Bitmain has introduced a new ASIC miner for mining digital currencies on the basis of the algorithm Equihash, the most popular of which is a cryptocurrency with high zcash for anonymity.
According to the company website, the first batch of Antminer Z9 mini devices — integrated circuits special purpose (eng. application-specific integrated circuit – ASIC) for the algorithm Equihash, will go to buyers in June.
“We are pleased to introduce Z9 mini Antminer, ASIC miner for mining of cryptocurrencies that use the algorithm Equihash. In order to prevent in one hand and allow more people worldwide to a single instance, we set a limit that involves receiving one miner one user,” wrote representatives of the company on Twitter.
Recall that the release of ASIC miners Bitmain for a specific hash algorithms have already led to changes in the industry of mining bitcoin, litecoin and recently ether. So, the release of the Antminer Z9 mini took exactly a month after was presented miner Bitmain for Ethereum, and last week the company announced the start of sales of equipment for the production of new cryptocurrencies Bytom (BTM).
It is known that when there are hardware devices, focused on mining a certain type of cryptocurrency mining all coin using graphics cards (GPU) and especially the processor (CPU) is losing its appeal to potential miners.
Moreover, according to many members of the crypto community, ASIC miners contribute to the centralization of mining, reducing the usual process of mining cryptocurrency to conduct several major operations. Supporting users, are confident that this trend is contrary to the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies, developers of some projects has already promised to change the basic functions of their networks in order to prevent Bitmain. For example, in March the intention to change its PoW algorithm said the developers of another anonymous cryptocurrency Monero — a rather controversial hardwork took place on 6 April.
Acne Buterin discussing potential fork Ethereum, on the contrary, noted that rather “inclined to inaction”.
As for the community zcash for, according to one of the moderators of the official forum of cryptocurrency, the feasibility of ASIC resistance “still under discussion”. The Creator of the zcash for Zuko Wilcox (Zooko Wilcox), in turn, was not so categorical, commenting on the release of the Antminer Z9 mini.
“I’m really sorry that I made it clear that we agree to a social contract for the ongoing resistance to the ASIC. I have absolutely never had the intention to stick to this because I always thought it will probably become impossible in the long term, and I was always sure that there is a fundamental tradeoff between the widespread dissemination of all coin on one side and miners undertaking a major investment in coin with sunk costs, on the other hand, and that the latter may eventually prove valuable to the stability of the network and mitigate attacks,” said Wilcox.
