Members of ethereum's open-source development community tentatively agreed Friday to implement a new algorithm that would block specialized mining hardware, or ASICs, pending further testing on the proposed code.
If accepted by the network of users that run the ethereum software, the code change, dubbed "ProgPoW," would block ASICs, such as those made by major mining firms like Bitmain. In its place, the new software would allow general purpose, or GPU hardware – which is typically phased out by ASICs – to compete for rewards on the platform.
ASICs were developed for ethereum as early as April 2018.