Connect with us

Blogs

Monero (XMR) Militantly Maintains ASIC Resistance

Published

on

ASIC

It may seem counter-intuitive to create an ASIC mining-rig specifically for a blockchain designed to resist such a device. Yet, that is exactly what Bitmain has done with their most recent Antminer hardware. They have alternately touted an ability to defeat Monero’s ASIC resistance and the complete opposite. The confusing public relations campaign spurred Monero’s development team to step in and make a few very clear statements. First and foremost, they reiterated that they will alter their blockchain software as necessary to maintain ASIC resistance.

This is not the first controversy for Bitmain’s mining hardware business. The Beijing, China-based Bitcoin behemoth found itself embroiled in a scandal when the Antbleed protocol was found within their mining chips. Antbleed is a simple process that reports into Bitmain regularly and allows the central company to kill the associated mining hardware if they so desire. This is particularly nefarious given Bitmain’s status as one of the largest mining concerns in the world.

How Monero Leverages ASIC Resistance

Monero’s vision is clear and consistent. They saw increasing centralization and failing privacy in the Bitcoin blockchain. As a result, they created a privacy coin that would obscure user transaction data, and resist large-scale mining. The stereotypical mining rig is a string of Graphics Processing Units or GPUs, but ASIC units have almost entirely replaced the traditional rigs. Application-specific integrated circuit units are hardware systems created for one purpose only. In mining rigs, their hardware is specifically for mining cryptocurrency. This creates an incredibly powerful miner when compared with previous generations. Banks of these ASIC mining rigs allow companies to accrue massive amounts of specific cryptocurrencies.

This is damaging to the decentralization of the targeted blockchain. Bitmain’s Antminer factories have had a detrimental effect on Bitcoin’s decentralization. Further, their ability to kill mining rigs on a whim gives them an incredible amount of control over currencies once known for a lack of control. Monero understandably wants to avoid falling into this trap, and they have no problem changing their currency to ensure it. Immediately after the discovery of the Antminer x3, Monero tweaked their algorithm to render the new hardware ineffective.

Bitmain’s New Antminer x3

The Antminer x3 is available on the Bitmain website as a 220KH/s mining rig for the CryptoNight hashing algorithm. The decision to list the miner as a CryptoNight mining rig is deliberate – it theoretically sidesteps the controversy that a ‘Monero’ mining rig would gain. Luckily for Monero investors, the development team keeps updated on all hardware releases and quickly changed their mining algorithm.

As the Antminer x3’s design is for a specific niche algorithm, it is completely ineffective at mining other cryptocurrencies. This makes the Antminer x3 an extremely poor investment option – it can only mine other cryptocurrencies that use the CryptoNight algorithm. Miners are better off looking at more general purpose mining rigs for Proof of Work currencies that encourage large-scale mining.

Monero’s Near-Term Outlook

The decision to maintain their ASIC resistance may result in disgruntled miners. However, Monero has clearly and quickly responded to the desires of their community – privacy and decentralization. ASIC resistance keeps Monero decentralized, while also ensuring that small-scale miners can still make a profit. The advantages of this are numerous, as shown by the recent adoption of Monero mining as an advertising alternative.

The low processing cost of mining Monero allows mining directly through web applications. Media site Salon recently started a pilot program that allows visitors to opt-in to mining Monero in place of traditional advertising options. A take over by ASIC mining would completely remove this ability, and damage the value of Monero as a whole. Investors can rest easy knowing that the Monero development team is monitoring the situation and ensuring that their cryptocurrency remains true to their original vision.

We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest on XMR, sign up below!

Disclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide, investment advice. Global Coin Report and/or its affiliates, employees, writers, and subcontractors are cryptocurrency investors and from time to time may or may not have holdings in some of the coins or tokens they cover. Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency and read our full disclaimer.

