Why did Kaspa originally plan to use optical proof-of-work (oPoW)?

Before Kaspa's mainnet launched, the development team chose optical proof-of-work (oPoW) because they believed it could reduce energy waste and potentially be more decentralized than ASIC mining. oPoW is considered as secure as SHA-256, the algorithm used by Bitcoin, but its energy-efficiency advantage only fully materializes once dedicated optical hardware exists. Until that hardware arrives, miners can still participate using ordinary CPUs and GPUs. Understanding this helps beginners see that Kaspa's mining algorithm was chosen deliberately for long-term sustainability goals, not as a shortcut.