We are excited to announce Coconut, a system and application solution that provides users with real name registration for the platform while enhancing the privacy. As privacy and regulation become increasingly important within the digital asset sector, Bitmain has developed a centralized identity authentication process that meets both regulatory requirements while fully protecting user privacy by separating the real-name authentication responsibility from business partner/platform.

On the other hand, we also understand that a fundamental value of blockchain is used to keep a user’s identity and their transaction history private and separated. While we strongly believe in this value, new regulations are requiring practitioners to identify business participants. Bitmain is launching Coconut to satisfy these new regulations and allow organizations to conduct business legally and compliantly.

Although there are numerous identity authentication schemes in the industry, most of these schemes focus on the use of blockchain to store and verify users’ identity information, or they attempt to carry out authentication in an absolute decentralized manner, which, considering today’s reality, seems to be part of a cryptopian future. The failure of the existing schemes to address the issues today has prevented them from being adopted widely. Coconut aims to use technical means to solve the problems in the service layer instead of the network layer.

Once users are identified by organizations, they are given an Intel® Enhanced Privacy ID (EPID) private signing key which cryptographically proves they are a valid member of a group without revealing their “real name” identity. The real-name authentication organization (“KYC service provider”) can use the Intel EPID public group key to verify a user’s identity without revealing personally identifiable information (PII data). In other words, with Coconut, users’ identities are kept private and their Intel EPID credentials allow various organizations to easily, quickly and conveniently verify a user’s authenticity. As an added protection, when the user’s Intel EPID private key is lost or copied, the valid signatures corresponding to the Intel EPID certificate can be revoked and added to the blacklist. It effectively reduces the risk of fraudulent identity.

In a conversation with Lorie Wigle, Intel VP Software and Services Group-General Manager, Platform Security Product Management, she expressed that “AI, analytics, and blockchain technologies are delivering new insights and business models from user data. However, GDPR and other privacy initiatives are placing controls on the use of personal data that could limit the impact of these breakthrough technologies. Intel EPID was created as an open technology and ISO standard to solve the intersection of managing identity at scale while offering anonymity for users and devices. Bitmain’s implementation of Intel EPID unleashes the true potential of blockchain technologies by improving privacy as a barrier to adoption.”

Being the interactive hub of user activity, aKYC service provider and business platform performs the role of an issuer of Intel EPID identities. Coconut plays crucial roles, and there are multiple business models it fits in. Coconut can be an identity authentication app that provides an Intel EPID identity service to external business platforms. Or for big corporate groups it can be used as an authentication system for risk management. After one-time real name authentication in the system, the user can participate in all businesses under the group. For institutions with high social credit, such as banks, in addition to internal use, their Coconut systems can be used externally as well.

We believe this advanced solution will enable both individuals and organizations to freely participate in blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies, despite new regulations surfacing within the industry. We believe that Coconut is the best scheme to balance anonymity and regulation. Besides, it can be implemented easily with consistent technical standards and it can be used extensively because of a strong feasibility.

We have shared Coconut development documentation at Github, you can find it here: https://github.com/coconut201812/coconut

We’re pleased to announce that the newest Bitmain next-generation 7nm miners – Antminer S15 and Antminer T15, with two variations of each – are available for purchase today, November 8, 2018, at the following times:

• Russia: 17:00
• Germany: 15:00
• USA: 9:00 (EST)

Our new miners utilize innovative technologies to improve the performance of the new miners’ power and power consumption, and computing performance.

The Antimer S15 provides long-term energy efficiency through its use of Bitmain’s 7nm chip that integrates over 1 billion transistors per unit. This feature significantly improves the computing performances of Antminer. The chip contains a unique circuit structure and low power technology.

Photo: Antminer S15

Additionally, the Antminer S15 chip uses an exposed die package solution moving beyond the traditional over-molding plastic package. The back side of the wafer is in direct contact with the heat dissipation interface and the heat sink, improving the heat transfer efficiency.

The Antminer S15 high-performance mode can achieve a hash rate of 28 TH/s with a power efficiency as low as 57 J/TH; its energy-saving mode can improve power efficiency to 50 J/TH while maintaining a hash rate of 17 TH/s.

Similarly, our Antminer T15 high-performance mode sees a hash rate of 23 TH/s and a power efficiency as low as 67 J/TH. Its energy-saving mode can improve power efficiency to 60 J/TH while maintaining a hash rate of 20 TH/s.

Photo: Antminer T15

On both modes, the heat dissipation efficiency is significantly improved from prior modes. Adopting the new heat dissipation structure, the parallel fan design is applied to both modes to shorten the wind speed and reduce wind resistance. As a result, the reliability for long-term operation of the miner has been upgraded while reducing maintenance cost.

For large mining farms, both modes are easy to implement as an all-in-one design of miner with PSU and can be set up vertically or horizontally, making it flexibly adapted to different mining farms and miner racks. With the new high conversion power supply APW8, 16-18V high-voltage output, new miners can effectively reduce the power loss during the power conversion process, helping mining farms save on electricity costs.

Antminer S15 and Antminer T15 are officially on sale on the Bitmain international website (https://shop.bitmain.com/).