ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). As the name suggests, ASICs are integrated circuits that are designed to serve a specific case, as opposed to general purpose circuits such as processors powering our computers and mobile devices.

In some circumstances, there are simple computational tasks that do not require the financial and computational effort that a general purpose processor would bring to the table. Instead, an ASIC can be used as a much simpler and more efficient alternative (both in terms of cost and energy).

In the crypto world, the term ASIC is widely used for specialist equipment that is developed and regularly improved by companies such as Bitmain and Halong Mining. This equipment is designed exclusively for crypto mining. There are coins that cannot be effectively extracted by ASIC miners, and as such can be referred to as ASIC resistant cryptocurrencies.

In short, mining is a process that involves performing countless mixing functions until the correct mixing result is generated. A miner who finds the correct acronym uses it as proof of his work, which gives him the right to check the next block of the transaction and claim the reward for the block.

Although ASICs can be very efficient, the limitation to a specific case of use makes them completely useless to do anything else. What's more, the continuous technological progress in the crypto space introduces new ASIC models that quickly make older projects completely unprofitable.

Crypto mining with ASIC