Bitcoin Forum

I haven't heard a single word from BTCFPGA on the status of their ASICs since I placed my order in October.

I also registered for their newsletter.

I'm a bit leery of a company that takes over a thousand bucks and then doesn't provide a word of status update for three months...

You are either a troll or live under a rock.

The whole thing has collapsed and even the the people working for bASIC have recommended everyone do a refund /chargeback  

https://www.btcfpga.com/forum/index.php?topic=1041.0
read what LukasBradley said.

I'm neither, I just haven't been reading the forums recently.

Thanks to the guy above for providing a link.

For a product expected to ship in November/December for which you'll make the most if it ships first, checking the forum more than one month after expected shipping is a little... surprising.

When I log into btcfpga's website it says I don't have any orders.

Also, I can't access their forum because they are being DDOS'd.

The last post I read before their forum went down said that they are not answering emails and that if you want a refund you should request one through their website, so I am processing a dispute through my bank.

It says Dave will be offline and won't be answering emails today. 

Some people have received their CC refunds, but it's unclear yet whether Tom transferred the funds to allow more CC refunds to be made (Dave really needs to clarify that).  If the funds have been transferred then it's quicker to have Dave do a CC refund.  If not, then it's better to do a chargeback, even though it typically takes quite a while to receive the funds from a chargeback.

They were very clear about there not being enough money to pay everyone back, and to do a chargeback rather than wait.   

Dave suggested people do chargebacks when Tom was out of contact and he wasn't sure whether or not Tom had wired the money to the merchant account.  He's edited his post since then.


https://www.btcfpga.com/forum/index.php?topic=1041.msg3093#msg3093

It's not that Tom was "out of contact" it's that he didn't show up for the meeting, and was no where to be found.  Big difference.  All trust should be gone at that point. 

People do we really need to do the 5 stages of Acceptance


DENIAL--IS all good just had a flat tyre on the way to the meeting and dropped his phone changing the tyre and it broke

ANGER - IS all these negative people...BASTARDs that caused him to have issues and accidently push the wrong button by making tx to his account..he was in not trying to steal our money

FEAR - What am i going to do without all my BTC mining $$ ..i told my boss to stick his job as I have bASIC mining rigs ...YEAH!!!...oh no..for the humanity  :'(

GRIEF - oh why did i listen to tom my life has no meaning without those glorious bASIC ASIC mining rigs...all the free sex i was going to get with having 180g/Hashing BTC power output

ACCEPTANCE - Is/Was a scam of some description and he got a free ride using peoples money--time to invest in the next person who want to use our money by leveraging our greed ..BFL AVALON...i always knew u where the right one for me ...lol

So it goes

JUMP SHIP - Why haven't I done this before? I see a lot of potential there. And I can still be considered an early adapter. Litecoin mining, here I come!

BTC seems a bit scary for me @ the moment...a bit like lord of the flies but full of Nerds & a few sharks lurking around...

As least with LTC @ $0.06 cents you have to be in for the tech & a little bit $ if you can build a platform or progress the economy...   :P

https://www.btcfpga.com/forum/index.php?topic=1045.0

This hints it is a scam.......
16,000 at 16 chips per device = 1,000 devices
"We will be shipping ALL CURRENT ORDERS IN THE MONTH OF MARCH AND WE STILL HAVE ROOM FOR MORE ORDERS SO Get IN WHILE YOU STILL CAN!"
So current orders are less than 1,000 devices?
and they issued 200k in refunds, <200 people? which indicates their total orders before refund was less than 1,000

OR 16k is an random number that has been plucked from the ether, or maybe its a 'rollover' where the new money is used to pay the more vocal & established  bit coin members.. Since only a complete noob is going to place a new order.

And to top it off... the guy who himself clearly stated the project was "beyond his capability" is now FIRMLY BACK IN CHARGE riding a new euphoria high......

Batch 1 was 900 devices. So provision for 1000 devices is a good margin for error. Batch2 was expected to be delivered later, now that 200 devices have been refunded I suppose there is room for merging batch1 and 2 without purchasing additional chips. Don't see how this hints at a scam.
I wouldn't be as colorful to describe the current situation but Tom's behavior is not unlike the one of a depressive person: alternating between highs and lows. So I don't believe for a minute this is a scam and think BTCFPGA will deliver in the end. I have every reasons to believe that Tom's personal problems got in the way and slowed things down. I've yet to be convinced that the future ride will be smooth and need more transparency for that.

BTCFPGA didn't publish enough information to my taste so I've finally asked for a BTC refund. I'm not convinced Avalon's second batch won't be delivered around the same time or before the first bASICs. So I'm waiting for more transparency from BTCFPGA and actual results from Avalon to decide how many ASICs from each of them I'll purchase.

I never even considered BFL because of their track record and Josh/Inaba outrageous attitude on the forums. Unless there's a massive PR and behavior change from them I'd prefer stopping mining than going with them even if they were the last ASIC vendor standing.

That would be manic depressive. A depressive person only has lows.


It might not have started out as a scam but people are still waiting for their BTC refunds and are being ignored. It isn't known who his new backers are and he might have made it up just like he claimed that he was selling out to the ASIANS. Until people get their BTC refunds I call BS.


That makes two of us (I already stopped mining).

Dave answered my mail less than 3 days ago telling me that he was sending my request to Tom the same day in a batch. It took a little more than 4 days for Dave to answer my request which doesn't seem much for someone swamped in requests. I expect Tom to take some time to process the requests too so I don't feel I'm being ignored right now.

