Alpha-T's company records are certainly interesting.

Share Holder Records:
2013-11-30 :: Share Holders:
Mohammed Akram - 100 Shares (100%)

2014-05-13 :: Share Holders:
Mohammed Mubasher Akram - 75 Shares (100%)

2014-07-11 :: Share Holders:
Mohammed Mubasher Akram - 90 Shares (90%)
Andrew Laurus - 10 Shares (10%)

Other interesting occurrences:
2013.04.11 Company originally incorporated as CHESHIRE TECHNOLOGY LTD
2013.04.23 Application to dissolve the company
2013.07.19 Dissolution request withdrawn
2013.07.20 Registered office changed from, 3 MOTCOMBE FARM ROAD, HEALD GREEN, CHEADLE, to 64 DICKENSON ROAD
2013.07.22 Company name changed to Alpha Technologies (INTL) LTD.
2013.11.30 Director appointed MR MUHAMMAD AKRAM
2013.12.29 Appointment terminated, DIRECTOR MUHAMMAD AKRAM
2013.12.29 Registered office changed from, 64 DICKENSON ROAD to 66 DICKENSON ROAD
2013.12.29 Director appointed MR MOHAMMED JAFAR AKRAM
2014.04.06 Appointment terminated, DIRECTOR MOHAMMED AKRAM

Company directors and board members:
MOHAMMED MUBASHER AKRAM (current) 2013.04.11 - ongoing
MOHAMMED JAFAR AKRAM (resigned) 2013.12.29 - 2014.04.05
MUHAMMAD AKRAM (resigned) 2013.11.30 - 2013.12.29

---

I find the recent distribution of 10% of Alpha-T shares to Andrew Laurus, very interesting indeed.  See post news about this guy: http://www.asicbitcoinmining.info/2013/08/avalon-might-be-getting-200-million.html and elsewhere around the web.

My bet from this data:
Project went to complete shit; device was built and failed for some reason - faulty chips, crazy power consumption; who knows...  
Company is desperate, so they contracted the entire thing to a third party, offering him stake in the company for his investment.
Alpha-T falls silent on updates because they are no longer running the project.

Also, notice that the fallout with dexcel designs happened right around when MOHAMMED JAFAR AKRAM resigned from the company.  Obviously something went badly, and it seems even the Managing Director's own brother decided to distance himself from the project.  Mohammed Mubasher Akram got desperate, and attempted to outsource the entire project to someone else.

---

*Fetches some popcorn and gets ready for the storm*

Hi,

do you have a link ?

Thanks.

Posts: 63 (0.375 per day)Gender: MaleAge:26Location:on est mediocre
Age:27IRC:fr,arabic,eglish
Date Registered: February 04, 2014, 07:36:11 PMLocal Time:July 23, 2014, 01:45:53 AMLast Active: Today at 12:37:38 AM
LXbph5Ff68QpD8N9okMdZt2p9RoR3nCRza
Signature:

LITECOIN: LXbph5Ff68QpD8N9okMdZt2p9RoR3nCRza
donate please aim poor

Same dude: https://www.facebook.com/mohammed.j.akram.3

...Chartered Certified Accountant, qualified since 2012. I have an extremely high interest in different areas of taxation beyond and above the taxes I deal with in my day to day work.

I am a keen student of Tax and am currently working towards the Chartered Tax Adviser qualification (which is the “elite” and highest tax qualification you can achieve in the UK) and am looking to qualify as a CTA in late 2014.

Currently, working my regular full time job in general practice and dealing with the Accounts and Taxes of small to medium sized businesses. As of yet, none of our clients accept or deal with crypto currencies, however as the market for crypto currencies matures I am sure a lot of them will start to do so.

Unfortunately, I would not have any details or be able to help you with any questions relating to the operations of the business or any engineering related questions. Please direct these questions to one of the other Admins in this forum  

What I would like to obtain from this Blog

My goal is to help people understand the tax implications of certain activities such as mining, and trading/ holding “crypto-coins” such as bitcoin's and litecoin's.

