Marshall Long argues that the Mini Asic dilute the hashrate, giving power to the forts.
The creator of Bitaxe considers that the Mini Asic have the cultural and symbolic intention of educating.
In the Bitcoin ecosystem, decentralization is a fundamental principle, but also an ideal that can be questioned at its practical level to face constant challenges, especially in terms of the adoption of decentralized technologies.
A recent one Debate on social network X He has put the focus on the role of the Mini Asic, such as the Bitaxe, in Bitcoin’s mining. Marshall Long, a Bitcoin miner known as @OGBTC, shared a critical analysis that questions the idea that these devices can be the solution to decentralize the network. To this discussion is added the perspective of Skot, creator of the Bitaxe Project, who defends the value of these teams from an educational and cultural approach.
Mini Asic’s mass adoption calculations do not give
Marshall Long begins his argument by dismantling the enthusiasm that has emerged around the Bitaxe, small mining devices with a capacity around 1 TH/S (Terahash per second).
According to its analysis, the narrative that these teams can transform the network by distributing the hashrate among millions of individual users does not support under a mathematical analysis. Long explains that Bitcoin’s global hashrate is currently between 700 and 900 EH/s (exahasos per second).
In this context, the contribution of an individual miner with a team like the Nerdqaxe ++ of 4.5 TH/S is insignificant, representing only 0.00000064% of the total. Even if a million users operate a 1 TH/S Bitaxe, Its collective contribution would not exceed 0.1% of the global hashrate, According to Long’s calculations. Meanwhile, the great industrial mining farms, which operate with equipment at Petahas, continue to dominate the panorama and are not significantly influenced by the presence of these small miners.
Long’s analysis also raises concerns about network security. A structure consisting of millions of small miners of 1 TH/S might seem decentralized from a geographical point of view, but would be vulnerable to coordinated attacks, in Long’s opinion. A malicious actor, such as a state or a large pool with sufficient resources, could display data centers with modern Asics and quickly overcome the hashrate of these individual miners, opening the door to a 51%attack, although committing it, does not take this into account Long, was against the interests of the attackers.
For Long, The proliferation of Mini Asic dilutes the strength of the hashrate, Leaving Bitcoin in a more fragile position than many decentralization enthusiasts would like to believe.
Mini Asic retains virtues that are not profitability or network security
Despite these criticisms, Long acknowledges that Bitaxe have merits in other areas. They are educational tools that allow beginner users to learn about mining, ASIC and energy efficiency without requiring advanced technical knowledge.
They also function as a means to introduce more people to the Bitcoin ecosystem, serving as a gift that can arouse interest in technology.
In addition, they offer the emotion of solo mining, although the chances of solving a block are very low, comparable to winning a lottery. However, Long insists that these benefits, although valuable, They are not enough to alter the dynamics of power in Bitcoin miningwhich is still dominated by industrial actors.
The first is to educate and decentralize
To this discussion is added the perspective of Skot, creator of the Bitaxe Project, who offers a more optimistic vision of the role of these devices.
In one publication in xSkot argues that Bitaxe not only make mining accessible to anyone, but also encourage cultural change within the Bitcoin community. Your goal when developing this open source hardware It was democratizing access to mining, allowing even users with limited resources to participate.
Skot argues that, although the Bitaxe do not directly compete with the great mining farms in terms of hashrate, its impact lies in small -scale decentralization and decentralization. For him, these devices represent a first step towards a future in which mining is not exclusively in the hands of industrial actors, but is an activity available to anyone.
The debate around the Bitaxe and the Mini Asic reflects a broader tension in the Bitcoin ecosystem: the struggle to preserve decentralization in a context where economic incentives and technological barriers tend to favor the concentration of power. Marshall Long warns about the practical limits and security risks associated with these devices, while Skot bets on their educational and symbolic potential to empower users.
It is difficult to calculate how many people use Mini Asic from Bitcoin
Finding precise data on how many people use Mini Asic is a challenge due to the decentralized and fragmented nature of the Bitcoin Mining Community. There are no official statistics that detail how many individuals are using these devices.
Currently, there are individual users adopting bitaxes and other similar devices, but Most reports, which abound in social networks, are anecdotal.
In general, the mini Asic such as Bitaxe are niche devices, designed for enthusiasts, educators and users who They seek to experiment with small -scale bitcoin mining.
The fact that they are open source and have accessible prices (from a few dollars the small Nerdminers V2 to several hundred dollars the Nerdqaxe+ Hydro, one of the last to leave) suggests that its adoption could be growing between technically oriented communities and in Bitcoin enthusiasts.
An indirect way of estimating adoption would be to observe the activity in communities related to Bitaxe, such as Open Source Miners United, mentioned in the Bitaxe.org web results. These communities are usually a meeting point for Mini Asic users, but members of membership or participation are not provided.
In addition, the fact that Bitaxe is often used for solo or small pools (as mentioned in users’ responses) makes its impact on the Hashrate Global is difficult to track preciselysince many of these miners do not contribute to large pools that publish statistics.
