An important step towards the clean energy of Bitcoin mining: switching from air cooling to water cooling

The once-thriving mining industry has fallen into difficulties along with the downturn of the cryptocurrency market.

As the "halving" approaches, the expansion of computing power has stagnated, and the price of computing power shows an overall downward trend, filling the entire industry with pessimism and uncertainty.

However, amidst this seemingly desperate quagmire, a brand new mining machine technology has quietly emerged, bringing hope and momentum. This technology is liquid cooling technology.

In contrast, traditional air cooling technology has become increasingly inadequate to meet the rising demand for computing power. Overclocking can enhance efficiency, but air cooling systems quickly reach their critical point. Liquid cooling technology, with its superior heat dissipation performance, perfectly solves this problem.

Bitcoin hash rate price from 2022 to present

Mining machines using liquid cooling can achieve a computing power increase of over 10%, while noise levels are reduced by 60%. This not only means a significant improvement in individual machine efficiency but also makes mining sites more likely to meet environmental regulatory requirements. Additionally, liquid cooling technology is expected to lower the investment in new machine research and development, delaying the uncertainty risks brought by the increasing concentration of the industry.

In short, liquid cooling technology has injected a shot of adrenaline into the beleaguered Bitcoin mining industry. As the industry undergoes a major reshuffle, mining machine manufacturers that master the advantages of liquid cooling technology are expected to seize the initiative in the new era.

Looking back at traditional air cooling systems, liquid cooling technology is more suitable for the cryptocurrency mining industry

In 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto proposed the concept of decentralized digital currency in the Bitcoin white paper, marking the beginning of the historical development of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Over more than a decade of development, a vast industrial ecosystem has formed around Bitcoin, with mining machines being one of the important infrastructures that have undergone multiple technological innovations.

Bitcoin achieves decentralized consensus through a proof-of-work mechanism, with miners providing computing power to maintain network security and ledger bookkeeping. Over time, the Bitcoin system gradually reduces the mining rewards for miners. This means that miners need to continuously improve their computing power to maintain profits. Therefore, more powerful dedicated mining machines have emerged.

In the early days, mining machines primarily used GPUs to perform SHA-256 algorithm calculations. In 2013, mining machines using ASIC chips entered the market, with efficiency far exceeding that of GPUs, triggering the first surge in computing power. Subsequently, advancements in process technology have driven multiple rounds of mining machine upgrades, with mainstream mining machines currently using ASIC chips made with 5nm or 7nm processes.

As the difficulty coefficient continues to rise, traditional air cooling systems have become increasingly inadequate to meet demand. Overclocking can enhance computing power but also brings greater heat dissipation pressure. Moreover, considering environmental sustainability, the new generation of mining machines needs to achieve efficient heat dissipation and low noise. Against this backdrop, liquid cooling technology, with its significant heat dissipation advantages, has become an important avenue for product iteration.

Compared to traditional air cooling technology, liquid cooling technology, with its superior heat dissipation performance and multiple advantages, is gradually becoming the new trend in the iteration of cryptocurrency mining machine products. The basic working principle of this technology is to circulate cooling water through sealed pipes to the surface of the mining machine chips, absorbing the heat generated by the chips, and then exchanging heat through external radiators or cooling towers, ultimately expelling the heat from the system.

Why liquid cooling systems are highly anticipated: these core advantages are irreplaceable

Compared to traditional air cooling systems, liquid cooling systems offer significant advantages, as described below:

1. High heat dissipation efficiency: The specific heat capacity of water is 4000 times that of air, and its thermal conductivity is 25 times that of air. This means that at the same flow rate, liquid cooling technology can more effectively lower the surface temperature of chips, providing superior heat dissipation performance.

2. Reduced temperature distribution unevenness: Compared to air cooling systems, liquid cooling technology can evenly cover the entire surface of the chip, effectively reducing temperature differences and thereby improving system stability.

3. Better overclocking potential: At the same power consumption, liquid-cooled mining machines can achieve higher overclocking frequencies, which can increase the Hashrate by over 10%, significantly enhancing mining machine performance.

Aerial view of liquid cooling system equipment

4. Low noise: Liquid cooling systems require lower fan speeds to maintain cooling effectiveness, resulting in significantly reduced noise levels, over 60% lower than air cooling systems.

5. High reliability: Liquid cooling systems do not contain easily worn components, such as fan blades, thus offering a longer lifespan and lower operational costs.