I read the publication of this 'accountants guidance' a little differently than you do Anderl, perhaps its just my suspicious nature. This sounds awfully like  'If you cause problems for us with the authorities we will cause problems for you'  … combined with the implicit carrot 'We can help you with these problems … as a geeky tax guy I understand bitcoin regulations and there may be ways to mitigate your large liabilities'

 …. carrot and stick IIRC

On the other hand it could just be well intended thoughtful generous free advice.

mjakram
Accounts Manager
Administrator
*

Cryptocurrency Tax Blog

« on: May 28, 2014, 06:56:16 PM »
A Little Bit about Myself

I am employed part time as the Accounts Manager of Alpha Technology and a Chartered Certified Accountant, qualified since 2012. I have an extremely high interest in different areas of taxation beyond and above the taxes I deal with in my day to day work.

I am a keen student of Tax and am currently working towards the Chartered Tax Adviser qualification (which is the “elite” and highest tax qualification you can achieve in the UK) and am looking to qualify as a CTA in late 2014.

Currently, working my regular full time job in general practice and dealing with the Accounts and Taxes of small to medium sized businesses. As of yet, none of our clients accept or deal with crypto currencies, however as the market for crypto currencies matures I am sure a lot of them will start to do so.

Unfortunately, I would not have any details or be able to help you with any questions relating to the operations of the business or any engineering related questions. Please direct these questions to one of the other Admins in this forum  

What I would like to obtain from this Blog

My goal is to help people understand the tax implications of certain activities such as mining, and trading/ holding “crypto-coins” such as bitcoin's and litecoin's.

My intention is to use this blog as a base whereby as a community we can educate each other, and when/if necessary provide my tax knowledge to help fellow crypto-currency users. By all means if I make a mistake or am ignorant of any information, please correct me and educate me, as this is how we learn!

I will be giving real life examples of potential scenarios throughout this blog. Initially, I will cover the VAT aspects of crypto currencies, and at a later date edit and update this blog covering Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax and Corporation Tax.

How I came into the world of crypto currencies

I first heard of Bitcoins, and Litecoins from my brother (the founder and CEO of Alpha Technology) early in 2013, and had no idea how they worked and had minimal understanding of them.

As a student of tax I was eager to gain knowledge on the tax rules surrounding this. I did contact HMRC and some notable tax specialists at the time requesting information on the tax treatment of various crypto currency transactions and businesses involved in this area.

From my conversations with  HMRC  at the time it seemed as if they were unsure how the whole thing works, which is understandable considering how new this phenomena is.

The vast majority of Tax Specialists and Accountants had not even heard of crypto-currencies at the time and even now, the first time I mention bitcoins or litecoins to my Accountant friends, the vast majority of them are like " bit what???   ".

I must be honest, when I first heard of crypto currencies, I thought of it as a game for “tech geeks” and thought it’d die away eventually. I could not contemplate, how something so virtual could hold value and operate in a real life economic ecosystem. How wrong my assumptions are proving to be!

Even today (28/05/2014), apart from briefing notes which have been issued from HMRC and the different interpretations of these notes from different tax experts, I believe (correct me if I am wrong) there is nothing which is “Law” relating to the tax treatment of crypto currency related activities in the UK.

As a result of this, I feel there will be ambiguity and uncertainty towards the tax treatment of different crypto-currency activities, UNTIL these rules are introduced into an act within tax legislation and when there is sufficient case law dealing with different crypto-situations.

Before I get cracking with explaining some of the VAT treatments of transactions related to crypto-currencies. I'd like every single UK crypto currency miner or trader to refer to this link:- http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/briefs/vat/brief0914.htm. These are the briefing notes which were issued by HMRC (which I was referring to above), and I believe in the UK this is ALL we have at the moment as Tax Advisers and Accountants to work from, from HMRC.

VAT (Value Added Tax)

Mining of crypto-currencies:-

HMRC have made it pretty clear that any type of business activities relating to the mining of crypto-currencies is EXEMPT from UK VAT and therefore outside the scope of UK VAT.


A very simple example:

Mr X operates a mining business. He mines 20 BTC in a tax year. He purchases mining equipment worth £500 + VAT. He incurs expenses of £1000 + VAT.

Being exempt and outside the scope of VAT means that NO output VAT will be due on the 20 BTC, and an important point to note is that No Input VAT would be reclaimable either.

This activity is NOT zero rated (it is specifically stated as exempt)which means it is outside the scope of VAT and you cannot just register your business for VAT in order to reclaim VAT on the expenses.

