Ahead of Bitcoin Halving, Bitmain Announces Upcoming Antiminer S19

Leading mining hardware manufacturer Bitmain has announced two new upcoming miners — the Antminer S19 and the Antminer S19 Pro.

According to a press release on Feb. 27, the Antminer S19 will boast a hash rate of 95 terahashes per second (TH/s), and the Pro will offer 90 TH/s. However, Bitmain’s website claims that the Pro model can produce 110 TH/s.

Both miners will have a power efficiency of 34.5+/-%5 joules per terahash. No release date or price information has been announced for either model.

The S19 series will replace the Antminer S17 67 TH/s and the T17 55 TH/s as Bitmain’s flagship models. The S19s will weigh 3.5 and 4.5 kilograms heavier than their predecessors, weighing 15.5 and 16.5 kilograms. The S17 and T17 are priced at $1,567 and $939 respectively.

Bitmain’s press copy invokes the upcoming halving, stating: “with the price of block rewards to be reduced, the Antminer 19 series safeguard miners for future mining.”

Bitmain miners drive Riot Blockchain expansion

On Feb. 20, the Nasdaq-listed crypto mining company Riot Blockchain announced the operational commencement of 4,000 Antminer S17s.

Riot purchased the Antminers during December 2019, 3,000 of which were deployed in its Oklahoma City facility during January. The facility is now fully operational — producing 240 pentahash per second and consuming 12 megawatts of electricity.

Competition heats between Bitmain and MicroBT

After years of Bitmain miners dominating hash rate, the company appears to be facing increasing competition from rival MicroBT.

MicroBT sold roughly 600,000 units of its flagship 60 TH/s WhatsMiner M20 in 2019 — outselling Bitmain’s S17 last year. MicroBT plans to launch its forthcoming M30 with 88 TH/s capabilities, signaling fierce competition between the two companies during 2020.