Mining hardware maker Bitmain has claimed its new bitcoin ASIC will be the most power-efficient chip available to the public.

The forthcoming BM1385, the Beijing company's fourth generation ASIC, will be capable of 32.5 GH/s. A custom design, it has a 45% greater hashrate and uses 50% less electricity than Bitmain's previous 28nm chip, the BM1384.

The company said in a statement:

Alongside business clients, the chip will be available for consumers to purchase "in the near future". Bitmain said it will also feature in the next Antminer model, the S7, currently in development.

It's one of the few consumer devices still shipping in an industry wrought with legal issues and outgunned by industrial-scale processors with VC backing.

KnC Miner, a firm that previously offered consumer hardware, is now part of a wider drive to develop large and efficient data farms for private use. It recently announced an "environmentally friendly" chip capable of 0.07 w/GH. By contrast, the BM1385 is 0.216 w/GH.