Block CEO Jack Dorsey building an "open bitcoin mining system"

Jack Dorsey

Block, formerly Square is "officially building an open bitcoin mining system", CEO Jack Dorsey recently revealed in a Twitter thread. Three months ago, in October 2021, the financial services firm had hinted at the possibility of building such a system

This was in response to a tweet by Thomas Templeton, Block's general manager of hardware. Working on a "low-maintenance, affordable bitcoin mining rig for everyday customers that are also quiet enough to be used at home", Templeton also highlighted the need for reliable, everyday mining rigs, stating that they become "non-functional almost daily, requiring a time-consuming reboot.

Furthermore, Templeton stressed the need for making mining more universal, accessible, and energy-efficient than current choices by creating a system based on custom silicon and open-source, given that mining goes far beyond creating new bitcoin.

He tweeted, "We want to make mining more distributed and efficient in every way, from buying, to set up, to maintenance, to mining. We're interested because mining goes far beyond creating new bitcoin. We see it as a long-term need for a future that is fully decentralized and permissionless".

Focussing on how energy efficiency is a systemic problem involving the synthesis of silicon, software, and integration, Block is already piecing together a team of systems and software engineers, as well as specialists in ASIC mining technology, along with collaborating with other industry players on the same.

The company's single-minded focus on hardware development for crypto is not surprising, given that Dorsey had declared last year that “I don’t think there’s anything more important in my lifetime to work on". He also mentioned giving up his role as CEO, if "Bitcoin needed him more". Dorsey quit as Twitter CEO to focus on Square, which was eventually renamed Block, to emphasise bitcoin's underlying technology, blockchain.

Square's Cash App, which facilitates Bitcoin purchases, has also ramped up its marketing campaign, reaching new audiences through Instagram and Twitter BTC giveaways by celebs such as Gwyneth Paltrow.