This private equity type deal was bound to come sooner or later. I have money invested in several funds as part of a pension fund, some low risk, others high...trees for example. A 15% return over a year is a result for them. If they see bitcoins as something that they can get into now which will increase in value over 5 years (As I bet most of us think), they'll see it as a high risk high reward investment. 200 mill isn't a lot of money for these people, they aren't sitting in a bedroom hoping for ROI and worrying about power bills, they must see a massive return over a long time compared to other places they invest. For example, if they plant a tree to harvest the wood...that money is tied up until the tree is worth harvesting years down the road for lumber, unlike bitcoins which given the right hardware break even in a few months. Once they have their BTC they sit on them and happily wait for a price rise. There are other options with the mining gear once BTC become uneconomical to mine. If you think BTC may one day hit 1000 dollars..uneconomical now may be acceptable investment for the future returns.
Personally I think that there's a short window now where we can mine using our own gear, then it will become unaffordable and we'll be buying shares in companies that can do it to scale...some of whom may be companies like these.
I saw a rig linked from an ad on here last week, could be upgraded to cost half a million and some loony hashrate...just for a minute assuming it's a real rig that will exist and be able to pay for itself like a KnC rig hopefully will...why would a company who can afford 10 or those not buy them? What other traditional investment can do that? It must have some speculators in high risk markets licking their lips compared to the long term stuff they usually deal in...and IF they see the value of a bitcoin hitting 4 figures in years to come like many people do...well we're going to see them arriving in droves.
IF that's the case, we're not going to see a dribble of rins with higher and higher hashpower..we're going to see hundreds of farms of these rigs arriving as soon as they are available pushing the network hashrate sky high. The manufacturers, they'll love it, no whiny forums to keep an eye on, no delivery, no currency issues, just one large customer you need to deal with. A customer who may not care about ROI short term because they are looking for a very long term return based on a huge rise in coin prices.
Timmers the article is BS, or certainly surrounding evidence appears that way. Journalists are not immune to lazy journalism, especially in the age of the internet where upon the first to report get's the first share, which get's snowballed by sharing more increasing their reputation and 'delivering the news (FUD)'.
The other 'rig' you saw linked was Gridfinity, a supposed distributor for Hashfast, who came out on record stating his efforts of fundraising in $500k+ denominations had nothing to do with them (after confirming they were known to eachother previously). Shady marketing, sure, but not a huge success as people saw through it.
Not to say interest isn't gathering momentum, but the best thing for us miners is the ability to distribute the network far and wide, with competing companies offering worthwhile and genuine product offerings based on fair pricing, which is the way it appears to now be heading, finally...
Yeah I realise it's not fact. Sadly for us though it's just a matter of time before some of these types of companies see the possible returns and change the game. Where there's money to be made so obviously they always eventually find it.
What's best for BTC or us doesn't matter when money is to be made. They have the funds to do what they want in their relentless quest for profit.
Most people mining now won't be able to compete when rigs become expensive, so the whole game will change in favour of those who can afford to be industrial, just like all other industries.
Right now people aren't hosting their own rigs, prefering to have them hosted and pay for that. For sensible economic reasons. Next step, don't own a rig at all, buy a share in a farming facility..then logically not even that, buy a share in a mining company which is a short step from that. All you're going to get from owning a rig is hassle which you don't need if your eye is on the bottom line. Those with capital to invest will be all over that like a pair of rubber Y fronts...it's what they exist to do.
Some folk will stick to what they see as the right way on principle...most will follow their wallets and do what they can afford or what gives the best return.
The next year or maybe two is crucial IMO. Which is why to me this KnC batch and possibly the next gen is so important.
I liked the way they talked about aiming for long term ROI for their customers, I just hope they can do it.
So far I'm happy with what I've heard. A great deal of that thanks to your effort visiting them...so we owe you thanks for that.