Image courtesy of The U.S. Army via Flickr

Altcoins

XNO Token of Xeno NFT Hub listed on Bithumb Korea Exchange

Published

on

Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 25th January, 2021, // ChainWire //

Xeno Holdings Limited (xno.live ), a blockchain solutions company based in Hong Kong, has announced the listing of its ecosystem utility token XNO on the ‘Bithumb Korea’ cryptocurrency exchange on January 21st 2021.

Xeno NFT Hub (market.xno.live ), developed by Xeno Holdings, enables easy minting of digital items into NFTs while also providing a marketplace where anyone can securely trade NFTs.

The Xeno NFT Hub project team includes former members of the technology project Yosemite X based in San Francisco and professionals such as Gabby Dizon who is a games industry expert and NFT space influencer based in Southeast Asia.

NFT(Non-Fungible Token) technology has recently gained huge focus in the blockchain arena and beyond, making waves in the online gaming sector, the art world, and the digital copyrights industry in recent years. The strongest feature of NFTs is that “NFTs are unique digital assets that cannot be replaced or forged”. Unlike fungible tokens such as Bitcoin or Ether, NFTs are not interchangeable for other tokens of the same type but instead each NFT has a unique value and specific information that cannot be replaced. This fact makes NFTs the perfect solution to record and prove ownership of digital and real-world items like works of art, game items, limited-edition collectibles, and more. One of the ways to have a successful…

Continue Reading

Altcoins

Should Crypto Projects Devote Resources to Community Growth and Marketing?

Published

on

2020 has been an incredible year for crypto as investors have generated windfall profits and crypto projects have seen their businesses gain the spotlight they’ve been looking for.  While Bitcoin has received most of the attention after major institutional investors announced they were accumulating the increasingly scarce asset, many altcoins have also seen their fair share of glory.  When looking at all the big winners of the past year, the first project that probably comes to mind is Chainlink, having appreciated by more than 550% YTD and now valued at over $4.5 billion.  But, the actual biggest winner of the year is HEX with a YTD return of over 5,000%.

I mention both of the above projects as they have each taken slightly different paths to achieve greatness.  Chainlink has devoted resources toward building a fundamentally sound business with many strategic partnerships while HEX has spent vast sums of money on marketing and promotion.  Both approaches are valid, but one thing is certain, it is absolutely imperative for crypto projects to let the crypto community know what makes them special.  Of course, one of the reasons that makes crypto so valuable is the powerful blockchain technology that most projects are utilizing.

Cryptocurrency vs. Blockchain Technology

It’s important to make a distinction between blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.  Although they are often used interchangeably, they are different.  Blockchain technology and crypto were both created after the 2008 financial crisis, but cryptocurrency…

Continue Reading

Altcoins

XENO starts VIP NFT trading service and collaborates with contemporary artist Hiro Yamagata

Published

on

Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 24th December, 2020, // ChainWire //

The XENO NFT Hub (https://xno.live) will provide a crypto-powered digital items and collectables trading platform allowing users to create, buy, and sell NFTs. Additionally it will support auction based listings, governance and voting mechanisms, trade history tracking, user rating and other advanced features.

As a first step towards its fully comprehensive service, XENO NFT Hub launched a recent VIP service to select users and early adopters in December 2020 with plans for a full Public Beta to open in June 2021. 

“NFTs are extremely flexible in their usage, from digital event tickets to artwork, and while NFTs have a very wide spectrum of uses and categories XENO will initially focus its partnership efforts and its own item curation on three primary areas: gaming, sports & entertainment, and collectibles.”, said XENO NFT Hub president Anthony Di Franco.

He also added “This does not mean we will prohibit other types of NFTs from our ecosystem However, it simply means that XENO’s efforts as a company will be targeted into these verticals initially as a cohesive business approach.”

Development and Procurement Lead, Gabby Dizon explained, “Despite our initial focus, we found ourselves with a unique opportunity to host some of the works of Mr. Hiro Yamagata. We are collaborating with Japanese artist Hiro Yamagata to enshrine some of his artwork into NFTs.”

Mr. Yamagata has…

Continue Reading

Trending