[gedrap]

I guess the idea is to let a regular Joe to mine some coins too, so that he doesn't have to invest a few grands.

[enko]

If we're going to do that, why not get rid of GPUs, too. ASICs are merely an efficiency increase, just like GPUs were.

I somehow suspect, however, the proponents of this change are not "regular joes", who might have an intel HD2000 in their laptop. And if we're going to play the "democratising" card, with GPU mining it's a lottery of where you happen to live - electricity prices vary wildly around the globe. ASICs help to take that out of the equation, so if anything they're more "democratic"!

[sliverstorm]

As I discussed in another comment, we could get rid of GPUs too, but first you have to find a suitable algorithm that works well on CPUs but not GPUs or any conceivable ASIC. That may or may not exist.

[cmyr]

yes, ASICs have finally brought the altcoin game within reach of the world's poor.

[enko]

As much as $2000 GPU mining boxes have? To go with their 50c+/kwh electricity prices? Yes, yes they have.