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Topic: Mining contracts - the new ponzi - page 3. (Read 17491 times)

sr. member
Activity: 539
Merit: 255
April 24, 2014, 10:02:23 PM
#97
It's really quite simple. Don't ever send money (for any reason) to anyone you don't have good reason to trust. And with that ends almost all (if not all) of these "mining" operations.


This.

I just won 20ghs on the Easter giveaway from pb mining so well see how that does at least? I'm not convinced in customer service so I'm not investing any capital myself. The point of buisiness is to make money, why would people give away good money for a service you can do yourself. Cloud hashing seems mostly for newbs or people not willing to invest in hardware .
legendary
Activity: 938
Merit: 1000
April 24, 2014, 08:43:28 AM
#96
Well i kind of agree, let's say you buy 1TH/s for 10 bitcoins and if we count It should give us about 3 bitcoins a month or something but that's unrealistic you will probably buy the contract and will never pay off your investment because if you want to keep your income stable you have to add extra Hash as difficulty increases and that's endless circle..
full member
Activity: 154
Merit: 100
April 24, 2014, 05:34:58 AM
#95
I don't know if it is a ponzi but it is definitely scammy.
full member
Activity: 210
Merit: 100
April 24, 2014, 03:41:45 AM
#94
 500ghs. contracts  going for $5k for a year. It makes me wonder if people are actually buying.
legendary
Activity: 938
Merit: 1000
April 22, 2014, 08:39:47 AM
#92
Alot of people are so skeptical about mining now. I counted my self and really you hardly make money. So what the only thing left to do is buy bitcoins instead investing in mining?
sr. member
Activity: 392
Merit: 250
April 18, 2014, 04:33:03 PM
#90
The catch is, at the end of the 5 years, they keep the machines
Long before 5 years the machines will be worthless. Even regular computers are close to worthless after 5 years and they aren't going up the ASIC R&D curve the way bitcoin miners are.

The 5 year contract is like buying a mining rig yourself and use it till it becomes useless. It makes a greater appeal than the 1 year term which pulls you off any potential returns you might get in the second/third year depending on your contract initial mining power and its competitiveness at that time.

I'm currently on a low-end contract with cloudhashing and if I'm lucky I'll get my bitcoins back in around 9 months but I need at least 2 difficulty changes to be 5% or lower. I paid $1000 for 85 GHs for 1 year contract with them but then 2 days ago I discovered pbmining which could be a scam(certainly not a ponzi scheme) or not but surely has a decent price for 1 GH so decided to risk $250 to buy 80 Ghs from them, thats about 4 times lower than cloudhashing for only 5Ghs difference and will only need around 6 months even with difficulty change at current rate of 15-20% to get my bitcoins back. Whether the btc price will remain the same by then its a risk even the btc traders take everyday.

My advice would be to make your own calculations for any potential investment and take the risk only with money you're prepared to lose as every business has its risks, even investment banks(eg Lehman Brothers) go bankrupt so nothing is safe, therefore only invest what you can afford to lose.
newbie
Activity: 10
Merit: 0
April 18, 2014, 03:40:42 PM
#89
Also, cex.io mines on ghash.io which I wouldn't choose because of the 51% issue (it is already too loarge). We want to behave in a way to keep a sustainable ecosystem for us all. This is one of the lessons we learn with cryptocurrencies and I hope that people interested in cryptocurrencies are smart enough to behave in a way which benefits not only themselves but our ecosystem too. Should be doable because cryptocurrencies require a certain amount of education, but anyway let's see....
legendary
Activity: 2968
Merit: 1198
April 18, 2014, 02:40:30 PM
#88
The catch is, at the end of the 5 years, they keep the machines

Long before 5 years the machines will be worthless. Even regular computers are close to worthless after 5 years and they aren't going up the ASIC R&D curve the way bitcoin miners are.

hero member
Activity: 1666
Merit: 513
Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
April 18, 2014, 10:30:25 AM
#87
I bought some online contracts from PB Mining to diversify my mining assets and I like the idea of not paying electricity at the time.  I also got the generic response you mention but that's not common exclusively to the ponzi scheme industry.

