In a statement Intel Corp said it has launched a new chip specifically designed for blockchain applications such as Bitcoin mining and minting NFTs to cash in on the rising usage of cryptocurrencies.

Intel’s new chip is slated to ship later this year with its first customer being Block Inc.

Blockchains serve as public ledgers that keep records of transactions on a network of computers and have grown in prominence in recent years. Their rise has also triggered a buzz around words like “Web.3” and “NFTs” that tout the decentralization of technologies.

In a statement Intel said, its chip is an energy-efficient “accelerator” designed at speeding up blockchain tasks that require huge amounts of computing power and thereby consume a lot of energy.

Incidentally, Intel’s peer Nvidia Corp has also designed a chip designed for mining Ethereum.

In a bid to increase it footprint in this space, Intel has also formed a new segment called Custom Compute Group within its Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics business unit.

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