21 Inc’s business model, showing that it planned to ‘democratise’ Bitcoin mining by embedding ASIC mining chips into everyday connected devices like USB rechargers, we noted the economics didn’t seem to make any sense. For one thing, it didn’t seem conceivable that consumers could ever profit from the tiny fractions of bitcoins they were mining, especially after their energy costs were factored in. Secondly, it seemed much more likely the model would see consumers subsidising the energy costs of 21 Inc’s own mining pool... "...We’ve created an embeddable mining chip which we call the BitShare that comes in a variety of form factors. The 21 BitShare can be embedded into an internet-connected device as a standalone chip or integrated into an existing chipset as a block of IP to generate a continuous stream of digital currency..."

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2015/05/19/2129878/21-inc-and-the-plan-to-kill-the-free-internet/