Author: Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 2021-01-25 18:00:35
Published on: 2021-01-25T18:00:35+00:00
The author has been in discussions with Kanzure about a transparently-developed ASIC/SoC for some time, after meeting someone who expressed concerns about using closed and secretive crypto-chips to protect cryptocurrency assets. NLnet has obtained an EU Horizon Grant and started their "Assure" Programme, which the author has applied for and received funding from. Betrusted, also funded by NLnet, is working on a similar project. The author's goal is to create fully transparently-openly-developed ASICs that could perform cryptographic tasks such as mining and hardware wallet key protection, with a full audit trail and mathematical Formal Correctness Proofs. However, the costs involved are high, ranging from €1,750 for 20 samples of 350nm ASICs to USD 20 million for a 7nm Custom ASIC. Nonetheless, the author believes it is possible to create lower geometry ASICs if there is a compelling reason or a hell of a lot of money. The author is interested in knowing what people would like to see happen and if there is a realistic way to bridge the funding gap to deliver to the bitcoin user community.
Updated on: 2023-06-14T17:15:34.728396+00:00