Bitcoin mining could power neuroscience

At BlockShow Asia 2017, Deng Yangdong, chief AI scientist at blockchain startup Matrix, explained how to embed artificial intelligence into the blockchain ecosystem and then let Bitcoin mining provide computing power for scientific innovation.

According to Deng Yangdong, the computing power currently used for Bitcoin mining is about 8.23×10 ²² FLOPS per second, while the total computing power in the world is about 1.2×10 ²³ FLOPS. Through calculation, we can know that the computing power of Bitcoin mining accounts for 17% of the total global computer computing power. Therefore, many people accuse Bitcoin mining of being a waste of resources.

Matrix wants to improve the mining algorithm and embed artificial intelligence into the Bayesian mining system through the MCMC algorithm. Because the computing function of this system is the same as the traditional mining function, they also have a very good performance in Bitcoin mining.

As Deng Yangdong said, with the use of artificial intelligence, the computing power used to confirm transactions on the Bitcoin network can be used in areas other than cryptocurrency.

He gave an example from scientific research - simulating a brain network requires about 10 ¹⁸ FLOPS, while simulating a complete human metabolic network requires 10 ²⁵ FLOPS.

According to the information provided by Deng Yangdong, some other important non-cryptocurrency fields that require a lot of computing power are often the simulation of chemical reactions and the construction of complex financial models.

Intel recently applied for a patent for a blockchain-based system that can be used for both cryptocurrency mining and scientific development - with Intel's scientific development mainly targeting genetic sequencing.

The BlockShow Asia Summit was held in November 2017 and attracted a large number of innovative projects, including Matrix. Nearly 1,500 entrepreneurs and scientists attended the conference hosted in Singapore to share and discuss the latest developments in the industry.