Update on Upcoming Changes in BFMines ContractAs announced, the BFMines contract is undergoing changes to clarify terms of the asset and actual operational details. The outline of the changes have been announced ealier, so this update serves to keep investors and the market up-to-date on the progress of these changes.
1. Clarification on Minimum Revenue Guaranteee
The contract updates on the minimum revenue guarantee (equivalent to 1 mhs PMB-style returns) are ready. The contract will be updated with the following clause:
Minimum Revenue Guarantee
BFMines is backed by real mining hardware and is thus subject to miner's luck. To preserve the stability of dividends, however, BFMines guarantees a minimum dividend equal to that of the current hash rate with a PMB style dividend. This cancels miners' bad luck while retains miners' good luck.
This minimum dividend will be scheduled at each difficulty change and paid on a daily basis. In addition, any positive dividends from miner's luck will be paid out at each difficulty change for the previous difficulty period. Any negative dividends from miner's luck will not affect current or future dividends and will be covered by the surplus mining capacity funds.
This change will, in my opinion, only benefit contract holders and will thus be added to the contract without vote or an offer for buy-back.
2. Use of Surplus Mining Capacity
The contract currently states
The excess mining power will be held in reserve to account for operational cost, hardware failure, or other problems. Revenue from the excess mining power will not be paid out to contract holders.
As previously announced, the intent of this sentence is not that surplus mining capacity will be paid to the operator but that the revenue from the surplus capacity will not be paid out as dividends. The surplus capacity will be used to the benefit of the asset and thus the contract holders.
In the previous discussions in the BFMines forum, I explained that I am hesitant to include specifics about how those excess funds will be used due to the uncertainty of the stability of hardware and thus the need for a risk buffer.
However, I will be posting a separate post in the BFMines forum to outline and discuss various options for use of any excess funds to start the debate. A final determination and numbers will likely not be possible for several months.
I will, however, update the contract to clarify that the surplus mining capacity will be to the benefit of contract holders. See item #3.
3. Clarification on Transaction Fees
Although the contract doesn't explicitly mention this, BFMines is based on real mining and any revenue from that operation is paid out. This includes transaction fees and positive miner's luck (as described in item 1).
To clarify this, the contract will be updated as such:
Removed:
Each contract pays exactly 100% of 1mh/s of BTC mining power. All expenses related to the operation will be carried by the operator.
Added:
Each contract is entitled to all output of the mining operation divided by the number of outstanding contracts. This output includes transaction fees and miner's good luck, but not miner's bad luck, according to the minimum revenue guarantee.
All expenses related to the operation will be paid for from the surplus mining capacity. The surplus mining capacity will be no less than 20% more than the capacity required for dividend payments. Excess funds from this surplus capacity will go to the benefit of the contract holders in the form of securing the long-term operation and stability of the mining operation, but will not be paid out as dividends.
In case funds from the surplus mining capacity is not sufficient to cover expenses, the operator will cover additional cost until such a time as the surplus mining capacity is again sufficient or the mining operation closes as per the terms of this contract.
This clause is a somewhat complex change, so let me briefly comment on what I think will be questions about it.
Please note that the omission of 1mh/s from the clarified terms is not an oversight. The exact output is defined earlier in the contract.
Previously, the only clause was a somewhat ambigious "100% of 1mh/s of BTC mining power". Due to the initial use of the term 'mining bond' it was easy and maybe reasonable to assume this meant the standard formula of a PMB. The clarify, I have specifically stated that the dividends per contract is the total output of the mining operation divided by outstanding shares.
The clarification of payment of expenses is also necessary because the clause 'All expenses related to the operation will be carried by the operator' might seem to conflict with the previous paragraph that states 'The excess mining power will be held in reserve to account for operational cost, hardware failure, or other problems.'
This change adds clarification only (and cannot, in my opinion, be in any way
not beneficial to contract holders) so I will include this change in the contract without vote or buy-back offer.
4. Cleaning Up
Although I had intended for the previous contract update to not include the omissions that are now stricken out in the BTCT contract, burnside included them in the update. That is fine and has no real impact on the contract, so to avoid confusion, I am removing the stricken out out content and the note about the rebranding. This, again, does not affect the contract in any way, so they will be included in the contract update.
I encourage your input and questions on these changes. If there are formulations and phrases that are unclear, I would be happy to update them.
The complete contract after the changes will look like this, pending any public discussion and feedback:
Contract
Overview
BFMines is a mining contract backed by physical hardware. The contract pays a dividend equivalent to 1 megahashes per second (mh/s) of mining power.
Please read the following article to understand what mining contracts are:
http://coin.furuknap.net/understanding-mining-bonds/ In summary, however, please note the following:
1. This is a mining contract, not a share in a company. You receive no voting rights and no other income than the stated dividend.
2. The mining contract is perpetual, which means it will continue to generate dividend until terminated following one of the below conditions. There is no defined termination date of the contract.
