As per the latest reports, tech giant Intel has applied to patent a new hardware “accelerator” for Bitcoin mining. On Thursday, the USPTO published the application named “Bitcoin Mining Hardware Accelerator With Optimized Message Digest and Message Scheduler Datapath”.

The filing mentions a method by which the hardware can augment the current process of Bitcoin

by consuming very less electricity and thus bringing the costs down significantly. The filing notes that the “accelerator” approach can reduce the power consumption by nearly 35-40% in comparison to that consumed by the existing GPUs.

The filing notes: “Because the software and hardware utilized in Bitcoin mining uses brute force to repeatedly and endlessly perform SHA-256 functions, the process of Bitcoin mining can be very power-intensive and utilize large amounts of hardware space. The embodiments described herein optimize Bitcoin mining operations by reducing the space utilized and power consumed by Bitcoin mining hardware.”

Intel has also suggested that the concept it not just limited to application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), but also to “processors, [systems on chip], and [field-programmable gate array] platforms.”

Randy Copeland, an Intel partner and the president of Velocity Micro said: “Once this new Intel technology comes to market, more people will mine again because it’s profitable again, driving down the market value of the coins and finding a new market balance that will again put locations with lower electricity costs back at the advantage.”

It will be interesting if this project of turns into a real-life application as this would mean a huge increase in crypto-mining activities giving a further boost to digital currencies.