Great video: annonomity vs decentralization - solution: every block is a different algorithm.

[Odinson]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J52AM5SrOHw

[LiteCoinGuy]

but how many algos would you need to archieve that?

is it impossible for a hardware manufacture to build rigs for this? i guess you can always build special minings rigs and end up the same way we have today.

[LiteCoinGuy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCM04H8e6Ak

[Odinson]

"but how many algos would you need to archieve that?

is it impossible for a hardware manufacture to build rigs for this? i guess you can always build special minings rigs and end up the same way we have today."

A handful (sha,scrypt,etc) should make it more difficult to optimize via hardware. IMO the pool of block algorithms should include every secure tested algorithm it can. If it's good math and we trust it, it's in. He also suggests in the video different bit sizes one could be sha256 and another sha12 and another sha59, etc. The object is to punish specialized hardware. Clearly there are both technical and social(among developers) consequences for putting all the eggs in the sha256 basket.

It also has a small ancillary benefit in that if sha256 is solved (ceases to be asymmetric.) the miners and currency value don't immediately take a huge dive.

[Odinson]

Oh and and the next block algorithm type should be semi random (seeded by the last block) it more closely simulates real mining which was Satoshi's stated goal. You never know exactly what the next square meter of rock contains until you remove the one before it. That motivates small miners to stay in the fold as they might get lucky and the next block will be super easy. Difficulty can be adjusted by changing the bit size pool. 1-256, 64-1024, etc