Bitewei, led by former Bitmain chip developer Yang Zuoxing, unveils a new miner. The announced WhatsMiner M10 should be around 30 percent more efficient than the top models of the competitors.

Published tests show that the miners use between 66 and 68 watts per terahash, while Bitmain’s AntMiner uses around 96 watts per terahash. A real improvement, it seems, so that after Halong Mining and GMO, a new major player is entering the market.

The divorce of Yang Zuoxin and Bitmain did not go smoothly. The two parties have been at odds over a patent for some time now. Bitmain held a patent on a “serial power circuit design” designed by Yang. Recently, China’s patent office determined that the patent would not be valid. This dropped Bitmain’s charge against Yang for using that specific technique.

According to their own words, delivery of the WhatsMiners will start from next week. However, past experience shows that promises about mining hardware are not always kept. For example, Butterfly Labs did not honor agreements with customers, which meant that the ordered equipment was not delivered.