Bitcoin mining giant Bitmain is having some issues with its latest Antminer S17/T17 units that, according to reports, are experiencing a 20% to 30% failure rate.
Samson Mow, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of blockchain infrastructure firm Blockstream, tweeted that some customers are experiencing high failure rates on Bitmain mining hardware.
#Bitmain customers report that Antminer S17/T17’s have a 20-30% failure rate (normally 5%). Heat sinks are falling off and shorting out machines, while power supply fans are failing. Jihan is begging customers to give the S19 a chance & blames everything on Micree. #BitcoinMining pic.twitter.com/PeAsTkp2ck
— Samson Mow (@Excellion) April 26, 2020
Apparently, the heat sinks on the Antminer S17 and T17 machines have been falling off, causing them to short out. Miners have also reported issues with the power supply fans on the S17.
One engineer reported that the heat sinks are “soldered in place on the bottom of the boards and on the top side they’re glued,” adding that “the original material they’re made of is not optimal for soldering.”
According to the post, CEO Bitmain Jihan Wu is “begging customers to give the S19 a chance,” while blaming everything on his former partner and co-founder Micree Zhan. Zhan was ousted from the company in October 2019 by Wu.
Bitcoin miners are facing increasing competition, which will intensify in two weeks when the block reward is halved.
There are increasing concerns of a capitulation of miners as operating becomes too costly at current BTC prices. Hash rates are currently pretty healthy, though at 113 EH/s according to Bitinfocharts.
Featured image courtesy of Picdream/Pixabay
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