Bitmain plans to unveil mining rigs for Aleo blockchain

The largest bitcoin mining rigs manufacturer Bitmain plans to launch mining machines for Aleo, a proof-of-work blockchain that aims to achieve privacy using zero-knowledge proofs.

The China-based firm announced in a post on the social media platform WeChat that it planned to roll out an 'Antminer' model for Aleo, which is in the testnet phase.

The developers of Aleo last year raised $200 million in its series B funding round co-led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Kora Management. Tiger Global, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Samsung Next, Slow Ventures and Sea Capital also participated in the funding round.

Bitmain did not disclose the timeline of the launch in the statement. 

The planned launch of new Aleo-based miners comes after Bitmain earlier this month drew public attention for its internal announcement to delay staff payments for September amid reported cash flow issues. The company has repaid the wages, according to crypto reporter Colin Wu.

Still the firm has made progress in other areas. In September, Bitmain launched its latest Antminer S21 model, and some miners have already expressed interest in purchasing the new machine. For example, CleanSpark, a Nasdaq-listed American bitcoin miner, said that it has purchased 4.4 exahashes per second of the S21 mining rigs.

Bitmain has also announced plans to invest $54 million in bankrupt bitcoin mining firm Core Scientific. Bitmain designs and manufactures application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips for bitcoin mining and operates the largest mining pool known as Antpool.

"We’re excited to see Bitmain and others contribute to the space with their specialized proving hardware," Alex Pruden, chief executive officer of Aleo, told The Block. "As our breakthrough cryptography gets implemented in advanced hardware, we believe it will greatly accelerate the adoption of ZKPs for use cases —large and small — across not just Web3, but the internet more broadly."