Durable, Low Energy Bitcoin Algorithm Proposal • Hacker News Board

Re: Durable, Low Energy Bitcoin Algorithm Proposal

#11

Post by Mdubrov » Thu, May 20, 2021, 4:23 PM UTC

jl2718 wrote: post #10

Until photonic processors become cheap, and then it’s a keccak-256 ASIC. Silicon wafers at 90nm quality are already quite cheap, but actually, a photonic waveguide can be made out of doped glass or grown on any substrate. Also, the 3D integration possibilities are nearly endless. If there was a real economic demand for these processors, the cost would go to nearly zero. If you can figure out an actual hash with just…

You should take a look at companies like https://lightmatter.co/

Photonic chips for analog matrix processing are already being commercialized.

The underlying platform, CMOS Silicon Photonics is commercial already (in every data center) and produced in high volume.

Heavyhash can be constructed such that the Keccak hashes comprise a minimal amount of the work.

Quoting from the BIP:

"Below is a conceptual representation of a 3D-packaged oPoW mining chip. Note that the majority of the real estate and cost comes from the photonic die and the laser, with only a small digital SHA3 die needed (as opposed to a conventional miner of the same cost, which would have many copies of this die running in parallel)."

Re: Durable, Low Energy Bitcoin Algorithm Proposal

#12

Post by jl2718 » Fri, May 21, 2021, 4:54 AM UTC

Mdubrov wrote: post #11

jl2718 wrote: post #10

Until photonic processors become cheap, and then it’s a keccak-256 ASIC. Silicon wafers at 90nm quality are already quite cheap, but actually, a photonic waveguide can be made out of doped glass or grown on any substrate. Also, the 3D integration possibilities are nearly endless. If there was a real economic demand for these processors, the cost would go to nearly zero. If you can figure out an actual hash with just…

You should take a look at companies like https://lightmatter.co/ Photonic chips for analog matrix processing are already being commercialized. The underlying platform, CMOS Silicon Photonics is commercial already (in every data center) and produced in high volume. Heavyhash can be constructed such that the Keccak hashes comprise a minimal amount of the work. Quoting from the BIP: "Below is a conceptual representation…

Firstly I'm not convinced that the photonic version would be more efficient than the all-electric version. The conversion is very expensive. Secondly, they don't need to be on the same chip. The Sha3 chip would be very dense, and the multiplex in time and frequency into the photonic circuit, which would have much larger features, probably printed on silica.

Re: Durable, Low Energy Bitcoin Algorithm Proposal

#13

Post by Mdubrov » Sun, May 23, 2021, 2:23 AM UTC

jl2718 wrote: post #12

Mdubrov wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should take a look at companies like https://lightmatter.co/ Photonic chips for analog matrix processing are already being commercialized. The underlying platform, CMOS Silicon Photonics is commercial already (in every data center) and produced in high volume. Heavyhash can be constructed such that the Keccak hashes comprise a minimal amount of the work. Quoting from the BIP: "Below is a conceptual representation…

Firstly I'm not convinced that the photonic version would be more efficient than the all-electric version. The conversion is very expensive. Secondly, they don't need to be on the same chip. The Sha3 chip would be very dense, and the multiplex in time and frequency into the photonic circuit, which would have much larger features, probably printed on silica.

Are you familiar with silicon photonics? (though indeed they probably would not be on the same chip as we point out in the BIP)

We have a short primer on Si photonics in our paper actually https://assets.pubpub.org/xi9h9rps/01581688887859.pdf