Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs)
Written by: Aidan Mott
Introduction
Application specific integrated circuits (ASIC) are specialized integrated circuits optimized for single-purpose computing operations which are currently the most efficient hardware for mining Bitcoin.
When Bitcoin originally launched the most advanced hardware for mining were CPUs (Core processing unit) as the mining difficulty level increased hardware advanced to develop faster and more efficient hardware to mine Bitcoin. The first advancement from CPUs was GPUs( General processing unit), then FPGAs ( Field Programmable Gate Arrays), and now ASICs.
Asics are a source of contention within the cryptocurrency industry as some believe that ASICs are a point of centralization. This contention revolves around the statement by Satoshi that “1 CPU = 1 Vote” but as the network has advanced as well as computing power, ASICs provided exceptionally more computing power than a single CPU. There has also been geographic centralization of mining hardware since much of the advancement and development occurs in eastern Asia.
A recent example of community debate surrounding ASIC's include the recent discussion over ProgPow in Ethereum
Suggested Reading
The State of Cryptocurrency Mining by David Vorick
What is an ASIC miner by Jon Martindale
To find more content and up to date information check out our board on ASICs
If there is anything you'd like to add or change, you can tweet your feedback at @messari_crypto or email jack@messari.io