Please also note, if you are carrying out taxable activities alongside the exempt mining activities (i.e. you carry out exempt and taxable activities at the same time), there may be scope for recovering some input VAT provided certain tests are met, which are detailed in Reg 105A SI 1995/2518. I will not go into detail as to how this would work, however please seek advice from your tax adviser, if you feel you may fall into this category.

Exchange of Crypto-Currency to Pounds:-

Again, this is outside the scope of UK VAT and an exempt activity.

A simple example:

Mr Y, a speculative trader bought 100 Litecoins in May 2013 for £500 and sold these in December 2013 for £1000.

The above example would be outside the scope of VAT and have no VAT implications whatsoever.

Goods and Services sold in Exchange for Crypto-currency:-

If you are selling (taxable) goods or services and accepting Bitcoins as a method of payment, VAT is accounted for at the point the transaction takes place.

A simple example:

XYZ Ltd, advertise and sell Bitcoin Miners on their website and accept Bitcoins as a method of payment. Item goes on sale for £1200 (incl VAT), the date of sale 1 BTC is valued at £1200.

You would be liable to output VAT of £200 (£1200/6) on this transaction regardless of the movement in the exchange rate following that, as at the point where the sale took place the value of bitcoin was £1200.

Update 30/05/2014

Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax Implications of Cryptocurrency Mining

Before I get onto other areas of cryptocurrency related activities, I thought I'd take some time to describe the income tax and capital gains tax treatment specifically of cryptocurrency mining. Which I am sure is the area most of you would be interested in.

In terms of the information supplied by HMRC, there is very little on how bitcoin mining would exactly be taxed, so there is scope for different interpretations and different treatments by different individuals and their tax advisers.

However, the IRS has issued quite specific guidelines on how bitcoin mining activities should be treated for tax purposes. After communication with some tax advisers who deal with client's who do mine bitcoins, it seems most of them are following suit of the IRS. The general consensus was that HMRC will issue guidelines similar to those of IRS soon, in relation to bitcoin mining activities.


An interesting read which I came across; http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA2O1LR20140325?irpc=932

I thought the best way to describe how this would actually work would be by crunching some numbers and explaining it via a simple example;

Tom mines 1000 bitcoins from home in the tax year 2013/14 (6th April 2013- 5th April 2014).

At the date's the first 800 bitcoins were mined/created, the market value of bitcoin was £500 per bitcoin.

At the date's the last 200 bitcoins were mined/created the market value of bitcoin was £300 per bitcoin.

The business expenses relating to mining activities incurred by Tom in 13/14 were as follows :

- He bought miners for £50000
- Use of Home (including electric etc) was £42000
- He travelled 10000 miles on business to purchase parts for his miner, and attend bitcoin conferences etc. Giving him an £4500 allowable mileage expense.
- Print, Postage, Stationery, Sundry, Telephone, Internet etc (P. P. S. S) totalled up to £1592
- Accountancy Fees £2500

At 5th April 2014 (last day of the tax year), Tom is still holding these coins.

His income and expenditure account would look as follows, and he would be charged to income tax as follows :

Gross Income                                                           460,000
((500*800)+(300*200))                  

Less Expenses

Use of Home                   42000
Travel                                 4500
P.P.S.S                                 1592
Accountancy                   2500
                                              
Total Expenses                                                        (50,592)
                                                                                          ................
Net Income                                                                409,408
                
Capital Allowances                                              (50,000)
(100% AIA Claim)
                                                                                         .............
Taxable Income                                                      359,408
                                                                                        .............
In the tax year 13/14, Tom would be liable to pay income tax on a profit of £359,408.

Taking this example further

In the tax year 2014 /15, Tom decides to sell all 1000 of his bitcoins for £500,000.

He sells through a 3rd party website which charges him a fees of £1000.

He will now be liable to Capital Gains Tax on this sale as follows :

Gross Proceeds                                        500,000
Incidental Disposal Costs                   (1,000)
                                                                           ............
Net proceeds                                             499,000
Amount Charged to IT                          (359,408)                      
                                                                           ...............
Chargeable Gain                                     139,592
                                                                           ..............

At this stage, a further capital gains tax charge would be due on the gain of 139,592 before taking into consideration the annual exemption.

Please note that with capital gains tax there is some scope for tax planning opportunities. For example, before disposal gifting some bitcoins to your spouse in a NIL Gain NIL Loss transfer in order to utilise his or her annual exemption. I will not go into detail with how this works, however please seek advise from your tax adviser before selling any mined bitcoins.

