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
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, an independant agency of the US Federal government which oversees federal securities laws, proposing securities rules, and regulating the securities industry.
Tangle
The name for IOTA's Directed acylic graph (DAG) based transaction settlement layer.
Mineable
A cryptocurrency is said to be "mineable" when it has the system thrugh which miners can be rewarded with newly-created cryptocurrencies for creating blocks.
Byzantine Fault
A byzantine fault is where an error has occured, yet a computer system does not know due which component/what failed to the lack of information and continues to iterate on a given instruction.
Hungry for more knowledge?
Back to Glossary or Subscribe to our newsletter.