A small Texas mining {hardware} firm is releasing what it says is probably the most highly effective open-source touchscreen bitcoin miner at present accessible to house customers.
Houston-based Solo Satoshi introduced the launch of the Bitaxe Turbo Contact, a compact gadget designed for hobbyists and residential miners that delivers greater than double the hashrate of different touchscreen miners in its class.
In response to a be aware shared with Bitcoin Journal, the unit produces about 2.15 terahashes per second (TH/s).
The product builds on the open-source Bitaxe GT 801 platform and is powered by twin BM1370 ASIC chips, the identical chips used within the industrial-scale Bitmain Antminer S21 Professional. The chips permit the gadget to realize effectivity of roughly 18 joules per terahash, in keeping with the corporate. Throughout testing, the gadget reportedly reached over 3 TH/s when overclocked.
The miner features a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen that shows real-time community and mining knowledge. Eight rotating shows present metrics corresponding to hashrate efficiency, bitcoin worth, present block peak and lately mined blocks.
Community data is pulled from mempool.area, a extensively used blockchain knowledge explorer.
Matt Howard, founder and chief government of Solo Satoshi, mentioned the corporate prioritized transparency when constructing the gadget.
“We constructed this as a result of we consider the instruments folks use to work together with Bitcoin ought to be totally verifiable,” Howard mentioned in an announcement. “Each line of code between the ASIC chips and the pixels on the touchscreen is open supply.”
Open supply bitcoin mining
The miner runs two open-source firmware layers: AxeOS, which manages the mining operations, and BAP‑GT‑TOUCH, which powers the touchscreen interface. Each software program repositories, together with {hardware} schematics and board layouts, are publicly accessible below an open {hardware} license.
The gadget consumes about 43 watts of energy and produces roughly 35 decibels of noise, inserting it nearer to the sound degree of a quiet room than conventional industrial mining rigs. At typical U.S. residential electrical energy charges, Solo Satoshi estimates the miner would price about $3.70 per 30 days to function.
The Bitaxe Turbo Contact connects via a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi module utilizing an ESP32-S3 microcontroller, and configuration is dealt with via a browser-based dashboard. Every unit is assembled in the USA and examined for hashing efficiency earlier than transport, the corporate mentioned.
Solo Satoshi is positioning the gadget in opposition to different compact touchscreen miners such because the Braiins BMM 101. The corporate says its mannequin delivers considerably decrease price per terahash — about $151 per TH in contrast with roughly $299 per TH for the Braiins gadget.
The launch additionally highlights a rising area of interest inside the bitcoin mining trade targeted on open-source {hardware}. Whereas most massive mining operations depend on proprietary tools from main producers, smaller builders and hobbyist communities have pushed for clear designs that may be modified and audited.
Solo Satoshi mentioned it labored with the Open Supply Miners United neighborhood to develop elements of the gadget, together with an adjunct communication protocol that permits builders to construct extra shows and {hardware} integrations.
The corporate traces its involvement in touchscreen miners to late 2024, when it collaborated on the early idea of the Bitaxe Contact. When later variations of the gadget shipped with closed-source firmware, Solo Satoshi determined to create its personal totally open-source various.
In response to the corporate, open-source bitcoin miners have collectively produced greater than $1 million in verifiable block rewards, together with a number of extensively publicized solo mining successes lately.