It does look ponzi'ish in nature but if we look at think realistically and do some math.

1- Bitmain AntMiners, S1's included, power 20% minimum of the BitCoin network
2- BitmainTech S1's are relatively cheap at less than $400 USD per unit (Currently) from the manufacturer; which you need to buy in at the right times.
3- When I bought 200GH/s, the price on PBMining would show a solid $200 profit for them compared to buying an S1 & PSU for it.

Consider the following:
-Right now, the price is 0.0058BTC per GH/s
-The AntMiner S1 is about $450 right now or, 0.885 per unit last price
-If you bought 200GH/S from PBMining it would cost you 1.16BTC or $562.80

This means that you need to get the electricity for pretty cheap but the site claims they are located in Saskatchewan, Canada, where electricity prices average 10 cents per KW/h.

At that price, one ant miner costs me around $35 a month and whatever is leftover from your purchase which is more than included.  Saskatchewan is also a very large, flat and empty province, they could easily have a solar energy or wind farm.  So far the story makes sense.  Also, for a while, contracts were closed for purchase.  To me this means that they are responsible owners and not overselling their product.  Since then prices been going down.  This tells me that power costs pay for themselves.

The catch is, at the end of the 5 years, they keep the machines, you are stuck having to buy again, so you have to figure your re-investment costs accordingly.  From what I noticed, it is following the line of what it should, like the recent drop in prices means a lot less trading after the "Skittish Cats" have left the game.  My earnings dropped by about 25% since then... but my other miners also suffered this same drop because not as many transactions are done on the network itself which is how the majority of miners are paid, as a result of mining transaction fees.  I been using the earning to buy high quality PSU's for my offline mines, it also helped me getting started offline mining.

I guess it's how you look at it.  I've not yet quite made my money back but it's only been a few months and suffered a major crisis in the meantime.  I re-invest whatever pay I get in either gold or offline mining assets. If this is a ponzi, it looks a lot like actual investment mining.  The owner is probably making money from the number of investors and no quite from the mining endeavors.  I don't think they're crooks myself.  However, it depends on your living circumstances.  Some people, like in Germany, pay $0.35 per KW/H and it's $0.10 AVG in Canada.

1- If you live where electricity is below $0.15 then go offline.
2- If you live with parents, go online (You'll keep killing their power grid and piss them off lots)
3- If you want to invest secretly from spouse etc...  Go online.
4- If you live in an OLD place...  Go online.
5- If you have alternative energy sources, go offline.
6- If you're spending your life saving and none will stop you, go offline regardless.

Would I recommend it?  Sure!  I've yet to be able to prove them as a scam; which is by definition is a blatant deceitful money grab.  It does smell ponzi and the recent price drop gives it that effect so it's tough to tell if the drop is due to the past few week's speculations or the increase in difficulty.  Usually prices drops early upon joining a ponzi scheme which wants you to keep spending to keep on top of a rotator or whatever so it's too hard to tell. 

So yeah, don't spend your life savings on a website where there is no corporate backing.  PB Mining is a business, not an incorporation which to me is the "suspicious" aspect of it.  However, I would do business the exact same way because it's a good business model, you get free equipment after 5 years.  I live in Canada too so I know it's a feasible due to our modest energy costs.
sr. member
Activity: 364
Merit: 250
April 17, 2014, 05:23:25 AM
#86
chill everybody, lets try to keep this forum peaceful
sr. member
Activity: 980
Merit: 256
Decentralized Ascending Auctions on Blockchain
April 17, 2014, 03:20:20 AM
#85
shut up and read the thread before repeatign the same stupid shit other people incorrectly already said.

many of the ponzi mining sites offer referrals and depend on new investors

So referral programs = ponzi? You talking shit.

