I have been familiar with Monero for many years now, so I have to address this problem urgently:
I have noticed a fatal issue with Bitmain's “I am not an ASIC” ASIC, the Antminer X5: Even though the device is all about CPUs and RAM sticks, it is still the most efficient device. It beats all miners that rely on conventional CPUs (EPYC or RYZEN) in terms of price and efficiency. As a result, Monero mining has become completely dependent on a single company within just a few years. Entrepreneurs who want to mine Monero are faced with one of the toughest competitions there is. They will therefore use the most efficient equipment. The X5. Am I the only one who seems to have noticed this so far?
Monero's ASIC resistance was meant to not be dependent on one company. Now we are. How can we wriggle out of this noose?
I would also like to ask you not to fall for assumptions that someone at home is simply mining for the good Monero with their own computer. The percentage is probably the smallest. In truth, it is an advanced industry.
I see the recent hashrate growth as particularly critical when looking at the hashrate chart as a whole. Often these increases came before a prominent ASIC came out of the shadows and was presented to the world, while it had already been mining for years. (Like in 2018 and 2019)
If the hashrate drops dramatically again, this could lead to a significant vulnerability of Monero.
Moneros Hashrate Chart: https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/monero-hashrate.html#alltime
I work a lot with Monero, so I wanted to share these thoughts with you.
I usually address problems for which I also have solutions. But frankly, I don't have any ideas here. Because adjusting the mining algorithm would not throw Bitmain out of the race. After all, they have only built a very efficient CPU miner.
As if they were spitting at the developers' feet, even based on an open source chipset (RISC-V).
What do you think?