Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)
By CoinGecko | Updated on Mar 03, 2020
Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) refers to computer equipment which are specialized for a specific use, rather than general use. An example of ASIC would be Bitcoin mining machines that are made to solve the SHA-256 algorithm repeatedly and in orders of magnitude quicker than general use hardwares (eg. graphic cards).
Initially developed only for the Bitcoin algorithm, the development, sale and usage of ASIC quickly became a lucrative industry as it expanded to cover many other cryptocurrencies.
It is worth noting that ASICs are not used only in the crypto scene - appliances that are made to do specific functions can also be equipped with ASIC chips for efficiency purposes.
Related Terms
Merkle Tree
A Merkle tree is also known as a hash tree in cryptography. It is a tree where every lead node is labelled with cryptographic hash of a data block, and every non-leaf node is labelled with the hash of the labels of its child nodes. It is used to verify of data stored within it and transferable in and between computers.
Burned Tokens
Tokens which have been sent to addresses whose private key are not known, effectively becoming unusable.
Multisignal (multi-signature)
They are wallets that require more than one key for transactions to be authorized.
Nonce
Abbreviation for ‘number only used once’ It is of vital importance next to the hash in the verification of data from the Bitcoin blockchain network.
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