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from yifu: no avalon batch 4. avalon will focus on selling chips and developing gen2 (don't know if they will sell units). SMT line should be up in a week. batch #3 will follow quickly behind batch #2.

from josh: BFL mini rigs will probably be split into 3 units of 500GH/s. They will start sell 500GH/s units...maybe in the next 2 weeks. Power consumption of the 500GH/s units are currently ~3kW. Trying to get near 1.5kW.s

So Josh was at the conference?

Any idea if Mark Karples was there?

Any news from the Gox front?

Hmmm...would he get arrested if he shows up?

Thanks for the news  ;D

I am most concerned with what Yifu Guo from Avalon has said as my 10-15,000 USD is in Avalon.

I'm guessing no indications on when they may have these 500GH/s ready for shipping?  I know he said they would start to "sell" them in maybe 2 weeks, but I think everyone would like to know when they would actually be able to ship them.

i don't know how he can say this !!!   first he finish his order that hanging for 1 year almost .

Agreed.  Seems crazy to put a "new" product up for pre-order at this point.

LOL! Josh should get this copyrighted. He uses it so often it's not funny any more.

"maybe in the next 2 weeks" synonymous for "I have no clue" (synonymous for "can I have a quarter please?")

Notice how he just says they will be "selling" them. Not that they'll actually ship them in any reasonable amount of time.

Does anyone have video of Yifu's talk?

+1  Or even a paraphrased transcript?

Update:

 yifu kind of left the door open for batch #4 by saying..."if we ever do b4".

Gen2 will be 55nm.

It does sound like batches 2+3 will be coming shortly. Their SMT machine was held in customs between japan and china, so that explains why they were delayed there.

They are manually pulling orders from wallet bit (for those that were caught up in the web debacle).

They are dealing with potential security issues in china. e.g. ngzhang  doesn't drive his own car anymore, doesn't use his old cellphone, doesn't live where he used to...

They have physically secured the transportation route between them and the shipper in hopes of preventing damaged avalons (said 6-7 Avalons had  broken corners or damage).

That's a little... uh... disturbing...

Sometimes its hard for us to remember because of the results they get, but China still isn't a westernised country in regards to accountability. The State runs the show, don't like it? Have some prison LOLpwned.

If gen2 avalon comes before BFL ships they're toast.

Oh.. I thought the SMT line was online already. Basically, we'll get ours in June?

I think the concern is with rabid ppl rather than the govt...but that's just my guess.

I wonder if they will make Gen2 modules for their Avalon chassis (as a references spec)... or they are just going to produce raw gen2 chips?

interesting updates

I remember yinfu April 15 began to say SMT formed after two weeks
May 1 , said SMT already in place
Now that the SMT one week
I despair

Being that using bitcoins is actually illegal in china, its a valid concern.

No Mark is not here. But I think Jed is.

Proof?

I was also there at the conference.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that Yifu stated they can produce about 50 Avalons a day once their new line is running and calibrated.

it's been discussed on other parts of the forum. Also easily searchable on the internet.

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2009/06/29/china-cracks-down-on-virtual-currency-for-real/

I don't think its enforced much. But hey its china who knows what they can do overnight. People forget its not a democracy.

Probably means they will start pre-orders on their web site. Don't hold your breath, they are going to have a lot of problems getting the power consumption down, they will have to underclock and use more chips etc. which means board redesigns and delays.

The best thing BFL can do to save face is just pump out what they can, like thousands of 5GH/s units and anything else they can build. Apologise to the other orders like mini rig, and get on with fixing it, even if it means getting new wafers designed at a smaller fab size.

https://www.btcchina.com/ still seems to be in operation.

Seems strange that they imported their own SMT machine especially & then announce there will be no batch 4. Or maybe they already have the SMT lined up for sale after batch 3 is finished.

Do they make the boards for ASICMINER?

Yep, not really enforced. But hey if they wanted to make example out of someone.. i can see why they are trying to be secretive.

I'm guessing he's thought of this before, and it seems unlikely I'll get a straight answer by asking him online.... but what's holding him back from moving?

It was good to hear from Yifu with my own ears. The guy is a good guy. Given he has been able to produce and ship a size able amount of ASICs in a much shorter time than any other vendor it is hard not to respect the man.

BFL otoh in my view just did more dog and pony showing at this conference. Their name was not even listed on the map of booths. BitPay's name was only listed down as the booth owner/operator.

Well my best guess is that they will have the Next Gen announcement some time in late June.

Then we will see those chips in circulation one way or another by November.

I'd thought they were independent of each other?  but I really have no idea..

I guarantee batch #4  for Avalon is coming guys.  If Yifu wants better ASICs, he should msg me....I can get them on 22nm packaging.  All i ask in return is a few Avalon's or a share of the pie :).   



I also have a question of my own.   What is happening to our Icarus Trade-Ins?   I sent one and have not heard anything.   Did Mr. Yifu say anything about the status of Icarus / Lancelot batch #2 trade-ins?

yeah, because nothing like that would ever happen in a democracy

I thought that too. However, they need the machine to make batch 2 and 3. The reason they are buying their own equipment is to cut out the middle man. The only way that they were able to (sort of) meet their batch #1 timelines was to circumvent the traditional manufacturing process. They bought their own CNC machine because it would have taken two weeks to go the traditional route of putting their order in a queue. Having their own SMT machine should allow them to cut a bunch of time out of the manufacturing process.

