Specialized mining hardware against the "ideals" of bitcoin?

[tiberiandusk]

I know it's coming and there's no way to stop it but it feels wrong. Mining was supposed to be distributed among the users then pools came about and it became more centralized. P2Pool fixes a lot of the issues with pools gaining too much power. Now with expensive, specialized hardware it raises the barrier to entry. I'm all for securing the blockchain but it seems mining is going to end up being just a few large organizations and screw the little guy. Sound familiar?

[Unacceptable]

If $150 is "expensive",then you shouldn't be mining.......... Maybe get a better job or an education  

A good vid card is $350 or so(PER CARD),then a mobo $150,a CPU $100,RAM $50.Total= $650,just to get started..............

So,still think $150 is "expensive"    

After the dust settles from ASIC's release,50 GH will be like 5 GH today.......................earning about the same................

[tiberiandusk]

I'm referring to things like the $30,000 rig. A $150 card doesn't even compare.

[Unacceptable]

I'm referring to things like the $30,000 rig. A $150 card doesn't even compare.

It just means you need a little more mh/s to keep up,just like today with the $15,000 Minirig......................

Hell,even $1300 is not "expensive",I'm unemployed & will have one or two by years end..................along with the 4 Jalapeno's I ordered.

These things will be ALOT easier to mine with,no OC'in,no watching temps,no drivers to keep up with (maybe)just plug em in,run the miner software & your makin money!!!!!

& they will use 1/10 LESS power,LOWER OVERHEAD (electric bill)...............

My 70 year old mom could set them up  

Soooo,it will be easier for ANYONE to mine BTC 

[legolouman]

I'm referring to things like the $30,000 rig. A $150 card doesn't even compare.

It just means you need a little more mh/s to keep up,just like today with the $15,000 Minirig......................

Hell,even $1300 is not "expensive",I'm unemployed & will have one or two by years end..................along with the 4 Jalapeno's I ordered.

These things will be ALOT easier to mine with,no OC'in,no watching temps,no drivers to keep up with (maybe)just plug em in,run the miner software & your makin money!!!!!

& they will use 1/10 LESS power,LOWER OVERHEAD (electric bill)...............

My 70 year old mom could set them up  

Soooo,it will be easier for ANYONE to mine BTC 

I understand where OP is coming from, and I have similar thoughts. Sure, anyone can mine, even obtain a few Ghashes. Though, with the advent of ASIC's and such, it is much more difficult to 'keep up' and feel like a few Ghashes are making a difference. I imagine, the feeling is similar to CPU miners, and average folk when GPU mining came about.

On the other hand, I can argue the opposite. The network is scaling, and there was always 'that guy' with an amassed hashrate.

[Sitarow]

I know it's coming and there's no way to stop it but it feels wrong. Mining was supposed to be distributed among the users then pools came about and it became more centralized. P2Pool fixes a lot of the issues with pools gaining too much power. Now with expensive, specialized hardware it raises the barrier to entry. I'm all for securing the blockchain but it seems mining is going to end up being just a few large organizations and screw the little guy. Sound familiar?

There are pro's.

Here is the most obvious.

If someone makes these things and keeps it private then what?

Also now that these devices are available to the public and are specialized. We no longer need to suffer those "virus" "coin miners" giving Bitcoin a bad name.

Online retailers like Amazon/Bestbuy/Futureshop and others can help secure the network from 51% issues by having hardware specialy leased to put balance back into the network.

Because of our constant diligence at this project we are making progress in technology that would never see the light of day without our community and its members.

CPU-GPU all overagain.

[Soros Shorts]

There will always be people spending $30K on mining, whether on a small GPU farm or an SC rig. If you can't afford $30K you could begin to build your ASIC mining power in steps of $150 starting with the Jalapeno. If today you've spent $2K on GPU mining at year's end you could spend $2K on 1 SC single and 4 Jalapenos to get 54 GHash/s.

You can easily compute the hashes-per-second-per-dollar on the 3 BFL ASIC products. They are: 23 MHash/s/$, 30 MHash/s/$ and 33 MHash/s/$ (based on claimed numbers). As you can see the advantage of buying at the high end of the scale is not that much.

Basically if you are a dedicated GPU miner today migrating to ASICs would not be a problem if you have $150 or more to spend. You still need to worry about being profitable though - the ASICs may be overpriced if you get yours late after difficulty has already gone up.

[VeeMiner]

I know it's coming and there's no way to stop it but it feels wrong. Mining was supposed to be distributed among the users then pools came about and it became more centralized. P2Pool fixes a lot of the issues with pools gaining too much power. Now with expensive, specialized hardware it raises the barrier to entry. I'm all for securing the blockchain but it seems mining is going to end up being just a few large organizations and screw the little guy. Sound familiar?

if you can't invest money into it, then you can't expect to make a lot of money out of it. It's that simple. If you can't afford the Jalapeňo then you should get a better job.

This is evolution, this is making bitcoin better and safer. This is the only way it can work in the future. Welcome to the future, the change is sometimes hard to embrace...

[finkleshnorts]

I don't remember who said this before, but I'll say it again:

Use of specialized mining hardware such as ASICs is the inevitable evolution of the bitcoin experiment.

If bitcoin cannot survive ASICs, then bitcoin never deserved to survive in the first place.

[legolouman]

I don't remember who said this before, but I'll say it again:

Use of specialized mining hardware such as ASICs is the inevitable evolution of the bitcoin experiment.

If bitcoin cannot survive ASICs, then bitcoin never deserved to survive in the first place.

No one could have expected ASICs this early in the game.

[finkleshnorts]

I don't remember who said this before, but I'll say it again:

Use of specialized mining hardware such as ASICs is the inevitable evolution of the bitcoin experiment.

If bitcoin cannot survive ASICs, then bitcoin never deserved to survive in the first place.

No one could have expected ASICs this early in the game.

Why? it's the logical conclusion. ASICs have been discussed for quite awhile. I don't think anybody is surprised.

[legolouman]

I don't remember who said this before, but I'll say it again:

Use of specialized mining hardware such as ASICs is the inevitable evolution of the bitcoin experiment.

If bitcoin cannot survive ASICs, then bitcoin never deserved to survive in the first place.

No one could have expected ASICs this early in the game.

Why? it's the logical conclusion. ASICs have been discussed for quite awhile. I don't think anybody is surprised.

A year ago, people figured it would take millions to invest into ASICs and that no one would do it until Bitcoin was HUGE. I am surprised to some extent.

[VeeMiner]

I don't remember who said this before, but I'll say it again:

Use of specialized mining hardware such as ASICs is the inevitable evolution of the bitcoin experiment.

If bitcoin cannot survive ASICs, then bitcoin never deserved to survive in the first place.

+1

[[Tycho]]

(Just kidding. Please don't panic)

[Unacceptable]

You mean,like a movie 

[[Tycho]]

No, rather like in a book