I usually try to not fuel irrational comments, but please list your concerns about what kind of "behavior" you find irritating in a comprehensible manner. Thanks.
Greed and elitist buying power will remain a constant nonetheless, regardless of the currency...
It's the manufacturers that are allowing this to happen.
Avalon and more so Asicminer are pricing whatever they can charge retrospectively.
Believe it or not - Pricing was an issue on the board discussions and the consensus was that using auctions and free market value would be the fairest solution - both for equity holders (ASICMINER equity is traded in anticipation of future earnings) and the buyers.
Also, the company is well aware of the problems of a monopoly. Monopolies can happen in two ways: 1) Corrupting free markets and eliminating competition 2) Outperforming competition. If you disagree with bitfountain being 2) please explain.
The "problems" of a monopoly in bitcoin mining are the apparent 51% issues. To mitigate that fact, bitfountain is pushing the excess portion of the produced hashpower (against an internal goal) into the market.
Greed corrupts and they have succumbed to it.
This is a problem of the shareholder culture. Neither me, nor you will change that. Complaining about it may be honorable, but it's something you won't be able to change.
It's embarrassing to read Yifu's mantra on decentralisation, when he's profiting as much as he is. Obviously I'm not against free market pricing, but if you're justifying your actions one way and then milking the situation another...
Please provide a reference and the specific quote which upsets you.
Asicminer's behaviour speaks volumes. There is no justification to their pricing. Asics in volime after non reoccuring eng. has taken place are very inexpensive. You should be leading that wave if you believe in Bitcoin and want it's network spread as wide as possible. Regardless of whether Asicminer sell out of units at one price or the other it immediately shuts out a core following and closes the door to newcomers that are required to evolve and keep Bitcoin accessible to all...
You forget that bitfountain has to answer to their shareholders. Selling off company value at discount prices is not in the best interest of the equity holders. It may sound like an excuse - but it's a good one.
I'm including the supposed entry priced 300mhz keyfobs piced at around US$250...they were never at auction.
The block erupter (blades) were auctioned off to determine a price point in terms of GH/BTC. The pricing of 2 BTC fits well within that range. The blades are 10-20% more cost efficient, but the USB sticks are more versatile. That said - I agree that 2 BTC is pretty heavy and will deter a lot of casual miners.
I do respect you for responding, so please do not mistake my 'irrational comments' as abuse. They are not. I'm just under the assumption (and if it is merely an assumption and not the case then do correct me in the comprehensible manner you expect from me).
I understand it's upsetting to see some people making a lot of money, when all you can do is standing on the side lines, waiting for the next opportunity to come along. The "irrationality" in your comment was referring to your play on "greed", which I think is misplaced in this circumstance. You are correct in your assessment though that the developments which take place right now are precursors to a divide in the funding structure of bitcoin mining. Only informed and connected people will profit from future growth in the bitcoin mining industry. Endusers, which may be the most important part of the decentralization concept, are at the end of the profitability food chain. For that reason competition is important - on a global scale.
I'm under the impression you have made the concious choice to sell ASIC products to forcibly increase the overall hashrate so you can in turn increase your own hashing capabilities and not enter the realms of >51%?
I am not a representative of bitfountain. But yes - the idea for bitfountain is to scale with the network. Thus increasing the network allows you to also increase yourself. And providing the necessary equipment for the network is a profitable business.
That the blades you have sold were previously working within your rig? They have then by the free market price determination of auctions equal not only a significant return but have covered any loss incurred by not having these blades hashing over a period of time whilst their return was profitable. Therefore regardlesss of their impact upon network hashrate being in your hands you still have gained the reward in Bitcoins as if they were without their hashrate being a factor of your own.
I am not clear on the details. But I assume all sold blades have been at least tested. Yes - the ROI of a device is a function of the current hashpower of the network, thus the early time has more weight.
Presumably that frees you up to install more efficient upgraded kit as an replacement. That efficient upgraded kit furthers Asicminer's dominance.
The efficiency argument can be countered with the relatively high cost of electricity at bitfountain HQ. So a customer of bitfountain can still outcompete them with respect to cost of upkeep.
The key fob asics whilst responsibly priced for general members of public, mom n' pops, students that embrace tech that may play a significant role in their future etc, offers no real incentive whatsoever other than enabling you to offload your v1 chip tech and flood the market a little more with ASICs, increasing the networks overall hashrate, so you can justify increasing your own, again, presumably with a more efficient and profitable choice or by developing your own next gen tech.
While I am a fan of decentralization, you have to be aware of the fact that not all miners are equal. Most miners do not have the time or capability to be on top of recent developments in bitcoin. It is generally better if control is exerted by group of selected representatives which can be voted for, similar to how democratic government works. As such, maybe the best ecosystem is the one of a variety of mining pools, where people can withdraw their hashing power immediately.
That said - you're mixing efficiency arguments with decentralization arguments. These are two different problems.
Asicminer has become a product of it's own success and it's competitors incompetence, no one can blame you for that, but you are now in a position of power, at least for the period that follows and how you behave should be followed closely. I respect that you are a not a not for profit, but you are already a monopoly (out of your good decisons and your rival's bad) and are increasing that position out of choice.
Yes - that I agree with.
