Are ASICs for some currencies or all of them?

[Wictorian]

Title says it all.

[SorryBella]

ASICs are always specially designed for few tasks, so yeah its usually only 1 currency except on some rare case. If you want a JoAT, get a graphics card. oh wait

[airborne spoon]

yeah if you want an asic you need a different one for every algorithm you are mining, there is once for SHA-256 which is primarily BTC but also peercoin, and a couple others and cost about $9k. there is one for EtHash which is only ETH they cost about $7k. not sure if there is any others but its hard to do since altcoins these days are configured to be asic resistant, but that only last as long as engineers take to figure it out when profitability keeps going up for coins like Raven which uses the kapow algorithm

[Wictorian]

3 hours ago, airborne spoon said:

yeah if you want an asic you need a different one for every algorithm you are mining, there is once for SHA-256 which is primarily BTC but also peercoin, and a couple others and cost about $9k. there is one for EtHash which is only ETH they cost about $7k. not sure if there is any others but its hard to do since altcoins these days are configured to be asic resistant, but that only last as long as engineers take to figure it out when profitability keeps going up for coins like Raven which uses the kapow algorithm

Altcoins don't want to be mined by Asics? Why? To avoid hyperinflation?

[airborne spoon]

1 hour ago, Wictorian said:

Altcoins don't want to be mined by Asics? Why? To avoid hyperinflation?

TL;DR  ASIC bad because it can make a monopoly which is bad, or so stands the logic behind making ASIC resistant algorithms

The origins of ASIC mining (and its resistance), and the threat of computing power monopolies

Take Monero for example. When Bitmain released an ASIC mining machine capable of mining Monero and other CryptoNight algorithm tokens, the Monero community became deeply concerned as it quickly became apparent that the computing power of these mining machines would be way higher than any other mining machine currently in use, thus enabling a monopoly to be formed. To counteract this, the Monero community swiftly decided to change their mining algorithm via a hard fork, to one that incorporates ASIC resistance. The hard fork outcome was widely welcomed by Monero miners and community members. Since the fork, the price of the Monero token has risen sharply (indicating its perceived value) and is widely known as a cryptocurrency whereby GPU mining is still attainable and profitable; something that is considered important to those still viewing cryptocurrencies as a ‘tool for the everyman’, and not another outlet for faceless companies to earn profits from. Further efforts to keep this status-quo have been implemented by Monero’s team. The project announced through social media channels that they will revise their current mining algorithm every 6 months to prevent against new ASIC hardware being developed and implemented, and ultimately, threatening the network.

[Wictorian]

16 hours ago, airborne spoon said:

TL;DR  ASIC bad because it can make a monopoly which is bad, or so stands the logic behind making ASIC resistant algorithms

The origins of ASIC mining (and its resistance), and the threat of computing power monopolies

Take Monero for example. When Bitmain released an ASIC mining machine capable of mining Monero and other CryptoNight algorithm tokens, the Monero community became deeply concerned as it quickly became apparent that the computing power of these mining machines would be way higher than any other mining machine currently in use, thus enabling a monopoly to be formed. To counteract this, the Monero community swiftly decided to change their mining algorithm via a hard fork, to one that incorporates ASIC resistance. The hard fork outcome was widely welcomed by Monero miners and community members. Since the fork, the price of the Monero token has risen sharply (indicating its perceived value) and is widely known as a cryptocurrency whereby GPU mining is still attainable and profitable; something that is considered important to those still viewing cryptocurrencies as a ‘tool for the everyman’, and not another outlet for faceless companies to earn profits from. Further efforts to keep this status-quo have been implemented by Monero’s team. The project announced through social media channels that they will revise their current mining algorithm every 6 months to prevent against new ASIC hardware being developed and implemented, and ultimately, threatening the network.

This is worse than a monopoly imo. 

[Tristerin]

The three ASIC machines I have are collecting dust on a shelf at HQ.  RADEON VII's are still great for mining, for me.

[arnavvr]

ASICs are usually designed for one algorithm, but you can use them on multiple coins if they share the same mining algorithm.

On 3/29/2021 at 1:15 PM, Wictorian said:

Altcoins don't want to be mined by Asics? Why? To avoid hyperinflation?

Generally, ASICs lead to centralization, as they are produced by a handful of small companies and the machines are not generally available to the public. There are also accusations that ASIC manufacturers mine on their ASICs before selling them off.

 

Take Bitcoin for example. ~ 40% of all the network hashrate for  BTC comes from one region in China (Sichuan). This obviously isn't good for decentralization. While centralization can still occur with GPU mining, it is much harder since GPUs are more easily acquired by laymen. The biggest disadvantage of GPU mining is that GPU mining is significantly more inefficient when compared to ASIC mining.