Butterflylabs Huge SCAM

[underminer]

"I'm a muppet of a man."

-The Muppets

[ninjaboon]

i see their ads all over google and fb.

[ryanAC]

I like their logo...  I hope my Jalapeno comes with a sticker or something!

[brezle]

Someone wanna buy a Jalapeno as gift for me? :3

If i could afford, i would buy immediately one or more.

How much MHas/s/W do they have?

[underminer]

http://www.ratewall.com/cpics/05899dd0-358f-4617-8584-82335c031367_jeff-dunham-jose-jalapeno-.jpeg

sure

[ryann]

I emailed them and asked about dimensions and wattage etc etc. They didnt even bother responding to me. I find that pretty unprofessional. I was planning on buying a few singles but i have this feeling that they are going to deliver extremely late and this will be nothing but hassles involved. No proof of this and I hope thast not the case for people but thats my gut instinct on this one. Youll notice as the month ends they change those few words again to nearing the end of completion and sceduled to ship in December. How can you take preorders when they know nothing baout their own product? And i do love how they just increased the hash rate incredibly like its nothing.

[SLok]

Sonny the CEO? Since when? Read up a little and stop repeating each others' bullshit.

[legolouman]

Sonny the CEO? Since when? Read up a little and stop repeating each others' bullshit.

Sonny is NOT the CEO, though he is a higher level executive in the company.

[majorddf]

Making huge steps in short periods of time is against all known good business practices

Steam Locomotive -> Diesel/Electric Locomotive

Propeller -> Jet

Wired Telephone -> Mobile/Cell Phone

Dial up -> Broadband


Yup massive and sudden jumps forwards in technology is totally unheard of and bad business practice.

[squeept]

It's not even a jump forward in technology. It's making use of existing technology in a field where it wasn't used before.

If these "ASIC IS A SCAM!" people have a vested interest in trolling people out of buying ASIC hardware, then more power to them. I don't have the stomach for pretending to be an idiot to make a few extra dollars. However, I really think most of these people are being honest. They ACTUALLY don't believe ASICs exist for ANYTHING, let alone that they could be made for bitcoin.

I have a degree in computer engineering, but what do I know? I guess that class I had in college about VLSI design was just a bunch of lies. Only Intel and AMD have ever produced an integrated circuit.

Sure, any of these companies could be a scam, but designing an ASIC is honestly a trivial matter for a properly funded company employing a handful of properly trained, mildly competent engineers. Calling a company a scam because of shady business practices is one thing, but calling the company a scam SOLELY because they claim to be producing an ASIC, as if it's some sort of mythological creature nobody has ever seen, is outright ludicrous.



Another thing driving me crazy currently:

"I know what an ASIC is!" then five minutes later "so will I be able to use it for other purposes besides bitcoin?"

[majorddf]

Calling a company a scam because of shady business practices is one thing, but calling the company a scam SOLELY because they claim to be producing an ASIC, as if it's some sort of mythological creature nobody has ever seen, is outright ludicrous.

+1

"I know what an ASIC is!" then five minutes later "so will I be able to use it for other purposes besides bitcoin?"

+2

I like the cut of your jib sir.

[firefop]

It's not even a jump forward in technology. It's making use of existing technology in a field where it wasn't used before.

If these "ASIC IS A SCAM!" people have a vested interest in trolling people out of buying ASIC hardware, then more power to them. I don't have the stomach for pretending to be an idiot to make a few extra dollars. However, I really think most of these people are being honest. They ACTUALLY don't believe ASICs exist for ANYTHING, let alone that they could be made for bitcoin.

I have a degree in computer engineering, but what do I know? I guess that class I had in college about VLSI design was just a bunch of lies. Only Intel and AMD have ever produced an integrated circuit.

Sure, any of these companies could be a scam, but designing an ASIC is honestly a trivial matter for a properly funded company employing a handful of properly trained, mildly competent engineers. Calling a company a scam because of shady business practices is one thing, but calling the company a scam SOLELY because they claim to be producing an ASIC, as if it's some sort of mythological creature nobody has ever seen, is outright ludicrous.



Another thing driving me crazy currently:

"I know what an ASIC is!" then five minutes later "so will I be able to use it for other purposes besides bitcoin?"

+3

Also I think that just about winds up the thread.

[ryann]

Not one of you know anything about this so why are you all commenting saying BFL is a scam or not? Can anyone prove anything here? No. Time will tell. I dont think they are going to run off with peoples money. But I do think that most people are going to get theirs in the summer of 2013. IF you think otehrwise you;re silly. Look at their marketing and their promises of delivery. They keep getting pushed back. Then when people start wondering what does BFL do? Thast right the increase hash rates by 50% for the same price. When things are too good to be true they usualy are. Hope you guys get what you;re looking for.

[Yogafan00000]

I hope BFL is not a scam, 4th post

[firefop]

Not one of you know anything about this so why are you all commenting saying BFL is a scam or not? Can anyone prove anything here? No. Time will tell. I dont think they are going to run off with peoples money. But I do think that most people are going to get theirs in the summer of 2013. IF you think otehrwise you;re silly. Look at their marketing and their promises of delivery. They keep getting pushed back. Then when people start wondering what does BFL do? Thast right the increase hash rates by 50% for the same price. When things are too good to be true they usualy are. Hope you guys get what you;re looking for.

I can prove that BFL has shipped product in the past.

The thing is --- the type of technology they're developing isn't cutting edge... its old. Nobody bringing 'state-of-the-art' tech to the table. Not as it relates to computer science as a whole. We've got 23nm silicon being grown now... BFL is making what... 90 or 120?

The point is, it's not like they're trying to compete with Intel or AMD for the "fastest" chip ever made. They're bringing tried and true tech to a market that's never had an asic before. It's a first step.

I'm betting that we'll see all pre-orders shipped before the end of 2012 - and the skeptics will be wishing they'd taken the risk.

[BobbyJo]

I agree.  They nwill start shipping before the end of the year!  Then we'll see how many pre orders there were and how many compalints from those that didnt buy in and are priced out of mining when the difficulty goes up by 10x!

[coincollectingenterprises]

I may not be very knowledgeable on this subject from a Bitcoin economy standpoint.

However, consider this view: Reward for bitcoin mining about to be halved. Need for new machinery to have a stronger hashrate to increase you reward comes at the same time. Introduction of new machinery makes older machinery relatively obsolete. New machinery costs a significant amount more forcing prior miners to purchase new machinery to attempt to keep up or to move on to a different bitcoin product.

The timing is just intriguing to me regardless of intentions.

[wh00per]

Timing is good as such for BFL to make more sales. If they release them now, before the block reward dropsm they won't hit the whole market. There are still people outthere with enough graphic cards to render data for a 1h movie in 12 seconds ..  Half of the reward will push any dedicated miner to retire their GPUs when the ASICs are shipping  .. eventually. Also, longer waiting helps BFL to get more money for promises (i.e. preorders). Why hurry?

[QuantumKiwi]

Its a scam, run some good history on the company then boom - hit a fake product and people latch onto it and run, they pay, they tell their friends and they pay too.

Then the CEO does the runners, or BFL gets hacked...

Just wait for it

[Richy_T]

Its a scam, run some good history on the company then boom - hit a fake product and people latch onto it and run, they pay, they tell their friends and they pay too.

Then the CEO does the runners, or BFL gets hacked...

Just wait for it

+1. I'm not sure that this is a scam but if it is, I suspect that the devs/other employees at BFL will be among the victims.