ASIC resistance is NOT important

Our fundamental belief is that Proof of Work, as described in the original yellow paper for Ether 1.0, is Proof of Waste. We view the change to Proof of Stake in Ether 2.0 as being essential to Ethereum’s progress, and since ASIC resistance will be done away with once 2.0 goes live, it is a waste of resources to focus on ASIC resistance in 1.0. We believe that it’s futile to legislate or enforce ASIC resistance, because where there is a will, people will find a way. We believe that resources can be better applied to other priorities than ASIC resistance.

The fundamental issue that Proof of Work and other proof algorithms seek to solve is the prevention of a 51% attack. The only time ASICs ever represented a risk to this model was when they were first introduced as it allowed for the possibility of individual miners and pools to gain an unfair compute advantage compared to the other miners. In essence, it allowed for those in possession of such equipment to acquire work capacity for less cost. This threat was naturally eliminated through two methods; first, the protocol increased the block difficulty, second, market forces incentivized other miners to acquire ASIC equipment to remain competitive. This created a new balance in where ASICs are required, but the 51% attack threat is unlikely.