What is ASIC-Resistance?

ASIC-resistance is a design feature that has been implemented on some Proof-of-Work (PoW) blockchains to prevent them from being dominated by application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners. The purpose is to help the mining on a chain be more equitable for retail miners while maintaining mining decentralization. This is generally done by using a bespoke mining algorithm or periodically changing the algorithm to prevent profitable ASIC miners from being developed. Despite some blockchains being designed to be ASIC-resistant, many have since become dominated by ASIC miners that have overcome the various ASIC-resistant designs and countermeasures.