Fruit Fly Brains Used for Unconventional Bitcoin Mining Experiments

FutureBit, a hardware maker, has been experimenting with using simulated fruit fly brains to perform Bitcoin mining calculations. The company's HashFly demonstration uses 2,914 neural pathways from a digital wiring diagram of an adult male fruit fly's brain and central nerve cord.

The experiment simulates activity across these neural pathways to perform simplified Bitcoin hashing on conventional computer hardware. However, it lacks the hash rate and difficulty required to compete with leading ASIC miners, which can reach 18 terahashes per second.

FutureBit claims that if this approach were scaled up using real organic neurons, it would be 10 times more efficient than the best silicon 3nm ASICs. The estimate suggests that a mining system made with living neurons could perform one trillion calculations per second while consuming about one watt of electricity.