On Oct. 22, Bitmain released new firmware for the company’s Antminer mining rigs that enables the use of an optimization known as (overt) version-rolling Asicboost. Since then, Bitcoin Cash mining pools have been using the protocol and 63 Asicboost blocks were mined last week on the network.
Also read: Developers Launch BDIP: A Bitcoin Cash Proposal Process for Decentralized Apps
Six BCH Pools Are Mining Bitcoin Cash With Overt Asicboost Technology
The Asicboost optimization has been steadily making its way into the mining industry and now the protocol is being used on the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) chain. So far six mining pools are using the version-rolling Asicboost technology to mine BCH blocks. The operations currently using Asicboost on the BCH chain comprise Antpool, BTC.com, Okminer, Prohashing, Viabtc, and an unknown pool. According to the data website Asicboost.dance, since the Oct. 22 firmware release, both BTC and BCH blocks have seen a significant spike in Asicboost usage. The creator of the data website has built another portal called Cash.asicboost.dance, which measures the metrics of Asicboost used on the BCH network.
Asicboost was once controversial because some individuals assumed the technology was being used covertly. Now that mining operations are overtly using the technology, a slew of mining pools have adopted the protocol in order to improve efficiency. This is because Asicboost can speed up the mining process by a factor of approximately 20 percent by reducing the gate count on mining chips. Essentially, the protocol is also applicable to all types of ASIC chips according to the whitepaper written by Dr. Timo Hanke. Initially, the use of Asicboost had occurred solely on the
