Apollo Guidance Computer’s Bitcoin Mining Feat Revisited
- In July 2019, Ken Shirriff’s team programmed an Apollo Guidance Computer to mine Bitcoin, achieving one hash every 10.3 seconds.
- By September 2026, Bitcoin’s hashrate reached approximately 934 exahashes per second (EH/s), a significant increase from the roughly 65 EH/s in July 2019.
- At the current hashrate, the Apollo Guidance Computer would require about thirteen million times the age of the universe to successfully mine a block.
- Bitcoin recently surged past $81,000, marking a notable rise for the cryptocurrency market.
The Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC), originally used for navigation on NASA missions, was adapted by Ken Shirriff to perform Bitcoin mining as a demonstration of computational evolution and proof-of-work mechanisms. Despite its historical significance, the AGC’s performance is vastly outpaced by modern mining technology.
The experiment highlights the immense growth of Bitcoin’s network power over time and underscores how technological advancements have transformed cryptocurrency mining into a highly competitive field dominated by advanced computing capabilities.(Source)
