No. Changing Bitcoin to a completely new algorithm isn't easy and it isn't something that should be attempted without sufficient justification.

The main problem with coins that are exclusively only CPU and GPU mineable is that they are an especially desirable target for botnet owners. Since not many people own ASICs, the impact of that isn't big. Companies and government can better attack Bitcoin if that were to happen; not everyone would own an ASIC.

Furthermore, the ASIC industry is huge and the miners play a part in the value of Bitcoin. The value of Bitcoin would likely tank if its changed to a more CPU friendly algorithm. It has been discussed from time to time. Lock the thread and read the others.

Bitcoin is based on game-theoretic principles that miners will cooperate with users instead of attacking the network, because it's the optimal strategy. If this principle fails, then it doesn't even matter if mining is centralized or decentralized, because it would mean that cheating is profitable or at least affordable for big players. What matters more is network of nodes and strong community behind it - this is the ultimate mechanism against takeover attempts and mining majority attacks.

Also note that requiring ASICs to mine BTC makes it less susceptible to hashrate fluctuations caused by rising alt coins. We got a glimpse of the possible impact of such competition during the early days of BCH. Most alts that share BTC's PoW scheme are irrelevant today, but if BTC were CPU / GPU mineable again this could have serious implications regarding the stability and security of the network. Back then BTC was the only game in town, but nowadays sudden alt price surges could result in network slowdown and thus congestion.

ASICs leading to centralization has been mostly due to there being only a handfull of mining hardware manufacturers on the market, using a signficiant amount of hardware for mining themselves. With the likes of Samsung entering the mining market we might see wider availability of mining hardware again, or at least some serious competition for the existing manufacturers. Assuming Samsung actually pulls through this will increase decentralization either way.

Nope. Leave it as it is. New coins will use new technology but to change an old running (maybe more and sometimes less) system may be a fail.

That is not a core principle of bitcoin.  It may be a nice thing to believe but if a miner can gain an advantage and not get caught, they most likely will.

Do people refuse to steal when they have the opportunity because it would harm society and ultimately make it so the nation is weaker and ultimately they and their children make less money in their career?  No.

"1 cpu one vote" is a core principle of bitcoin and makes it so people simply cannot easily gain an unfair advantage.

Yes, bitcoin should change its pow algorithm to pos or any other thing them can come up with that is more eco-friendly. The power being used in mining could easily be used for other things. Let's help save the planet by conserving energy.

I just saw this and came here to post it but I see you already did so.

Well, what can I say? It's a very controversial topic. It reminds me to whenever someone with a weight in the bitcoin "scene" has done a similar statement. Luke Jr has said in the past how we need to change the PoW or do something about it, and Cobra has gotten the same input: basically a negative one.

The problem is it is already too late. I don't see at what point Cobra sees it being too late, since he still considers a PoW change a viable solution. Im afraid we have already hit that limit, a while ago actually. And what I mean by this is, it will be impossible to reach consensus. A PoW change will end up in an altcoin with a new PoW, and then the original Bitcoin will remain. I really, really doubt you can gather enough consensus to avoid this outcome. At this point, we may need to see a disaster happen for people to wake up and trigger organically a PoW change. If no one comes up to challenge Jihan's monopoly something bad is going to end up happening, and this may be the spark that enables a flame for a viable hardfork that kills the legacy chain, leaving only one Bitcoin alive.

PoW algorithm in bitcoin should be retained, because the expenditure of the electric power from real world provide real money. Further, for example,  can use PoS algorithm in Lightning network.

i agree.....time will tell. one thing working in our favor is that cheap subsidized electricity for bitcoin mining in china is being phased out, and the regulatory atmosphere has jihan wu setting up farms around the world. bitmain is competing at the same rates as everyone else. it's more a matter of undercutting their edge in chip fabrication. samsung is working with an undisclosed chinese manufacturer. i'm excited to see what comes out of their launch.


indeed. aside from difficulties with consensus, that's why it seems like a POW hard fork is really premature.