Interesting! I didn't notice BIP 99's anti-miner hardfork proposal.... thanks for pointing it out to me.

Dpinna

Daniele Pinna, Ph.D

On Fri, Oct 2, 2015 at 10:20 AM, Jorge Timón <jtimon@jtimon.cc> wrote:


On Oct 2, 2015 10:03 AM, "Daniele Pinna via bitcoin-dev" <bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org> wrote:
>
> should an algorithm that guarantees protection from ASIC/FPGA optimization be found.

This is demonstrably impossible: anything that can be done with software can be done with hardware. This is computer science 101.
And specialized hardware can always be more efficient, at least energy-wise.

On the other hand, BIP99 explicitly contemplates "anti-miner hardforks" (obviously not for so called "ASIC-resistance" [an absurd term coined to promote some altcoins], but just for restarting the ASIC and mining market in case mining becomes too centralized).