Back in the spring of 2017, the discussion of a technology called ‘ASIC Boost’ was a very hot debate amongst bitcoin proponents. Bitcoin core (BTC) supporters were extremely upset with the firm Bitmain Technologies and its owner Jihan Wu for allegedly using ASIC Boost covertly, even though the company denied it. Now according to reports the mining operation Slush Pool is compatible with ASIC Boost after the controversy was forgotten, and a company called ‘Little Dragon Technology’ made it available for any company as a Blockchain Defensive Patent License (BDPL).
Also read: What is Asicboost? — An Interview With Developer Jeremy Rubin
The Controversial ASIC Boost Was Once Called an ‘Attack’ to the Bitcoin Network and an ‘Exploit’
Last year there was a roaring debate about the use of a technology called ASIC Boost an improvement that provides mining chips with roughly 20-30 percent more efficiency. Developers Timo Hanke and Sergio Lerner invented ASIC Boost, but Bitmain was accused of using the technology covertly last spring, and bitcoin core supporters called it an “attack or exploit.”
Back in the spring of 2017, ASIC Boost was considered an “attack or exploit” against the BTC network. Now, this March the operation Slush Pool has announced compatibility with the technology.
Greg Maxwell was the first to kick off the heated argument and said miners covertly using the technology could outcompete other mining pools, and easily profit by $100 million USD per year or more. After Maxwell’s ‘revelation’ most people looked to blame Bitmain Technologies and its founder Jihan Wu, even though Wu and his company denied the allegations. Bitmain does hold patents in China for the ASIC Boost technology, but it has never been proven that the company used it covertly.
Many vocal supporters of the core software got upset with Jihan Wu and Bitmain over social media and forums across the net. When the news spread like wildfire that April, the founder of Slush Pool, Marek Palatinus, talked about ASIC Boost being an “attack” and called it “free hashrate” in a very long and telling Twitter conversation.
“Now it is clear how they can get that ‘free’ hashrate to attack bitcoin with empty blocks after Bitcoin Unlimited forks — ASIC Boost,” Palatinus states back in April.
Slush Pool’s Marek Palatinus talking about ASIC Boost back in April of 2017. At the time, Palatinus didn’t like Bitmain’s official response to the accusations of covert use. To this day it has never been officially proven that Bitmain has used ASIC Boost.
After Being Very Controversial, the Technology Is Now Acceptable Because of Patent Law
However, a firm called Little Dragon Technology LLC has released the patent publicly to any company that abides by the BDPL structure of defensive patents. Because of this Palatinus and his operation Slush Pool has decided to utilize ASIC Boost and even
