A huge issue with bitcoin is that mining is no longer accessible. Mining is an easy way to enter a crypto-currency. In addition, miners tend to be ambassadors of the crypto-currency. When # of miners drops from 10,000 to 500 due to centralization caused by ASICs it creates a loss to the community and a reduction in adoption of the currency:
1) The community loses its diversity. Now only 500 are in control of mining due to the higher barriers to entry
2) The community loses its ambassadors and marketing teams. Miners are great for marketing as people tell their friends they just made "free" money. This important avenue to attract new people who evangelicalize the currency disappears.
So, I propose changing the algorithm to a dynamic algo. There is not a reason that the algo cannot be dynamically changed. All it would require is that 1 algo is used for all blocks currently mined. Then, in the future, the algo used for proof of work will change based on the current block number. As a result, it will be too costly to create specialized hardware for it as the proof of work algo / params can change depending on block #.
Some people claim that ASICs make the network more secure. This is not true. ASIC mining does NOT make the network more secure. The reason being is that security is based on relative processing power and cost per work. If one algo can be done at 100,000 hashes per second and $0.01 cost in elec it is no more secure than another algo that can only be done at 500 hashes per second and $0.01 cost in elec.
The only think ASIC / specilized mining does is make the network less secure. The reason is because the barriers to access the hardware allow large and bad actors to have access to the hardware in larger quantities and before other people.
So, what does the community think of a dynamic algo that changes automatically based on block #?
1) The community loses its diversity. Now only 500 are in control of mining due to the higher barriers to entry
2) The community loses its ambassadors and marketing teams. Miners are great for marketing as people tell their friends they just made "free" money. This important avenue to attract new people who evangelicalize the currency disappears.
So, I propose changing the algorithm to a dynamic algo. There is not a reason that the algo cannot be dynamically changed. All it would require is that 1 algo is used for all blocks currently mined. Then, in the future, the algo used for proof of work will change based on the current block number. As a result, it will be too costly to create specialized hardware for it as the proof of work algo / params can change depending on block #.
Some people claim that ASICs make the network more secure. This is not true. ASIC mining does NOT make the network more secure. The reason being is that security is based on relative processing power and cost per work. If one algo can be done at 100,000 hashes per second and $0.01 cost in elec it is no more secure than another algo that can only be done at 500 hashes per second and $0.01 cost in elec.
The only think ASIC / specilized mining does is make the network less secure. The reason is because the barriers to access the hardware allow large and bad actors to have access to the hardware in larger quantities and before other people.
So, what does the community think of a dynamic algo that changes automatically based on block #?
