The Dero community got together and agreed on a list of questions to present the Dero team. Here are the responses:
Q1. Why the shift after months of talking about ASIC resistance?
A1. We found that the amount of hidden mining power was too great for a young network to be secure against without utilizing advanced mining power on the public miner's end. Botnets would be been ready on day 1 in many cases, FPGAs a few days after, and ASICs around 60 days after a PoW change if someone was inclined to make one for our PoW.
Q2. Does this mean other Cryptonote coins like Monero are not resistant to ASICs?
A2. Yes, other CryptoNote coins are not resistant to ASICs -- they're simply forking to new algorithms for which ASICs have not yet been developed as it's a new algorithm. We found people had bitstreams ready for CN7, CNH, and others within days of those algos launching, and we have a growing number of reports showing CN7 ASICs are starting to come online.
Q3. What about other techniques like forking every few months, or adopting
another algo?
A3. As noted above, many modern botnets are able to adjust rapidly to algorithm switches with FPGAs, and ASICs are following soon after. ASICs, in particular, require a financial incentive to cover the costs of research and development; however, FPGAs requires a fraction of that for what basically amounts in layman's terms to "software development" for new PoW algorithms.
Q4. Why not embrace FPGAs instead of ASICs?
A4. We welcome and embrace FPGAs, and similar technology (reprogrammable advanced miners) are something we are eagerly waiting to see developed. When this technology matures, Dero will be embracing it. Today, the barriers to entry are high (not beginner friendly), the scales of economy for the popular mining chips are low (compared to what they should/could be), and the FPGA miners are not generally mature enough for mass public adoption. It should be noted though that great strides are being made in this field.