This Bitcoin miner is hot on the heels of Bitmain’s S21

The Teraflux AT2880 Bitcoin (BTC) mining rig achieved an energy efficiency of 16.8 J/TH (joules per terahashes) and 17 J/TH, according to a test conducted and published by Michael Carter, a mining farm developer of Bitcoin.

This device, launched in November 2023 and put on the market since January 2024, is manufactured by the American company Auradine, which works in the field of infrastructure web and in the development of ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) for Bitcoin mining.

According to Carter, the version of the AT2880 ASIC that achieved this efficiency of 16.8 J/TH has a computing power of 150 Th/s (terahashes per second) and an electrical consumption of 2,500 watts. For its part, this same equipment, but with a hashrate of 222 Th/s and an energy expenditure of 3,850 watts, achieved an efficiency of 17 J/TH.

Regarding efficiency, some of the Antminer S21 ASICs from the Chinese company Bitmain, which are currently the most profitable to mine BTCachieve levels in this measurement of 13 J/TH (the S21e XP Hyd 3U model) and 12 J/TH (the S21 XP Hyd).

Considering the ASIC S21e XP Hyd 3U, the current equipment that generates the most daily net income in bitcoin (approximately $22), it has a processing power of 860 Th/s and an electrical consumption of around 11,180 watts.

How is ASIC efficiency measured and what is its purpose?

Efficiency in an ASIC is measured in joules per terahash (J/TH), which indicates how much energy it consumes to perform 1 billion attempts hash per second. The lower this value, the more efficient the equipment is, since it uses less energy to generate the same computing power.

Therefore, the lower the J/TH, the more efficient the ASIC, which benefits the miner by reduce the cost by hash, improve the sustainability of your operation and maximize the profitability of Bitcoin mining.

Does more efficiency translate into more profitability?

The quick answer would be “no.” The profitability of an ASIC does not depend solely on its energy efficiency but on a combination of factors such as the cost of electricity, the price of the ASIC, its hashrate, the difficulty of the network and others.

For example, the cost of electricity is crucial; A more efficient ASIC reduces power consumption, which is ideal in regions with expensive electricity. However, in places where power is cheap, the difference in operating costs may not justify the additional expense on a higher efficiency ASIC.

A more efficient ASIC usually means a higher initial investmentwhich could extend the time needed to recover investment (ROI) if the cryptocurrency price or network difficulty is not favorable.

The computing power of the ASIC also plays an important role. A device with a higher hashrate, although less energy efficient, tends to have a higher chance of finding the next block, balancing energy costs with an increase in cryptoasset production.

Ultimately, in the context of the Bitcoin network, miners compete with their ASIC computing power, but the chance to process a block is random. Each miner has a chance of solving the cryptographic problem based on their share of the network’s total hashrate, although there is no guarantee of success.