Concluding Comments:

Please note my above example was a very simple hypothetical situation and the figures and categories for expenses and valuations of bitcoins have no reflection to a real life situation. In reality it would be much more complex, my aim was only to provide you with an overview of how the income tax and capital gains tax situation would work.

Please note I've made reference to AIA (Annual Investment Allowance), calculated a mileage rate and given a figure for 'use of home' expense. Please contact your tax adviser if you would like further information about how these figures are calculated.

Unfortunately, you do have to keep track of the value of each bitcoin/litecoin/dogecoin at the point it is mined in order to calculate your gross income for income tax purposes (this can be a tedious task - however this can easily be done at the year end using a website which gives historic cryptocurrency rates and tallying it up against your bitcoin or litecoin wallets).

I would also like to highlight that when you do sell your cryptocurrencies you do get relief for the amount that had already been charged to income tax

I hope this working example gives you guys a good idea of how cryptocurrency mining activities are taxed now. Your comments would be appreciated.  

M J Akram (AAIA, ACCA)

Accounts Manager & Tax Geek  

Disclaimer

The information on this blog should not be used in any actual transaction without the advice and guidance of your own professional tax adviser who is familiar with all the relevant facts.

Although the information contained here is presented in good faith and believed to be correct, it is general in nature and is not intended as tax advice.

Furthermore, the information contained herein may not be applicable to or suitable for the individuals' specific circumstances or needs and may require consideration of other matters. All information is only relevant to UK Tax Laws.
« Last Edit: May 30, 2014, 12:53:15 PM by mjakram »
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Likes fanfare, TheDoctor, Mubasher Akram, diego1000 and Fiaz Malik like this

Alpha will not refund anything - see this:

Me:
Hello Alpha,
>
> I’ve cancelled my order and want my money back. Here are the rules
> you put on the web, It’s also screenshoted on many forums:
>
here is screenshot of https://alpha-t.net/terms-order/ where is not any word about 5 month and after that nothing is refunded
> Cancellation & Refund Policy
>
> You may cancel your order at any time before shipment. Once the
> equipment has been shipped, it is no longer to possible to cancel your
> order and/or request a refund. Should you encounter a problem with
> your product, please see the warranty section for more information
> regarding warranty on our products.
>
> Should you cancel your order, you agree that we are allowed to charge
> you with a £70 GBP administrative fee. We will deduct the
> administrative fee from the amount due to be refunded to you in
> accordance with the terms above before we process the refund. We may
> also deduct transaction fees from the to be refunded amount in the
> event that your payment method or credit card issuer does not support
> refunds, thereby forcing us to refund you in another manner.
>
> So I’m expecting 1565,- £ coming to my bank account.
>
> Please note me within one week when I can expect my money , thank you.
> Just one important information – my order number is xxxxx
> Maybe just one more:
> I am not a business customer because i dont have a company
> registration number, I dont have a tax number, I even wasnt asked for
> that kind of information at the moment i placed my order, a placement
> of an order on your website doesnt turn me into a business customer,
> im still an individual.

And their reply:
Hello there,

We are very sorry but as per our cancellation policy it has been longer
than 5 months since you placed your order therefore you are no longer
eligible for a refund. We have been very clear and open with our terms
of order, it was released as a news update, it is easily available on
our website and you are urged to view it on the product page before you
order. Such regulations only apply to consumers and you are a business
customer with us. I can assure you that our legal matters are dealt with
by a leading law firm in the UK. Our terms of order are completely legal
in the UK. It was typed up by solicitors who specialize in this area of
law. They have advised us that all our customers will be legally classed
as businesses for many reasons, one being that the hardware we are
selling can only be used for mining cryptocurrencies which is a business
practice according to HMRC.

Best Regards,

Alpha Technology Team


...So, what now? What can I do? I'm not in UK, but Czech republic. What dou you suggest?

Its kinda hard to verify Alpha-T original claimed shipping dates because Alpha-T has removed many of their original statements from the forums and their company officers are avoiding answering customer questions.

Exactly when do you think it will be mined out?

For those of you that were banned from the Alpha site,  here is the complete post from the Doctor.

On credit card processing and a personal note...  

« on: July 18, 2014, 09:00:24 PM »


Like Unlike Quote


The card processing feature has temporarily been pulled down.
I was asked to give an update about it as I had been busy with the implementation and communicating with you all since I started working on it, so: sure, i'll get you an update.

