<p>A Bitcoin mining ASIC: </p>

<ul>
<li>does not attempt to complete a single hash, rather fragments of two SHA256 compression rounds which is then compared to a target, the result is never returned </li>
<li>can not accept arbitrary information that is not in the form of a partial SHA256 compression round</li>
</ul>

<p>So in terms of competitiveness, a CPU can actually complete a SHA256 hash, a mining ASIC can not, which I suppose puts it ahead in this arbitrary race. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-18T04:18:21.070Z
Thank, you. However, let's assume I create a (educational) Blockchain that uses single/triple SHA256. Your answers left some doubt in me as to whether the ASICs would have an advantage or not.
Tiago Loriato Simões
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-18T04:19:38.560Z
No, you couldn’t do that with modern ASICS.
Claris
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-17T03:43:40.087Z
2019-02-17T03:43:40.087Z
Claris
<p>I understand that Bitcoin's ASICs are a highly optimized piece of equipment and, therefore, are also very specific.   </p>

<p>My question: are they able to do a single (or triple?) SHA-256 hash at all? And, if so, how competitively would they be with versus a GPU?</p>

<mining-hardware><hash><asic><cryptography>
How specific are ASIC's design? Can they single hash SHA256?
Tiago Loriato Simões
# How specific are ASIC's design? Can they single hash SHA256?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-02-17)

I understand that Bitcoin's ASICs are a highly optimized piece of equipment and, therefore, are also very specific.

My question: are they able to do a single (or triple?) SHA-256 hash at all? And, if so, how competitively would they be with versus a GPU?

**Tags:** mining-hardware, hash, asic, cryptography


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-02-17. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

A Bitcoin mining ASIC:

* does not attempt to complete a single hash, rather fragments of two SHA256 compression rounds which is then compared to a target, the result is never returned
* can not accept arbitrary information that is not in the form of a partial SHA256 compression round

So in terms of competitiveness, a CPU can actually complete a SHA256 hash, a mining ASIC can not, which I suppose puts it ahead in this arbitrary race.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thank, you. However, let's assume I create a (educational) Blockchain that uses single/triple SHA256. Your answers left some doubt in me as to whether the ASICs would have an advantage or not.  
> **username_1**: No, you couldn’t do that with modern ASICS.  

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