Here's a nice historic parallel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebus_cartel
Topic: Are Manufacturers Stealing From Investors? (Read 965 times)
You make a fair argument and I think investors would be right to make a claim on the these coins. No legal precedent has ever been set. It would actually be an interesting legal debate, and both side would have a good case in court in my opinion.
The problem is that they can justify this by saying that they need to test the equipment.
There really is no justification since they could setup their own in-house "bitcoin network" and mine against that instead of the live network.
One thing that I find curious is the huge increase in BTC hash rate a couple of weeks ago, followed by the current dip. I have no proof but I suspect that many manufacturers were "testing" the miners for a couple of weeks before sending them out. If you think about this it makes perfect sense as they now have taken the miners offline in order to ship them, thus the current lull in BTC hash rate. Once customers receive their miners the hash rate will abruptly rise.
The problem is that the BTC mined during testing should belong to the customers and this BTC is crucial to a customer being able to make a profit from the miners they purchased in good faith. They are essentially stealing from their customers by doing this. The problem is that they can justify this by saying that they need to test the equipment. I believe if a customer has pre-paid for any chips or mining equipment, then any BTC mined during testing should be the customers and taken off the price of the equipment. What do others think about this?
The problem is that the BTC mined during testing should belong to the customers and this BTC is crucial to a customer being able to make a profit from the miners they purchased in good faith. They are essentially stealing from their customers by doing this. The problem is that they can justify this by saying that they need to test the equipment. I believe if a customer has pre-paid for any chips or mining equipment, then any BTC mined during testing should be the customers and taken off the price of the equipment. What do others think about this?
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