Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)
A chip built for one job, like mining a specific coin far faster than general hardware.
An application-specific integrated circuit is a chip designed to do exactly one thing extremely well. In crypto, ASICs are machines built solely to mine a particular algorithm, such as Bitcoin's SHA-256. They crush general-purpose CPUs and graphics cards on both speed and energy use.
ASICs reshaped mining into an industrial business. A modern Bitcoin ASIC costs thousands of dollars and is useless for anything else. Their dominance also centralizes mining around whoever can afford warehouses of them and cheap electricity, which is why some networks deliberately design ASIC-resistant algorithms.
Related terms
A mining algorithm designed to deny specialized chips a big edge over everyday hardware.
MiningThe process of competing with computing power to add new blocks and mint fresh coins under proof of work.
Proof of Work (PoW)A consensus method where miners burn computing power to earn the right to add blocks and deter cheating.