6. Good adaptability: Liquid cooling technology employs a modular design that can be combined and deployed according to different environmental needs, making it easier to achieve a global layout. Particularly in high-temperature and high-humidity areas, liquid cooling technology demonstrates its advantages, providing a reliable solution for mining machine operation.

In regions with dense mining operations, such as the Middle East and Texas, the advantages of liquid cooling technology become increasingly apparent. The Middle East faces high temperatures and humidity, which pose challenges to mining machine operations. However, liquid cooling technology precisely addresses these issues.

The CEO of Exahertz, a company based in Oman, stated: "The excellent heat dissipation performance of liquid cooling technology provides us with ample assurance for mining in desert areas, which was almost impossible in the past. Liquid-cooled mining machines operate very smoothly in Oman, and we have not experienced any downtime, maintaining nearly 100% online rate." This example vividly illustrates the outstanding performance of liquid cooling technology in extreme environments.

Liquid cooling technology excels in energy efficiency ratio, benefiting Bitcoin mining profits

In the context of continuous Bitcoin issuance but gradually halving block rewards, energy efficiency ratio has become a key indicator for measuring the competitiveness of mining machine products. The energy efficiency ratio indicates how much electricity is needed for a mining machine to output 1T of computing power; the lower the value, the better the machine's performance.

The energy efficiency ratio of the cryptocurrency mining industry continues to decline

As global energy prices steadily rise, electricity costs account for an increasing proportion of mining operation costs. On the other hand, the rising mining difficulty makes it imperative to enhance individual machine computing power. In this context, the importance of energy efficiency ratio is becoming increasingly prominent.

For miners, choosing mining machines with high energy efficiency ratios allows for higher computing power output at the same power consumption, while also helping to reduce electricity consumption and alleviate operational cost pressures. Additionally, high energy efficiency designs make it easier for mining machines to meet environmental regulatory requirements.

Bitmain released the latest ANTMINER liquid-cooled mining machine S21 Hyd during the 2023 Global Digital Mining Summit (WDMS 2023)

For mining machine manufacturers, improving the energy efficiency ratio in product research and design is essential for maintaining market competitiveness. Mastering leading liquid cooling technology and developing products that achieve the highest energy efficiency ratio in the industry will help manufacturers gain a first-mover advantage in the market.

In summary, the energy efficiency ratio has become an important indicator for evaluating the quality of mining machine products and determining market competitiveness. Mining machine manufacturers must place a high priority on energy efficiency technological innovation to enhance their products' energy efficiency ratios, allowing them to stand out in the fierce market competition.

High returns and high performance come with higher deployment costs: Understanding the key components of liquid-cooled mining machines

Although liquid-cooled mining systems have various advantages, they are not suitable for all mining operations. This is because, compared to air cooling operations, the initial capital investment is too high and requires strict expertise.

The successful operation of liquid-cooled mining machines relies on several key components, which play an important role in meeting different working environment demands. The main components of liquid-cooled mining machines include cooling plates, water pipes, water pumps, radiators, and fans, and can be configured as open or closed-loop water circulation systems based on the specific requirements of the working environment.

Components of liquid-cooled mining machines

1. Cooling plates:
   Cooling plates are components that come into direct contact with the chips, featuring large areas of fine flow channels to ensure that the coolant evenly absorbs heat. They are typically made of copper or copper alloys to enhance thermal conductivity. This key component effectively transfers heat to the coolant, ensuring stable operation of the mining machine.

2. Water pipes:
   Water pipes connect the cooling plates and radiators, completing the circulation of the coolant. To meet mechanical strength and corrosion resistance requirements, high-quality materials such as steel, plastic, or rubber tubing are typically used. These pipes play a crucial role in connecting various components, ensuring smooth coolant flow.

3. Water pumps:
   Water pumps are the power source of the liquid cooling system, responsible for drawing coolant from the radiator and delivering it to the cooling plates. The performance of the water pump needs to match the flow requirements of the piping system and provide sufficient pressure head to ensure smooth circulation of the coolant.

4. Radiators:
   Radiators are important components that feature large surface areas for heat exchange between the coolant and the surrounding air, effectively expelling heat generated by the system. Fans are typically used to enhance the efficiency of the radiator through forced air convection.

