Bitcoin Forum

It's a hardware problem too. If ASICs had a price tag closer to their cost to manufacture, things would be different.

KnC sells $12 million worth of hash power for Q2, but actually limits the # of units shipped to artificially create a shortage. What's the conclusion?


Make it rain ASIC
Integrated circuits are indeed expensive to develop, but not compared to the demand. If you include all the money that would be thrown at a solution to the mining network problem, convince yourself there are folks who would pay a lot for the intellectual property.

Public research initiative to make bitcoin ASIC technology open source?

I'm not certain such an effort would solve the problem. I can say I wish there were more sources for bitcoin silicon. If there is some belief this is possible, I will try to coordinate it. I have access to a public IC development facility.

I've imagined a world where miners are parts of lamps or embedded in solar panels. In the future, you may find yourself lured to buy a specific brand of cola because it includes an ASIC bitcoin miner.

Yes there is the belief that this is possible (at least that is my opinion). I am an engineer, but not specialised in Semiconductors. Though I would for sure donate for an open-source ASIC.


I am quite sure, that kind of thing is going to happen. Even better than embedding in lamps or solar panels: here is my dream (realistic in my opinion) for year 20xy (hopefully not to far away though):

Every home has a Bitcoin-Fridge.

Why a fridge?
1) because it is needed in winter AND in summer (important!)... not like radiators
2) the energy that an ASIC consumes does transform almost 100% into heat. With this heat a "Stirling engine" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine)  can produce cooling.

Of course a fridge does not consumes a lot of energy, so it won't mine that much, but multiplied by almost 1 billion home on earth... it would become hard for one group of attacker to get bigger.

Another idea for winter/summer mining: A bitcoin-mining-heater for the winter, and a bitcoin-mining-air-conditioner for the summer.

But for ALL these ideas to become possible, an open-source ASIC-technology like you suggest would help greatly, because if not invented some semicondutor-manufacturer might do some harm before the dream of those desribed things become true.

How would the first step towards an open-source ASIC-technology look like?

I think the first step would be to list the goals for the open bitcoin IC project.

Loosely, these are to conceive, design, simulate/optimize, fabricate, and test a bitcoin mining integrated circuit (getting tired of the term "ASIC.")

At the end of the project, a detailed report published for use and/or modification by anyone along with every MATLAB or spice or CAD anything and everything to be published and hosted online. And for long enough that the files can be copied and mirrored and sent around sufficiently enough that the information becomes widely known and easy to get.

From my experience many academic publications are not sufficient to reproduce the device described. The emphasis in this case would have to be to provide all the details. Everything.

A secondary goal is an initiative to get them into the solar panels and the fridges.
I just looked, kenmore makes my fridge, my dishwasher AND my oven. Call them?

Finally, to encourage manufacturing of the chips by many companies - real IC manufacturers. Texas Instruments has a relationship with my institution. Perhaps if we handle the design and initial prototype they will make a million chips for us. They won't care to play into the politics of pricing the chips based on ROI so the chips would be much cheaper. They participate in research all the time and are a pretty forward looking company in my experience.

More appropriately integrated into things that need the heat rather than wasting it or needing to cool it.
Water heaters, clothes dryers, room heaters, sauna, etc.