Blockchain and Networking

[michael at wi-fiber.io (Michael Crapse)]

The definition of an ASIC is that it has only one use. Just because half of
a 100gb switch is not in use doesn't mean that you can mine bitcoin, or run
a blockchain with the asics not in use..

On 9 January 2018 at 08:49, Jean | ddostest.me via NANOG <nanog at nanog.org>
wrote:

> BTC miners use asics. Big switches/routers use 100Gb asics. Some
> switches have multiple 100 Gb asics and sometimes only half is use or
> even less.
>
> I guess it could be nice for some smaller telcos to generate some profit
> during off peak period. I don't know how feasible and I fully understand
> that the vendor warranty should be instantly void.
>
> Also, sometimes telcos have off the shelves spare that gather dust for
> years... It could be interesting to also generate few coins.
>
> Jean
>
> On 18-01-09 10:31 AM, Naslund, Steve wrote:
> > Sure but there are lots of blockchains other than bitcoin.  A lot of
> real smart people do not even suspect that bitcoin is a long term survivor
> due to its long transaction times.  Which blockchains do you want to
> support?  150GB may not seem like a lot (although a lot of my gear does not
> have the memory to cache that) but 10 of those is beyond the memory on the
> vast majority of network gear I am aware of.  That sure looks like a
> slippery slope to me.   Now that a lot of network switching and routers can
> support applications, you could just host all of your apps on them just
> like you could do all of your routing in your servers.   The question for
> you is what responsibilities do you want to take on.   That probably
> depends on what business you are in.
> >
> >> There is absolutely no reason that the networking equipment itself
> can't both operate the blockchain and keep a full copy.  It's a pretty good
> bet that your own routers will probably be online;  if not, you have bigger
> problems.
> >>
> >> The storage requirements aren't particularly onerous.  The entire
> Bitcoin blockchain is around 150GB, with several orders of magnitude more
> transactions (read: config changes) than you're likely to see even on a
> very large network.  SSDs are small >enough and reliable enough now that
> the physical space requirements are quite small.
> >
> > Steven Naslund
> > Chicago IL
> >
>