“AsicBoost” is an aphrodisiac for mining machines, but beware of the side effects

Recently, Bitmain announced a piece of news on its English Weibo account that attracted the attention of miners. It released the firmware of its classic mining machine Antminer S9 to implement the "AsicBoost" function that has sparked discussion before.

In addition, although the first product released was Bitmain's signature Antminer S9, Bitmain promised to release a firmware based on BM1387 within a week. The mining machines involved are Antminer R4, S9i, S9j, and T9.

What is the use of this technology? The most direct benefit is that it can reduce the power consumption of mining machines by 10% to 20%. Although it is just a short line of words, it is the simplest and most direct way to increase miners' income.

However, this technology changes the background algorithm, which is a bit like cheating. As for the improvement of other Antminer models in the future and the provision of frameworks to the network, it is not what miners care about.

Many miner friends asked me how this technology can reduce power consumption. Some miner friends said that the power consumption did not change much after the upgrade. In fact, the "AsicBoost" technology has been accompanied by huge controversy since its birth. This controversy is not only due to patents, but also opposition from the mining community.

Because this technology can be said to be stealing money from miners who do not use this technology, which is an extremely despicable means. If it continues in the long run, it will also result in the bifurcation of digital currencies. The efficacy of "AsicBoost" is obvious, but the means and consequences are not necessarily fair.

In fact, Bitmain has always had an ambiguous relationship with AsicBoost. In April last year, an email from Bitcoin Core’s chief technology officer sparked discussion in the mining community. One of the emails pointed directly at Bitmain, saying that “a large manufacturer” was secretly using AsicBoost technology to gain improper benefits.

There was some evidence to support this statement. At that time, the Bitcoin development team suggested using the "Segregated Witness" expansion solution, which was opposed by Wu Jihan because it would eliminate "AsicBoost" once implemented.

We know that the empty block rate of Bitmain's mining pool is relatively high compared to other mining pools, and using AsicBoost without anyone knowing will produce empty blocks, which indirectly proves that Bitmain is secretly using this technology. However, Bitmain denies this statement. Although they have used this technology on the test network, they have never used it on the main network.

Back to the firmware upgrade, Bitmain's mining pool was the first to announce compatibility with "AsicBoost", and some mining pools also took advantage of it and announced compatibility with AsicBoost, which can be said to be free publicity for their own mining pools. However, some mining pools have also experienced incompatibility. For example, Slush Pool, which is commonly used by foreign miners, has experienced incompatibility. Some miners in the community speculated that Bitmain was suppressing its competitors.

As mentioned above, AsicBoost is not a bright method because it actually exploits a vulnerability in Bitcoin. It is just like using a bug to win a game, which is unfair to other players.

Some people say that if we don’t use it, we will fall behind, so isn’t it fair for everyone to use it? I’ll tell you the most obvious truth: it’s just like cheating in an exam. If one or two people cheat and get high scores, everyone will say it’s unfair. If everyone cheats, the talent selection system of this country will be in trouble.

Similarly, if all miners use "AsicBoost" in the Bitcoin network, serious consequences will occur. This time, Bitmain's firmware upgrade is a disguised encouragement for everyone to cheat. Although it cannot be seen in the short term, problems accumulate over time. No snowflake is innocent under the avalanche.

Because AsicBoost will cause orphan blocks, which are useless blocks that do not package transaction data like normal blocks. As time goes by, there are more and more useless orphan blocks, and the Bitcoin network will become more and more congested.

From the perspective of miners, they only pursue profits and will definitely use this technology, so this is equivalent to overdrawing the life of the Bitcoin network. Just like aphrodisiacs, although it brings short-term pleasure, the consequences are not something that anyone can bear. In serious cases, the Bitcoin network may be destroyed because the increasingly congested network will cause Bitcoin to be abandoned by everyone.

Every miner is lying in the shade of the Bitcoin tree, and the "AsicBoost" method of exhausting all resources will lead to the collapse of the entire ecosystem, so we must be on guard.

Although the consequences are so serious, it is foreseeable that people who need to use this technology will still use it. From the beginning to the end, miners put profit first. If a shortcut is placed in front of everyone, no one will take the long way.