Block, a multinational tech conglomerate started by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has posted a new blog post on March 7, where it laid out the plans to expand its Bitcoin mining ambitions with the “mining development kit.”
The company says its new project will increase the pace of innovation in the crypto mining industry with the goal to make it more environmentally sustainable.
“The intention behind the MDK [mining development kit] is to provide developers with a suite of tools to help unlock creativity and innovation in bitcoin mining hardware,” the company’s blog post reads. “We anticipate the MDK being useful for development projects focused on integrating bitcoin mining into various novel use cases - such as heating solutions, off-grid mining, home mining or intermittent power applications - as well as optimization of bitcoin mining hardware for traditional commercial mining operations.”
Block’s mining development kit is envisioned to include four key components. The company is currently seeking more feedback from the community to determine which features will be shipped in the MDK release, although no specific launch date has been set yet.
The MDK is said to deliver a “powerful, reliable, industrial-grade bitcoin mining hashboard,” which will be compatible with the company’s custom-built control board included with the kit, as well as third-party controllers such as Raspberry Pi.
There will be also an open-source firmware, a software API and a web front-end packed with the hashboard and designed to modify its key performance parameters. Finally, the kit will be shipped with extensive reference materials and support documentation “to facilitate easy customization of the hashboard.”
The feedback on hardware tools, software features, and training materials can be directed to mining@block.xyz. The updates on the mining developer kit will be provided “in the coming weeks and months.”
Jack Dorsey first announced his plans to create an open-source Bitcoin mining system for businesses and individuals in October 2021. Block, then known as Square, started to work on the project in January 2022, with the aim to “make mining more distributed and efficient in every way,” Thomas Templeton, a general manager at Block, tweeted at the time.
“Mining isn’t accessible to everyone. Bitcoin mining should be as easy as plugging a rig into a power source. There isn’t enough incentive today for individuals to overcome the complexity of running a miner for themselves,” Dorsey said.
The billionaire co-founder of Twitter and Block has long been a vocal advocate for Bitcoin and claims to have high hopes for the future of crypto.
“My hope is that creates or helps create world peace,” Dorsey said during a “The B Word” webinar in July 2021. “It’s going to be long-term, but my hope is definitely peace.”
“We have all these monopolies off balance and the individual doesn’t have power and the amount of cost and distraction that comes from our monetary system today is real and it takes away attention from the bigger problems,” he added at the time.
In February 2023, Twitter co-founder also backed the development of Bluesky, a decentralized alternative to Twitter similar to the other federated microblogging network Mastodon. Its iOS app was first released on February 17 and is currently invite-only, as the platform is still being stress-tested against bugs and glitches.