Could make a blabla post of course with lots of sunshine, rainbows and unicorns all over the place...
... But transparency is what has been opted for since the start, so I'm going to make somewhat of a personal note along with a semi-official announcement from Alpha regarding the ability to process cards. It will not be a cheerful post.
And be careful... The post is not for the faint of heart and might scream "TL;DR" to some. But I hope you will read it in full.
Parts of this post contain somewhat of a personal rant about how I vision things, those are obviously not necesarrily the opinions of Alpha Technology.

The problem in this case pretty much is that the cryptocommunity seems to be like a self-fulfilling prophecy, potentially causing the issues they're so afraid and nearly forcing it upon themselves.
On a variety of sites, all scrypt mining corps have been burned down, pretty much every single one of them is being labeled as "a scam", even while all contracts are still perfectly and strictly being adhered to...
...(At least, in terms of Alpha. I don't really know how well other miner manufacturers are adhering to their contracts...)

- The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behaviour which makes the original false conception come true. This specious validity of the self-fulfilling prophecy perpetuates a reign of error. For the prophet will cite the actual course of events as proof that he was right from the very beginning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-fulfilling_prophecy

Due to all the doom mongering, the card processors already have highly elevated (and slightly discriminatory imho) extra measures against companies selling mining equipment. (That's also why it took much longer to get a processor up in the first place, *a lot* of documents to show, sign, explain, etc.)

And after some fiasco's in the industry and the paranoia, on a personal note I can't really say that I blame them.
Those extra, and pretty damn high (pardon the French) if I may say so, hurdles have been overcome by Alpha (which should really mean something...!); but the processors are slightly getting cold feet here now, due to the bizarre community feedback they have apparently acquinted themselves with. (Would have been easier if they had seen that earlier.)
It does force them in a rather annoying position; after all they are the ones that have to handle the crapstorms with people trying to back out of contracts or when it indeed is/was a scam or contracts are not really being adhered to.

Alpha has received the request to negotiate stop accepting credit card processing as frankly put: the feedback from the community as a whole (so let me carefully note: not from this forum nor Alpha's clients per se, but from the entire cryptocommunity: all sites, newsflashes, etc.) is scaring the living hell out of the card processors...
...They're very much afraid that the crypto community is indeed a self-fulfilling prophecy (frankly put.), where contracts are being made; but then payments are being charged back prematurely by people getting cold feet; which in turn could cause cash-flow issues for the manufacturer, whom will die from that as a result due to not being able to adhere to the contracts with partners (read: pay them) and thusly can't deliver to anyone; including to the people who did not back out of their contract but *did* hold up their end of the deal.
Basically, people getting cold feet while halfway in their contract due to self-proclaimed experts, a lot of which are very agressive, shouting "SCAM!!", ...
...would be the cause of the company going to hell. They themselves would cause what they're suddenly afraid of... And fulfill their own prophecy. And then as the company could not deliver due to the problems the fear mongerers caused: everyone goes on to be happy and will self-righteously claim "I told you so!!!", while in reality it should be "we caused it to be so!!!". Which is *the* classic example of a self-fulfilling prophecy. (But will probably claim I'm wrong and make very agressive hateful posts, once more. )

In Alpha's case, that does not seem to be the scenario though. (Well... Other than getting a lot of hate; the self-fulfilling prophecy won't be hitting Alpha.)
There's some flexible options thanks to the awesome partners, and Alpha has (as far as I know from what I've been able to see) paid for some highly crucial parts out of their own pockets. It could make quite a loss when the final product is ready and not enough people finalize their order as agreed per the terms: but the miners will still be there anyway, and people who did pay in full as per the terms will most certainly receive 'em. (And then orders can be opened up to mitigate the initial losses by filling 'em up with new clients, I guess.)
It's all covered and already risk asserted, as far as I know...
So even despite all the hate trolls making it very hard for any mining company to even exist or survive: Alpha is holding it's head above the water.
So as a client... You should probably be glad the hate trolls were not able to completely destroy the market just yet. (And then refuse to blame themselves.)


