Siacoin Developer: ASICS Are "Money Printing Machines" for Manufacturers

ASIC miners are hugely profitable machines – provided you're the manufacturer. That's the view of Siacoin lead developer David Vorick, who's published his thoughts on the monopoly enjoyed by manufacturers such as Bitmain and Halong Mining. In "The State of Cryptocurrency Mining", Vorick also accuses manufacturers of using the machines themselves, before passing them on to the public once they're no longer profitable.

Also read: Cryptocurrency Projects Aiming to be 'ASIC Resistant' Have Little Success

The Absolute State of Cryptocurrency Mining

Siacoin's David Vorick knows more than most when it comes to cryptocurrency mining. In addition to overseeing the development of decentralized file storage coin SIA, which uses a Proof of Work algorithm, Vorlick operates his own ASIC manufacturing firm. Obelisk was founded around 18 months ago, and with their first ASICs scheduled to ship in eight weeks, Vorick has decided to lay bare his thoughts on the industry. "The State of Cryptocurrency Mining" is a revelatory blog post that pulls no punches.

In it, Siacoin's lead developer repeats claims he has heard that "Bitmain plays dirty". Vorick was allegedly told that Bitmain would use its power to stop other ASIC companies from manufacturing in China. Despite going to great pains to conceal Obelisk's involvement in such a deal, the Chinese manufacturer backed out suddenly in a move that reportedly cost Obelisk $2 million. There is no proof that the manufacturer was leaned on by Bitmain, but David Vorick leaves no doubt as to where his suspicions lie.