Samsung is reportedly jumping on the Bitcoin bandwagon, with new hardware designed for cryptocurrency mining scheduled to enter production next month.
According to The Bell, Samsung is building application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) hardware designed to be used for mining the trending digital currencies.
The unexpected move will see Samsung supply the 10-nanometer 16Gb GDDR6 DRAM chips to an unnamed Chinese company, who’ll distribute the hardware.
“We are in the middle of a foundry business that is being supplied to a virtual money mining company in China,” a Samsung rep told SK media (via SlashGear). “Since Samsung has just begun its cryptocurrency mining venture, it is unsure of the revenues it can generate from it.”
Samsung’s endeavours could give the current market mining hardware leader Bitmain, which uses TSMC as its chip manufacturer, something to think about.
Kodak’s moment
The move follows the reveal of Kodak’s strange cryptocurrency contraption at CES earlier this month.
The KodakOne blockchain platform is designed as means for photographers to secure digital rights management payments.
Instead of using traditional currencies, as sites like 500px do, snappers would receive reparations via an entirely new cryptocurrency called KodakCoin.
“Subject to the highest standards of compliance, KodakCoin is all about paying photographers fairly and giving them an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new economy tailored for them, with secure asset rights management built right in,” Jan Denecke, the CEO of WENN Digital, Kodak’s partner said.