Anyway, as a result of that self-fulfilling prophecy theory, card processors are not really eager to process cards as they're afraid people will (ab)use cards to do premature chargebacks to try and back out of the contract they signed up for; and they'd have to deal with going back and forth between the card issuers and Alpha. Alpha on one side simply adhering to the contractual obligations and what was signed up for and bringing that in as an valid argument, and on the other side the card issuer acting on behalf of the client who is trying to back out prematurely. (Which, when attempting a chargeback, is breaking the contract; so the card issuer will have trouble filing a legitimate chargeback and lots of communication may ensue... Which costs a lot of time. And as you all know: time is money.)
They're simply not really interested in that.

I can understand their position, accusations are constantly flying all over the interwebs towards pretty much all companies (trying to) getting in to this market; ever since the BFL debacle initiated a paranoia of epic proportions. (Understandably so by the way, I don't blame the community for being very wary, scared and extraordinary careful when it comes to companies making mining equipment; I fully understand. People got screwed over one too many times I guess... But non the less: it looks like the community lost faith in humanity as a whole and some of them are downright unreasonable because of it, heh.)
I mean... What they're seeing and saying is true. No offense intended here, but there really are a large bunch of people (elsewhere, by the way!) that are screaming "scam!!!" while not a single contract has been broken till date. Let me repeat that: not *one*...


For those people shouting "scam!", in other places on the internet than here really, let me remind you (and perhaps you should grab a dictionary if you want to play field-expert):
A "scam" is when someone deliberately is trying to steal your money. It's not a scam when contracts are being adhered to for the full 100%, but the company simply isn't doing something in the speed and/or manner that *you* would love to see... That's not a scam in any possible way. When a company adheres to the contract, it cannot be a scam. That's simply you not being satisfied with the speed (eg: you had hoped for sooner shipment... But then you shouldn't have signed up for the given terms in the first place as you *knew* it could happen and it *could* even be as late as the last day of Q3... Don't sign up if you didn't really want to or didn't want to finish the ride! And for the record: all signs point to it that shipment will not even be close to end of Q3, but *far* sooner than that, but fact remains: Alpha wouldn't breach contract when shipping on the last day of Q3... Keep that in mind.); which is somewhat ironic if you look at it... Whilst I'm sure the irony will not be seen nor appreciated and some people will probably say I'm a clown and get, despite that being rather very hypocritical, very hateful on my and/or Alpha's ass:
Attempting a chargeback while the contract/terms you signed up for are still perfectly being adhered to, means the person filing the chargeback is scamming Alpha at this point, rather than the other way around... (Yeah, I know. That's a bold statement. But it is true. You signed up to an agreement, doing a premature chargeback is illegitimately taking money away from Alpha. *That* is much closer to a scam than Alpha is... Call me an ass if you must, but it doesn't make what I just said less true. )


If Alpha would not deliver the equipment and run away with the money: Yes, that would be an absolute scam. Absolutely. But that by far isn't the case here, not a single contract has been violated by Alpha that I can see; and the miners will become available and will start shipping. Just because you're paranoid, doesn't make your thoughts true.
Even while not getting all the funds: they're still here, doing business and working their ass off for their clients to get their products on the shortest notice possible, whilst Alpha is not getting what they're entitled to... I'm not sure what else a company has to do to show that they're working for their customers.

Alpha has from the beginning stated how and what and clearly put down in the contracts what can happen. They warned about it from day one. Yet, some people who apparently took the plunge anyway, or didn't at all but still want to spread hate, are now backing out because they suddenly realized it could take a bit longer than they hoped for... And then, for some inexplicable reason, proceed to call it a scam; while it's certainly not Alpha backing out of the contracts here...
So, who is scamming who? Keep the slander to yourselves. Unleash your fury if Alpha should ever break those contracts, doing it now is just... Silly. Kindly phrased.
Stop dwelling in the past... Or *prove* me wrong. I'm looking at both sides objectively and I can't do anything other than conclude Alpha is currently still strictly on par with their contracts and as such: not a scam.

Anyway, back to card processing;
So, as a result and as Alpha isn't really looking for such trouble either: it was determined to be best if credit card payments are to be suspended effective immediately, to prevent the risk for a distorted relationship with credit card processors in the future and to prevent having to invest a lot of time in to potential chargebacks as Alpha really has better things to do (like getting your mining equipment ready...); the risk assesment teams of the processors are right: there really is quite the elevated risk when you look at the general consensus in the cryptocommunity in terms of the attitude towards miner manufacturers...
Here on the Alpha forum, the mood is quite cool and a lot of reasonable people are around. (Props!) But on other sites, that's not always the case.

