Going Brrr? Canaan Says Its New Bitcoin Mining Heater Fixes This

We’re in the darkest depths of winter right now, and electricity can get pretty pricey. To hear Canaan tell it: Bitcoin fixes this.

A growing number of hardware manufacturers are attempting to soften the shock of sky-high bills by offering Bitcoin miners that can also heat your home.

Canaan’s become the latest company to throw its hat in the ring by unveiling user-friendly, plug-and-play devices for novices. The company unveiled its new mining hardware at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Priced at $899, the Avalon Mini 3 aims to recycle the excess heat generated through mining to warm living spaces—”offering homeowners a unique way to offset energy costs and reduce environmental impact,” the company said.

But those who dream of getting picked to validate a Bitcoin block with this portable heater and walk away with rewards of 3.125 BTC (almost $300,000,) should perhaps crunch some numbers first.

The Avalon Mini 3 boasts computing power of 37.5 TH/s (terahashes per second). Meanwhile, Coinwarz data shows that the Bitcoin network’s total hashrate was above 800 million Terahash per second as of Jan. 7.

For context, one terahash is equal to 1 trillion (1,000,000,000,000) hashes per second. In the context of Bitcoin mining, the rate of hashes per second is important because it determines how long it takes to complete a block.

More hashes means a mining rig has a higher chance of completing a Bitcoin block and earning a coveted block reward.

Put another way, Avalon Mini 3 users will have a one in 19.5 million chance of beating the competition to win a block reward every 10 minutes.

That’s not to say it’s impossible. Back in 2023, a solo miner defied odds of one in 26.9 million—and was first to solve a block with a valid hash.

Canaan joins other players in attempting to put a few sats back in the pockets of consumers during a cost-of-living crisis.

Just over a year ago, Heatbit founder Alex Busarov told Decrypt its miner-cum-heater could offset 50% from a British consumer’s energy bill, rising to 70% in certain parts of the U.S.

“It heats by mining Bitcoin but doesn’t make too much noise,” he said at the Web Summit. “For people familiar with Bitcoin mining, it can be very noisy … we didn’t build it for the tech geeks, we built it for a general audience. Like any other heater, you plug it in, connect with your mobile phone, press the button, it works.”

The concept of using the excess energy from Bitcoin hardware is nothing new. A New York City spa attracted a bit of heat (ahem, controversy) in 2023 after announcing a small-scale mining operation was helping to keep its bathing pools warm.

And all the way back in 2018, the heat generated by Bitcoin miners was being used to grow tomatoes in greenhouses. The resulting “cryptomatoes” were even served as the base for bruschetta at a side event of Bitcoin Amsterdam once.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.