Key facts
- FutureBit's HashFly experiment uses 2,914 simulated neural traces from a fruit fly brain model.
- The HashFly experiment runs on conventional hardware and is not competitive with ASIC miners.
- A hypothetical system using real organic neurons could hash at ~1 watt per terahash, 10x more efficient than 3nm ASICs.
- FlyMiner uses a digital map of 139,255 fruit fly neurons to control a standard Bitcoin mining program.
- FlyMiner can reach speeds of up to 700,000 attempts per second.
Hardware maker FutureBit has explored unconventional methods for Bitcoin mining, including experiments using simulated fruit fly brains. The company's HashFly demonstration utilizes 2,914 simulated neural traces derived from MaleCNS v1.0, a digital wiring diagram of an adult male fruit fly’s brain and central nerve cord, to perform simplified Bitcoin hashing calculations.
While the experiment runs on conventional computer hardware and is not competitive with specialized ASIC miners, FutureBit has stated its intention to simulate all neurons in the dataset with SHA-256 and publish its findings. The company noted that if such a system could be scaled on real organic neurons, it could achieve approximately 1 watt per terahash, a level of efficiency about 10 times greater than the best silicon 3-nanometer ASIC miners. This estimate assumes a hypothetical system where every neuron mines Bitcoin continuously.
Bitcoin mining involves competing to add transaction blocks by repeatedly running SHA-256 calculations, with hash rate measuring the number of attempts per second. HashFly allows users to adjust the target but operates at a fraction of Bitcoin’s current mining difficulty. For comparison, FutureBit's Apollo III ASIC miner achieves 18 terahashes per second.
In a separate project, FlyMiner employs a digital map of 139,255 fruit fly neurons and 16.8 million connections to govern a standard Bitcoin mining program. When simulated signals from the fly’s movement-control neurons reach a set threshold, the program tests potential solutions to mining problems supplied by CKPool, reaching speeds of up to 700,000 attempts per second.