Cryptocurrency mining can often lead to some very creative businesses. In the case of Qarnot, the French startup wants to combine cryptocurrency mining hardware with a device used to warm people’s homes. It is an interesting concept, although one has to remain wary of products like these. The company has no reputation in the world of crypto as of right now.
The Qarnot Miner-Heater
Anyone who knows a thing or two about cryptocurrency mining will be aware that the drawbacks of this operation should not be overlooked. Not only is mining cryptocurrency extremely expensive in most countries, it also generates a lot of noise. To top it all off, the mining hardware can become extremely hot, which means proper airflow and even air conditioning must be present at all times. It’s not an ideal situation for most people on the planet.
Thankfully, some cryptocurrency miners are already harnessing this generated heat as a way to warm their homes in the winter. It is an interesting approach which seems to work well, even though it is not something just anyone can do. With the help of French startup Qarnot, that may come to change in the very near future. The company has come up with an intriguing new product, the QC1 cryptocurrency miner. It has 2 AMD GPUs on board that are designed to mine Ethereum at a speed of 60 MH/s. It is not the fastest Ethereum miner on the market by any means, but it has a feature most other machines do not offer as of right now. It is capable of heating a few rooms of your home through a simple plug-and-play system.
Moreover, the mining unit itself does not have a hard drive or setup process to mess around with, as it can be controlled through a mining app on one’s mobile device. The design of the miner is also unique, as this box has heating conductors to amplify the heat production of the machine itself. There is a Linux operating system on board for users who wish to mine various cryptocurrencies, but for most basic users, mining Ethereum will be more than sufficient.
It is evident this new miner will not be for everyone. It still requires a lot of electricity to mine Ethereum, after all. With all markets crashing hard right now, it is very likely a lot of people won’t even make a profit. At the same time, if it lets you heat a few rooms in your house for free, that will help offset some of the costs pretty quickly. For a miner that costs US$3,600, the time required to break even will still be quite long.
The bigger question is whether or not Qarnot can deliver on their promises. While they do use off-the-shelf GPU cards instead of custom ASIC chips, there is a growing shortage of high-end GPUs at the moment. If demand for this miner were to spike, it would be interesting to see if the company could keep up. For now, we will have to wait and see if the QC1 works as advertised, and caution is still advised.
