An entity calling themselves "TP-Link ASIC" recently announced a Wi-Fi 7 capable ASIC cryptocurrency miner with claims of hashing rates above even the mighty RTX 4090... In one specific ASIC friendly algorithm. If the concept of a router that mines crypto sounds strange, deranged, or downright questionable to you, you're not alone. The consumer market for crypto mining has waned heavily in the last handful of months due in no small part to Ethereum switching to Proof of Stake last September, which led to GPUs being ineffectual for mining the previously profitable coin. However, ASIC mining does remain prevalent across the sea of various algorithms and alt-coins that exist. One such alt-coin is Kadena, a smaller Proof of Work cryptocurrency that appears to flutter around the $1USD range. This is where "TP-Link ASIC" has placed their engineering efforts with the, "TP-Link NX31 31.2 THS Router Miner," which, as the name implies, offers 31.2 TH/s of Kadena hashing power at a cool $1,990 USD (previously $1,440).

If you've been around long enough to remember the Butterfly Labs fiasco and fallout, you're probably already groaning and holding your head in your hands. Buying ASICs from new and unproven vendors promising the moon is never a good idea. But TP-Link isn't an unproven company, they have a successful business and sell legitimate products. Surely this would be handled properly since this is a well established brand, right? Well, here's the twist; "TP-Link ASIC" is NOT TP-Link. When questioned about this new launch by Tom's Hardware a TP-Link representative responded that "TP-Link ASIC" has no affiliation with TP-Link, nor does their NX31 mining router.Even without the confirmation from the real TP-Link we can pretty easily sniff out this scam with some very simple digging around their site. For one, the only other product released by "TP-Link ASIC" is a dogecoin mining box released supposedly mere days ago for which all "official" press release pages end in an error 404, and not a one was published by TP-Link themselves on their own News page. A second hint is in the image of the device which shows, unedited, TP-Link's existing Archer BE900 Wi-Fi 7 Router complete with the exact name in the image URL. This may not seem strange that "TP-Link ASIC" would be using a TP-Link chassis if it were a legitimate subsidiary or department of the latter, but its cover is blown by simply re-hosting the image with no changes to its metadata. A third hint that's actually quite a funny little easter egg is that hovering over the TP-Link logo in the top left corner reveals they made a typo and have accidentally uploaded it as, "logoo TPLink ASIC." The final hint lies at the bottom of the page, which lists TP-Link's USA location in California, but if you follow their support link it lists a United States Postal Service Office in Tennesee, a random 800 number, and a telegram chat link rather than taking you to TP-Link's official support portal.

In summary, these hardware scams are not new, and we can add this to the pile of crypto scams throughout the years trying to swindle those looking for an investment opportunity out of their hard earned (or mined) coin. If you'd like a laugh you can find the "TP-Link NX31 Kadena 31.2 THS Kadena Miner Router" here on their likely soon to be C&D'd website.