The process of mining cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, involves verifying transactions and adding new digital currency to the blockchain. However, this operation comes at a significant cost, consuming up to 1% of the world’s total energy. As the popularity of cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications continues to rise, this energy consumption is projected to further escalate.
Cryptocurrencies are decentralized digital currencies that rely on encryption algorithms for their creation. They offer an alternative form of currency, distinct from traditional fiat currencies. The foundation of these digital currencies lies in blockchain technology, which serves as a secure and immutable digital ledger. It records crucial information like transactions in a manner that is exceedingly challenging, if not impossible, to tamper with or breach.
“Currently,” according to first author Sunil Pai, “cryptocurrency mining is only accessible to those that have access to highly discounted energy—below $0.05/kWh.”
In a remarkable development, researchers have introduced an advanced computing scheme based on light, significantly diminishing the power requirements for cryptocurrency mining. This groundbreaking innovation also paves the way for a new photonic blockchain technology, which has the potential to enhance the accessibility of cryptocurrencies and enable the utilization of low-energy optical computing.
“Our low-energy chips will make it possible for individuals all over the world to participate in mining profitably,” and it “could also be used for applications beyond cryptocurrency such as securely transferring data for medical records, smart contracts and voting.”
In a publication featured in Optica, the team Spearheaded by esteemed experts David A.B. Miller, Shanhui Fan, and Olav Solgaard from Stanford University, has unveiled their pioneering scheme named LightHash, which harnesses the power of a photonic integrated circuit to establish a photonic blockchain.
Promising remarkable potential, the researchers envision that upon extensive refinement, this approach could yield an astounding ten-fold enhancement in energy efficiency compared to the most advanced digital electronic processors currently available.
Advancing Sustainable Mining: Harnessing Silicon Photonics for Greener Cryptocurrency Networks
The surging energy demands of cryptocurrency mining have become a serious cause for concern, prompting some prominent platforms like Ethereum to adopt untested and potentially vulnerable techniques to reduce their carbon footprint.
In order to discover an environmentally sustainable alternative while upholding stringent security measures, Pai and his team have leveraged silicon photonics to diminish the energy demands of cryptocurrency networks. The introduction of LightHash signifies a notable advancement over their previous solution, known as HeavyHash, which presently underpins cryptocurrency networks like Optical Bitcoin and Kaspa.
The secure creation and operation of Bitcoin, as well as its computing network, necessitate the utilization of a hash function such as SHA256 or Heavyhash. These functions convert input data into a singular output number in a highly intricate manner that cannot be easily reversed, thus contributing significantly to Bitcoin’s energy consumption.
In a recent study, scientists made advancements by modifying Heavyhash to function alongside a co-designed silicon photonic chip containing a 6×6 network of programmable interferometers. This innovative approach enables energy-efficient optical processing of matrix multiplications, which constitute the majority of computations in Lighthash.
To assess the practicality of implementing LightHash for matrix multiplication, the researchers constructed an optical setup. This rig allowed them to control and monitor the propagation of light by fine-tuning heating elements and projecting grating spots onto an infrared camera. Additionally, the researchers developed an error mitigation algorithm and established criteria to evaluate the feasibility of scaling up this technology.
Advancing Precise and Energy-Efficient Computation
According to Pai, the lead researcher, the findings indicate “that LightHash can be feasibly computed at scale using current silicon photonic chip technology.”
“Essentially, we have devised a way to use analog optical circuits to perform multiplications at near zero power dissipation yet precisely enough for use in a digital encryption scheme.”
In order to establish significant advantages of LightHash over its digital counterparts, the technology needs to be expanded to accommodate 64 inputs and outputs. Additionally, the researchers are striving to decrease energy consumption by developing low-power electromechanical tuning components and energy-efficient converters to effectively transform optical signals into electrical signals.
“It will be interesting to see how cryptocurrency technology evolves and to what extent photonics can contribute to the increasingly mainstream role of decentralized ledgers in society today,” adds Pai.
Source: 10.1177/19485506231163012
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