Whatsminer
17/04/2026
Whatsminer is the brand of Bitcoin ASIC miners manufactured by MicroBT, a Shenzhen-based company founded in 2016 by Zuoxing "Dr." Yang — previously a chip designer at Bitmain, where he led the Antminer S7/S9 chip. MicroBT focuses exclusively on SHA-256 (Bitcoin) hardware and is consistently the #2 Bitcoin ASIC manufacturer by network hashrate share, after Bitmain's Antminer.
The M-series lineup
Whatsminer models follow an M{generation}{variant}{cooling} naming scheme. Higher numbers mean newer chips; S, S+, S++ suffixes indicate higher-end bins within a generation.
| Generation | Year | Cooling | Typical hashrate | Efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M30S / M30S++ | 2020 | Air | 86–112 TH/s | 31–38 J/TH |
| M50 / M50S++ | 2022–2023 | Air | 114–150 TH/s | 21–26 J/TH |
| M53 series | 2022–2023 | Hydro | up to ~320 TH/s | ~22 J/TH |
| M56 series | 2023 | Immersion | up to ~230 TH/s | ~22 J/TH |
| M60 / M60S+ | 2023–2024 | Air | 170–186 TH/s | ~18.5 J/TH |
| M63 / M63S+ | 2023–2024 | Hydro | 334–390 TH/s | ~18.5 J/TH |
| M66 / M66S+ | 2023–2024 | Immersion | ~298–356 TH/s | ~16–18 J/TH |
| M70 series | 2024–2025 | Air / hydro | flagship tier | ~14–16 J/TH |
Cooling variants matter — hydro and immersion models are only viable for farms built around liquid cooling loops. Home miners almost always want air-cooled variants (M30S++, M50S++, M60, M70).
Whatsminer vs Antminer
Bitmain's Antminer and MicroBT's Whatsminer together produce most of the world's Bitcoin hashrate. Comparisons:
- Efficiency — competitive each generation; lead switches back and forth. The Antminer S21 series and Whatsminer M60/M70 are in similar J/TH territory.
- Build quality — Whatsminer has a reputation for sturdy hashboards and fewer chip failures at stock settings; Antminer wins on mainstream parts availability.
- Control software — Antminer's web UI and overclocking ecosystem is more developed; Whatsminer is catching up each generation.
- Firmware — both support third-party firmware (Braiins OS+, LuxOS, Vnish) for autotuning. Whatsminer has historically had more locked bootloaders, making flashing harder on some generations.
Firmware notes
- Stock firmware is stable with no dev-fee; configuration via web UI, with the WhatsMinerTool desktop app for batch management.
- Third-party firmware (Braiins OS+, LuxOS, Vnish) adds per-hashboard frequency control, better autotuning, and more telemetry. Flashing voids the MicroBT warranty.
