Did you count the opportunity cost if you would just run secure nodes?
That really sad to hear about mining right now, but we all know that this will change as soon as markets go up.
It's just the question of time
To hell with running a secure node. If I can't mine, I'm NOT going to look into running a node. I'll probably end up selling all of my hardware [And I have a LOT of hardware for a home miner - over 230 GPU's with peripherals]. I'll probably end up spending all of my time and energy on my trading signal and trading education website that's going LIVE in 30 to 45 days.
I sure as hell will not buy ASIC's ever again. I got out of the ASIC game in February, 2016 and invested in GPU's. Now I'm getting out of GPU's. Maybe, I'll get back into GPU's again in the future. I just can't compete anymore at current price and difficulty. It's just not worth it.
Yes, it would be nice if the price of all coins would go up now. That would alleviate some of the pain from lost profits. However, it would need to rise considerably very soon for me to consider keeping the remaining hardware I have. At least that's the way my situation is. How so? Because I'm my own boss. I haven't worked for anyone else since March, 2010. I've supported my family on mining and trading since 2014. Mining is about dead and now I have to rely on my trading skills I've developed since 2014.
Agreed that ASICs suck. They centralize and suck value from coins. I don't believe in equality (regarding income inequality debates) but believe in equal opportunity and not everyone has access to ASICs. (To be overly frank, if you're not sucking Chinese dick you're not getting a good deal on an ASIC in the current market.)
In addition to ZEN the same crisis is being faced by Ethereum and Decred who have recently succumb to ASICs, pushing out GPU miners. I think a solid argument can be made that individuals being able to participate in mining adds value to projects from levels ranging from a gamer mining with a single GPU to larger home miners with 250+ GPUs.
"Cryptocurrencies are as much of a social phenomenon as they are a technical innovation. If your community isnt building with your cryptocurrency they arent becoming attached to it. When people put labor, whether thats running a node or a meetup, into a cryptocurrency they become intrinsically invested in it. That hardens their convictions, solidifies their beliefs, and can turn people who came to your platform as mercenaries into missionaries."
https://messari.io/news/dae50c46-e7c7-487e-b3a6-22977809fedeI'd like to invite everyone to perform a thought experiment and ask themselves if Bitcoin (the coin with the first mover advantage) would be any different had they chosen to fork off ASICs. The answer to what the ZEN team should do probably lies at the end of this discussion.