3. The mining contract pays the equivalent of income from 1 mh/s. Any excess payments not explicitly stated in this contract is solely at the discretion of the operator and should not be expected.
A total of 100,000 contracts will be issued backed by no less than 120 GH/s of mining power. The excess mining power will be held in reserve to account for operational cost, hardware failure, or other problems. Revenue from the excess mining power will not be paid out to contract holders.
Each contract is entitled to all output of the mining operation divided by the number of outstanding contracts. This output includes transaction fees and miner's good luck, but not miner's bad luck, according to the minimum revenue guarantee.
All expenses related to the operation will be paid for from the surplus mining capacity. The surplus mining capacity will be no less than 20% more than the capacity required for dividend payments. Excess funds from this surplus capacity will go to the benefit of the contract holders in the form of securing the long-term operation and stability of the mining operation, but will not be paid out as dividends.
In case funds from the surplus mining capacity is not sufficient to cover expenses, the operator will cover additional cost until such a time as the surplus mining capacity is again sufficient or the mining operation closes as per the terms of this contract.
Minimum Revenue Guarantee
BFMines is backed by real mining hardware and is thus subject to miner's luck. To preserve the stability of dividends, however, BFMines guarantees a minimum dividend equal to that of the current hash rate with a PMB style dividend. This cancels miners' bad luck while retains miners' good luck.
This minimum dividend will be scheduled at each difficulty change and paid on a daily basis. In addition, any positive dividends from miner's luck will be paid out at each difficulty change for the previous difficulty period. Any negative dividends from miner's luck will not affect current or future dividends and will be covered by the surplus mining capacity funds.
Changes to Contract
This contract may be updated at any time by the operator if it is to the reasonably undeniable benefit or of no consequence to contract holders. Changes that do not work in favor of existing contracts may be implemented only if the changes are accompanied by an offer to buy back contracts at the terms specified in this contract.
Operation and Buyback
The mine will operate perpetually and pay daily dividends, to be scheduled at or around the time of difficulty changes.
The term perpetual is unlikely for practical reasons, and as such, there exists provisions to close the contracts for one of the following reasons:
1.The operator becomes incapable of operating the contracts over an extended period
2.The overhead of operating the contracts becomes greater than its profits
3.Permanent and irreparable damage to hardware
4.The operator must close the contract for other reasons
If the contract must close for any of the above reasons, the operator or a duly appointed representative, in case the operator is permanently unavailable, can buy back contracts at no less than 110% of the average trading price at BTCT over the previous 7 (seven) days.
Please note that this buy-back is a right of the operator, not a duty. Any buy-back is solely at the discretion of the operator.
In any case of permanent and irreparable damage to hardware, the operator will pursue any means available to replace hardware as quickly as possible at no cost to contract holders. However, if replacement hardware cannot be obtained at reasonable costs, the operator may choose to suspend operation and dividends and start liquidation of the contract as explained above.
Pre-Release Terms:
Please note that these terms apply only until the mining hardware has been delivered. Upon delivery, these terms will be removed from the contract.
The contracts are backed by miners that have yet to be released. The scheduled release is September 2013.
All funds received as part of the IPO process at BTC Trading Corporation (BTCT) will be held in escrow until said mining hardware is delivered and made operational (the release date). In case the mining hardware fails completely, all funds will be repaid fully at the listing price of 0.004BTC/bond.
No dividends will be paid until delivery. On the release date, the IPO funds will be released from escrow.
Upon delivery, any excess capacity from the mining hardware will be used to pay contract holders additional dividends for six months. The additional dividends is intended to compensate contract holders for not receiving dividends until the mining hardware has been delivered.
Expansion of Operation
This contract will always be backed by real mining hardware or equivalent mining assets. In case of expansion of the contracts, those contracts will be offered at a rate not lower than the lowest trading price at BTCT over the previous 30 days. Any expansion will be backed by mining hardware or mining assets.
Caveats
Please be aware of the following before investing:
A mining contract decreases in value as Bitcoin mining difficulty climbs. The biggest return on investment will happen early in the contract’s existence and gradually decline as the Bitcoin mining climbs.
Mining contracts are not shares, they are effectively contracts where the mining operator mines bitcoin on your behalf, to be rewarded in dividends based on mining power. The price paid for a mining contract will under normal circumstances not be repaid so your sole income will be from the dividend paid daily.
Due to the buy-back clause of this contract, please be careful of paying too much for this mining contract, especially when there are sudden price spikes. The operator may choose to buy back contracts at 110% of trading price so if you pay more than this, you may theoretically lose anything you pay above that.
Pre-release only (will be removed once mining hardware is operational): This contract does not pay dividends until the release date. To compensate for this, the first six months of operation will give approximately 20% higher dividends depending on the final performance of the miner. In case the hardware fails completely, the contracts will be repaid for 0.004BTC per bond.
.b