Topic: Spondoolies done? (Read 3038 times)

And Genesis:

Marco Streng is a miner, though he does not carry a pick around his base in south-western Iceland. Instead, he keeps tens of thousands of computers running 24 hours a day in fierce competition with others across the globe to earn bitcoins.

Trying to price match vs. the S5 on a miner that was quite a bit more expensive to build (and had MUCH better overall capabilities) probably killed Spondoolies financials.

 I suspect they HAD to find a buyer to survive - unfortunately the buyer they found turned out to be in even WORSE shape in the medium term than Spondoolies was.

Why is ran out of money I think, they came to a point they were not near as profitable as past.  And again since we don't know internal happenings... we can guess but don't really know if management, bad R/D, or a combination of other things to.   Likely it was a combination of things.

Being in China on most companies does not really worry me a ton .   I think there still is one big company not in China with Bitfury, but most are based there on hardware manufactures. What worries me is the tighter margins on profits for most miners, this is something BTC really could use a move in value upwards.  

The miners were safe indeed, which is why I wondered why left bailed out? Perhaps they were over ambitious with marketing etc.
But my main concern is that there is no real competitor now. Pools, miners it's all controlled from China...

 Oh? Then why do so few PCs with mid-to-high-end video cards burn?

 It's not the connector, it's morons like KNC that OVERLOADED the connector past specs on certain models (especially the Neptune) that caused melt issues.

 The SP20E, oddly enough, was one of the very few machines that put limits in how much power it COULD draw into it's firmware to make it very very difficult indeed to overstress  it - that "288 watt" limit per connector Spondoolies implimented happens to be the SPEC for those connectors for max power draw at 12V, oddly enough.

They made good equipment I will not argue with others on that the SP20 was a good machine.   It seems going into next gen was when it all kinda got bad.  Was it due to hardship in R/D of new chip?  Bad management?  I doubt we will ever know.

To me it sounds that bitcoin has a very negative attraction to the evil within people. From what I've read the "as it is" is not a normal close of their business. Their aiscs were good, questions i was their management good too?

Obviously i hope that things with be settled in a honest and sophisticated matter.
It's a sad day of bitcoin, since there was a good balance between bitmain and spondoolies tech. Having 1 large party is a guarantee for a monopoly in both prices and influence.

Like i said.. very sad

Bankruptcy and Liquidation don't last forever. Unless Guy is on the verge of retirement or something like that, he certainly could go on to do something else. I too wish him well in that future.

No trolling or sarcasm here.

I found Guy personable and smart in all the interactions I had with him and simply wish him well in the future, whatever new challenges and opportunities it holds.

I just found it funny as not many posted anything like that:


Don't get me wrong I find it sad.  I liked my SP20's so I'm not being mean.  But his current project will be dealing with creditors and going out.   I just think he has a lot of clean up with SP before another project is even in picture.

Who asked you ?

~LOL~

Are you trolling?   I don't think there is a next project after this.   I would guess next project is paying creditors the max they can until it goes under completely.  I would be very surprised if he manages  something after this.

Good luck with your next project Guy. All the best.

I understand what your saying.  I just am using proper PSU's and proper electrical wiring, and have not had any problems with S7's.  

The S7 has been out quite a while at this point.  So I find it a little far fetched that not one house burning from them, to attribute them as fire starters burning down houses.  The problem I see what your saying with PCIe adapter = subject to fire is there so many different quality's of PSU's, Cables, etc.   So many variables in there besides just the miner.  

We just have not seen any news to show S7's related to burning down anything like a house(that I know of). And if I am wrong show me proof.

what i mean is its not that far fetched a story from talks cheep.. I feel with bitmain past record its only a matter of time.. these machines are fire hazards!  All of them.. Not just bitmain.  if it has a pcie connector its subject to fire.  end of story

Best Regards
d57heinz

There is no story behind that miner though. I would love to hear what happened what PSU was used, etc.  Just no info there.   You mention other models talks cheap specifically said:


Find one claim of a S7 burning down a house.... I just have not seen it. 

Not to back up talks cheep. but this was just posted int he bitmain thread.. https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.14821437  also its not uncommon the s5 went total nuclear meltdown.. And i was the first to report the psu burning up in the s4.. So to be naive of bitmain track record falls on you.. Noone else.  i find it also naive to blame that one on the user since it was load balanced. 

There are safer ways to put power to these rigs.. We all know from running these over long periods of time the pcie get "loose"  Bitmain knows it been a problem since s1 days.  Do we really think they care if they burn down our house?.  They had to know that sending out a psu rated at 1400 watts at 240 volts wouldnt work worth a fuck at 120 volts for the s4's.  Of course the amount they gained in mined bitcoins from all the hw down time, im sure far exceeded the amount they had to spend sending out new psu.  Now we have the issue with the pic controllers magically failing on the s7.  Id say there is a pattern there.

BEst Regards
d57heinz

I think if they had them we would have seen a demo video of them showing it off to try to get more investors/cash.  I'm guessing they did not have the chip and had not been working on it for a while (just speculation).  Once they heard bitfury's next gen specs... they had to re-evulate sp-50.   

If they did have something I'm guessing early prototype and did not come close to spec. 

