Coindesk: Monero cypherpunks launch final attack on ASICs

This article introduces the last-ditch efforts of the cypherpunks in the Monero community to resist ASIC mining, as well as the mining performance of the Random X algorithm.

Inside Monero: The final fight against ASICs

Monero developers are moving faster to prevent ASICs from monopolizing mining rewards.

Among the many cryptocurrencies focusing on privacy, Monero has become the privacy coin with the largest market value (about $1.5 billion) since its launch in 2014. According to data from the Messari website, Monero mining rewards totaled $62 million in five years.

But these mining rewards seem to be gradually falling into the hands of ASIC operators, excluding smaller, independent or amateur operators. In order to ensure fairness in mining, Monero developers will use regular hard forks to prevent ASICs from taking the lead, but after analysis, it was found that this method did not work and ASICs were maintaining their lead.

"ASIC manufacturers are building devices much faster than we expected," said Monero contributor Justin Ehrenhofer. "They can design and build a chip in a month and be profitable in half a year."

Another contributor, Diego Salazar, told CoinDesk:

“We also think that forks are unsustainable. First, it is very costly to hard fork again and again. Second, mining may be decentralized but centralized in another area. Developers are centralized because now developers have a lot of trust to continue to maintain hard forks.”

As a result, Monero developers are accelerating the development of a new mining algorithm, RandomX, that is designed to be less competitive with ASICs.

The idea for the new RandomX code comes from Howard Chu, the CTO and founder of computer software company Symas Corporation, who also developed the type of database currently used by Monero. Currently, four agencies are auditing the RandomX code, and the code is expected to be unfrozen in July.

According to the current progress, the algorithm can be activated in October.

“We finally reached a consensus and decided to implement RandomX. It’s our best chance to protect Monero. If we fail, Monero could potentially transition to an ASIC-friendly algorithm,” Ehrenhofer said.

According to Salazar, RandomX is Monero’s last straw in terms of ASIC resistance.

Prioritize CPU

According to Howard Chu's design, the RandomX algorithm will be CPU-centric.

Unlike application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), central processing units (CPUs) are a type of multi-purpose computer hardware.

“It’s a spectrum of computing power,” Salazar explained.

“On one end you have CPUs that can do all kinds of computations, and on the other end you have ASICs that are focused and extremely efficient.”

Howard Chu said that the most widely distributed computing resource in the world is the CPU.

He then emphasized: “Everyone has a smartphone in their pocket that has the CPU and memory to mine the RandomX algorithm.”

With the goal of maximizing the decentralization of miners, Chu predicts that RandomX CPU miners will have an advantage over ASIC miners for at least the next 3 to 5 years.

Ditch the GPU

It is also expected that CPU mining will surpass GPU mining.

Graphics processing units (GPUs) are optimized for "serialized image processing work," Chu said.

Data is input from the front end of the pipeline and output from the end of the pipeline. The key point is that data is transmitted very quickly from input to output, almost in a straight line.

Monero's current mining algorithm is called CryptoNight. The original purpose of CryptoNight was to improve the efficiency of CPU mining, but GPU miners surpass CPUs in computing power and energy efficiency.

“As fate would have it, CryptoNight is pretty GPU-friendly, which no one could have predicted,” Chu explained. “In fact, GPUs now have so much memory and memory bandwidth that CryptoNight, designed in 2013, cannot prevent GPU mining.”

With the launch of RandomX, Chu expects CPU mining to be at least 3 times faster than GPU mining.

While a small and vocal group of GPU miners are against RandomX, Ehrenhofer insisted that GPU miners can resell the hardware or use it for other purposes.

Ehrenhofer said, "If I am an ASIC device, I will have no advantage in mining economics."

Although RandomX has some impact on ASIC and GPU miners in the Monero network, Ehrenhofer said:

“I’m not worried about the community being divided because RandomX is the algorithm that’s closest to our philosophy.”

Concerns

A very real concern that Ehernhofer and others have is that implementing a CPU-friendly mining algorithm like RandomX could lead to a botnet-like spread on the Monero network.

"The main concern is that there are millions or even hundreds of millions of computers that have poor security and that can easily be compromised by malware that can do whatever it wants."

Ehrenhofer's concern about botnets caused by malware infections has always been a major concern for Monero.

Monero is currently the most mis-mined cryptocurrency and has been for several years, and RandomX does not prevent crypto theft and malware.

Since Monero's current algorithm, CryptoNight, has always favored CPUs and GPUs, miners affected by this can seek help on the Monero network or other forums.

New partnerships

The launch of RandomX has received support from many outside parties, especially crypto projects that can use CPU-friendly mining algorithms.

Arweave reportedly raised $8.7 million during its ICO and is currently testing the RandomX algorithm.

Earlier this month, Sam Williams, founder and CEO of Arweave, said: “ASIC-resistant PoW algorithms like RandomX will enhance the network’s permanence, low cost, and tamper-proof nature. This will ensure that the Arweave network remains well-decentralized around the world.”

As a result, Arweave funded one of four audits of RandomX.

The audit, which was completed on Friday, was estimated to cost $80,000, and CEO and co-founder Dan Guido subsequently confirmed to CoinDesk that Arweave’s final contribution was $28,000.

“One of the reasons we funded the audit was to use this opportunity to do a small public service by letting other crypto projects know that the RandomX algorithm is ASIC-resistant and secure.”

In addition, the audit work of three security companies, Kudelski Security, X41 D-Sec and QuarksLab, has a total price of $130,000 and is expected to be completed in July. The audit funds come from donations from the Monero community.

risk

As RandomX prepares to launch on mainnet, there has been a lot of discussion, and Ehrenhofer insisted that it is still unknown how much benefit RandomX can bring until it is running on mainnet.

“We don’t know for sure if RandomX will work properly,” Ehrenhofer cautioned. “Even if all the audits pass and they say, ‘Your cryptography is great,’ we don’t actually know what’s going to happen.”

If the RandoomX algorithm fails, the worst-case scenario is to switch to an ASIC-friendly algorithm, similar to the one currently used by Bitcoin.

“If RandomX fails and Monero moves to an ASIC-friendly algorithm, the Bitcoin community will probably say ‘we told you so, this isn’t going to work,’” Ehrenhofer joked.

But Salazar insisted that Monroe should have the courage to try, even if he failed.

“Wouldn’t it be great if one day we had a great, privacy-preserving, fungible cryptocurrency?” he said. “Even if Monero fails, at least Monero can pave the way for that ultimate cryptocurrency. In that sense, Monero is at least the best loser.”

“Monero members are stubborn idiots and we decided to challenge this ASIC guy, so “Let’s make one last effort!”

Original author | Christine Kim Translation | First Class Warehouse_Tracey Original text: https://www.coindesk.com/inside-moneros-last-ditch-effort-to-block-crypto-mining-asics Manuscript source (translation): https://first.vip/shareNews?id=1765&uid=1