Intel ships crypto-mining ASIC at the worst possible time

Intel has begun shipping its Blockscale ASIC, which accelerates SHA-256 hashing, at a time when many cryptocurrencies have been on the decline. Bitcoin, for instance, has dropped 60 percent in value from the beginning of the year and, for a second time this month, dipped below $20,000 in value today. The specter of a crypto winter settling in has prompted some to sell their crypto-mining equipment, which, luckily for gamers, means that supply and pricing for GPUs is better than it has been for a while. Intel has painted itself as somewhat of an environmental savior for the crypto mining market, as the company claims its blockscale ASIC is much more energy efficient than GPUs for proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining. Source