Japanese IT giant GMO Internet has made another move into the cryptocurrency mining business. In an announced Friday, the company said it has rolled out a mining software client called Cryptknocker that is designed to let would-be miners mine Equihash algorithm-based cryptocurrencies like zcash using graphic processing units (GPUs) – as found in many home PCs.
GMO said the software is being made available for download for free, although it will charge 2 percent of a users’ mining profits to compensate for its development costs.
It further says that the software is designed to suit miners using NVIDIA graphics cards to mine zcash, claiming a 2-percent efficiency gain over other software – an edge would be negated by the company’s cut, however, if it turns out to be verified.
The firm’s move into zcash mining comes despite a decline in profits from its bitcoin mining business in recent months.