Technology pioneers have been showing an interest in blockchain technology and cryptocurrency for quite some time now. Especially for pioneers active in the coding world, the concept of cryptocurrency is rather intriguing. Alphabet’s Sergey Brin recently mentioned Ethereum in a positive light. This took a few people by surprise, although most of his comments revolved around artificial intelligence.

Sergey Brin and Ethereum

As is usually the case when a famous technology pioneer references cryptocurrency, there is a fair bit of surprise and confusion to contend with. In the case of Alphabet president Sergey Brin, his recent comments regarding Ethereum shocked a lot of people. Not because they were negative, but mainly because he sees the bright side of cryptocurrency in general. It is quite uncommon to hear someone think along those lines these days.

To put this into perspective, Sergey Brin recently talked about cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence. In issuing Alphabet’s annual founders’ letter, Brin highlighted two emerging trends which are of great importance to him personally. Brin has mixed feelings about AI, which is not entirely surprising. Cryptocurrency, on the other hand, gets a rather big vote of confidence from Brin, although it will not have any impact on the Ethereum price.

Brin referenced the effect cryptocurrencies have had on the computing industry and in general. Specifically, he mentioned the “GPU-friendly proof-of-work algorithms found in some of today’s leading cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum.” This particular algorithm is one of the reasons why the demand for more powerful graphics cards has risen so sharply in the past few months. Mining cryptocurrency has become a booming industry, but the demand for GPUs to mine Ethereum may drop off if the price remains on the relatively low end of the spectrum.

While the public’s opinion on cryptocurrency is still all over the place, one cannot deny the impact it has had on the computing industry. Currencies such as Ethereum have shown the world how things can be done differently and how one could empower such ecosystems. That in itself is an unexpected advancement in the world of computing, and one which might not have been triggered by any other technology. According to Brin, that is a positive development, even though a lot of people remain wary of cryptocurrencies, for obvious reasons.

How Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies will affect the future of computing as a whole remains to be seen, but Ethereum has shown the world that GPU-friendly proof-of-work algorithms can exist without too many problems. Now that Ethereum mining ASICs have come around, it will be interesting to see if any modifications are made to this algorithm.

We do know that Ethereum’s developers are planning a switch to proof-of-stake in the very near future. When that will happen remains a bit unclear, although Casper is coming together nicely as we speak. It is evident GPU mining will come to a halt where Ethereum is concerned, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It is good to see technology pioneers such as Sergey Brin acknowledge that cryptocurrencies have a positive side which most people tend to overlook for no apparent reason.