will be made available for purchase on Nov 08, 2018. As of yet, Bitmain has not detailed the technical differences between the two versions, but they will likely differ in both hash rate and price. According to the announcement, Bitmain’s new miners will feature “Industry-leading hash rates designed to mine with the SHA256 algorithm.” This means the new miners will be capable of mining any SHA256 coins, such as Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Peercoin (PPC).

We are officially announcing the release of our new 7nm miners which possess industry-leading hash rates designed to mine with the SHA256 algorithm. Two models will be offered, the Antminer S15 and T15. Available for purchase on 11/8. pic.twitter.com/m6HbWGZS1O

— BITMAIN [Not giving away ETH] (@BITMAINtech) November 6, 2018

The new hardware will likely feature Bitmain’s new BM1391 ASIC chips that were announced back in September. The new chips are built using 7nm FinFet technology, a much more advanced fabrication process compared to their previous 14nm offering. Bitmain’s previous model, the Antminer S9, offers a hash rate of 14TH/s, consuming around 1300W to do so. It is likely that the new model will achieve an improved hash rate with reduced power requirements. At the World Digital Mining Summit, Bitmain CEO and co-founder Jihan Wu stated that its new chips will achieve an unparalleled mining efficiency, consuming as low as 42J/TH, compared to around  96J/TH for the S9. Bitmain is the second ASIC manufacturer to release hardware using a 7nm fabrication process, being beaten to the post by GMO’s $1,999 B2 and B3 miners. As of writing, both the B2 and B3 are sold out. Do you think Bitmain’s new offering will live up to expectations? Is mining Bitcoin still profitable in 2018? Let us know what you think in the comments below!