Read the thread dumbfuck
newbie
Activity: 13
Merit: 0
April 16, 2014, 09:08:47 PM
#84
Ok maybe might be legit. The point is that only because the price at pbmining.com is lower than the one at CEX.IO doesnt make it impossible that pbmining.com is legit.
Maybe they really have some connections to a big mining pool which allows them to offer good deals.
So far every sheduled payment came on time.

I have experienced both CEX & PBMining ...previously i invested in cex and never knowing their structure of Maintenance fees...i mined there for almost 3-4 months and later i realized most of 30-40% of my mining profits were taken in form of fees... for which i blame myself for being so naive in first place for investing without understanding.

But now i have moved my investments to PBmining and i see the payouts are given weekly on time as committed in contracts...since i felt i'm getting double hashrate at the same price @CEX .


Having said above..please understand that every site does involve some risk...and i haven't seen any site (mining/markets) without risk...please use ur judgement to evaluate them and think twice before investing..

Future will tell if a site is offering Ponzi scheme or a trading market will file for bankruptcy
legendary
Activity: 2968
Merit: 1198
April 16, 2014, 05:10:34 PM
#83
Ok maybe might be legit, but the point is, that only because the price at pbmining.com is lower than the one at CEX.IO doesnt make it impossible that pbmining.com is legit.

I certainly agree with your last sentence. CEX is hugely overpriced.
legendary
Activity: 2968
Merit: 1198
April 16, 2014, 04:58:47 PM
#82
A: I think ...

B: Imagine ...

C: They can ...

D: This would make sense ...

and is absolutely legit. It would also explain why they can not tell much more about their business.


How you get from A+B+C+D to "is absolutely legit" is a complete mystery.

The best you can conclude here is that it might be legit.

People with 6 day old accounts showing up and posting this makes them look shady, if they didn't already.
sr. member
Activity: 276
Merit: 250
In Blockchain We Trust!
April 16, 2014, 02:06:20 PM
#81
shut up and read the thread before repeatign the same stupid shit other people incorrectly already said.

many of the ponzi mining sites offer referrals and depend on new investors

So referral programs = ponzi? You talking shit.
sr. member
Activity: 980
Merit: 256
Decentralized Ascending Auctions on Blockchain
April 16, 2014, 08:31:01 AM
#80
This is not Ponzi of course.
Ponzi scheme depends on new investors. And most of "cloud hashing" services depends only on fake promises Smiley
But they have many gullible people in common Smiley

shut up and read the thread before repeatign the same stupid shit other people incorrectly already said.

many of the ponzi mining sites offer referrals and depend on new investors
sr. member
Activity: 276
Merit: 250
In Blockchain We Trust!
April 15, 2014, 03:48:07 AM
#79
This is not Ponzi of course.
Ponzi scheme depends on new investors. And most of "cloud hashing" services depends only on fake promises Smiley
But they have many gullible people in common Smiley
newbie
Activity: 14
Merit: 0
April 14, 2014, 05:34:28 PM
#78
Maybe after the hardware hits an R&D wall (i.e., 14nm and smaller) would 5 year contracts begin to sound remotely feasible.  Otherwise, so much changes in the space of months in cryptocoinland, so my general thought is "no."  Keep in mind that the environment for mining hardware is extremely small scale, not to mention that the market cap for bitcoin is still in the single digit billions, not even close to that of Google.

If institutional investors start pouring their money into bitcoin and related businesses (imagine publicly traded mining companies, or ASICs for $99.99 @ Target), imagine how those entities taking advantage of economies of scale would wipe out everyone else.  I doubt it'd take three years to accomplish that, let alone 5.

3 months and less would be my limit.  IMO, the best reason to get a mining contract would be to corner the future supply of a particular coin such as DOGE (as of this moment); unless you've got rich friends in high places, bitcoin is too far gone.  for now.  the hardware is evolving way too fast for now.

my 2 mBTC.
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