Ultimately, for the network to survive, there has to be mass adoption and near insurmountable hashpower to secure it. ASIC represents the coming of age for Bitcoin. Why would anyone who is not hoping for a pump and dump not wish the same for Litecoin?
I have been hearing this for months and months from 10's if not 100's of posters. I can see why ASIC assures securing of the network against 51% attacks without significant investment, but I don't know if I agree that ASIC will bring about positive change just yet. Pushing the GPU miners out of the game and over to another coin/algorithm is not only alienating a population who have been the sole reason that bitcoin has become so widely distributed and decentralized in the first place! (in my opinion only)
Until ASIC's are available in mass at a price affordable to the middle-class market, I believe we are going to see a transition of power into the hands of a small few.
