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Proof-of-work cryptocurrencies moved toward complex hash functions that are "ASIC resistant" in order to attempt to keep mining power as distributed as possible
by f7ebc20c97 5y ago
Proof-of-work cryptocurrencies moved toward complex hash functions that are "ASIC resistant" in order to attempt to keep mining power as distributed as possible (for CPUs), because whatever highly-funded manufacturer designs the most-optimized and fastest ASICs gains concentrated mining power. ASIC hash/W efficiency doubles every couple of years, so using them as heaters becomes cost-ineffective as difficulty adjusts.
But what if we turned this all on its head and intentionally designed a hash function that is "ASIC optimized" so that the perfect ASIC miner design could be found quickly (perhaps at its very conception), and miners became a generic commodity item, "grey goo miners", and used them as space heaters in cold climates, or maybe even wherever electric heating was needed in industry? That way mining would be as distributed as the need for electric heating, and its energy would be put to good use. It might also put a ceiling on the total electricity consumed because it would be hard to compete with any miner whose electric bills are "free" (relatively).
- deadbeeves 5y ago>what if we turned this all on its head and intentionally designed a hash function that is "ASIC optimized" so that the perfect ASIC miner design could be found quickly Since hash functions are applied to variable-sized parameters, optimizations always exist. You can always compute the hash by processing less of the input, or by processing it in parallel. Just because it's not known how to do this doesn't mean it's impossible. It's impossible to know when an implementation of an algorithm (whether in software or hardware) is optimal.
- f7ebc20c97 5y agoNot necessarily. The mining algorithm could hash the block once using SHA256, then use that and a fixed-size nonce as a fixed-size parameter for the ASIC-optimized hash function.
- f7ebc20c97 5y agoIsn't 99% optimal good enough?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- deadbeeves 5y agoA conceivable optimization would be to compute the final digest by skipping the SHA-256 step.
- SilasX 5y agoI thought that’s the world we’re already in with bitcoin, since it never changed the hash function, and ASICs of increasing efficiency have been built for it and used to harness energy that would otherwise be lost?
- yunohn 5y agoAre you seriously advocating crypto mining specially for heating? Would be great if you linked some studies on the efficiency of ASICs vs common heaters.
- f7ebc20c97 5y agoThey're both ~100% efficient at converting electricity into heat.
- f7ebc20c97 5y agoPlease, let's not get bogged down in a discussion about heat pumps.
- foobiekr 5y agoWhy not? The proponents of “efficient” heating with Bitcoin ASICs are gearing up to mentally lock in another mythical “benefit.”
- dragontamer 5y agoFine. New York City's heating system is powered from the "waste heat" of nearby electricity plants. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_steam_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_steam_system Not that NYC is particularly unique on this matter, plenty of different cities do this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_heating https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_heating As such, New York City's heating is practically free (repurposed "waste heat" from the nearby power-plants). Your definition of "100% efficient" is rather... bad. Both heat pumps, and NYC Steam Heating systems are far above 100% efficient by your definition. ------ There's plenty of ways to go "above 100% efficient", when it comes to BTC-as-a-heater idea.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- cedilla 5y ago
- nemo1618 5y agoYep, it didn't take long for Bitcoiners to arrive at this idea. Here's Andrew Poelstra arguing in 2015 that PoW should approach the thermodynamic limit: https://download.wpsoftware.net/bitcoin/asic-faq.pdf https://download.wpsoftware.net/bitcoin/asic-faq.pdf
- f7ebc20c97 5y agoI wonder when efficiency gains will be slow enough so that a PoW heater will pay for itself before it's obsolete.