What is Autolykos and how does it work?

Autolykos is Ergo's memory-hard Proof-of-Work algorithm designed for GPU mining. It requires significant RAM (currently ~2.5GB), making ASIC development uneconomical. Autolykos v2 (current version) allows pool mining while maintaining ASIC resistance. The algorithm promotes decentralization by keeping mining accessible to consumer hardware.

• Memory-hard: requires RAM, not just raw compute power
• ASIC-resistant: consumer GPUs remain competitive
• v2 upgrade: enabled pool mining (2021)
• Decentralization: accessible to home miners
• Fair: no mining advantage from specialized hardware