<blockquote>
<p>Was there any research done to say if this actually occurred or not?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>No.</p>
<hr />
<p>It is, of course, impossible to prove a negative.</p>
<p>However I consider it obvious that the sort of hardware used for botnets is not the sort of hardware used nowadays for hashing. <strong>Specialised SHA256 ASICs are not repurposed spambots</strong>.</p>
<p>During the era of GPU mining, I seriously doubt there was any reduction in home gaming. Merely many disgruntled addicts paying over the top for GPUs or gnashing their teeth at unavailability of bleeding edge GPUs. I doubt a significant number gave up world of warcraft etc.</p>
<p>Consequently I doubt the specialist market for Bitcoin mining hardware caused any measurable reduction of email spamming.</p>
<p>Consequently, I'd be a little surprised if any serious researcher thought it worthwhile them spending significant time carrying out rigorous research on this subject and reporting on it.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-24T15:26:04.987Z
Yeah, there was a brief influx of botnet hashpower in 2011, but shortly after that, CPU mining became unprofitable, even for botnets.
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-24T15:22:24.770Z
2022-07-24T15:39:13.727Z
2022-07-24T15:39:13.727Z
RedGrittyBrick
<p>In an 2008-11-03 email, Satoshi Nakamoto hypothesized that Bitcoin could actually reduce spam by making botnets more valuable for being part of the Bitcoin network than spamming:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Bitcoin network might actually reduce spam by diverting zombie
farms to generating bitcoins instead</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Was there any research done to say if this actually occurred or not?</p>

<satoshi-nakamoto><spam><botnets>
Did the Bitcoin network reduce spam?
user1086516
# Did the Bitcoin network reduce spam?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-07-24)

In an 2008-11-03 email, Satoshi Nakamoto hypothesized that Bitcoin could actually reduce spam by making botnets more valuable for being part of the Bitcoin network than spamming:

> The Bitcoin network might actually reduce spam by diverting zombie
> farms to generating bitcoins instead

Was there any research done to say if this actually occurred or not?

**Tags:** satoshi-nakamoto, spam, botnets


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-07-24. Score: 1

> Was there any research done to say if this actually occurred or not?

No.

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It is, of course, impossible to prove a negative.

However I consider it obvious that the sort of hardware used for botnets is not the sort of hardware used nowadays for hashing. **Specialised SHA256 ASICs are not repurposed spambots**.

During the era of GPU mining, I seriously doubt there was any reduction in home gaming. Merely many disgruntled addicts paying over the top for GPUs or gnashing their teeth at unavailability of bleeding edge GPUs. I doubt a significant number gave up world of warcraft etc.

Consequently I doubt the specialist market for Bitcoin mining hardware caused any measurable reduction of email spamming.

Consequently, I'd be a little surprised if any serious researcher thought it worthwhile them spending significant time carrying out rigorous research on this subject and reporting on it.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Yeah, there was a brief influx of botnet hashpower in 2011, but shortly after that, CPU mining became unprofitable, even for botnets.  

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