When the masses start pouring in, this is going over 1000, no doubt about it.
...and difficulty is going to plateau at or around 2 billion, or so a line of popular wisdom goes...
The problem is, that sort of speculation is just that, speculation. There are no clear, solid facts to back up the assumptions people are making, but a lot of people are happy to grab onto them because they want them to be true.I've been doing a few, fairly basic, calculations based on those assumptions to see where even rosy assumptions leave us and basically what I've come to is this: If difficulty continues to rise at approximately 30% per difficulty change (an optimistically, but not impossibly, low rate) we'll be at 2 billion difficulty right around New Years.
Without additional delays, and assuming what I will call the best-case scenario of 2.5gh/s per chip and a difficulty plateau, the price per BTC would have to go to about $635 for us to break even. Assuming the best-case speed scenario without a difficulty plateau, the price per BTC would have to go to just about $825 for us to break even.
Assuming the pessimistic-case scenario of 2gh/s per chip, the price per BTC with difficulty plateau would have to be around $800, and without a plateau would have to be just over $1k.
Obviously we're all hoping for 2.7gh/s per chip, or better, but even then the numbers aren't significantly better... unless the "to the moon!" price predictions pan out in the reasonably near future.
Now, none of this is barntech's fault, and none of it makes me any less eager to get my hands on these boards and start mining away with them, but it does temper my enthusiasm somewhat and also makes one lesson abundantly clear: Whatever amount of coins you mine, hold onto them until the value rises significantly (assuming it does). It's the only way to make any kind of a profit.
Thanks for your research regarding the break even points. I believe Barntech said a few pages back that we should be able to run these near 2.5 but higher than that will require special cooling. My calculations showed a 400-500 dollar BTC price to break even. I used a few miner projection sites and averaged it. The hard thing, is the difficulty. I think at least through the next few months we will see steady growth. I mean that has been happening, not crazy to think it continues short term.
But, regarding your bolded comment above. Speculation based on math, well, I guess it is still speculation but it is a fair statement to make. And throw into that "speculation" economics and stock trading, which I have studied for years. And there are many other variables to throw in. So, you can "throw" your speculation word out there, but don't let the word fool you. My projections are based on a variety of factors, including (but not limited to):
TA - I use Gann for price predictions and it has been very reliable for me. It shows me, conservatively, a price of 600-700 next year. Some of my charts show 1000. It is subjective but still pretty reliable within ranges.
Economics - I've studied banking for years. The system is breaking down and they are doing everything they can to slow it down. They are implementing stricter and stricter capital controls on money movement. They are suppressing the price of gold/silver with puts and the "physical leasing" of gold to help ease up on the short supply. They want the dollar to "appear strong". That is enough, it is all a game of belief. (Money in general). They are inflating the money supply at a rate that can't be stopped. If they try they won't be able even pay on the debt. No going back. I can go on here, but the ponzi scheme known as the US Dollar is falling apart.
BTC introduces a new form of a 3rd party entity into banking, that replaces the bank for the most part. (Not the lending). It uses code for verification and not an expensive, slow, institution. It is money based on cryptographically secure mathematics acting as a legal 3rd parts (in a very real sense.)
Countries are buying up BTC now. China is huge, I called this move TO THE DAY weeks ago. I think I shared that with Barntech around when it happened via email. The day the Baidu announcement was made, that was the Chinese government saying "It is on against the US Dollar." Actually, you can go back farther to the 90 minute CCTC (National Chinese Station - Propaganda network) BTC special as another silent approval from the government. India, another lover of gold, will get involved next year or sooner is my bet.
Bitcoin (and cryptocurrencies) are anti-fragile disruptive technologies that don't come along very often. It is a black swan. It attacks one of the main control mechanisms of the elite. Information/communication is one (enter internet to cause havoc). Finance/banking is the other. To talk of how big this is. I can't put it in words. It is end game big, or at least it leads us to that. There will be a fight imo coming up. But the "elite" are on their heels. And unfortunately, they will do anything and everything to stay in power. I hate to think their.
The list goes on, but there is a start.
"Smorgasbord" - In line with the last point, BTC is like nothing ever before, financially speaking. It is a Stock in a sense (you own a virtual piece of the network), an asset (Right now it is primarily this), a currency, a payment system, a protocol (try making that illegal), etc.
So, when we talk of speculation, again, it is a word. This is game changing and to treat it like a stock, it is like treating a nuclear bomb like a handgun. Most people, as with the internet, they just can't see it. Welcome our Black Swan...
IAS
ps - Bookmark this. Taunt me in two years if I'm wrong. Of course BTC can fail via some things out of our control. But if it isn't made illegal, or if there isn't an EMP blast, etc. it is going to the moon.