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Jack Dorsey’s Block To Democratize Bitcoin Mining With Open Source Mining System

Block, formerly known as Square, is working on an open-source bitcoin mining system, according to CEO Jack Dorsey. He referenced a more detailed thread on the project’s objectives by the company’s general manager for hardware, Thomas Templeton.

We’re officially building an open bitcoin mining system ✨ https://t.co/PaNc7gXS48

— jack⚡ (@jack) January 13, 2022

Block Is Working On Bitcoin Mining

Thomas Templeton, Block’s general manager for hardware, set out the company’s next moves in a series of tweets.

“From buying, to set up, to maintenance, to mining,” Templeton said, the goal is to make bitcoin mining — the process of creating new bitcoins by solving increasingly hard computing tasks — more dispersed and efficient in every aspect.

According to Templeton, making the mining process more accessible is about more than just creating more bitcoin.

Templeton wrote:

“We want to make mining more distributed and efficient in every way, from buying, to set up, to maintenance, to mining. We’re interested because mining goes far beyond creating new bitcoin. We see it as a long-term need for a future that is fully decentralized and permissionless.”

The initiative is focused in combining performance and open-source design in a “elegant system integration,” according to Templeton. The company is looking for technologies and partnerships that could help the idea, which is currently being developed by Block’s hardware team. Afshin Rezayee is leading a dedicated team of engineers to the endeavor, and available positions include electrical engineers, software and analog designers, ASIC engineers, and layout engineers.

BTC Market cap down from last year’s ATH. Source: TradingView

The bitcoin mining system developed by Block aims to improve three areas of bitcoin mining: availability, reliability, and performance. The goal is to make mining rigs easier to identify and buy, while also providing a consistent delivery experience; improve dependability by designing something that can better dissipate heat and dust; and boost performance while consuming less power.

“Common issues we’ve heard with current systems are around heat dissipation and dust. They also become non-functional almost every day, which requires a time-consuming reboot. We want to build something that just works,” Templeton tweeted. “They’re also very noisy, which makes them too loud for home use.”

Related article | Is Norton 360 Mining Ethereum In Your Computer? If It Is, They’ll Take a 15% Cut

Dorsey Wants To Democratize BTC Mining

The mission statement of this project includes democratizing bitcoin mining access.

Dorsey wrote in October:

“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.”

The news corresponds to Dorsey’s announcements from 2021. Dorsey tweeted,

Square is considering building a Bitcoin mining system based on custom silicon and open source for individuals and businesses worldwide. If we do this, we’d follow our hardware wallet model: build in the open in collaboration with the community. First some thoughts and questions.

— jack⚡ (@jack) October 15, 2021

Block’s news comes only months after the United States overtook China as the world’s top bitcoin mining destination for the first time. Renewable energy sources abound in the United States.

Hydropower mining farms flourish in Washington State. New York generates more hydroelectric power than any other state east of the Rocky Mountains, and its nuclear power plants contribute to the state’s objective of zero carbon electricity. Meanwhile, Texas’ renewable energy contribution is increasing over time, with wind power accounting for 20% of the state’s power in 2019. In addition, the Texas grid continues to add more wind and solar power at a rapid pace.

Block hasn’t given a specific date for when its bitcoin mining system would be available for purchase and use, since the company is still in the research phase of development. Templeton also encouraged members of the public to contact him if they had any concerns or suggestions for improving the initiative.

Related article | More Green Energy: Crypto Mining Saves A Hydro Power Plant In Costa Rica

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Jack Dorsey’s TBD Presents Whitepaper For Decentralized Bitcoin Exchange

The first product of the Bitcoin-focused TBD will be tbDEX. A decentralized exchange that they deem “A Liquidity Protocol” in the recently released whitepaper. The Bitcoin network is permissionless, anyone with an Internet connection can jump in at any time. However, the Fiat world we live in is not. The banking system has endless requirements for participation, and those leave a high percentage of the population bankless and vulnerable. “We believe that the economy should be inclusive. We need to build on-ramps to this future where everyone can access and participate in the economy,” says TBD in the post that announces tbDEX.

Related Reading | Jack Dorsey: Square Could Build Bitcoin Mining System

A subsidiary of Jack Dorsey’s Square, they created TBD “with the sole goal of making it easy to create non-custodial, permissionless, and decentralized financial services” for Bitcoin. And now, they have a plan. 

