ProgProw, a proposed Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm which resists the application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners from the ethereum network has been the subject of debates for months now.
In a recent online voting process, a vast majority of ETH holders have voted in favor of implementing ProgProw thereby limiting ASICs which are accepted in the current PoW algorithm ETHhash. It is expected to put the mining advantage to ETH miners using generic hardware like the graphics processing units (GPUs).
At the time of writing, results on the voting portal show that 87.5 percent of the participants so far voted in support of ProgProw implementation while about 12.5 percent voted against it.
Details of the ProgProw Voting
Only those who hold private keys that control access to ether are allowed to vote on the matter. As the website explains, “ether token holders are among the people who are going to be financially and economically impacted.”
To vote, eth holders send a zero-eth transaction from their wallet to designated addresses for either YES or NO. The YES votes corresponded to 1,347,557 ETH (or 170 million USD) while NO votes correspond to 191,807 ETH (or 24.1 million).
The elections, however, are only an opinion poll as it is not binding on the Ethereum core developers responsible for developments on the Ethereum blockchain. No time was specified for the end of the voting process.
The progProw Debate and Decisions
As Smartereum reported last Septemeber, a group of GPU ethereum miners let out a cry against the presence of the more optimized ASIC miners on the ethereum network, threatening a strike at some point.
Ethereum core developers on their part agreed to implement the ProgProw which will put back the advantage to the GPU miners thereby maintaining the level of decentralization on the ethereum blockchain.
As reported, ethereum developer decided to delay the implementation following a vote during a developer call. The developers agreed to wait until the algorithm is audited by a third party. It was therefore not included in the latest hardfork, Constantinople set to be launched on the 27th of this month.
Solomon Sunny is the market reporter for Smartereum, one of the global leaders in Ethereum, blockchain and currency news. He produces technical price updates on digital currencies and writes recent developments about blockchain.
