Bitcoin Gold updates equihash algorithm for ASIC resistance

Bitcoin Gold currently makes use of equihash algorithm which is already being used by cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin Gold is going to use modified version of this algorithm in order to keep their blockchain ASIC resistance and prevent it from 51 percent attacks. Current equihash requires minimum 50MB memory but runs faster with 144MB memory. These memory requirements were said to be enough to prevent ASIC manufactures from building ASIC. In 2018, this is not enough.

A modified version of equihash algorithm with new parameters <144,5> will soon be adopted that requires even more memory to run which makes the ASIC immediately unprofitable. The new Bitcoin Gold mining algorithm will use minimum 700MB to run and 2.5GB to run efficiently. This will significantly decrease threat of ASIC machines to the Bitcoin Gold network.

The new parameters also have other advantages:

* Smaller solution size (100 B vs 1344 B) – (saves a little space)
* Faster validation (32 vs 512 rounds) – (allows full nodes to confirm a solution is valid more quickly)

While this is not a permanent fix and will not stop ASICs forever, it solves the problems faced by Bitcoin Gold for now. The popular Z9 Equihash miner does not have enough memory to use the updated equihash BTG algorithm.

So what about the miner rewards. The new parameters will reduce overall hashrate per second but all miners will be producing a the same lower rate when mining bitcoin gold. The net revenue for mining will not be changed, which is 12.5BTG per block.