ASICs~if the people who are making these believed in Bitcoin they would not sell the technology as it would be profitable to make the machines for yourself. These people are out for USD or EUR...etc I guarantee they aren't paying the ASIC chip manufacturer in BTC.
Wells Fargo didn't make their money mining gold, they made it selling shovels.
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is an American multinational diversified financial services company with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by assets and the largest bank by market capitalization.[3] Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home mortgage servicing, and debit cards. In 2011, Wells Fargo was the 23rd largest company in the United States.[4] Wells Fargo is headquartered in San Francisco, California, but has major "hubquarters" in other cities throughout the country.[5]
In 2007 it was the only bank in the United States to be rated AAA by S&P,[6] though its rating has since been lowered to AA-[7] in light of the financial crisis of 2007–2012. The firm's primary U.S. operating subsidiary is national bank Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., which designates its main office as Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Wells Fargo in its present form is a result of an acquisition of San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Company by Minneapolis-based Norwest Corporation in 1998 and the subsequent 2008 acquisition of Charlotte-based Wachovia. Although Norwest was technically the surviving entity in the 1998 merger, the new company renamed itself Wells Fargo, capitalizing on the 150-year history of the nationally recognized name and its trademark stagecoach. Following the acquisition, the company transferred its headquarters to Wells Fargo's headquarters in San Francisco and merged its operating subsidiary with Wells Fargo's operating subsidiary in Sioux Falls.
In 2012, Wells Fargo had more than 9,000 retail branches and 12,198 automated teller machines in 39 states and the District of Columbia. It has over 270,000 employees and over 70 million customers.[8]
History
Main article: History of Wells Fargo
The current Wells Fargo is a result of a 1998 merger between Minneapolis-based Norwest Corporation and the original Wells Fargo.[11] Although Norwest was the nominal survivor, the new company kept the Wells Fargo name to capitalize on the long history of the nationally recognized Wells Fargo name and its trademark stagecoach (the company's previous slogan, "The Next Stage," is a nod to the company's wagons-west motif). After the acquisition, the parent company kept its headquarters in San Francisco. The company's current tagline, "Together we'll go far" also references the stagecoach motif, its customers and the company name.
[edit]In-store branches
There are many mini-branches located inside of other buildings, which are almost exclusively grocery stores, that usually contain ATMs, basic teller services, and, space permitting, an office for private meetings with customers.[12]
[edit]Wachovia acquisition
A former Wachovia branch converted to Wells Fargo in the fall of 2011 in Durham, North Carolina.
On October 3, 2008, Wachovia agreed to be bought by Wells Fargo for about $14.8B in an all-stock transaction. This news came four days after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) made moves to have Citigroup buy Wachovia for $2.1B. Citigroup protested Wachovia's agreement to sell itself to Wells Fargo and threatened legal action over the matter. However the deal with Wells Fargo overwhelmingly won shareholder approval since it valued Wachovia at about 7 times what Citigroup offered. To further ensure shareholder approval, Wachovia issued Wells Fargo with preferred stock holding 39.9% of the voting power in the company.[13]
On October 4, 2008, a New York state judge issued a temporary injunction blocking the transaction from going forward while the situation was sorted out.[14] Citigroup alleged that they had an exclusivity agreement with Wachovia that barred Wachovia from negotiating with other potential buyers. The injunction was overturned late in the evening on October 5, 2008, by New York state appeals court.[15] Citigroup and Wells Fargo then entered into negotiations brokered by the FDIC to reach an amicable solution to the impasse. Those negotiations failed. Sources say that Citigroup was unwilling to take on more risk than the $42 billion that would have been the cap under the previous FDIC-backed deal (with the FDIC incurring all losses over $42 billion). Citigroup did not block the merger, but indicated they would seek damages of $60 billion for breach of an alleged exclusivity agreement with Wachovia.[16]
[edit]Predecessors
Wells Fargo operates under Charter #6, the first national bank charter issued in the United States. This charter was issued to First National Bank of Philadelphia on June 20, 1863 by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.[17] Traditionally, acquiring banks assume the earliest issued charter number. Thus, the first charter passed from First National Bank of Philadelphia to Wells Fargo through its 2008 acquisition of Wachovia, which in turn had inherited it through one of its many acquisitions.
Selected predecessor companies
Crocker National Bank
First Interstate Bancorp
First National Bank of Philadelphia
First Security Corporation
Norwest Corporation
Wachovia Corporation
[edit]2008 financial crisis
On October 28, 2008, Wells Fargo was the recipient of $25B of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act Federal bail-out in the form of a preferred stock purchase.[18][19] Tests by the Federal government revealed that Wells Fargo needs an additional 13.7 billion dollars in order to remain well capitalized if the economy were to deteriorate further under stress test scenarios. On May 11, 2009 Wells Fargo announced an additional stock offering which was completed on May 13, 2009 raising $8.6 billion in capital. The remaining $4.9 billion in capital is planned to be raised through earnings. On Dec. 23, 2009, Wells Fargo redeemed the $25 billion of series D preferred stock issued to the U.S. Treasury under the Troubled Asset Relief Program’s Capital Purchase Program. As part of the redemption of the preferred stock, Wells Fargo also paid accrued dividends of $131.9 million, bringing the total dividends paid to the U.S. Treasury and U.S. taxpayers to $1.441 billion since the preferred stock was issued in October 2008.[20]
OK yeah that makes sense now. it the same. So a ASIC miner is the same as a simple saving account with a bank that's monies are controled by a government or "Federal Reserve" ...etc controlling the currencies.
