# Gavin Andresen
# 2012-06-28 18:37:32
# https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=90513.msg996511#msg996511

Several people have asked me privately via email what I think of Butterfly Labs and ASIC mining in general, so: @p{par}

What do I think of ASICs hitting the "mining scene" ? @p{par}

meh. @p{par}

It shows that Bitcoin is considered stable enough for a company to invest a LOT of money on design and production on it, which is very good. ASICs were bound to happen if Bitcoin survived long enough. @p{par}

The long-term outlook for mining is "mining will happen with very specialized hardware, in places where either electricity is free or generating lots of heat is a benefit and not a cost"  (and probably both; I still think Iceland will be a big mining hot-spot eventually). @p{par}

I'm not worried about Butterfly Labs deciding to take over the blockchain with their superior hashpower. They'd be idiots to do something like try to mount a 51% attack@p{--} they don't want to kill Bitcoin, they want it to get more successful so they sell more hardware. @p{par}

And if they are successful they will very quickly have competitors. @p{par}

Full disclosure:  I spent some of my bitcoins to pre-order their USB coffee-warmer doo-hickey.  It gets cold here in the winter. @p{brk}