[swordswinger12]

Does anyone know if the IOTA devs ever wrote down a justification for using a hand-rolled hash instead of, like, SHA-256? If so, can you link it in a comment?

EDIT: I feel compelled to explicitly say that this was a mind-bogglingly stupid thing to do, and there is almost no way to justify it. I'm just curious what they thought they were accomplishing.

[rodarmor]

The IOTA devs are deluded. Here's there justification:

"Creating a new cryptographic hash function is no trivial undertaking, even when it is being built on preexisting world class standards. “Don’t roll your own crypto” is a compulsory uttered mantra that serves as a good guiding principle for 99.9% of projects, but there are exceptions to the rule. When spearheading technology for a new paradigm this statement is no longer axiomatic. Progress must march on."

[balasan]

"we are the .1%"

[StavrosK]

"Or, sometimes, back."

[taberiand]

But always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!

[Zarath]

The justification can be found on the Reddit:

"Because we needed an efficient hash function for IoT and the future of ternary computing (memristors, spintronics, optical computing and the trend in Artificial Neural Networks)

This has been known since before we even began the project. I spoke with the Keccak team about this all the way back in early 2015 before a code of IOTA was written"

Source: https://gyazo.com/03cacbaf9de433c544eaffb8fd1c92ef

[nickodell]

Because of fidget spinners and the cloud, got it.

[subcosmos]

Easily the most buzzword-laden BS I have ever laid my eyes on. I'm surprised the word "quantum" isn't in there too.

[Taek]

Iota talks about quantum quite a bit, including with regards to their choice of ternary

[aryehof]

> "I'm just curious what they thought they were accomplishing"

Their motivation is really being able to claim an "improved" and "different" cryptocurrency to an audience of promoters, investors and speculators.