What Is TBD ‘s Value Proposition?

The tbDEX aims “to build bridges between the fiat and cryptocurrency worlds,” that much is clear. We still live in a Fiat world and, if Bitcoin is going to succeed, we need new, simpler, and cheaper ways to interact with said world. “There are serious challenges to realizing this vision. Fiat rails are regulated, and no interface with either the traditional monetary system or “real world” can be completely trustless.” 

So, what solution does TBD proposes? The tbDEX will allow participants to interact and transact with each other like Bisq and similar projects. However, TBD will also let users “mutually and voluntarily rely on trusted third-parties to vouch for the counterparty.” In the whitepaper itself, TBD contemplates that Participating Financial Institutions or PFIs will be part of the network. 

“PFIs can be, but are not limited to, fintech companies, regional banks, large institutional banks, or other financial institutions; PFIs have access to fiat payment systems and the ability to facilitate fiat payments in exchange for tokenized cryptocurrency assets or vice versa.”

The tbDEX will provide financial institutions with tools for KYC and AML procedures:

“The protocol will also carry the required regulatory-clearing information required by PFIs to conduct their AML and KYC checks before they provision liquidity to the wallet owner. However, the necessary information may vary based on the jurisdiction.”

Wait a minute… a decentralized exchange that requires KYC? What would be the point of that? Well, the protocol doesn’t require KYC procedures, but some institutions might. The good news is, participants don’t have to deal with those institutions if they don’t want to. They can just interact with each other and establish trust in other ways. 

BTC price chart for 11/20/2021 on FX | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
The Cost Of Anonymity

This is where it gets interesting. According to the whitepaper:

“The tbDEX protocol facilitates decentralized networks of exchange between assets by providing a framework for establishing social trust, utilizing decentralized identity (DID) and verifiable credentials (VCs) to establish the provenance of identity in the real world.”

It’s important to notice that “the protocol itself neither collects nor records any personally identifiable information.” However, if a participant wants anonymity it’s his or her responsibility to optimize for it. Once again, the whitepaper: 

“Our goal is not to maintain anonymity of transactions at all costs. Nor is it to undermine an individual’s ability to optimize for anonymity. Nothing in principle precludes anonymous transactions for financial privacy on the tbDEX network. A PFI could, in principle, require no VCs, but such transactions would represent a high degree of risk to the counterparties.” 

To assume that risk costs money. It’s as simple as that. The announcement post puts it nicely.

“Transaction costs are ultimately driven by risk. At maximum anonymity, transaction costs will necessarily be higher; at maximum disclosure, they should be lower. This approach to price discovery allows the marketplace to find the right balance.”  

Related Reading | Is Hyperinflation Inevitable? Jack Dorsey Says It’ll “Change Everything”

If You Have A Suggestion, Send It To TBD

The whitepaper is a rough outline of that tbDEX will eventually be.

“This initial draft of the whitepaper is meant to establish a conceptual understanding of the high-level design of the proposed tbDEX protocol. It should not be considered complete or final. It represents a proposed design for public comment.”

If you have any suggestions, contact TBD via Twitter or send them a pull request on GitHub.

Featured Image: tbDEX diagram from the whitepaper | Charts by TradingView

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Is Hyperinflation Inevitable? Jack Dorsey Says It’ll “Change Everything”

When Square’s boss Jack Dorsey talks about hyperinflation, the world listens. And Twitter reacts. Since so-called developed economies are now feeling the pain that inflation brings, the concept is in everyone’s mind. Every human has a front-row seat to witness the consequences of the United State’s relentless money printing. And, since the Dollar is still the reserve currency of the world,  they’re all feeling it too.

Related Reading | Bullish For Bitcoin: US Inflation Expectation Breaks Out From Decade Long Downtrend

This is Jack Dorsey’s tweet:

Hyperinflation is going to change everything. It’s happening.

— jack⚡️ (@jack) October 23, 2021

As you can see, he doesn’t merely talk about inflation. He goes for “hyperinflation,” which caused adverse reactions in the replies and the quoted tweets. They accused him of fear-mongering and quoted official numbers at him. And the nay-sayers probably have a point here, because the US is far removed from the reality that word implies. However, one thing’s for sure: money printer goes brrrrrrrr… and it hasn’t stopped working since Covid hit.

