With Obelisk cancelling development of Grin ASICs and uncertainty surrounding the position of Vidtoo, Innosilicon is the only manufacturer that remains committed to delivering ASICs to mine on the Grin network.
Quick take;
- Innosilicon is the only manufacturer committed to delivering ASICS to mine on the Grin network
- An Innosilicon contact noted possible delays in their development schedule with an official announcement expected soon
- The Innosilicon Grin ASICs will be designed to be compatible with Cuckatoo 31+ and Cuckatoo 32+ as well as backwards compatible with Cuckatoo 30 and Cuckatoo 29
Earlier this year, Obelisk, Vidtoo, and Innosilicon were all lined up to be producing the first ASICs to mine on the Grin network. However, Obelisk officially cancelled their ASICs in July and Vidtoo have removed the Twitter page where they had originally announced their ASIC plans in mid-March.
Obelisk stated their plans were cancelled due to a “lack of interest and funding”. Although Vidtoo has removed their Twitter page, a Grin community member has pointed out that they appear to be selling through WeChat. However, Vidtoo’s current plans are extremely unclear and in all likelihood, their Grin ASIC plans will not materialise. Innosilicon is the only manufacturer that remains committed to delivering Grin ASICs.
Grin ASICs Design & Deliveries
Innosilicon is currently selling its third batch of ASICs. Orders for the first batch started in April. The different batches have varying shipping schedules. The ASICS will be designed to be compatible with the Cuckatoo 31+ and Cuckatoo 32+ algorithms and will also be backwards compatible with Cuckatoo 29 and Cuckatoo 30. The following was noted on the Grin community forum:
“Innosilicon fully embraces the [development schedule] evolution path as planned and believes a multi-chips approach of one ASIC coupled with high speed DRAM results in less waste of ASICs and more stable and predictable mining.”
Given that these will be the first Grin ASICs, designing the hardware represents a significant challenge. This is evident from the design discussions taking place on the Grin forum and also from Obelisk ceasing their development plans.
We reached out to Innosilicon for comment. They confirmed that they remain committed to delivering the Grin ASICs. A member of the Innosilicon team did note that there may possibly be some delays in the development schedule. We did not receive details on the schedule but the Innosilicon contact did note that there will be an official announcement regarding this shortly.
Profitability Prospects
Source: asicminervalue.com
The profitability prospects of a Grin ASIC has certainly enticed altcoin miners. Innosilicon has three different ASIC models they plan to release, each aimed at a different scale of miner. The G32-1800 Miner, selling for $14215, is estimated by asicminervalue.com to generate a profit of $191.05 per day. Their other models, aimed at smaller scale miners, are estimated to generate $58.34 per day and $12.45 per day.
While these figures are currently very high, they are heavily based on the Grin networks current hash rate which is completely comprised of GPU miners. This hash rate will drastically increase when ASICs are deployed on the network which will serve to significantly reduce the estimated profitability figures.
