Security News > 2021 > February > Nvidia’s Anti-Cryptomining GPU Chip May Not Discourage Attacks

"Even though these new Nvidia drivers will halve the earning rate of the cybercriminals, the crooks aren't paying for the electricity, so any unlawfully mined crypto-coins are still essentially free money for them."

"In the early days, it was possible to mine Bitcoin using the average computer CPU or a high-speed video processor card; however, today, mining for Bitcoin requires dedicated Bitcoin mining hardware to make it a profitable endeavor," according to the report.

Monero uses the CryptoNight hashing algorithm, which is designed to be used on everyday computing machines: "Monero is designed to be more resistant to the application-specific integrated circuit mining, typically used to mine other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. As a result, Monero can only be mined on consumer-grade hardware."

Nvidia did not immediately return a request for comment on whether it will look to address Monero mining in the future.

"To address the specific needs of Ethereum mining, we're announcing the NVIDIA Cryptocurrency Mining Processor product line for professional mining," according to a company statement.

"CMP products, which don't do graphics, areoptimized for the best mining performance and efficiency. They don't meet the specifications required of a GeForce GPU and thus don't impact the availability of GeForce GPUs to gamers."

News URL

https://threatpost.com/nvidia-tries-discourage-crypto-jacking-new-gpu/164221/