{
  "id": 8658599,
  "title": "Google's simulated fruit fly brain 'mines Bitcoin' in web browser proof of concept — FutureBit says real organic neuron miner could have '10x the efficiency of the best silicon 3nm ASICs'",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/20/googles-simulated-fruit-fly-brain-mines-bitcoin-in-web-browser-proof",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-20T09:40:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Tom's Hardware",
    "slug": "tom-s-hardware",
    "url": "https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/cryptomining/googles-simulated-fruit-fly-brain-mines-bitcoin-in-web-browser-proof-of-concept-futurebit-says-real-organic-neuron-miner-could-have-10x-the-efficiency-of-the-best-silicon-3nm-asics"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The HashFly project, which Google claims is the first organic neuron Bitcoin miner based on the fruit fly connectome, is now live. This proof of concept, introduced by mining hardware maker FutureBit, aims to demonstrate the potential efficiency of organic computing by using fruit fly neurons. The HashFly web app showcases \"2,914 traces firing\" within the fly’s brain, representing a small subset of the full 165,122 reconstructed neurons in the MaleCNS v1.0 fruit fly connectome. By manipulating 'zeros', users can adjust the difficulty of a double- SHA-256 target computation. At maximum difficulty (level 6), HashFly is still far easier than finding a real Bitcoin hash, with the system checking off about 80 blocks in an hour. Despite its current status as a proof of concept, FutureBit believes that scaling the simulation to use all neurons in the dataset could theoretically enable the system to hash at ~1 watt per terahash, which is 10x more energy-efficient than the best silicon 3nm ASICs. FutureBit plans to publish findings from the scaled-up simulation.",
  "summary": "A project claimed to represent 'the first organic neuron Bitcoin miner based on the fly brain' has gone live.",
  "key_points": [
    "HashFly project demonstrates organic neuron Bitcoin miner based on fruit fly connectome",
    "Users manipulate zeros to adjust difficulty of double- SHA-256 target computation",
    "FutureBit claims scaled simulation could be 10x more energy-efficient than best silicon 3nm ASICs"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}