Bitcoin Computer by 21 Inc Is Now Available for Purchase on Amazon

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by Tatsiana Yablonskaya · 3 min read
Bitcoin Computer by 21 Inc Is Now Available for Purchase on Amazon
The 21 Bitcoin Computer is the first computer with native hardware and software support for the Bitcoin protocol. That means the hardware to mine a stream of small amounts of bitcoin for development purposes, and the software to make that bitcoin useful for buying and selling digital goods. Photo: 21 Inc

The 21 Bitcoin Computer is a part of 21 Inc’s intention to add a bitcoin miner in every domestic device.

The 21 Bitcoin Computer, the first marketed product of 21 Inc., appeared on Amazon available for purchase. The first orders were received in September while the shipment starts now. The device mines a constant stream of bitcoin and enables its owner to buy digital goods and services.

Taking into consideration the figures, it’s necessary to admit that the amount of bitcoin will not be large – the hashing power of the device is 50 GH/s (1 GH = 1 billion hashes). It gives us 0.0000006 bitcoin every hour.

The 21 Bitcoin Computer can operate either as a separate device or can be connected to Mac, Windows or Linux machines. Pocket size of the computer enables bitcoin developers to make bitcoin transactions without taking their mind off daily routine. Its price on Amazon, although quite hotly debated in comments, makes up $399,99. It includes everything that is needed to start mining – a WiFI adapter, laptop-to-device cable, Raspberry Pi 2 and power supply.

21 Inc. admits that Bitcoin Computer is only the first step on the way to their goal. “We want to use the success of the 21 Bitcoin Computer to help make Bitcoin the next fundamental system resource, available by default on every new computer. That journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

So far 21 Inc. has been silent about its global plans. Without going into details it revealed that it was looking forward to “adding a bitcoin miner to every device and in every hand”. Having received the most impressive funding in the crypto history – $116 million – the company started working at the development of so called “split chip” technology for the Internet of Things (IoT) enabled devices.

Such chips for bitcoin mining are intended for such daily devices as routers, gaming consoles, USB battery charges, toasters, set-top boxes and chipsets.  By the way the list of 21’s investors included such big names as Andreessen Horowitz and RRE Venture, Qualcomm Inc., founders of giants PayPal, Dropbox Inc., Expedia Inc. and some others.

21 Inc. stated in the official press release that its Bitcoin Computer enables developers to:

  • instantly mine Bitcoin from the command line;
  • sell API calls for Bitcoin, like English-to-Chinese translation or file conversion;
  • set up your own personal iTunes-like digital goods store;
  • reward peers for posting your links on social media;
  • make any IoT hardware Bitcoin-rentable, from smart locks to 3D printers.

Balaji Srinivasan, CEO at 21 Inc., explained that they offer a new approach to bitcoin: “The utility of bitcoin up until this point has been the speculation value. We have a new, pretty strong use case for bitcoin”.

Bitcoin News, Cryptocurrency News, News
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