ASIC-Resistant PoW Algorithm Decision Delayed: Ethereum Developers

The Ethereum (ETH) core developers announced they have delayed the decision to implement the ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) resistant proof-of-work algorithm until the algorithm is audited by a third party. We are about to find out more why in our latest Ethereum news today.

ETH core developer Hudson Jameson said that ‘’there is a group forming or multiple groups to perform an independent audit on ProgPoW’’ and explained that the audit will establish how effective the algorithm would be.

Jameson also noted that all of the data derived from the third party audit should provide the developers with enough information and confidence to make a decision. There is not a timeline yet for the audit but Jameson expects it to be completed in March.

Martin Holst Swende, another core developer, says that they are trying to figure out about the Prog PoW implementation for a few months now and that he hopes to see the issue being resolved.

The overall consensus is still waiting for the audit to be finished in order to decide on the PoW implementation. Core developer Colvin noted:

“I would happily decide today, but I’m not the expert. I’m happy to wait for the audit, but I’m not happy to make this decision in May or something. An awful lot of people would like to know so they can get on with their business. […] ‘Am I going to spend $1,000 to buy a rack of CPUs or not?’”

ETH developers have finally reached a consensus last month to implement the ProgPoW algorithm that will help divide the efficiency between GPU mining and ASIC on the network.