Also, even if they are not making batch #4 gen 1 machines doesn't mean they will not make gen 2 machines...yifu did not commit to making gen 2 machines.

True , i get your gist but we don't have the media and internet completely censored(Yet, lol).

Yes he did. Should be interesting when they get to that point.

the question is how long will it take to get through the "up and running & calibrated" =/

BFL, keep fucking that chicken.

For a full SMT line (Paster, Paste Inspection*, Pick/Place or two, Reflow Oven and AOI*), This can be done in less than a week if they're serious about it.

Enigma

*Equipment is somewhat optional, but highly recommended - especially for fine pitch components.

Uhhh I'd rather say it is somewhat mandatory for anything but prototypes. The amount of labor required stands in no relation to the cost - even in china and even with a high profit margin.

If Bitcoin is illegal why does CCTV promote it in a big way? Their recent TV coverage was rather positive. Nothing is aired on Chinese TV without the State's approval.

the news in CCTV is not promote, just two short reports.
the CCTV guy want to show they are fashion ...

The guy who doesn't understand how chip power consumption works has contacts in the semiconductor industry?

Wait wait wait, the guy with a "masters in engineering" who got his ass handed to him is trying to troll again? I've already proven your ridiculous assumptions about the 7990 Malta to be false.   I suggest you graduate school and get a real job in IT or engineering before you make more utterly stupid statements that prove to be false.  

Your schooling != Real world experience.  Your attempts to troll implies you need to work on your social skills to hold/get a decent job. 
Have a good day dogie.

Nice to see they have ideas for the future to grow and push things forward. Glad they aren't completely grabbing the cash and running.

If you look at  my previous posts in this thread I was talking about batch #2, batch #2 trade-in, batch #3, batch #4 and asic chip packaing services I could offer.

On the other-hand, dogie is here to troll and act like an ass while simultaneously never contributing anything useful to the community.   Get your facts straight before you start pointing fingers.


Back to it--  Batch #4 Avalon:  Yes, Smaller ASIC chips:  Yes,  Even smaller ASIC chips?:  Yes.   Delivery:  started last week, Batch #2 Trade-in news?:  none.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaZPnHCHnNQ

Found this on youtube if you want to listen to what Yifu said .. unfortunately.. only part 1 of 3 was posted.

Cool.
Thanks

Great vid of yifu. Wish there was the rest, sounds like chip only from now on. Maybe some machines for next gen chip as proof of concept.

Some pics

http://chrono.firex.org/images/bflsc.jpeg

http://chrono.firex.org/images/avalonb2.jpeg

http://s7.postimg.org/tof3zxzbf/20130520_015431.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/4ie5t3y13/full/)
free jpeg images (http://postimage.org/)
http://s7.postimg.org/4h47zow7f/20130520_044831.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/4tvm5veh3/full/)
how to print screen on pc (http://postimage.org/app.php)

Sorry folks. First time posting pics so please excuse the amateurism.

Part 2/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyTN1rDizCE

Thank-you!

Anyone get Josh's talk?

Part 3/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPVttJZfKWk

Look they exist, and Ive soon so many avalons this month Im kinda bored.

Acutally part 2/3 and 3/3 are posted too now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyTN1rDizCE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPVttJZfKWk

Who says  that? the regulation ONLY refers to centralized game currencys issued by game companies. Not a single mention of Bitcoin or any other decentralized digital commodity...

"The rules also provide, for the first time, a definition of virtual currency in China (in Chinese here): It includes prepaid game cards, game currencies and game points, while tools and weapons used to play games online are not included."

"Virtual currency is to be used only to purchase other goods or services from the company that issued the virtual money[...]"

China doesn't really have "Rule of Law".  Government can crack down when it wants to crack down, or change it's mind and push a positive Bitcoin story on it's evening news.

Did anyone at the conference say "Buttcoins"?

thanks.

Totally agree , just pointing out they need to be more careful there since there is a precedent for virtual curerenc rules. I can see them banning it overnight, and unlike here in theUS they wont need to run it through congress and whatnot

Yifu talks about this briefly in  video 2 around the 8 min mark.

That wouldn't be too hard in the US. Just say something like "Bitcoins blah blah links with terrorism blah blah DEY TRYIN TO TAKE OUR GUNS" blah blah

Doubt they could get away with that, the US Dollar has greater links with terrorism than any other currency. I'm not taking a swipe. That's genuinely an undeniable provable fact.

If you can get people to pay millions to wait for over a year for a product that doesn't exist and may never come I'd think it would be crazy NOT to start the cycle all over again.

"Hey I might be able to buy a money printing machine and get rich quick?"

https://i.imgur.com/l2Qs0to.gif

So, did anyone video Josh's talk? Surely someone would have.

He didn't have an organized speech as far as I'm aware, BFL only had a booth with Bitpay. They weren't even listed in the Booth list, only Bitpay was.. I guess Bitpay payed the bill.

Thanks for the link

He looked stressed, understandably, but it was a golden opportunity to have him in person explain what's currently happening. I'm actually surprised he took the time out to attend.

BFL Inc cannot afford to attend to the conference. Check.

Inaba is using his personal account to bet for advertising on this site for BFL Inc. Check.

True it could be banned under some existing law. Guess thats why bitcoin foundation wants to send lobbyists to Washington huh?

There are some much better quality vids here ...  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBxY0rl6-vpVNaZLvRDAx2A
including Yifu's entire talk ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY1xgGiejIc