Optimized ASM means code that only very few people are able to review, and only with considerable time and effort. If security is the primary concern, I would argue that optimized ASM becomes a liability.

It's cute that you think people review crypto C code.

I had to read parts of OpenSSL to figure out how some of the utilities worked. Let me say that it's wonderful that people are trying to write a more readable version and leave it at that.

But people won't use slow code. Look at RSA-1024 on DNSSec.

If speed was a motivating factor, DNSSEC would be using fast curves instead of archaic RSA. The reality of DNSSEC is that it's built around the performance concerns of 1997.