Topic: Butterflylabs Huge SCAM - page 101. (Read 415652 times)

That was why I placed my order back then when I ordered a Jalap; BFL stated they would be shipping by January so I thought, well they must be shipping now. I was so wrong, I had to cancel my paypal order because there were more delays and red flags were being raised and the 45 day period was looming. So I took my investment elsewhere.

And here you have a practical demonstration about how the preorder scheme is working wonders for BFL.

The fact they are still spending huge amounts in advertising to trap clueless newbies in their scam, regardless of having missed the deadline for at least 7 months, is such a red flag that I really cannot understand how people is still hoping to recover any investment made in BFL units.

HELLNAUT, you better cool off, as you will have to wait for many months (if not years), and what you will receive is not a miner but a beautiful coffee warmer.

I saw some news today mentioning that Butterflylabs was shipping out more units. I don't agree with the way they have gone about conducting their pre-orders, as it seems very shady, but it looks like they could be starting to deliver on their promises. As more of these ASICs are out in the wild, it will be interesting to see how quickly they devalue.

I dunno...I think that there's something to be said for a small company designing their own chip. I know from personal experience how frustrating it can be to work with hardware/component manufacturers. While im certainly a bit dubious, I also hear/see what BFL says and recognize that I had many of the same issues they are having.

"Private venture capital" is not a proper VC firm, it's a private individual or group using their own money. No due diligence required.

Proper VC firms always declare their investments and terms. So do proper companies taking genuine VC investment...

BFL's website still claims they started shipping in Feb: http://www.butterflylabs.com/bitforce-sc-faq/

Avoid this company like the plague, get your refunds before it vanishes.


MODS: can you check the IP addresses for all these newbies who seem to join the forum purely to sing the praises of BFL...? 

Ive order BFL units and cant wait for it to come in....

VCs are already gambling.  Even run by completely legit personnel, a large number of startups (of the type that need VC in the first place) are going to go belly-up before recouping the investment.  Even with advantages like insisting on preferred stock, they may lose their entire investment.  VCs hope to make a profit because when they hit, they hit big.  However, they're expecting to lose sometimes, even the majority of times.  With a limited tolerance for a long streak of failures, they really can't afford to do shit like invest in a company headed by a convicted criminal.  Sure, maybe he's reformed himself, but it's just a bad risk at that point.  Why borrow trouble?

It's kind of moot, though, because even if you found VCs willing to overlook the fact that the guy is a convicted felon, I can't imagine any VCs sitting by idly while the company is represented by a complete raving asshole like Josh Zerlan.  This is the kind of freakish behavior they simply would not tolerate.

That is why I think BFL is lying about VC just like they lie about everything else.  However, if they did have VC, where's the tranches of preferred stock and other things that you'd see in such a situation?  There is no VC in the world who would be dumb enough to get into a partnership and end up legally on the hook for BFL's debts if they end up liable for scamming.  Is BFL even a corporation?

As mean as it sounds, a company run in the upper echelon's with a colourful past as Sonny is unlikely to get bank and VC backing. And as sad as it sounds, a lot of VCs i have met might have said "Good, lets do this. One condition: Fire the fraudster guy."

Well, It was claimed in their June 15 press release:
http://www.prweb.com/pdfdownload/9611889.pdf

heard they are shipping now

I'm just hoping everyone in front of me cancels their orders.  Tho if they don't I may have to (try to I guess) cancel mine.  It's just gonna be  too long for me to wait.

It's dirty minded to be greedy about bitcoins. One is better off doing other greedy behavior than thinking a too good too be true concept will end up working out for you.

Even if BFL delivers the big stuff, things will most likely change to your disadvantage. There's much more to bitcoin than calculating numbers, hoping things pan out good. Do your diligence if you believe in increasing your success with bitcoin. And of course, ALWAYS accept risk of loss.

Not a clue. BFL doesn't share specifics...unless of course their specifics are specifically designed to make their deceptions more credible.

VC funding is what we've been told. I'm not aware of any specifics being released by BFL.

Which VC firm and how much did they put in?

(Must be public info.)

Actually BFL reps have stated on many occasions that product development was funded by VC and that pre-order funds were not used for that purpose. I think you'd have to be pretty special to believe that a legit VC firm would watch BFL's antics over the course of the last year+ and not pull out, but that's what we've been told.

I'm glad they run the show without a VC.
Yes, the OP has valid points, but do you homework and make up your own mind.

BFL will end up shipping eventually OR they'll go bust. Either way, I bet some former BFL employee will eventually tell us the real inside story and we'll get a chance to see if it was lies or just a mismanaged firm/business plan.

It certainly doesn't make it any better - I'd just say that being unable to deliver on expectations doesn't necessarily make BFL a scam. It sure lowers the value of their reputation and makes us all question their competency, but I'm not ready to pull out the scammer label.

If a VC was in there and would see Josh's behaviour on the forums, he'd be out. Very fast. Like within  one minute.

VCs are really the last people you want to piss off.

The government does this because it's not their money and they can always steal more from people that work for a living. Doing business with a company that lies constantly about everything(BFL) is a bad idea and encourages more of the same.