5. Fans:
   Fans are key components of the cooling system, providing forced airflow to the radiator to accelerate heat dissipation. Compared to traditional air cooling systems, the fans in liquid cooling systems can typically operate at lower speeds, thereby reducing energy consumption and noise.

Depending on different application scenarios, either open or closed-loop water circulation methods can be chosen. Open-loop systems directly exchange heat with the surrounding air, resulting in lower costs. Closed-loop systems enclose the coolant and radiator within the chassis, suitable for outdoor mining sites in harsh environments, protecting the system from external interference and corrosion. These components together form the core of liquid cooling technology, providing reliable support for mining machine performance.

The application prospects of liquid cooling technology are broad, bringing a series of opportunities to the entire cryptocurrency industry

Liquid cooling technology is currently demonstrating broad application prospects, covering aspects such as enhancing individual machine computing power, reducing research and development iteration costs, and adapting to harsh environments, bringing tremendous potential and opportunities to the cryptocurrency mining industry.

1. Enhancing individual machine computing power:
   The introduction of liquid cooling technology can significantly increase the overclocking potential of mining machines, allowing for a Hashrate increase of over 10% at the same power consumption compared to air cooling. This advantage will effectively address the continuous rise in computing power difficulty, providing greater room for mining machine performance improvement.

2. Reducing research and development iteration costs:
   Currently, the research and development costs of advanced process ASIC chips are continuously rising, with diminishing returns in performance improvement. However, the overclocking applications of liquid cooling technology can continually enhance the efficiency of older chips, thereby reducing the investment costs for the next round of research and development iterations, saving important resources in the mining sector.

3. Adapting to harsh environments:
   Liquid cooling technology employs modular and container designs, allowing for rapid deployment according to different mining site conditions. It possesses excellent disturbance resistance and corrosion resistance, significantly lowering maintenance costs. This makes liquid cooling technology an ideal choice for reliable operation in harsh environments.

4. Driving industry upgrades:
   As the concentration of cryptocurrency mining continues to rise, large miners have the capability to adopt new technologies and equipment. Liquid cooling technology is expected to become a key technology driving the entire industry upgrade, leading the industry towards greater efficiency and sustainability.

5. Responding to environmental regulations:
   In an era where environmental protection is increasingly emphasized, liquid cooling technology, with its characteristics of reducing energy consumption and noise, helps enhance the sustainability of mining sites, better responding to environmental public opinion and regulatory requirements. This will assist the entire industry in operating more responsibly.

Industry predictions indicate that the penetration rate of liquid cooling technology in newly deployed mining machines will continue to rise. JPMorgan analysts even believe that by 2025, liquid-cooled mining machines are expected to account for over 25% of the total global mining machine quantity, further highlighting the bright prospects of liquid cooling technology in the cryptocurrency mining industry. This trend will help enhance the efficiency, sustainability, and competitiveness of the entire industry, bringing more opportunities for miners and investors.

The shift of Bitcoin mining towards clean energy is an inevitable trend, and we look forward to more investment opportunities emerging

Under regulatory pressure, the Bitcoin mining industry must enhance its green and sustainable image to seek development.

First, in the context of global carbon neutrality, green and environmentally friendly practices have become an essential path for all industries. The Bitcoin mining industry needs to take proactive actions; otherwise, it will be difficult to sustain. Top publicly listed mining companies in the industry have formed organizations to publicly disclose carbon emissions and energy consumption data, continuously optimizing their power structure and increasing the proportion of renewable energy use. This is an important measure to convey their commitment to sustainable development to regulators and the public.

Additionally, mining companies are actively laying out plans for cheap clean energy. Besides the United States, the abundant hydropower resources in Northern Europe are an important choice. Deep cooperation with green energy companies will also become a trend.

Finally, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) will become an indispensable core of development in the mining industry. Establishing organizations similar to green foundations to conduct regular publicity and lobbying work to gain government support and public recognition is also imperative.

In summary, green and low-carbon development and managing government relations have become urgent priorities for the Bitcoin mining industry. Only by saving energy and reducing emissions, complying with laws and regulations, and communicating with the government and the public can this industry occupy a favorable position in the new era and achieve sustainable development.

At the same time, we also see that liquid cooling technology provides an important technological path for enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, and adapting to complex environments. It can not only narrow the gap between old and new machines but also lower research and development investments. In the context of industry upgrades, liquid cooling technology is expected to become a significant driving force for the development of mining machine products.