New Code to Disable Bitmain Miners for Siacoin
A new code is being released that will help users nullify the ASIC hardware created by Bitmain to mine the decentralized storage platform Siacoin. According to an email sent by Obelisk, a startup that is offering alternative mining hardware to Bitmain’s ASICs, this new coding would allow users of Siacoin’s software to make the Bitmain miners incompatible with their machines.
Breaking Bitmain’s Monopoly
According to Obelisk, this new code will give the Sia community the option to create a fork in the Blockchain, and the new fork would invalidate all non-Obelisk ASIC miners.
This step by Obelisk highlights how crypto communities are reacting to Bitmain’s expansions into other cryptocurrency mining efforts. Bitmain is seeking to raise the biggest IPO (Initial Public Offering) ever and as a part of its fund raising pitch, the Chinese hardware manufacturer is highlighting its expertise in designing as well as developing hardware for cryptocurrencies.
Bitmain used to produce ASIC mining hardware exclusively for Bitcoin, however, the company has now expanded its operations to include support for Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash and now Siacoin.
Interestingly enough, while Siacoin is the smallest addition to Bitmain’s portfolio, being valued at just $170 million, it is also the most troublesome. The Sia community is fighting tooth and nail against adopting Bitmain’s powerful cryptocurrency miners (or any other such product) in order to mine the Blockchain and compete for the subsequent rewards.
Obelisk, which is an ASIC maker funded by the community, is being led by the core developer of Siacoin, David Vorick. The hardware created by Obelisk to mine Siacoin was beaten to the market by Bitcoin, something that caused an uproar in the Sia community.
The Obelisk version of the Sia miner has been designed to block Bitmain’s ASICs but was never implemented earlier because of the fear of a fork in the Blockchain. Now, however, Vorick says that the all Sia core developers as well as Obelisk employees are supporting the fork so that they can prevent Bitmain’s hardware from taking over.
Not Alone in the Fight
Siacoin’s community is not the only one that is fighting against Bitmain’s near monopoly of the mining hardware market. Thanks to these machines, mining has now become an industrial operation rather than something that users with normal computing power could do.
One of the world’s biggest cryptos in terms of market value, the privacy focused Monero, also implemented a code that prevented Bitmain’s ASIC from mining its Blockchain earlier this year.