Bitcoin Mining Using Maxeler Dataflow Computers

【Author】 Meden, Rok; Kos, Anton

【Source】ELEKTROTEHNISKI VESTNIK-ELECTROCHEMICAL REVIEW

【影响因子】

【Abstract】Bitcoin mining is an important and integral part of Bitcoin, the first decentralized payment network. "Miners" secure the Bitcoin network by confirming "bitcoin transactions" and in return they receive a certain amount of "digital coins" bitcoins. Bitcoin mining is a repetitive and highly parallel process, which makes it suitable for parallel computing. In this paper we present dataflow computing with Maxeler dataflow computers. We implemented and tested our own dataflow bitcoin miner on two Maxeler dataflow computers MAX2336B (MAX2B) and MAX4848A (MAIA), and achieved speedups of up to 102 times and up to 256 times higher energy efficiency compared to general multi-core CPUs. The Maxeler dataflow computers cannot compete against specialized ASIC bitcoin mining rigs that are at least 1000 times faster and at least 100 times more energy-efficient; but the Maxeler dataflow computers can be reprogrammed for other computational tasks while the ASIC mining rigs usually become outdated in only a few months.

【Keywords】bitcoin; cryptocurrency; mining; dataflow computing; Maxeler

【发表时间】2017

【收录时间】2022-08-02

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