Author: Matt Corallo 2016-05-10 22:59:52
Published on: 2016-05-10T22:59:52+00:00
The email thread on the bitcoin-dev mailing list discusses the possible hard fork of the Bitcoin protocol to render patented AsicBoost optimization useless, and hopefully make further similar optimizations useless as well. One participant questions why a 10% improvement from AsicBoost is different from other improvements already added by ASIC companies. Another participant argues that there is a strong difference between a guaranteed advantage enforced by the legal system and one that is true due to intellectual superiority. AsicBoost was independently discovered by at least two companies/individuals within a year or two. In terms of changing the protocol, one participant asks if it's fair to change the protocol because a certain ASIC manufacturer has better chips, if the chips are sold in the market, and anyone can buy them. The same participant also asks how approximate adders (30% improvement) or dual rail asynchronous adders (also more than 10% improvement) would be handled. Another participant suggests ways to make finding collisions much more difficult, such as moving more of the merkle root into the second chunk. The proposed hard fork is part of the HK agreement, and the goal is to make the patented AsicBoost optimization and similar optimizations useless. The fix should be SPV compatible if possible and compatible with existing mining hardware.
Updated on: 2023-05-19T23:27:34.987946+00:00