Cryptocurrency miners have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Dragonmint T1, a SHA-256 ASIC miner from Halong Mining that promised to outperform Bitmain's Antminer S9 by a significant margin. However, early independent reviews have poured cold water on the company's bold claims. While the Dragonmint T1 does deliver a higher hash rate than the S9, its power consumption and price premium render it far from a game-changer.
The Controversy Surrounding Halong Mining
Halong Mining first announced the Dragonmint T1 in November 2017, claiming it would be the most efficient Bitcoin miner on the market. The company later attracted skepticism and accusations of being a scam, with Cobra, the anonymous co-owner of Bitcoin.org, calling it a scam before later retracting his statement on April 13, 2018. Cobra tweeted that he was "completely wrong" about Halong Mining, acknowledging that they had "delivered functional hardware as promised."
Samsung 10nm Chip Rumors
On April 10, mining distributor Myrig tweeted that the Dragonmint T1 uses Samsung 10nm chips, adding that the ASICs are manufactured by Samsung's foundry. Samsung had revealed in January 2018 that it was producing crypto ASICs for an unnamed Chinese mining hardware manufacturer. However, Halong Mining has never officially confirmed the chip specification, and its website makes no mention of 10nm technology. All batches of the T1 are sold out, and the site currently lists the miner as "unavailable."
Benchmark Results: Dragonmint T1 vs Antminer S9
YouTuber Miner Digi published a hands-on video on April 11 showing the Dragonmint T1 achieving between 15.5 TH/s and 15.9 TH/s while connected to Slush Pool. In comparison, the Antminer S9 typically hashes at 13.2 to 14 TH/s. The T1's performance is undeniably higher, but its price tag is steeper: $1,595 per unit for the first batch (with a minimum order of five) versus the S9's $1,288. Additionally, the Dragonmint T1 drew approximately 1,480 to 1,500 watts from the wall, while the S9 consumed about 1,375 watts at 14 TH/s.
An in-depth review published on April 4 confirmed these figures, noting that the T1's power consumption was 1,480-1,497W and its hash rate peaked at 15.97 TH/s. The reviewer concluded that the efficiency improvement over the S9 was "definitely a touch higher, but not by a whole lot." The T1 does support ASIC Boost (version-rolling), which contributes to its slightly better performance per hash, but the gap is far narrower than the 30% efficiency gain originally proclaimed by Bitcoin Core developer Btcdrak in November 2017.
Verdict: S9 Not Obsolete
Given the higher upfront cost and increased power draw, the Dragonmint T1 offers marginal improvements over the Antminer S9 at best. While it may attract miners seeking the highest possible hash rate, it does not render the S9 obsolete. Halong Mining's initial claims of 30% greater efficiency were exaggerated, and the actual performance delta is modest. As more units reach customers and further reviews emerge, the Dragonmint T1's true value will become clearer, but for now, the Antminer S9 remains a competitive and cost-effective choice for Bitcoin mining.