Proof of Work evolved.
From bedroom hobbyists to industrial operations.
CPU
Central Processing Unit
Years2009-2010
Hashrate~10 MH/s
EfficiencyVery Low
The original mining method. Satoshi mined the genesis block on a CPU.
GPU
Graphics Processing Unit
Years2010-2013
Hashrate~500 MH/s
EfficiencyLow
Parallel processing brings 50x improvement over CPUs.
FPGA
Field-Programmable Gate Array
Years2011-2013
Hashrate~1 GH/s
EfficiencyMedium
Custom hardware configurations optimize for SHA-256.
ASIC
Application-Specific Integrated Circuit
Years2013-Present
Hashrate~250 TH/s
EfficiencyVery High
Purpose-built chips dominate. Efficiency improves each generation.
Modern ASIC Specifications
234 TH/s
Hashrate
15 J/TH
Efficiency
3,510 W
Power
Antminer S21 Pro (2024)
The arms race continues.
Efficiency improves. Security deepens.