In this Q&A segment, Andreas talks about the progression of mining performance from CPU to ASIC and how that created strong centralization. But now that we have arrived at the highest silicon fabrication density (at or below 16nm), the entire industry is bound by a much slower process, with 2x increase every 18 months at best. This new dynamic removes many of the incentives to centralization of mining.
Transcript
[ANDREAS] We have now achieved a situation in mining where we have gone from CPU to GPU to FPGA to ASIC. [Those were] one hundred or a thousand fold increases in [processing] performance, until we accelerated into [a limit on] Moore's Law. That is a wall. We are at 16 nanometers.
Now where do we go? We will slow down... to 2x increases every eighteen months. Everyone can get the same chip, there is no advantage in pre-ordering.
You no longer need to switch chips every three to six months. Therefore, connections to silicon fabrication [won't] matter [as much]. This has started happening at the beginning of the year. We will go into the Halvening with haves and have-nots: those who have 16-nanometer chips, and those who don't [have those chips].
Those who do not have 16-nanometer chips will find themselves unprofitable, very quickly. The rest will [be profitable]. We shall see.