Let’s talk about ASIC mining

[jamest]

@dinkie

@jamest

It seems silly that we keep debating this when we just recently saw a major cryptocurrency – Monero – do exactly what we are discussing and had excellent results.

I think something to consider is that GPU miners are probably more likely to be cryptocurrency enthusiasts. A lot of them may just mine on one GPU – or many – but they tend to be very passionate about cryptocurrency and enjoy discussing their favorite coins and talking about mining. ASIC miners, on the other hand, seem to be largely professional operations who aren’t passionate about mining or cryptocurrency. I don’t think anyone with an Antminer is eager to show it to their friends, introduce people to the coins they mine, or discuss mining on reddit.

It seems clear to me that the network effect of GPU mining is enormous and far greater than that of ASIC mining. Heck, I’d even argue that the ultimate network effect of ASIC mining is to make people dislike the coins that are ASIC mined.

You’re not a crypto enthusiast. You just joined the crypto space, and are only looking out for your own interests. @boxalex brings up very valid points.

I have one GPU. I don’t have a big stake in the mining game. I’m actually in favor of proof of stake in most cases.

What I want to avoid is another takeover of a cryptocurrency by Bitmain.

They have done enormous damage to Bticoin recently. They created Bticoin Cash and tried to pump it past Bitcoin’s price. They threatened to create a contentious hard fork with no replay protection. They spammed the mempool and forced users to pay outrageous transaction fees. This crippled the network and caused many retailers to stop accepting Bitcoin indefinitely.

I would love to see Bitcoin’s proof of work algorithm be changed as well. ASICs and centralized mining are cancerous to cryptocurency.