Company Bitmain has introduced the long-awaited new ASIC for the algorithm Equihash that is used by the zcash for cryptocurrency (ZEC), called Antminer Z9 mini.

Delivery of the new equipment should begin in the 20 days of June, and the cost of asik will 1999 dollars (excluding power supply and shipping costs). As for performance, it promises Bitmain, Antminer Z9 mini will give 10 000 Sol/s with power consumption of 300 Watts, which, in General, comparable with powerful farms on normal graphics cards, but cheaper and more energy-efficient. Thus, another algorithm will gradually shift to mining with ASIC, and coin mining on graphics cards Equihash will be less profitable.

Curious how the model will react, the developers of cryptocurrency — zcash for, of course, the main coin on the algorithm Equihash, but not the only. So, for instance, Bitcoin Gold (BTG) has announced the development of the fork algorithm that Asik could not mine the coin. A similar reaction is shown also by other developers.

Another interesting question is whether at the moment the devices themselves, or Bitmain will be able to make changes for mining already updated Equihash before the start of deliveries.

Recall, many members of the crypto community believe that ASIC miners contribute to the centralization of mining that is contrary to the concept of cryptocurrency. To interfere with this process, the developers of Monero announced the need for emergency updates, designed to cut from the network ASIC miners, and on April 6 held hardwork.

Similarly, you can do the developers of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin however, discussing a potential fork, said that while “inclined to inaction”.