I asked Guy if they made the chip ... no answer

I wonder what happened with their 110TH/s units. The SP50.

Maybe by the time they sold them, they had devalued too much because their production time could not keep up with our Chinese friends?

It's shame, they were one of best mining hardware companies.

He likely will do like last thread and never come back after being asked for proof.  He made a big deal saying S7 burn down houses! But I have not seen a single report on forum of it with S7.

I almost feel like hes a troll at this point.  The fact is bitmain was able to keep putting out products.  People wanted the S5 at lower price per hash then a SP20 with a shinny nice metal case.  People spoke with their money.   And he mixes S5 and S7 into one... I see them as very different products.  And SP had nothing to even compete with S7, so hard to fight for their design when they really were no longer part of the equation.

To say that Bitmain's miners are subpar is fair, you can't for a second deny the fact that building things cheap and en masse is China in a nutshell. You've failed to consider the fact that in terms of price/reliability/efficiency they are fantastic (not perfect). You're arguing that "Spondoolie makes far superior miners" yet here they are, out of business, almost certainly due to refusing to "cut corners" as you put it.

Guess what, when your competition comes out with a cheaper, mass produced product and drives you out of business; THAT IS THE DEFINITION OF CAPITALISM! Just look at the f**king Iphone! A cheap, poorly made imitation product mass produced by nearly slave labor that holds a huge chunk of the market FOR THOSE PRECISE REASONS!

I have two family members who scoff anytime Bitcoin is mentioned because "China owns 70% of Bitcoin".

THIS FACT MAKES PERFECT SENSE!

China has 1bn people and some of the most restrictive currency controls. Of course they're adopting Bitcoin. They have one of if not the best mass-production capability for consumer products especially electronics. Of course they're mass-manufacturing miners.
Don't hate China for doing what they do best, don't even hate the USA or EU for NOT being the manufacturers, your livable wages and quality of life are the price you pay for your country not being able to compete with them. Whether that's good or bad is a pointless debate.

In any case I'm agreeing with notlist3d, you have made accusations regarding s7's causing house fires which is absolute nonsense. I have (through months of research preparing for my mining rig) come across ZERO incidents regarding a miner fire. I have found a couple incidents regarding electrical fires where miners happened to be the devices pulling the power when the electrical failed, most likely due to poor design or cutting corners. If you have a REAL incident regarding a MINER and NOT THE ELECTRICAL SERVICE causing a fire I would love to review that information. Not that it makes much of a difference because I built a fire-resistant enclosure for my mine because it made all the sense to do so.


tl;dr talks_cheep continues to be a hater with nothing to back it up

I'm not saying the SP20 was not a nice miner, I did like it.  But the all metal design and cost of making SP claimed to sell it at loss at end when trying to compete with bitmain on price.   So the "elegant piece of hardware" people did not care a much for a getting most hash for their money.  People went with the lower cost solution the S5.

I think designing out deigned them by offering a lower price solution with S5.  You could consider it out producing them vs out deigning them.  Either way though Bitmain won and SP lost.



You talk so bad on miners and seem to make up things to.  I'm still waiting on you to backup claims of:


Where are stories of S7's burning down houses?

Bitmain suxed all the way to the bank 

"Bitmain just out designed them" Really???

You mean, Bitmain beat them by cutting corners and lowering the price. Design-wise Spondoolies SP20 was miles ahead of Bitmain S5. SP20 is an elegant piece of hardware, S5 is a junk in comparison. Bitmain just does NOT know how to DESIGN anything, they know how to CUT CORNERS for more PROFIT. Bitmain Sux.

I'm just so appalled by these pro-Bitmain people on the forum, do they get paid by Bitmain? If not, they must be smoking something.

Did I tell you how crappy Bitmain S5/S7 miners are? They sux.

It was also the machines to though.  Compare the SP20 and S5 that went head to head.  SP20 was metal all the way around they really did not keep material cost down.  Then look at S5 they managed to use 2 slabs of plastic and keep cost's down.

So there really was a big difference on materials.  Bitmain just out designed them on a miner to sell to masses.  And SP claimed they lost money trying to compete on price with S5 (we cannot be sure if true).

But I do agree on power to if they would have self mined at less power costs... they might have been able to stay around much longer. 

power costs killed them more then anything else
 they never could self mine to off set costs

Well, that sucks. They were about the only ones with respectable customer service.

What a crap article, so much typos. Anyways, i guess this just prove competing with China's cheap labor, parts and manufacture is a hard thing to do.

RIP Spondoolies Tech.

Absolutely no surprise here.  The deal with BTCS was not a good for them, but they got in way to deep.

(Received the same email)

I didn't catch the article.  Thanks.  Looks like we will have to keep our eyes out for the liquidation of any miners that are left? 

Looks like it,

http://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/news/bitcoin-mining-equipment-producer-spondoolies-dissolved-court/

I guess Bitmain and Bitfury were too much for them to compete with in the end.

got this email today:



To our valued customers ,

As of May 4, 2016 Spondoolies-tech has ceased operations.

It has been a great privilege to serve the Bitcoin mining community and especially our customers. We deeply appreciate the support and faith that you have placed in us and wish you success in your future endeavors.

Sincerely,

Guy Corem CEO
Spondoolies-tech