First Ever BTC Mining Television Set

Canaan creative, the world’s second largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining hardware manufacturer, has launched what it claims is the “first ever” BTC mining television set, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported August 2.

Dubbed “AvalonMiner inside,” the appliance has a processing power of 2.8 trillion hashes per second, and is reportedly powered by artificial intelligence (AI) as well as being capable of taking voice commands. In contrast, Canaan’s most powerful mining rig will process eleven trillion hashes per second, SCMP notes.

The device additionally calculates the unsteady rate of Bitcoin mining profit in real time, SCMP writes, and permits users to buy amusement content or different products on Canaan’s platform using the crypto they have mined.

While the new device is reportedly the first in a series of blockchain-related home appliances slated to be released by the firm, some cryptosphere onlookers have expressed skepticism towards the new product.

Beijing-based Bitcoin analyst Xiao Lei is quoted by the Post as disparaging Canaan’s latest move as “hype,” adding that such product “[would] be a lot of meaningful  if these companies are able to introduce the mining perform into existing major TV brands.”

Canaan filed an application for a $1 billion initial public providing (IPO) on the Hong Kong stock exchange in may, reporting 1.3 billion yuan (around $205 million) in revenue in 2017, a 27-fold increase from the previous year.

Profits in 2017 were 361 million yuan (around $52 million), up over 230-fold from 2015, per Bloomberg. practice firm Frost & Sullivan has reportedly forecast that Canaan’s revenue can hit 28.6 billion yuan (around $4.1 billion) by 2020.

Nonetheless, competition is steep in China’s lucrative crypto mining hardware manufacturing business, with rival Bitmain reportedly earning between $3 and $4 billion in operating profits in 2017 — over stalwart american graphics processing unit (GPU) manufacturing giant Nvidia within the same period. At the end of July, Fortune reported that Bitmain earned around $1 billion in net income for the first quarter of 2018 and is allegedly shortly applying for an overseas ipo.