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Batch one was $1,300 and batch two was $1,500. At a cost of 75 BTC, batch three units effectively cost ~$5000. What gives?
Well, one of cofounders commented on that, and the main thing is trust, which, since the beginning of the bitcoin movement, has always been the most valuable resource above all else. The first batch could have been a potential scam, so we had to price it at $1,300 (which is the same price that Butterfly Labs has been offering).
We’ve had plenty of opportunities, such as keeping the technology to ourselves and simply mining, but that was never our intention. So how much is that trust worth? We think it’s worth $5000 by itself. Beyond that, the calculation is based on the current difficulty rate so that break-even point occurs in a month. Which, by the way, as an investment vehicle is a fairly unique proposition. It should be mentioned also that the cost of the batch two was also 75 bitcoins. That the exchange rate has moved is out of our control.
And in the end, this was never what we wanted. If we wanted to maximize our profit, we could charge much more. For us, this has always been an ideal-oriented problem, not a business-oriented one. This is one of the primary reasons we aren’t clearly in the black.
We’re lucky that we held onto the second batch of bitcoins because if it weren’t for the appreciation, we would be very, very deep in the red, which ultimately still isn’t that big of a deal. But batch three now gives the project monetary sustainability, especially since we need to purchase an SMT machine (a pick-and-place machine for mounting devices onto circuit boards) to produce our generation two chipset.
Well, one of cofounders commented on that, and the main thing is trust, which, since the beginning of the bitcoin movement, has always been the most valuable resource above all else. The first batch could have been a potential scam, so we had to price it at $1,300 (which is the same price that Butterfly Labs has been offering).
We’ve had plenty of opportunities, such as keeping the technology to ourselves and simply mining, but that was never our intention. So how much is that trust worth? We think it’s worth $5000 by itself. Beyond that, the calculation is based on the current difficulty rate so that break-even point occurs in a month. Which, by the way, as an investment vehicle is a fairly unique proposition. It should be mentioned also that the cost of the batch two was also 75 bitcoins. That the exchange rate has moved is out of our control.
And in the end, this was never what we wanted. If we wanted to maximize our profit, we could charge much more. For us, this has always been an ideal-oriented problem, not a business-oriented one. This is one of the primary reasons we aren’t clearly in the black.
We’re lucky that we held onto the second batch of bitcoins because if it weren’t for the appreciation, we would be very, very deep in the red, which ultimately still isn’t that big of a deal. But batch three now gives the project monetary sustainability, especially since we need to purchase an SMT machine (a pick-and-place machine for mounting devices onto circuit boards) to produce our generation two chipset.
