From: 3blue1brown
Cryptographic computations, particularly those involving cryptographic hash functions like SHA-256 used in digital signatures and Bitcoin mining, require immense processing power to perform repeated calculations or “guesses” [00:00:21] [00:00:27]. This is often in the context of breaking 256-bit security, which would require, on average, 2 to the 256 guesses [00:00:33].
General Purpose Graphics Processing Units (GPUs)
Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) are capable of running numerous computations in parallel at high speeds [01:09:00] [01:12:00]. When specially programmed to run a cryptographic hash function repeatedly, a high-performing GPU can achieve a rate of a little less than a billion hashes per second [01:15:00] [01:20:00]. For conceptual scale, a computer packed with multiple GPUs could potentially reach a hashing rate of 4 billion hashes per second [01:27:00] [01:30:00].
Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs)
While GPUs are powerful, Bitcoin mining operations primarily utilize Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) [03:46:00] [03:50:00]. ASICs are hardware components specifically engineered for a singular purpose, such as running a high volume of SHA-256 hashes for Bitcoin mining, and are not designed for general computation [03:58:00] [04:03:00] [04:07:00] [04:11:00].
Efficiency Gains of ASICs
ASICs offer significant efficiency improvements compared to GPUs [04:07:00]. They can be approximately 1,000 times more efficient than a GPU for their specific task [03:50:00] [03:55:00]. This enhanced efficiency is achieved by eliminating the need for general computing capabilities and designing the integrated circuits solely for one task [04:07:00] [04:11:00].
ASICs in Bitcoin Mining
The collective hashing power of all Bitcoin miners combined is about 5 billion billion hashes per second [03:32:00] [03:37:00]. This immense rate is largely due to the widespread use of ASICs, which are purpose-built for Bitcoin mining, rather than a vast number of GPU-packed machines [03:46:00] [03:50:00].