I hope you're right. Good luck.

Guys, how long do you think it takes to process 100 or 200 refunds?  It's been weeks.  They're just stalling and delaying as usual obviously.    I'm certain I was one of the first few to get a refund in this wave because I asked for it before all the shit hit the fan (before I was aware of the march delay news on his website).  It still took a week. I've worked accounting jobs in the past, you'd have to be brain damaged to take so long processing anything really.

We're talking 100 or 200 not tens of thousands of orders right?   I guess the "scam" bar is set pretty high in the world of bitcoin, but anywhere else, this sort of thing and others like the drunken posts = scam.  Not saying you won't get your btc back (er...actually, you won't, if anything you'll get $ exchange equivalent and Tom will keep the rest of your coins, but most people seem to be cool with that).  I wonder how much more the $ has to collapse until people wake up.

Edit: also this line from LukasBradely's post on their forum:
3-  Dave and I were able to convince Tom to execute several BTC refunds yesterday.

suggested to me that I was damn lucky to get any BTC back, Tom had to be convinced...   But trust him, he's not a scammer :p

I got my refund when I asked for it in a timely manor.
[edit] and this was after the worst shit hit the fan.

Sent a request for refund about a week ago but have not heard back from dave or tom or anyone from btcfpga. Still patiently waiting for an email.

I'd love it if the forums at https://www.btcfpga.com/forum/index.php would reopen.

But then they'd be faced with questions they don't want to answer.

That's awesome man. Very decent of you. 

I got an email today:

Order ID: xxxx
Date Ordered: 18/10/2012

Your order has been updated to the following status:
Refunded

To view your order click on the link below:
http://www.btcfpga.com/index.php?route=account/order/info&order_id=xxxx

The comments for your order are:

Hello bASIC customer.  We are sorry to inform you that the project has been cancelled, and your credit card charge has been refunded.  Expect to see funds arrive to your account in 3-5 business days.  Thank you for your support and understanding.

The bASIC Team

Please reply to this email if you have any questions.

Yeah that's bullshit.

At least BFL has production photos.

Thanks for the heads up. That must put your order # around 1380ish? I guess they're not going in order as I've received no such email on order #1345 placed on 12/10/2012. Did you request a refund? If so when? ...if you don't mind? TIA.

I didn't request a refund, I processed a dispute through Discover.

I'm guessing what happened is that Discover contacted BTCFPGA and asked them to either prove they sent me a product or provide a refund, which is what they usually do when I file a dispute.

Oddly enough I called Discover and told them I wanted them to know that BTCFPGA had processed a refund and Discover said there was no dispute on the transaction, even though they sent me an email confirmation about the dispute.

Thanks. I just noted they've also changed my status to refunded and included the same notice. I was going to initiate a chargeback(MC) on Monday if the situation hadn't resolved by then. This is just the payment for a 27to54 upgrade however.

I've received no word on the larger BTC portion of the order. :(

I also have an order with BFL.

I'm a little more confident about them since they sent out a newsletter with photos and progress.

I put in an order with both to see who would deliver first.

Honestly I don't expect to make any money out of this. I'm in it for the adventure.

Adventure isn't the word I'd use to describe it, but I'm glad you're not taking things too seriously.

Any positive sightings of Bitcoin refunds? I'm holding on to faith that those of us who have put our trust fully in this new currency by attempting to purchase mining equipment with Bitcoin (thereby completing a theoretical loop) will not be left in the cold.

 :-\

Still pretty chilly over here. :(

It seems that this post was a fake as posted by cablepair.

https://www.btcfpga.com/forum/index.php?topic=1048.0


First I want everyone to know - that all that nonsense that was posted on the Bitcointalk forum last night was not me. In fact I have not been on that forum in quite a while. My forum account was compromised and some people had some fun with it. I can't even get into the account now - so I am assuming that the admins checked the IP address and realized it was not me posting like a madman and locked my account for me. Either that or the intruder changed the password on me. Either way please DO NOT trust or believe anything that has been or is being posted by my Bitcointalk forum account. I plan to email theymos in a few moments to get my account back - I will update you when I once again have control over the account.

Many people have contacted me about buying these 16,000 chips - God I wished I had them, but I am sorry that post was not made by me and I do not have 16,000 chips to sell. I have to pay the second part of the deposit to receive the chips and I am not sure I will even be able to do that - although I am not giving up on the notion. I decided to not accept the loan that was offered to me to keep this company going. With a 90% refund rate there really is no point.

EVERY SINGLE CUSTOMER WILL BE REFUNDED. PERIOD.

I have the list of BTC Refunds and should be making those today.
All other CC orders will automatically be refunded today.

I hope you can please accept my deep apologies, I thought I could pull this off but it was just too much of an undertaking for me, I feel ashamed and embarrassed and I am so sorry that I could not come through for you. Everyone will receive their refunds. As a matter of fact I am starting on them now.

This will take a little time, we are talking thousands of refunds. I wish there was just a "refund all" button but unfortunately there is not one and I have to do this manually.

this forum will be locked from this point forward - if I need to tell you anything else I will post again otherwise you will not hear from me - your refund will come automatically and theres no reason for communication.

I agree, or bASIC was run by an incompetent alcoholic. Take your pick.

My refund has posted to my credit card.

I believe the guys running BTCFPGA did their best to bring a product to market, but they didn't make it.

This happens with businesses every day. Not every business that attempts to ship a product actually makes it to market.

I don't think they had any malicious intent.