New BitMain Antminer A3 Blake (2b) ASIC Miner Announced

17 Jan
2018

This came as a bit of unexpected surprise, but it seems that BitMain already has a working ASIC miner for the Blake (2b) mining algorithm (and maybe even for other variants of Blake) and they have announced their plans to start shipping the Antminer A3. The Blake 2b crypto algorithm is currently being used by SiaCoin (SC) and last year there was a pre-order for an official SiaCoin ASIC miner the Obelisk SC1. BitMain’s ASIC miner however seems to be arriving much earlier with similar specifications and price, so anyone that has pre-ordered an Obelisk SC1 might not be that happy. On the other hand people that are interested in getting into mining SiaCoin and missed their chance with the pre-order might order now from BitMain and get the device shipped in 10 days after payment according to the company.

BitMain Antminer A3 Specifications:
– Product model: A3
– Hash ASIC type: BM1720
– Hashing algorithm: Blake(2b)
– Total quantity of hash chips: 180 chips
– Total quantity of hash boards: 3 boards per miner
– Total hash rate: 815 GHS ±5%
– DC voltage input: 11.60~13.00 V
– DC current input @12V DC: 98.8 A +7%
– DC Power @12V DC input: 1186 W +7%
– 220VAC Power @25℃, 93% conversion efficiency of APW3: 1275 W + 7%
– 220VAC Power efficiency @25℃,93% conversion efficiency of APW3: 1.56 mJ/MH + 7%
– Weight (without package): 4.2 kg
– Operation temperature: 0-40 ℃
– Storage temperature: -40-85 ℃
– Operation humidity: 5%RH – 95%RH, prevent condensation
– Noise: 76 dB
– Networking connection mode: Ethernet Cable
– Power connection mode: All three PCI-E ports are required to power the board. You can use one PSU to power multiple boards, but do not attempt to power one board with two PSUs. We suggest to prevent the control board to be powered up before hash boards be powered up.
– Size (Length*Width*Height, without package): 321mm*125mm*208mm

– For more details about the new BitMain Antminer A3 Blake (2b) ASIC miner…

Antminer L3+ Blissz Modified Firmware For Improved Performance

14 Jan
2018

If you are a miner using Bitmain’s Antminer L3+ Scrypt ASICs for mining Litecoin (LTC) or another Scrypt-based altcoin you might be interested in checking out the Blissz modified firmware for the L3+. A while ago we have covered the Antminer D3 Blissz Modified Firmware For Improved Performance and the good news is that the L3+ modified firmware offers pretty much the same improvement and features as for the X11 ASIC. Optimized power usage and performance, extra features and various improvements are available, though in order to take full advantage of the modified firmware you will need to know what you are doing. Also note that this modified firmware does come with a 1.5% developer fee built-in, though the improvements it might being are definitely worth the dev fee and if you do not like what you get you can always get back to the stock Bitmain firmware.

– For more details and to download and try the Antminer L3+ Blissz modified firmware…

The Exchange Kraken Returns After More Than 2 Days Downtime

13 Jan
2018

Kraken, one of the big crypto exchange is finally back online after an extended downtime of over two days due to problems experienced during scheduled and long overdue upgrade of the trading system. The long period of downtime for the popular exchange, especially among European users has caused a lot of different rumors and speculations to circle around, even though the exchange has tried to assure users that all funds are safe. The main concern was that people did not have access to their funds stored on the exchange and within turbulent market that could mean a lot of potential losses, especially for day traders. Anyway, the good news is that no funds were lost and any transfers of crypto to the exchange during the downtime should also be available in the user’s balances.

Do note that all orders have been cancelled prior to trading resuming and all trading pairs were launched with no orders on the books, so be extra careful at the moment when placing orders, especially for sales or buys with market price. Withdrawals are currently disabled and will remain disabled for a minimum of 12 hours, for fiat or crypto deposits (initiated before, during or following the downtime) users should allow up to 2 additional business days for funds to be credited. Kraken has also activated zero fee trading for all clients (across non-margin trades) starting today and lasting through the end of this month (January) as an excuse for the caused trouble with the long downtime.

Update: It seems that not all issues have yet been resolved and soon after getting back online the exchange has taken down trading until they resolve a problem with the order book data not being displayed properly.

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