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IBM Unveils ‘Crypto-anchor’, The World’s Smallest Computer

Crypto-anchor by IBM is the world's smallest computer

No bigger than a grain of salt, crypto-anchor can be embedded in tags and packaging to record product activity.

IBM has created the world’s smallest computer, and it is designed to be placed into product to verify their authenticity.

Crypto-anchor was revealed at IBM’s Think 2018 conference in Las Vegas, USA, and measures just 1 millimeter by 1 millimeter, while having the same processing power as the x86 chip in IBM desktops from the 90s.

Although it looks like nothing more than a microchip, crypto-anchor is a full-on computer, complete with a processor, memory, storage and a communication module.

The plan for is to act as an anti-fraud device that is place in tags of products to track and log their movements.

“The world’s smallest computer is an IBM-designed edge device architecture and computing platform that is smaller than a grain of salt will cost less than 10 cents to manufacture and can monitor, analyse, communicate and even act on data,” the company said.

“It packs several hundred thousand transistors into a footprint barely visible to the human eye and can help verify that a product has been handled properly throughout its long journey.”

The chips will also be used to authenticate products bought online, such as foods and pharmaceuticals.

Crypto-anchor will use a blockchain ledger to ensure that data is not tampered with while on route from producer to user.

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