Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is not a fan of cryptocurrency, specifically Bitcoin. And it's not even close.
MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA MAY 21: CEO of VMware, Patrick P. Gelsinger clicked during a photo shoot in Mumbai.
According to The Register, Gelsinger recently raged against Bitcoin and even went as far as to call it a "climate crisis," citing just how much of a power-guzzling beast cryptocurrency mining-and in extension, Bitcoin mining-really is.
The Intel CEO mentioned how just a single Bitcoin ledger entry consumes as much power as a typical home needs in a single day. "That's a climate crisis. That's not okay," were the words he uttered in a recent interview with Bloomberg.
But while the Big Tech head is never really a fan of Bitcoin mining or other power-hungry cryptocurrency mining operations in general, it doesn't mean that Intel is foregoing crypto mining entirely. In the same Bloomberg interview, he mentioned how the company is bringing a new, "dramatically better" blockchain chip that is poised to deal with the power-hungry nature of crypto mining.
Team Blue calls the blockchain chip the Bonanza Mine, which is purportedly a more efficient version of an ASIC miner. According to TheBlockCrypto, the chip is capable of around 40 terahash per second (TH/s) of computing power.
Compared to other ASIC mining hardware on the market, this lags significantly behind. Other more popular mainstream hardware is capable of 95 to as much as 112 TH/s, but Intel says the Bonanza Mine's advantage is its power efficiency. Apparently, companies including Argo and Block have already placed orders for the new chip, as per the original TheBlockCrypto report.
Now, Gelsinger's harsh claims about Bitcoin being a "climate crisis" aren't entirely false. If there's one thing you should know about mining Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, it's that they do consume massive amounts of power. This isn't a good thing right now, considering the world's governments are trying their hardest to limit their carbon footprints.
This has led to multiple cryptocurrency mining and trading crackdowns in several major nations all over the world.
This photo taken on April 1, 2021 shows a worker adjusting cryptocurrency mining rigs at a cryptocurrency farm in Dujiangyan in China's southwestern Sichuan province.
Read also: Crypto Mining Is A 'Threat' To The US Power Grid, According To Credit Rating Agency
Why Is The Intel CEO Really Not A Big Fan Of Crypto Mining?
Gelsinger's recent comments in the Bloomberg interview might seem out of place for some, but his sentiments have largely stayed the same for the past couple of years. He doesn't seem to be a big fan of Bitcoin at all.
He made the same sentiment known way back in a 2019 article by Fortune (via CoinTelegraph), when he was still the CEO of cloud computing provider VMware. The statement he made is almost similar to his most recent one, wherein he again mentioned how one Bitcoin ledger entry consumes as much power as that of an entire home for a day.
Aside from that, he claimed that Bitcoin is being primarily used for illegal activities, which is where his "bad for humanity" comment comes from. But since his company is pushing through with the Bonanza Mine, some might consider these harsh claims a bit of a contradiction.
Related: Cryptocurrency Is Like A Ponzi Scheme, Says Indian Reserve Bank Official
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
