MicroBT unveils Bitcoin miners in the Whatsminer M50 series

MicroBT unveiled the Whatsminer M50 Bitcoin ASIC miners at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, according to ForkLog, citing project representatives.

The M50S, M50 and M53 devices are equipped with 5-nm chips from Samsung. According to the statement, their efficiency is 15% higher than that of the previous M30 series miners, which the firm launched in 2020.

Deliveries of the new models are set to begin in Q3 2022 at 30,000 units per month. The miners are available for order.

The flagship Whatsminer M50S, air-cooled, delivers a hash rate of 126 TH/s with an energy efficiency of 26 J/TH (power consumption — 3,276 W).

The announced specifications for the Whatsminer M50 are 114 TH/s and 29 J/TH, respectively.

The M53 model features liquid cooling. The Bitcoin miner achieves 240 TH/s at 29 J/TH.

In September 2020, industry journalist Colin Wu announced the release of MicroBT’s M50 lineup within the coming months. According to him, the firm intended to continue using 8-nm Samsung chips in its miners, but aimed for energy efficiency of around 30 J/TH, surpassing Bitmain’s devices.

At that time, the market leader used 7-nm chips from TSCM. Only in November 2021 did Bitmain first demonstrate a model based on 5-nm chips — Antminer S19 XP.

In March 2022, the manufacturer introduced Antminer S19 XP Hyd with liquid cooling. The device delivers a hash rate of 255 TH/s at an efficiency of 20.8 J/TH.

In February, the American corporation Intel unveiled its first bitcoin-mining chip. The claimed specifications of the Bonanza Mine-based prototype lagged significantly behind the flagship devices from Bitmain and MicroBT.

In March, Intel announced the launch of the second-generation chip for mining. According to the statement, Blockscale will deliver an energy efficiency of around 26 J/TH.