Negative And Moderate Reactions To Jack Dorsey‘s Tweet

This is an example of an unnecessarily insulting response from a traditional finance person. 

2/ step back and it’s disturbing that a lot of most powerful financial figures/oligarchs are invested, literally and figuratively, in various huckster schemes and libertarianish fantasies of state and civilizations collapse.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) October 23, 2021

This man has obviously not done his homework regarding Bitcoin, so his argument is invalid. And doesn’t require a response. Plus, he’s being insulting to get attention, which he got. So, good for him and his dopamine levels. Let’s hope he has fun staying poor.

This is a Venezuelan economist with a moderate answer to Jack Dorsey.

I don't think it will. But it doesn't need to happen for things to get ugly. https://t.co/Cj85mJ8o7x

— Eduardo Gavotti (@EduardoGavotti) October 23, 2021

Since Venezuelans have first-hand experience with hyperinflation, let’s take what he says into account. The US is just feeling what inflation does. So-called developing economies live with that concept on their backs every second of every day.

BTC price chart for 10/23/2021 on Bitstamp | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Informative Reactions To Jack Dorsey’s Tweet

The Human Rights Foundation’s Alex Gladstein, a notorious Bitcoin maximalist, had this to say to Jack Dorsey.

Those shocked by this tweet live in a bubble of financial privilege.

*1.3 billion* live under double, triple, or quadruple-digit inflation: Turkey, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Iran, Lebanon, Venezuela, Cuba, Sudan, and beyond.

It’s already one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises. https://t.co/P83opDagdu

— Alex Gladstein 🌋 ⚡ (@gladstein) October 23, 2021

He’s not lying. Hyperinflation is “already one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises.” However, the US is far away from “Turkey, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Iran, Lebanon, Venezuela, Cuba”, and Sudan’s situation. And, since the Dollar is still the reserve currency of the world, they have a comfortable cushion to resist the constant money printing’s effects.

Serial entrepreneur and former Coinbase CTO, Balaji Srinivasan, answered Jack Dorsey with a fully-fledged idea. A “censorship-resistant inflation index.”

I wrote a spec for a censorship-resistant inflation index. It’s framed for a startup, but Square could easily do this. In a crisis, accurate inflation info would be something people checked Twitter for every day. @milessuter @moneyball @jack https://t.co/SYb2mfxjex

— Balaji Srinivasan (@balajis) October 23, 2021

In the project, he brings forth some hard truths:

“If inflation is a government-caused problem, we can’t necessarily rely on government statistics like the CPI to diagnose it or remediate it. Indeed, in places with high inflation, censorship and denial is the rule rather than the exception.”

If you are technically capable, there’s still time to send your proposal and earn “A $100k Prize for a Decentralized Inflation Dashboard.” Be aware that “if you use Chainlink’s oracle tech in your project, the best dashboard will be eligible to receive a $100k grant in LINK tokens.” Those tokens are in addition to the main prize.

Poor Understanding Of The Terminology

In a Twitter Spaces room specifically dedicated to Jack Dorsey’s tweet, notorious podcaster Preston Pysh concluded.

“I think people’s understanding of the terminology, deflation, inflation, is just grossly misunderstood. And so, when you say we’re going to have these deflationary events that are then going to lead to more QE, which is then going to result in more inflationary events. I completely agree with you, but we’re talking that there’s so much information loss in such a simple word as deflation and inflation. So the deflationary event is that this whole system is constructed as credit.”

When he says QE, Preston refers to Quantitative Easing, which Investopedia defines as:

 “A form of unconventional monetary policy in which a central bank purchases longer-term securities from the open market in order to increase the money supply and encourage lending and investment. Buying these securities adds new money to the economy, and also serves to lower interest rates by bidding up fixed-income securities.”

Related Reading | Jack Dorsey Plans to Build A Decentralized Exchange For Bitcoin

That being said, Preston asks:

“How many people in the US, or in the world, have that context when that’s not their expertise, right? They didn’t get a major in macroeconomics, or finance, or whatever. So, it’s just all buzzwords that people throw around. And, in the meantime, no one really even understands what those definitions even represent.”

For more information about inflation, check out the Bitcoinist Book Club analysis of Saifedean Ammous’ “The Bitcoin Standard.”

Featured Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay – Charts by TradingView