Samson Mow: Bitmain S17/T17 Antminer Has High Failure Rate

Published at: April 27, 2020

Cryptocurrency miners relying on the Bitmain S17 and T17 Antminer have said that the rigs have failure rates between 20-30% where they would normally be roughly 5%.

According to an April 26 tweet from Samson Mow, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of blockchain infrastructure firm Blockstream, Bitcoin (BTC) miners using rigs from the world’s largest manufacturer of cryptocurrency mining equipment have been reporting technical issues. 

Heat sinks on the Antminer S17 and T17 rigs have been falling off, causing the machines to short out. In addition, users have reported problems with the power supply fans on the S17. 

Both pieces of equipment are designed to regulate the heat generated by the mining gear. As a result, nearly a third have been shorted out by the reported problems.

#Bitmain customers report that Antminer S17/T17’s have a 20-30% failure rate (normally 5%). Heat sinks are falling off and shorting out machines, while power supply fans are failing. Jihan is begging customers to give the S19 a chance & blames everything on Micree. #BitcoinMining pic.twitter.com/PeAsTkp2ck

— Samson Mow (@Excellion) April 26, 2020

As Mow points out, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jihan Wu is blaming fellow Bitmain co-founder Micree Zhan for the failures. Wu ousted Zhan from the company in October 2019 “to save this ship [from sinking].”

Mining competition before BTC halving

Mow’s tweet comes a mere 15 days before the expected Bitcoin halving, with both cryptocurrency mining manufacturers MicroBT and Bitmain in stiff competition. However, supply chain disruptions as a result of COVID-19 have left many in the crypto community expecting delays in mining equipment. 

Bitmain successfully sold out their updated S19 Antminer Pro with a hash rate of 110 terahashes per second (TH/s) on March 23, but later announced the units would not be shipped until May 11 at the earliest, just one day before the halving. Many have speculated that Bitmain chose this date so that it could mine using its next-generation ASICs without competition before the next fork occurs.

MicroBT, on the other hand, reported their flagship MS30S++ model from the M30 series of Bitcoin miners would have a hash rate of 112 TH/s. The mining manufacturer has said the hardware would be ready to ship in June.

Tags
Related Posts
Bitmain inks $18M Bitcoin mining rig sale with Riot Blockchain
Major cryptocurrency mining hardware manufacturer Bitmain is making a major sale to Riot Blockchain, a Nasdaq-listed crypto mining company. According to an Aug. 24 announcement, the firms signed a $17.7 million purchase agreement for 8,000 Bitmain Antminer S19 Pros that includes a delivery schedule of 2,000 units on a monthly basis starting in January 2021 until the order is complete. Bitmain launched the Antminer S19 Pro earlier this year, with a hash rate of 110 terahashes per second and a power efficiency of ~29.5 joules per terahash, nearly double the power efficiency per terahash of previous miner models. Irene Gao, …
Bitcoin / Aug. 25, 2020
BTC Rush: High Prospects for Bitcoin Price as Mining Investments Boom
Recent investments into cryptocurrency mining equipment by smaller players could be a positive signal for the longevity and value of Bitcoin (BTC). In late June, United States-based blockchain firm Core Scientific ordered over 17,000 of the latest Bitcoin mining ASIC machines from Chinese hardware producer Bitmain. The news made waves in the industry as the largest known order of Antminer S19s by a single operator. Core Scientific will use some of the machines for its own operations while the rest will be used for its cloud-based mining services for clients. Furthermore, one of its major clients, Horizon Kinetics, has increased …
Blockchain / July 9, 2020
US firm splashes out on 4,800 Bitcoin miners worth $34M
Pennsylvania software firm Integrated Ventures has announced the purchase of 4,800 Bitcoin (BTC) mining rigs from Chinese manufacturer Bitmain. The deal is worth just over $34 million and will see 400 of Bitmain’s Antminer model S19J’s delivered to Integrated Ventures each month for the next year. Integrated Ventures partnered with Wattum Management, a mining solutions provider, to carry out the deal, with Wattum expected to help host and manage INTV’s mining operations. The mining rigs deliver 100 terahashes each, giving IV close to 0.5 million TH/s by the time the full shipment of mining rigs is delivered in 2022. Based …
Technology / April 13, 2021
Bitmain Delays Antminer Shipments Amid Internal Conflicts
Bitmain, the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining hardware company, is postponing its product orders amid ongoing internal conflicts. As officially announced on Aug. 6, Bitmain will be delaying their June and July 2020 Antminer orders by at least two or three months due to “external interference on company operation.” According to the announcement, the orders will be postponed until September or October 2020 “at the earliest.” Bitmain drama is to blame While Bitmain is citing “external interference,” some industry experts are confident that the delay is caused by internal issues at the company. Dovey Wan, founding partner of blockchain investment …
Bitcoin / Aug. 6, 2020
CleanSpark boosts computing power by 37% with thousands of new Bitmain rigs
Bitcoin miner CleanSpark is growing its mining capacity in the United States, with the purchase of 20,000 new Antminer S19j Pro+ units for $43.6 million. The acquisition is expected to boost the company's computing power by 37%, and brings the total number of miners purchased during the bear market to 46,500 units. According to a statement on Feb. 16, CleanSpark will pay $32.3 million for the machines after applying coupons, at a 25% discount or a total price per terrahash of approximately $13.25. The Pro+ rigs are 22% more productive than its previous models and are planned to be delivered …
Bitcoin / Feb. 17, 2023