TL;DR: As cryptocurrency mining giant Bitmain wrapped up its annual World Digital Mining Summit (WDMS) from Frankfurt, Germany, revealing new mapping tech and hosting industry-leading speakers, co-founder Jihan Wu unveiled two highly anticipated Antminer rig models in their 17 series. The new versions promise power efficiency gains in the on-going battle for hash rate supremacy as competition heats up.

Bitmain Mining Summit Wraps on Awaited 17 Series Rollout

“Our new Antminers are at the forefront of mining innovation,” Wu told WDMS attendees. “They each represent the future of its rig design and power efficiency. We remain committed to our research and development capabilities and will continue to improve our devices.” The new rigs will go on sale 11 October 2019, 19:00 GMT+8, with expected delivery dates in early December.

In some ways, energy has never been cheaper, as shale discoveries, alternative sources, and technological innovation combine for greater market efficiency and, hopefully, better prices. However, the specter of so-called halvenings, trilemmas, and assorted blockchain-speak loom in the near future for miners. Governments are notoriously fickle, giving and taking on a moment’s notice. Don’t even get the mining community started about speculative crypto prices. And entire dissertations continue to challenge the very Proof-of-Work (PoW) notion at the heart of network security. In such a climate, every potential advantage counts.

For mining hardware juggernauts like Bitmain, however, the key appears to be laser-focused on what can be done now. In that spirit, the company released specifications on its two new Antminer 17 series rigs, the S17+ and T17+. Power efficiency and hash rate gains are music to miners’ ears, and any potential cost savings can mean the literal difference with regard to financial survival. “The Antminer S17+ has a hash rate of 73 TH/s and operates with a power efficiency of 40 J/TH + 10%,” Bitmain claimed in a World Digital Mining Summit press release, “while the T17+ offers a hash rate of 64 TH/s and a power efficiency of 50 J/TH + 10%.”

The efficiencies are accomplished through what engineers at Bitmain describe as “dual tube heat dissipation technology,” which is aimed at reducing the ratio between air inlet and outlet space in rigs by as much as 50% (an added bonus is less fan noise). The company also explained “a high temperature and fan abnormal protection mechanism has been built-in to ensure the stable and safe operation of the miners,” a real and on-going concern for mining farms especially. “Both Antminer S17+ and T17+ use the industry-leading Exposed Die package solution and an optimized all-in-one design, making the models easily to be implemented and can adapt to mining farms of different sizes.”

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