The Threat To Cryptos Decentralization
Bitcoin for many reasons has been a historic creation and the blockchain universe that has since unveiled itself since its creation more so. Key among these reasons is that it is the first innovation to disrupt the way we create, transfer and distribute value amongst ourselves. The notion of money and how it should be, has never been the same as with the birth of Bitcoin, now a totally decentralized, transparent and equitable means of creating value has been created. The disruption of industries is the core value that drives the blockchain universe and this disruption is achieved mostly due to the decentralization of industries and by making sure no single entity has absolute power over the interest of the majority.
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The Rising Threat
Ove the past few years there has been a growing outcry from certain sections of the blockchain world that Bitcoin especially was becoming a much more centralized currency as most small time Bitcoin miners are being pushed out of the creation process as their hardware was no longer competitive. In theory, anyone with a computer (CPU Mining) and an internet connection can participate in the mining of Bitcoin and other minable currencies. Application-Specific Integrated Circuits or ASIC miners were being created to specifically mine certain currencies, and as these specialized hardwares was very expensive to begin with, most crypto miners were unable to compete with the industrial scale mines that came as a result of their creation.
Although Bitcoin mining has long become the exclusive forte of industrial-scale miners, there have been cryptocurrencies that were designed from inception to be resistant to ASIC mining and thus make them fairer to all stakeholders. Coins such as Litecoin, Zcash and Dash have long been hailed as resistant to ASIC mining, but some are of the view that the only ASIC resistant crypto assets are those that are not economical to have ASIC miners specially developed for them. Bitcoin has long hit several thousand of dollars per coin on the market and this makes it still the biggest point of attraction for the producers of these specialized hardwares.
Samsung Upping The Game
To reflect how vast Bitcoin and other crypto asset mining has become in the past few years, South Korean electronics giant Samsung has also announced the opening of its Crypto Mining Hardware Section. Samsung’s entry into the market is both a source of hope and worry to sections of the industry, as while some see it as what will break Bitmain’s (the current biggest ASIC miner in the world) monopoly others say it will only fuel further centralization of yet more crypto assets a fate they believe will damage the long-term viability of the industry.
The vast majority of Crypto assets that are minable for now remain accessible to the general public as most are attainable using GPU cards. However, with the exponential increase in the adoption of cryptocurrencies, it remains to be seen if the industry will lose its way from its core principle of decentralization or if it will remain close to its roots offering anyone and everyone a fair chance to create value as they please.
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Great post there. Apart from the lessons learnt, i have also come to understand three effective ways of accomplishing more in life.
#1 Play the Game
We have a tendency to take ourselves too seriously. This often results in becoming too stiff and unyielding when it comes to changing our plans and adapting to new situations. Being flexible and able to see how our circumstances can serve us is critical to our success.
#2 Purge the Distractions
First, it’s important to know the distinction between what’s truly good for you and what you use as a distraction. This can be tricky. For example, spending two hours on Facebook isn’t very productive, unless it’s part of your job. When we’re trying to distract ourselves, it’s usually because we’re supposed to do something challenging.
#3 Write Down Ideas to Make Them Count
Our minds are constantly in a bind, always working, chattering and in that noise, good ideas are born, but they can be easily lost. Nurturing the habit of writing down your ideas and thoughts is by far one of the best things you can do. It allows you to remember your creative outbursts, even when you can’t make use of them right away.
Great post. I think more and more cryptos will eventually adopt the cryptonight algorythm (or a variation thereof) as another way of deterring ASIC mining. Seeing as how it’s geared more towards CPU rather than GPU mining.
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