Bitmain Retains Only a ‘Minuscule Lead’ Over Competitor Microbt Amid Ongoing Power Tussle, Says Report
A minimal lead is remaining with Bitmain, a BTC mining hardware, versus its rival Microbt. This is despite its ongoing internal turmoil and supply chain concerns.
This result is based on the data from the researchers at the derivatives exchange tried out flagship products from the two companies: the Bitmain’s Antminer S19 Pro and Microbt’s Whatsminer M30S+.
For three days, the team gauged various performance metrics like efficiency, energy, hash rate, temperature, sound, and “even the airflow speed from the main outlet.”
After various trials, it concluded that the Antminer machine, albeit priced higher, is more energy-efficient, getting 29.7 joules per terahash (J/TH), compared with the Whatsminer’s 34.4 J/TH.
Meanwhile, Microbt has shared a new Whatsminer M30S++ with reported efficiency of 31.0 J/TH, but even that is “after all an inferior to Bitmain,” said Bitmex.
The derivatives exchange Bitmex’s Research department published a side-by-side comparison of the Antminer S19 Pro vs. the Whatsminer M30S+. These re usually performing at an average of over 100 TH/s depending on the machine.
Talking about the hash rate, a measure of computational power for extracting bitcoin, Whatsminer garnered an estimated 103.8 terahash per second (TH/s) and Antminer 110.7 TH/s. The figures are 3.8% and 0.6% above the reported levels for both machines, respectively.
Besides, Bitmain’s miner was also given to be 10.5°C cooler than Microbt’s, mainly because of Antminer’s “lower power consumption or superior cooling.” Antminer is even stronger in start-up time, Bitmex said.
The Antminer reached its target hash rate in around four minutes, whereas the Whatsminer took about 27 minutes to boot up.
In an interview, it stated that “Our data…shows that the Bitmain miner has slightly stronger performance than the Whatsminer. However, the Whatsminer appears to have superior stability,” said the exchange.
“In evaluating the relative strength of the companies and their order outlook, Bitmain still has a slight edge in our view.”
At present, Bitmain is experiencing a significant challenge of availability.
The Antminer is sold out while Whatsminer has more and far cheaper – selling at $1,580 versus $2,407 for the former. Bitmex itself encountered delays getting Antminer S19 Pro.
“Microbt was able to deliver the product in a few days, while Bitmain took almost five weeks, often blaming warehouse problems,” the firm confirmed, saying that the mining farm operators, who showed frustration over Bitmain’s supply chain issues, but “many of them are keen to stick to Bitmain without even considering Microbt.”
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