SHA-256 offers better decentralization than scrypt

gmaxwell

staff

Activity: 4284

Merit: 8808

Quote from: Arnold37 on July 15, 2013, 06:30:59 AM

- BFL - Not shiping anytime soon.

Many people do have BFL devices now. Not to argue that they aren't backlogged, aren't shipping all types, etc. They're shipping some stuff even if its far less than expected or desired.

In 2011 there were _months_ in the US where you couldn't buy any decent ATI cards at any remotely sane price. Supply of mining hardware is never assured even with some megacorp producing them.

binaryFate

legendary

Activity: 1512

Merit: 1012

Still wild and free

Quote from: Arnold37 on July 15, 2013, 06:30:59 AM

How is that decentralized with 4(2)ASIC Producers:
- ASICMiner - the Monopoly ASIC
- Avalon - Only 1500 units and no more to come.
- BFL - Not shiping anytime soon.
- KnCMiner - Probably even longer then BFL before shipping.

How is it decentralized with one company producing ASIC to the masses ?_?

Don't forget that Avalon is selling many many more chips to smaller manufacturers.
An avalon chip being around 10$, that's definitely going to be in every hands of the masses who which to.

The current situation is not perfect yet, but things are getting better.

Arnold37

newbie

Activity: 13

Merit: 0

How is that decentralized with 4(2)ASIC Producers:
- ASICMiner - the Monopoly ASIC
- Avalon - Only 1500 units and no more to come.
- BFL - Not shiping anytime soon.
- KnCMiner - Probably even longer then BFL before shipping.

How is it decentralized with one company producing ASIC to the masses ?_?

bcdev

member

Activity: 61

Merit: 10

In the past [gpu mining] there was one company that made chips for mining:
- ATI [> 50% chip power]
Small part of the network belonged to Xilinx, Altera and Nvidia. [less than 50%]

So in order to 50% attack the network in the past you'd need to:
- buy ATI
- modify their GPU's to not suit SHA-256 (just like Nvidia)
- sell GPU's not suited for SHA-256 to customers
- make miners for yourself to reach 50%

Today we have at least 4 manufacturers competing for the crown: [and more coming to the market]
- ASICMiner
- Avalon
- BFL
- KnCMiner
And all of the above companies sell chips to smaller manufacturers. [They can produce more chips that they can make miners with]
[Except for KnC for now]

Right now you'd need to buy at least 2 companies [more in the future] and make them stop selling chips.
In the past you needed only one.

So I think that SHA-256 offers better decentralization than scrypt.
What's wrong with my logic?

Topic: SHA-256 offers better decentralization than scrypt (Read 1107 times)