Genesis Mining has launched a new web interface that will enable digital currency miners to gain greater control of their bitcoin and altcoin mining operations.
Initially built for internal use, Genesis Hive is currently being offered to large-scale miners at a rate that varies based on the number of mining units connected to the service each month. The new software is also expected to be made available to medium and small-sized firms at a later, to-be-determined date.
CEO and co-founder Marco Streng indicated that the project aims to reduce the rising complexities associated with industrial-scale bitcoin mining.
Streng told CoinDesk:
"While this has improved efficiency it has also lead to new problems in the mining space. A couple of years ago, no one could have dreamed of thousands of devices mining bitcoin in a single location, and there was no software to handle a setup of this size."
Genesis Mining envisions Hive as a solution to these issues, one that joins the ranks of other enterprise-level bitcoin mining offerings such as HashRabbit that have come to market in recent months.
Streng, however, suggested that Genesis Hive will be competitive as it allows for more flexibility than offerings geared for smaller mining entities.
"Hive does not require you to install any software on your individual rigs and will adapt to whatever network and hardware setup you deem most appropriate," he continued.
New controls
The new tool aims to ease the process to install a mining farm, by automatically detecting, configuring and updating mining units.
Additional control is provided over units in disparate geographies. Users will also be able to "constantly control" their mining rigs through Genesis Hive's dashboard, obtaining hashrate, temperature, rig statuses and power consumption calculations.
"Switching or adding pools, upgrading firmware, rebooting etc is done in a matter of a few clicks on any number of devices simultaneously," the company explained.
Genesis Hive also enables users to perform bulk updates, pool changes or establish automatic tasks depending on individual environmental needs.
Arms race
The launch comes at a time when efficiency is of increasing concern to industrial-scale bitcoin miners, many of whom are competing as the bitcoin price continues to be depressed relative to market highs last year.
Some bitcoin mining firms – such as CEX.io – have pivoted to other economically viable operations, citing the lack of profit as a result of bitcoin's declining price as the decisive factor behind their shift in focus.
However, as some mining outlets struggle, those that control the full lifecycle of hardware development – from the design of new machines to their eventual use – have emerged as market leaders, with BitFury and 21 Inc parlaying their successes into new and more experimental consumer products.
Image via Genesis Mining