As such, the ability to pay with Credit Card has been pulled. The processors are simply far too scared and do not want to support the pre-order model.

I'm not even sure if Alpha really had a choice there (read: I'm pretty certain it wasn't really a choice.), if they would have said they will continue processing (or attempting as such) despite the concerns, I doubt that would have remained being possible.
I really doubt Alpha was really given an actual choice, but at least it was presented as such by the processor; in a respectful way and without definitive judgements and keeping all options open and actually even guaranteeing the ability to process cards in the future.
It was asked very nicely, for which the processor deserves a lot of kudos!! ... And they gave certainty that CC processing will be available in the future.

!!PLEASE NOTE!!:
As it would certainly be unfair that some people will have been able to pay with their cards (which could give an advantage) but others will not get the same chance, or that other way around: some did pay with their cards, but now see other clients can potentially get more time to pay (which would be equally unfair, really.): everyone who paid with their credit card in the past few days to finalize their order should be receiving a full refund of the amount that was paid in the past few days, and your order status will be reset to Pending.
This equals the score, so to say; we don't want to give some people paying with credit card an extra advantage; not to the ones who paid with their card in the past few days, nor to the ones who didn't pay but wish to do so in the near future. (Bitpay and Bank Transfer are *always* open to everyone, so those people are not affected by this anyhow.)


It has been determined that this would probably be the most reasonable solution, and also a method to show that Alpha is not greedy and solely running around to catch as much as your money as possible, but simply wants to take the most ethical approach whilst waiting for delivery and credit card payment options. (They will get to the greedy part part when the miners are shipping. It is a business, after all.)
... Now I do understand that this choice may also make some people angry/dissatisified. I guess no matter what Alpha would do in this case would result in a few dissatisfied people, so I guess all I can do is ask for your understanding for the reasoning behind this choice and why it was made.


The ability to process cards will return on the day shipping starts, *maybe* a few days in advance. (Will keep you updated.) But I doubt it will be much sooner than that...
Alpha Technology will not offer other payment options than Bitpay, Bank Transfer and Payza at this time.


(And yes, Payza is highly limited for credit card processing. ... For a variety of (the same) reasons. Still, you *can* pay with the afformentioned options, so it's not like you don't have a choice.)
How this will affect your ability to pay, how it affects shipping (que) and how it will affect the "two weeks" deadline and whether or not they will force to pay with any of the other available methods or allow you to wait with paying until shortly before shipping: that is something for Alpha to figure out, and they will let all of you know soon how that will be handled. It's not my call, nor can I read their minds.
So, for that aspect: please by all means do not jump to any conclusions, do not get any fear for your order: please wait for Alpha to make a release about what the next step is for those who want(ed) to pay by card. I'm not sure what Alpha is going to do there, and frankly that's not for me to handle.
I'm assuming that will be released along with a planned update on the miners.


I wish the cryptocommunity best of luck. Because with some of the attitude I have seen in some places around the net lately... I hope the more level-headed people I have seen will always form a majority, those twho think twice and are able to stay objective in between all the trolls. That way: there certainly is a bright future. But if the hate trolls and paranoia will take over the entire community and it is being ran by fear and hate... Then I fear it will die a slow and painful dead.
And I sincerely hope that will not happen.


Alpha sincerely apologizes for the potential major inconvenience this may cause to card holders, but if you really want to "rage" about it: don't aim the arrows at Alpha for not processing your card, but at the insane accusations flying around, and potential premature chargebacks being executed, by members of the crypto community as a whole whom are the cause of the, in my opinion rightful, fear that the processors now have for anything even close to being associated with the term "crypto" and the term "pre-order".

Last but not least... As I do need a cheerful note in here
I would like to applaude the clients, and there are thankfully many of you like this around here, whom are level-headed and immune to the troublemakers.
The clients who *do* adhere to the contract they signed up for are probably the ones actually making it possible for everyone to eventually get their product. (And note: for the people not being able to pay due to CC being pulled from being available to pay with: I'm not saying you're not holding up your end of the deal!! Let that be very clear!! It's not your fault.)
Its you guys who make it possible, and you really deserve a round of applause and a big thank you for that from everyone.
You guys rock, and I take my hat off to you. Stick to what you signed up for, finish the ride together with Alpha. Well done!
And I very much understand your frustration with the lack of awesome news, and on behalf of Alpha for as far as possible: I'd like to apologize for that.
But... From what I understood: That news will come quicker than you might hope for now. Things are in the works, and should be released to you on short notice.
The miner manufacturing is not affected by this course of events.



