There are certain rumors that Ethereum mining faces a ‘centralization problem’ on the cryptocurrency market. It’s about a new ASIC mining rig from Bitmain, especially created for Ethereum mining.
TechCrunch has published a CNBC report after the visit of the analyst Christopher Rolland in China and found out about the new ASIC chip dedicated for Ethereum. Rolland advised the clients:
During our travels through Asia last week, we confirmed that Bitmain has already developed an ASIC [application-specific integrated circuit] for mining Ethereum, and is ready the supply chain for shipments in 2018.
Some people think that this news is alarming because it centralizes Ethereum mining. ASICs will not allow anymore to entry in this field small miners. Mikhail Avady, founder of TryMining.com, declares:
Ethereum is of the most profitable coins available for GPU mining. It’s going to affect a lot of the market. Without understanding the hash power of these Bitmain machines we can’t tell if it will make GPUs obsolete or not.
Avady added:
It can be seen as an attack on the network. It’s a centralization problem.
KEEP CALM, HODL ETHEREUM
As noted by TechCrunch, Rolland’s report also claims:
While Bitmain is likely to be the largest ASIC vendor (currently 70-80% of Bitcoin mining ASICs) and the first to market with this product, we have learned of at least three other companies working on Ethereum ASICs, all at various stages of development.
Avady thinks that the future will not be so centralized, explaining:
What would be bad if there was only one Ethereum ASIC manufacturer, but with Samsung and a couple other players getting into the game it won’t be bad for long.
According to Sky Guo, CEO of Cypherium:
The price of ETH is becoming consolidated as people become more realistic about blockchain technology. People are looking for higher quality blockchain projects. I believe a rebound in ETH’s price will come soon as panic surrounding regulations begins to fade.
At press time, ETH is trading at $460.88 per token, which is down from hitting highs of over $1.4K in mid-January.