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From: Ron Elliott <ronaldbelliott@gmail.com>
To: kjj <bitcoin-devel@jerviss.org>
Cc: Bitcoin Dev <bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net>
Subject: Re: [Bitcoin-development] ASIC-proof mining
Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2014 11:39:07 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <CAMEND1ijTGfLw3ZJGXwnBXFjHdoePuR1DMmYRVHnVEiBSydeSg@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <53B6DB38.7010709@jerviss.org>

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I feel everyone should re-read that last paragraph as it carries the most
weight IMO.


On Fri, Jul 4, 2014 at 9:50 AM, kjj <bitcoin-devel@jerviss.org> wrote:

> Just some general comments on this topic/discussion.
>
> I suspect that there exist no algorithms which cannot be done better in
> an application-specific device than in a general purpose computer.  And
> if there is such a thing, then it must necessarily perform best on one
> specific platform, making that platform the de facto application
> specific device.
>
> I'm not sure how one would go about proving or disproving that, but it
> seems very likely to be true.
>
> IO-bound is exactly the same as memory bound, for devices that have
> enough memory.  20 GB is already trivial today, and you don't really get
> into ask-the-wife-for-permission money until you cross 128 GB. The
> exception would be if the IO was to an oracle outside of the device's
> control, and artificially limited in throughput.  Such a centralized
> oracle would be contrary to the goals usually stated by people thinking
> about anti-ASIC designs, so there isn't much point.
>
> Keeping the algorithm simple, and ASIC-easy, has one other advantage.
> Just about anyone can sit down and design an ASIC for SHA, for example,
> leading to diversity in the marketplace.  A harder algorithm can still
> be made into an ASIC (or more generally into an ASD), but will require
> more skilled designers, more expensive fabrication, etc.  This actually
> concentrates the ASIC advantage into the hands of fewer people, which
> again, is contrary to the stated goals.
>
>
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-- 
- Ron
end of line.

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  reply	other threads:[~2014-07-04 18:39 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 18+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2014-07-04 10:27 [Bitcoin-development] ASIC-proof mining Andy Parkins
2014-07-04 10:53 ` Alan Reiner
2014-07-04 11:08   ` Eugen Leitl
2014-07-04 11:15   ` Andy Parkins
2014-07-04 11:22     ` Alan Reiner
2014-07-04 11:28       ` Andy Parkins
2014-07-04 11:37 ` Gregory Maxwell
2014-07-04 12:01   ` Andy Parkins
2014-07-04 15:20     ` Mike Hearn
2014-07-04 16:50 ` kjj
2014-07-04 18:39   ` Ron Elliott [this message]
2014-07-04 19:54     ` Aaron Voisine
2014-07-04 20:21   ` Jorge Timón
2014-07-04 20:38     ` Luke Dashjr
2014-07-04 20:55     ` Randi Joseph
2014-07-05  8:43       ` Mike Hearn
2014-07-07  0:20         ` Randi Joseph
2014-07-07  6:12           ` Odinn Cyberguerrilla

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