Michael Bedford Taylor misrepresents the most important aspect of these "ASIC clouds" and the bitcoin algorithm; the puzzle of the algorithm is incredibly simple. Every implementation of a Bitcoin miner simply generates a bunch of random guesses to the hash equation.

On page 60, graph (a) Professor Taylor uses distorted manipulative log charts for finance.

The chart on page 61 is the most insanely manipulative chart I could ever imagine to represent the history and progression of Bitcoin mining in relation to hardware speed.

Try charting

  watts per block over time.

  ROI in BTC for a core i5 over time

  newly minted coins per user over time 

Michael also doesn't understand or chooses to misinform the reader and the journal about "computational demand scaling with the number of users"

The Bitcoin network grows increasingly inefficient with any additional computer hash power added, and as more users use it, it clogs due to limited bandwidth and inefficiencies of the algorithm. Additional hardware speed does nothing to scale with network growth, actually the complete opposite occurs as it requires more (energy, computer resources) to do the same thing (transactions) per second for less (rewards per user). The result of all these aspects point towards a system of rules that exploits new, uninformed users to benefit "early adopters".

Sad but not surprising to realize this guy is a professor at the University of Washington.

Is Michael Bedford Taylor promoting something here through intentional misdirection and omission of basic facts to manipulate readers?

Would Professor Michael Bedford Taylor be under a conflict of interest if he sells Bitcoins?