While researching how to build my own mining rig for Ethereum, Monero, Sia, etc., I read somewhere that the Bitcoin network, back in 2013, had eclipsed the processing power of the top 500 supercomputers in the world. I was so intrigued by the potential of a powerful distributed network such as the Bitcoin miners, that I continued to research and found that not only was it faster, but in 2015 it was 11,000 times faster than the top 500 supercomputers. Now, I don't have a phD in computer engineering or anything like that, but my understanding of the Blockchain and Bitcoin is that each block has a SHA-256 hash function that must be verified through "proof-of-work" or a calculated amount of computing power by miners on the network to add it to the chain. I thought that it was spectacular that the total computing power of the CPUs, GPUs, and ASICs mining Bitcoin on the network was so powerful. But then I had another thought: what if that spectacular computing power, created by the distributed network of miners and their workers who simply wanted to get BTC, was used for something OTHER than mining a virtual currency. Astrophysics. DNA sequencing. You name it. What if that distributed network of idling CPUs and GPUs could be collectively "rented" out to governments, institutions, organizations, banks, to solve some of their most complex problems in a fraction of the time?
Again, these are all just thoughts. I'm still new to the whole cryptocurrency scene and working to understanding the true power of a distributed network that might eventually become a small WORLD COMPUTER.
If you've got something to add, please comment! I'd love to discuss the ideas I have surrounding the cryptocurrency market and its future potential (I still think GPU mining will translate fantastically into a distributed VR network).
Talk soon!
There are already cryptocurrencies working on this - Golem is just one example. Distributed computer processing is nothing new. SETI has been doing this (of sorts) for quite a while.
The article cuts off at the end.. what was your thought ?
@boxmining My overarching thought is that the computing power used to mine Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, Dash, Siacoin, etc., could just as easily be pooled together and "rented" to organizations, institutions, governmental agencies to solve some of their most complex problems. AND that the GPU form of mining is a perfect segway to a world computer built for an entire VR universe because the majority of the graphics/ecosystem will be easily hosted across the distributed network. So instead of tossing those old GPU mining rigs, maybe hold onto them for distributed processing when the world moves to VR/ "The Matrix."