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Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)

Trading Term

An ASIC is a type of custom-built chip designed for a very specific purpose, rather than general computing. In the context of cryptocurrency, ASICs are specialized to perform the hashing algorithms required by certain blockchains, like SHA-256 for Bitcoin.

Bitcoin mining requires repeatedly calculating SHA-256 hashes to find a valid block. An ASIC for Bitcoin is much faster and more energy-efficient at this task than a regular CPU or GPU.

Because ASICs dominate mining on networks like Bitcoin, mining has become highly specialized, often concentrated in professional mining farms.

For example: A Bitmain Antminer S19 is an ASIC built specifically to mine Bitcoin. It cannot be repurposed for gaming or general computing—it only mines SHA-256-based cryptocurrencies.

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