If you read my post in full: thank you very much.
Please let me remind you that large chunks of this post are my personal vision and do not necesarrily reflect the opinion, nor is an official statement, of Alpha Technology.
You're of course free to disagree with me and form another opinion. I do hope you will keep it civil if you do not agree.

Have a nice day, and no offense or hard feelings to anyone!
Despite my straight from the heart words; I can understand where the paranoia comes from. Just don't let it run your lives...
... And be glad Alpha is resistant against it, despite how hard the scam shouters are making it for them, and the other start-ups, to be successful.

Thank you to *everyone* who has read this, whether you agree or not, and whether you are angry/doubtful with Alpha or not.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Despite me not agreeing: I do respect your opinion, although I don't respect the way some people on other boards express it.

Have a very nice weekend!!!

« Last Edit: July 18, 2014, 09:05:51 PM by TheDoctor »

i dont agree and that post is actually reasuring me.It shows me somebody is taking us seriously and is doing his best to make things happen



This is for everybody and not specificly for you:

I have said this on multiple ocasions: dont call them a scam until the shipping date has passed (and then some).

There might be some complication that we dont know about, but the crypto community uses thew word scam way way way to quickly.When i made Ultracoin i was also attacked by a legion of trolls and it drove me nuts, and my intentions were good.

And he is actually right, all these people shouting stuff is turning credit card processors away.its a circle.....

there have been some wrong choices like banning people and stuff but that is no  basis to call it a scam.Lets just give them more time. i am in a hole for the big unit which is 10000 dollar and i cant loose it.Let`s be patient.

they have always said Q3 and anybody thathas fingers can see that that is between juli august september, that has not passed.

there is a thing called auto suggestion,if you look under every rock for a scam, then all you will see are "bad omens that its a scam".

but the truth is nobody can know if its a scam until 1 oktober

In other words mining alternate cryptocurrency isn't profitable?

Here is how it will probably work.  

Worst Case scenario (most likely at this point.)

• 1 week ultimatum to make a final payment
• if they do not get enough funds, they will offer up a second ultimatum for final payment, they really mean it this time.
• Big discounts on remaining batch 1 units.  All those cancelled orders, and orders that are not completed.
• 3 weeks from now, they go bankrupt because they do not have the funds to get ships and assemble units.

Best Case scenario (rainbow farting unicorns)

• They get the funds to complete Drexel payment in 1 week
• 2 weeks from now they get delivery of the chips.  It is August 1st at this point
• At the same time get get cases and boards
• They hand assemble everything because they cannot afford a factory to build the units.  Yes a bunch of accountants will be working day and night putting chips on boards and putting them in cases and shipping them out.
• 5 unskilled laborers adding chips to PCBs.  They will be lucky to get 10 vipers done a day.
• August 15th - 70 vipers shipped
• August 25th - 70 vipers shipped, first 70 vipers stuck in customs
• Sept 5th - second batch of vipers stuck in customs, first 70 vipers released from customs.
• Sept 15th - first 70 vipers delivered. second 70 vipers released from customs.
• Sept 25th - first customers complain about overheating, hardware nounce errors, poor hashrates, immediately get banned from AT forums.
• Oct 5th - Fiaz stops assembling duties and focuses 24 hours a day on banning disgruntled customers and deleting posts.  Fiaz says that they only guaranteed 5MHs minimum and that the recent upgrades were best case scenario hashrates.
• Oct 15th - Fiaz changes terms and conditions hardware warranty to 10 days limited.

T&C for orders placed after the 1st of July 2014.

"We hope shipping will start in the second or third quarter of 2014."

So by the 1st of July they don't know when they will be able to dispatch and give pretty wide time frame. They also use magical word HOPE as the wide time frame alone would not be enough. This is more than confirmation that we can forget about 31 of July scenario - the date, we have last time heard about when they were asking for final payments.

"We shall not be liable to you for any loss of profit or for indirect or consequential loss suffered by you whether as a result of any breach of these terms by us or as a result of our negligence."

So the deal is literally: give us your money and we are not responsible for anything, even if we f...up badly. By the way - the T&C concerns only you - our customer. Ciao!