Baidu to launch a service offering PC owners the ability to rent out their spare computing power to others, bringing Bitcoin mining as a potential use.
The Chinese internet search engine giant Baidu has announced that they will be launching the PC renting service, named Baidu Jinkuang, to allow other users to take advantage of unused PC resources such as RAM, Harddisk space, GPU’s, CPU’s and also Broadband bandwidth. The name JinKuang translates to appropriately enough to gold mine, referring to the passive income that PC users could make from their unused hardware resources. The service is described as a peer to peer CDN (content delivery network) a system designed to help users especially in areas with poor internet infrastructure to leverage other peoples surplus requirements.
Hu Yongjun, CEO of the Huangpu Community, said:
CDN enables users to share their unused bandwidth. Bitcoin mining may be one of the uses but it could definitely help live streaming and e-sport platforms and generate hype to lure users as bitcoin is so hot right now.
Get Rich Quick?
Baidu has yet to announce how much money will be paid to users renting their unused PC hardware or indeed how much people wanting to use the service will need to pay. However, there is information on the kind of specs and considerations with regards to a hardware ranking system, with those deemed as “super miners” requiring a system with at least a 16-core CPU, 64 GB’s of Ram with a 1 gigabit broadband internet connection.
Bitcoin miners in the past have leveraged the power of mining on cloud computers to earn either Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies which they can then go on to exchange for Bitcoin, some, however, have speculated that the era of cloud mining could already be dead.
Other Ways of Renting Hash Power
There are replacements for cloud mining, however, such as companies renting out hash power and offering a bidding system for shares of a network’s hashing power. NiceHash has been working in this space for a while offering the following information:
Buyers are provided with access to massive hashing power on all major hashing algorithms. This enables buyers to use hashing power to mine any coins; the established ones or the new coins on the rise. The unique pay-as-you-go purchase model allows buyers to be completely flexible and bid on the hashing power in real-time without long-term contracts.
Quite how JinKuang could compete in this space is hard to see, with little information released so far from Baidu as to just where the JinKuang service could sit in this race to mine Bitcoin
Have you rented or rented out cloud mining hardware? Is there any Bitcoin mining potential in this Baidu announcement? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Images Courtesy of NiceHash, Shutterstock, Wikimedia Commons
