Bitdeer used its slot at Mining Disrupt Miami 2024 to publish a chip roadmap. Jennifer, who introduced herself to the room as being from Bitdeer, walked through four generations of the company's SEAL mining chips, each with a launch quarter, a target efficiency and a delivery date, and framed the list as an answer to what she called the technical risk in mining: miners buying hardware without clear data on when better machines will arrive.
The talk was recorded on June 24–26, 2024, when Bitcoin traded at $61,272. It trades at $81,619 today. The figures below are the targets Bitdeer gave on that stage in June 2024, not delivered results, and the automatic captions render the chip name as "cell" and the company as "BDIR" and "Bidier".
Five risks, one company answer
She organised the session around five challenges: market risk, technical risk, the risk of building a mining site, operating costs, and policy. On market risk she kept to the basics. Bitcoin's price swings move miner profit, planning and risk management can soften that, and competition and the pace of new hardware are market forces of their own.
The technical risk took most of her time. Her case was that there is too little public data on how new mining chips are developed, tested and brought to mass production, and that miners need two kinds of transparency: visibility into future technical advances and delivery timelines, and data on machine capabilities, equipment inventory and purchasing behaviour.
We believe that miner financial models are heavily influenced by the uncertainty of Bitcoin price.
Jennifer · 3:44
If the two transparency gaps were left open on top of that price uncertainty, she said, miners were more likely to suffer severe financial losses. Bitdeer's response was to disclose its own research and development plans for its mining machines on stage.
BDIR has a long-term commitment to enhance transparency in our industry.
Jennifer · 3:37
Four chip generations toward 5 J/TH
The first chip, SEAL1, launched in the first quarter of 2024 at an energy efficiency of 18.1 joules per terahash, and went into the company's first machine. For that machine, the SEALMINER A1, Bitdeer expected power consumption of 20 to 23 joules per terahash, with the first batch to be mass-produced and delivered in the third quarter of 2024.
SEAL2 was planned for release in the third quarter of 2024, targeting 14 joules per terahash, with the second-generation machine expected at 15 to 16.5 joules per terahash and mass production and delivery in the fourth quarter of 2024. SEAL3 was scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2024 at a target of 10 joules per terahash, with the third-generation machine at 11 to 12 joules per terahash and deliveries in the second quarter of 2025.
The last step was SEAL4, planned to launch in the second quarter of 2025 with a target of 5 joules per terahash at the chip, and between 5.5 and 6 joules per terahash for the fourth-generation machine.
Mass production and deliveries are targeted to start in quarter 4, 2025.
Jennifer · 6:39
She closed the section by saying Bitdeer was dedicated to industry transparency and to addressing the challenges of technology development. The roadmap was the company's own plan, presented to potential customers, and the session gave no third-party test data for any of the four generations.
Building sites in the mountains and near neighbours
The third risk was site construction. She listed what a project has to account for from start to finish: site selection, the natural environment, social conditions, climate and hydrology, power consumption, electricity price, taxation, site transformation and transport logistics. Her advice was to qualify the strategy, assemble a reliable team and prepare for problems before they arrive.
Her first example was a Bitdeer site in a mountainous, rainy area with a large difference in elevation across the site and a risk of landslides. Based on the soil conditions, the team reshaped the site, cutting into the mountain and filling low ground so that natural slopes stayed under 45 degrees, then planted trees and grass to hold the ground.
Similarly, our Ohio mining site presents challenges in minimizing the impact of noise on the surrounding community.
Jennifer · 8:37
In Ohio, she said, the site layout and buildings were designed with noise-reducing features so that mining did not disrupt the daily life of residents.
Costs, supply chains and policy
The last two risks got a short treatment. Operating costs, above all the electricity price, bear directly on mining profitability, and she told miners to watch those costs and look for more efficient power. Supply chain disruption was the other half of that point.
Miners should diversify their supply chain channel and ensure access to reliable mining hardware.
Jennifer · 9:31
On policy, she told miners to stay current on regulatory changes and adjust their strategy, and to favour places with stable policy, sound laws, security compliance and a mature market for distributing mining machines. Her summary of the five risks was short.
Remember, know the risks, but don't fear taking a plan.
Jennifer · 10:38
The company behind the roadmap
She ended with Bitdeer itself. The company was founded by Jihan Wu, whom she called one of the earliest pioneers of the industry, and she said it had been in mining for a decade. Its mining data center team, she said, had worked on facilities around the world.
It has provided seed selection, facility design, construction, and post-construction maintenance services in more than 30 locations across the world since 2013.
Jennifer · 12:14
She called the company's Texas site one of the biggest in the country at the time, alongside three more facilities in Washington, Tennessee and Ohio, and said the company wanted to lower the barrier to entry and increase transparency so that more miners could take part. Her stated goal was a level playing field and an open, fair mining environment for all.
Read as a whole, the session was a vendor presentation: a risk checklist for miners paired with the roadmap of the company giving the talk. Its value for readers now is the record it leaves of what Bitdeer promised, quarter by quarter, in June 2024. The full session is on our YouTube channel, and the next Mining Disrupt events are listed on our site.