While Artificial Intelligence (AI) has begun to make its presence felt in various business lines, it has also become visible to people everywhere in daily life. Of course, the integration of artificial intelligence, which is collaborating with more sectors day by day, and the cryptocurrency world is inevitable. Industry players are actively trying innovative approaches to combine these two technologies. Crypto miners have also realized that AI-powered solutions solve some of the most critical problems. The collaboration of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency mining has already begun to be referred to as ‘mining 2.0’ in the industry.
The ongoing artificial intelligence boom has also shed light on cryptocurrency miners who failed to find what they expected in the market last year. During the cryptocurrency boom, miners have created hardware equipped with graphics processing chips (GPU) to mine digital coins. However, with the volatility in cryptocurrency prices and changes in Ethereum mining dynamics, some of these machines have remained idle, creating a significant untapped resource.
Startups and miners are repurposing these GPUs for AI workloads. While some companies are reprogramming and repurposing their machines, others are removing GPUs from idle mining rigs and selling them for use in AI computers.
GPUs are key to mining 2.0
Erin Dermer of crypto mining company Hut 8 said the firm is uniquely qualified to handle the intense workloads of its AI clients. Hut 8 has moved some of its GPUs and servers, which previously mined Ethereum, to data centers it purchased for use in visual effects rendering and artificial intelligence for its customers, primarily in the gaming and entertainment industries. Hut 8 used these GPUs to support text-to-graphics generative AI requirements. Erin Dermer said:
“We are very excited about artificial intelligence. We have been providing the IT infrastructure to provide this high-demand service for some time. “While we are still in the early days of adopting AI, we believe that whether we are mining Bitcoin or providing high-performance computing services, the common thread is in computing infrastructure and Hut 8 is actively pursuing both lines of business.”
Satoshi Spain, a company that sells hardware for crypto mining, has also started using its equipment for artificial intelligence production. Satoshi Spain founder Alejandro Ibanez de Pedro said, “You can still make money from your mining rigHe defines this as mining 2.0.
He said the GPUs used in the company’s computers are useful for the calculations used to create cryptocurrencies, as well as the processing required for artificial intelligence systems.
Importance of ASIC circuits
Among the hardware that works for Bitcoin mining, ASIC (application specific integrated circuits) based ones are one of the most advanced. In addition to GPUs, which are graphics-based chips, ASICs are also frequently used for mining. Didar Bekbauov, CEO of Kazakhstani Bitcoin mining company Xive, also sheds light on the importance of ASIC circuits for mining. He states that these circuits can also be used in the construction of artificial intelligence data centers. Bekbauov says:
“Most crypto mining uses application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). These circuits cannot be used for any other purpose, they only mine Bitcoin. However, the technology behind data center construction and management for both crypto mining and AI is the same. “So any large-scale mining company could potentially create a data center for AI operations with these circuits.”
Sources: Crypto Potato, Pymnts, The Block