Small secret of big mining: inexpensive FPGA for getting out of the crisis

Highly adaptive microchips have been used in mining for a long time. Mining equipment manufacturers realized that their client is not a home miner, but the owner of several thousand of devices. So they work for the second guy, releasing thousands of ASIC devices or specialized integrated circuits. To increase the chances of getting a reward miners co-operate into pools. This provokes the fear of "51% attack" and graphics cards displacement. However, given the instability of the market, the rise of FPGA mining, a highly adaptable, efficient and inexpensive technology that can be programmed “on-the-fly” is inevitable.

What is FPGA mining?

FPGA stands for Field-Programmable Gate Array. It’s an integrated circuit that can be configured by the user after it has been manufactured to perform the complex mathematical calculations required to mine cryptocurrency. 

Unlike standard ASICs, designed for a single task, an FPGA is a clean digital circuit that you can design and reconfigure to execute different mining algorithms.

Key Aspects of FPGA Mining

• Since FPGAs are reprogrammable, they can adapt to changes in a coin's mining algorithm. If a network updates its protocol, you can simply update the software blueprint instead of replacing the entire rig.

• FPGAs consume significantly less power than GPUs to achieve the same hash rate, reducing ongoing operational costs and electricity bills.

• FPGA hardware can be optimized for specific cryptographic tasks, resulting in higher hash rates than CPU or GPU setups.

• An FPGA crypto mining rig has a longer useful lifespan, allowing miners to switch to more profitable coins as market conditions change.

• Because they often run cooler and more efficiently than high-end GPUs or ASICs, FPGA systems generally require less intensive cooling and maintenance.

How does FPGA crypto mining work?

Moving from the definition to specifics, here’s how FPGA’s reconfigurable approach works, step-by-step:

1. Firstly, you buy an FPGA-based Bitcoin mining rig, which contains a universal gate array chip that can be programmed for various logic operations.

2. After selecting the specific cryptocurrency you want to mine, you need to upload a software file that acts as a blueprint into the FPGA chip.

3. The FPGA reads this bitstream and physically arranges its internal logic gates to match the mathematical requirements of the chosen blockchain’s hashing algorithm.

4. The chip begins performing high-speed computations based on the newly defined circuit structure.

5. If the cryptocurrency project updates its algorithm or you decide to switch to a more profitable coin, you simply upload a new bitstream. The chip quickly reconfigures its internal architecture to support the new logic.

FPGA vs ASIC: Key differences

Firmly understanding the difference between fixed-function ASICs and flexible FPGAs is critical for long-term strategy. 

The rise of FPGA

In July of this year, Richard Ells, the creator of Electroneum - a cryptocurrency which is aimed to be used in mobile applications, gaming, trading and other services, faced a precedent. Like any novice project, ETN welcomed GPU mining and demanded switching off ASIC devices at least during the initial stage. But most users refused to comply with this recommendation, referring to the disadvantages of GPU mining due to high network complexity. Thus, the network’s hashrate had sunk by 97% for several weeks.

Then Ells remembered such an alternative as FPGA. He did not insist on GPU miners returning and allowed ASIC. However, he pointed out that FPGA is a win-win solution in case the project will change the algorithm.

“Your equipment remains the same. All that is required is to update the software to work with the new algorithm. FPGA are powerful, cheap, and are the future of mining cryptocurrencies. No one can turn them off.”

In 2017, 74% of users were ASIC miners, which threatened almost all altcoins. It’s not that FPGAs aren’t that powerful, as highly specialized chips, but they are more flexible. Canadian developers from Squire talk about a 40% reduction of operating costs, which is $60 million in the scale of industrial mining.

Before the new FPGA came out, miners who were using old devices, had secretly reprogrammed them. They increased competitiveness in pursuit of a reward and hid their capabilities from developers so that they wouldn’t change the algorithms. But flashing an old FPGA was still expensive and not always worth it.

FPGA Rebirth

The balance in mining capacities began to change from last April. At the Bitcointalk forum, one user started a discussion on the state of FPGA devices. The topic stretched for hundreds of pages and it turned out that many participants wouldn’t mind taking advantage of the new-old chips.

The presence of evenly distributed FPGA throughout the world would have strengthened the decentralization and new coins security. This is the concept that Zetheron, a startup founded by Eric Fattah, is promoting. He already delivers heavy duty software for FPGA. While it’s free, it has a 4% development fee.

The startup also works in tandem with manufacturers, advising them on the best mining equipment optimization and ways of adapting technology to software changes only. FPGA hardware is still expensive, but provides a quick return on investment (ROI), faster than graphics processors.

The future of FPGA mining

Not all projects will be appropriate to use FPGA. For instance, the Bitcoin network did not change the algorithm and is very resource intensive. While Bitcoin Private is suitable only for GPU, Monero and Bitcoin Gold projects, at the same time, intentionally change the computing scope every few months. FPGA models of 2019 will be able to serve most altcoins.

FPGA will become the ASIC and «51% attack» antidote. Since FPGAs are incredibly fast, ASIC can take a speed advantage from 3x to 20x compared to FPGA, as opposed to GPU speed comparison, which is 30x to 1000x higher. This means that the coin mined with FPGA is much more resistant to be “captured” by ASIC. Promising FPGA prices are planned to stay within the $450-500 range.

Subscribe to our telegram channel for more news!