I bet Gen 2.0 ASICs will not be released to the public. 2.0 ASICs will be used to mine privately. They already have the resources to do it. Maybe they will sell shares, if they get bored or BTC price drops back to $10.
No, they will release it to the public. If they mined all themselves they would kill bitcoin and they know it.
Us spectactors having any kind of ROI from avalon 2.0... that's another story.
We'll see, I guess.
re: Them killing bitcoin with 2.0?
Do you think ASICMiner guys will sit and watch? They are probably finishing work on it right now. So forget 51% boogeyman.
Judging from what Yifu crew have experienced after Avalon Batch#1, they know what 2.0 will be capable of, chances are pretty high that they will mine the shit out of it.
Bitcoin will not be "killed" because someone has faster hardware. Mining by little guys will be killed for sure, but not bitcoin itself.
It is already happening right now, only people with deep pockets can stay in the mining game. I think this trend will continue and maybe even accelerate.
If you want decentralization, you need to release the hardware and the chips. The prices of both will plummet, but at least you'll have more democratic, decentralized hashing power.
BTW, if they do that, the payback times will move to 1-2 year plus. So don't expect getting rich mining bitcoins.