In the rapidly evolving landscape of big data, privacy, and cryptocurrency, Hive Blockchain is positioning itself to capitalise on the confluence of these streams. The Bitcoin mining enterprise has declared its intent to facilitate customers in training large language AI models within its data centres. A crucial differentiator from competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT is Hive’s promise of superior data privacy.
A significant fear for companies today is the potential vulnerability of sensitive client data when employing public large language models (LLMs). Hive hopes to galvanise assurance with an enhanced privacy system through their Hive Cloud service. The intent is to form service agreements, whereby companies retain data ownership and privacy while still utilising Hive’s formidable GPU bank for AI-related computations.
While the company’s stocks exhibited a marginal rise, the larger issue under the spotlight revolves around the gradual transition of mining enterprises towards AI. As mining propensities struggle with profitability, several miners are on the verge of bankruptcy, causing a shift in gear towards the booming AI sector.
However, the question remains, can miners such as Hive viably contend with the big tech giants like Google and Amazon Web Services? The tech behemoths have the advantage of scale economies and longstanding experience in operating superior caliber customer-facing data centres.
Large language models operate on probabilistic computations to understand and generate human language. GPUs, originally used for image processing, have emerged as the go-to electronic circuit for running AI loads. Hive claims a commanding fleet of 38,000 GPUs, hailing from its days of mining ethereum, some of which is designated to mine altcoins, while a portion is rentable as a service or utilised within its cloud offering.
Financially, Hive is looking at a run-rate of $1 million yearly for its GPUs. The firm clocked $106.3 million in revenues for FY2023, with a gross operating margin of 47% ($50.4 million), a sharp drop compared to the FY2022 revenue at $211.2 million (78% margin). The bottom line revealed a net loss of $236.4 million for FY2023, albeit laced with non-cash charges. This sobering total contrasted GLaringly with the net income of $79.6 million reported for the previous fiscal year.
As Hive forges its path through elements of e-privacy, AI, and cryptocurrency, it certainly finds itself in the eye of a storm; the outcome of which could potentially reshape the industry consensus concerning AI’s role within cryptocurrency mining.
Source: Coindesk
