Changing the algorithm to SHA256 for which you can already get cheap ASIC is fairly good.
However, I believe that scrypt has a much broader audience compared to SHA256 as it makes sense to use your GPU (or even CPU), which everyone has.
That is not the case for SHA256, where you are forced to buy some ASIC equipment to even get started.
I don't believe that all people who are new to mining will want to invest in dedicated mining equipment, for several reasons.
- Some people simply can't afford to buy mining equipment due to their budget
- In case they loose interest in mining, their equipment is worthless to them, and the only option is to sell it (likely for a loss)
I believe that the kind of people who will be the first to start mining, are those who are at least slightly techy.
Mining is definitely not for everyone just yet.
Therefore I'm guessing that cryptos main audience are gamers and geeks, and they are already equipped with mining equipment, which makes it higher likely they will gain interest in mining and actually start doing it, as all they have to do is download some software and create an account at a pool, if not using a p2pool which pays out directly into their (online?
) wallet.
As earlier stated, mining is not for everyone, and I think that there are 3 primary groups of miners:
- Geeks
- Gamers
- Financial people/investors
I think that 2 groups are dominating of the 3 mining groups:
- Geeks
- Financial people/investors
The largest group of ASIC owners will most definitely be the financial people/investors.
So far gamers doesn't have the big reason to be mining, but as Coino will be integrated into several groups of platforms - including gaming platforms, I believe that gamers will be more interested in mining Coino later on.
I agree that changing to anything else than scrypt and SHA256 (all of the current algoritms that is supported by ASIC) is simply buying time, but I think that will give a more fair start, rather than having investors mining all of the coins. Also, when the gamers learn of ASIC's, that will definitely scare them off and might go for other coins for which you cannot get ASICs.
One of Coino's goals is to attract new miners - not just getting current miners to switch to another coin.
The final end of changing to new algorithms to fight ASICs will be when ASIC is so mainstream that an algorithm switch vote would fail.
We do not have plans about staying completely ASIC free, as ASIC is definitely the future, as they are much more (power) efficient.
It could even stop before that, if we switch algorithm now, it could also happen to be the only time.
However, I believe that scrypt has a much broader audience compared to SHA256 as it makes sense to use your GPU (or even CPU), which everyone has.
That is not the case for SHA256, where you are forced to buy some ASIC equipment to even get started.
I don't believe that all people who are new to mining will want to invest in dedicated mining equipment, for several reasons.
- Some people simply can't afford to buy mining equipment due to their budget
- In case they loose interest in mining, their equipment is worthless to them, and the only option is to sell it (likely for a loss)
I believe that the kind of people who will be the first to start mining, are those who are at least slightly techy.
Mining is definitely not for everyone just yet.
Therefore I'm guessing that cryptos main audience are gamers and geeks, and they are already equipped with mining equipment, which makes it higher likely they will gain interest in mining and actually start doing it, as all they have to do is download some software and create an account at a pool, if not using a p2pool which pays out directly into their (online?
) wallet.As earlier stated, mining is not for everyone, and I think that there are 3 primary groups of miners:
- Geeks
- Gamers
- Financial people/investors
I think that 2 groups are dominating of the 3 mining groups:
- Geeks
- Financial people/investors
The largest group of ASIC owners will most definitely be the financial people/investors.
So far gamers doesn't have the big reason to be mining, but as Coino will be integrated into several groups of platforms - including gaming platforms, I believe that gamers will be more interested in mining Coino later on.
I agree that changing to anything else than scrypt and SHA256 (all of the current algoritms that is supported by ASIC) is simply buying time, but I think that will give a more fair start, rather than having investors mining all of the coins. Also, when the gamers learn of ASIC's, that will definitely scare them off and might go for other coins for which you cannot get ASICs.
One of Coino's goals is to attract new miners - not just getting current miners to switch to another coin.
The final end of changing to new algorithms to fight ASICs will be when ASIC is so mainstream that an algorithm switch vote would fail.
We do not have plans about staying completely ASIC free, as ASIC is definitely the future, as they are much more (power) efficient.
It could even stop before that, if we switch algorithm now, it could also happen to be the only time.
You make a valid point there with the major groups of miners nowadays. Looks like our best bet might be to attract more gamers to start mining and trading. Coino is off to a good start with the web wallet and gaming platform. I imagine if I was a gamer and had an incentive to mine, I would definitely put my GPU(s) to use when I'm not gaming. Either that or go buy coins. Therefore, the biggest hurdle is giving those people an incentive. So I see now that changing to an ASIC resistant algorithm might be essential at the moment.
I know changing to a new algo and implementing new things take time, but we should start a survey to at least gauge what the rest of the community are thinking.