Sapphire, a Hong Kong-based computer hardware manufacturer, has announced a dedicated graphics card to mine the recently launched privacy-oriented digital asset Grin.
The manufacturer launched the new graphics card - named RX 570 16GB HDMI Blockchain Graphics Card - on Tuesday saying that it is the first of a “new family” of such products.
The card is specifically designed to solve Cuckatoo Cycle algorithm which is the base of Grin’s proof-of-work. Sapphire is claiming that the card will generate higher rewards for the early miners.
”[This card is] one of the few solutions that can efficiently mine Cuckatoo 31+, as a result, there will be fewer users on the network leading to higher rewards for early miners,” Sapphire noted.
Grin and Mimblewimble
Launched on January 3, Grin is one of the two Cryptocurrencies based on the Mimblewimble protocol. The protocol is aimed at solving Bitcoin’s privacy and scalability issues.
Unlike most cryptocurrencies, Mimblewimble-based coins do not have a wallet address. The user only holds a set of keys that control the unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs). For every transaction, the user creates two new outputs – one to send the desirable amount of crypto and the other to store the balance. The key to the first address is shared with the other party involved in the transaction.
The promising prospect of the project also attracted many investors including Peter Thiel, who invested $2.1 million in seed money on the firm.
Adrian Thompson, Sapphire’s global VP of Marketing, said: “Future products will include new 16GB Graphics additions’ to SAPPHIRE’s line of INCA and MGI Series of dedicated blockchain systems.”
According to the announcement, the graphics card is not available in the market yet. However, the company assured that it will be putting the hardware on store shelves soon.
