Microsoft Applies for Patent That Mines Cryptocurrency With Body Heat

Microsoft has filed a patent that examines utilizing bodily functions to mine cryptocurrency, as discovered by PC Mag.

According to the patent, the technology would look specifically into body activity. The body heat generated while a user performs a task could be utilized by a blockchain network to mine cryptocurrency, which takes electricity and computer power to do properly. This essentially makes the human body a proof-of-work consensus algorithm.

Of course, for this to be tracked, the body would need to be connected to this technology in some way. This could prove controversial for many. That said, this could increase the speed of mining alongside reward the user for their efforts:

“A server may provide a task to a device of a user which is communicatively coupled to the server. A sensor communicatively coupled to or comprised in the device of the user may sense body activity of the user. Body activity data may be generated based on the sensed body activity of the user.”

This would certainly be a more experimental form of mining cryptocurrency. Since Bitcoin’s inception, the process of mining has been around not only to confirm transactions made on the network, but to reward those who put their computer power forward to do so. Should networks be able to take advantage of human body heat, this could prove to be an exponential breakthrough in the field of mining.