[Announcement] Block Erupter USB

[Buddytronic]

This has the worst Mhash/$ ratio of any asic device out there at 1.22Mh/s per $1. The runner up is asicminer's erupter blade at 1.87Mh/s per $1.

How do they get away with it? Because it's basically the only form of asic being shipped without a pre-order...

I think it's a big novelty factor - these things are selling on Ebay for $400 at the moment.

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[klondike_bar]

This has the worst Mhash/$ ratio of any asic device out there at 1.22Mh/s per $1. The runner up is asicminer's erupter blade at 1.87Mh/s per $1.

How do they get away with it? Because it's basically the only form of asic being shipped without a pre-order...

yup. i give them full credit for finding a price people ill pay and selling at that price like they are. I wont invest for another month till we see some competition push things past 2Mh/s per $ on a small scale or 4Mh/s per $ on a larger scale. There will be intersecting curves of supply, demand, and technology that will see an 'ideal' moment for quick ROI and lasting profits past 2 years of use (the block erupter USB will take 7-14mos to ROI, and would be incredibly lucky if it ever made a 100% gain in the 2 years following).


im thinking this nice little point in time is about a month or 2 away, and will consist of avalon chips being made into avalon knockoffs and the k1/k16/k64 style boards, plus a newer version from asicminer that is faster and better priced to the market.

 If i cannot make my money back with a unit in 6 months from the day i receive it (not place an order or first see it on sale), then the design doesn't interest me. If a system returns its cost in 6 months, you could see another 100% profit after about another 10-18 months, and after that (2years) the device will make little more then the electricity it costs and may even have burnt out or failed already.

[nubbins]

I think it's a big novelty factor - these things are selling on Ebay for $400 at the moment.

This is precisely why I bought ten of these things. It's REALLY easy to make ROI if you end up with 4 units at zero cost

[bigbeninlondon]

OMG .Fools and their money!  When this was announced difficultly was under 10m and network hashrate under 80t/h.  Now you've got them it's 12m (+20%) and network hashrate is 100t/h+ . In under 3 days difficulty will hit 14.4m.  So thats a 44% increase in diffuclty in 5 weeks, around the 30% + a month I predicted.

All of this is true, but these people are helping secure the bitcoin network by adding to the network hashrate. We should be encouraging this kind of behavior

This is a common fallacy in bitcoin propaganda. There is no secure bonus with higher hashrates. The network keeps secure by an adequate balance of difficulty and hashrate. And this balance is guaranteed by the algorithm, not the miners.

Disagree.  51% becomes more and more difficult the more hashrate + higher distribution.  The safety factor is in high hash rate + high rate of decentralization.  So when an individual plugs in 300 MH/s, they are raising the hashrate and decentralizing the network a little.  This is not a common fallacy, it's common knowledge.

[Shevek]

All of this is true, but these people are helping secure the bitcoin network by adding to the network hashrate. We should be encouraging this kind of behavior

This is a common fallacy in bitcoin propaganda. There is no secure bonus with higher hashrates. The network keeps secure by an adequate balance of difficulty and hashrate. And this balance is guaranteed by the algorithm, not the miners.

Disagree.  51% becomes more and more difficult the more hashrate + higher distribution. 

I agree with higher distribution.

But not with higher hashrates. In fact, now we are in much more higher risks of 51% attack due to the almost centralised production of ASICs. If some ASIC maker would take over bitcoin the cards are on her hand.

[nubbins]

Yep, 40-45­°C for 3 months here in central Australia will do that

It gets that hot in Ottawa in the summer... but with humidity

[bigbeninlondon]

All of this is true, but these people are helping secure the bitcoin network by adding to the network hashrate. We should be encouraging this kind of behavior

This is a common fallacy in bitcoin propaganda. There is no secure bonus with higher hashrates. The network keeps secure by an adequate balance of difficulty and hashrate. And this balance is guaranteed by the algorithm, not the miners.

Disagree.  51% becomes more and more difficult the more hashrate + higher distribution. 

I agree with higher distribution.

But not with higher hashrates. In fact, now we are in much more higher risks of 51% attack due to the almost centralised production of ASICs. If some ASIC maker would take over bitcoin the cards are on her hand.

True.  Which is why it's a combination of high hashrate plus high distribution.  If you have low hashrate and high distribution, it's easy to take 51%.  If you have high hashrate but low distribution, then it's also easy to take 51%.  You need HIGH hashrate AND HIGH distribution.  Only both makes it secure.

[FiatKiller]

People are buying them for the power savings, both in the sense of saving money and being able to add more hashrate then you otherwise could on your house circuits. Much smarter than the GPU route. Heck, you can run one on your work PC unaware to anyone else. 

[mdude77]

Heck, you can run one on your work PC unaware to anyone else. 

While visibly true, it's not recommended.  The different network traffic should raise suspicions and any good IT dept should know what USB devices are being used or be blocking "unsanctioned" USB devices from being used on PCs.  333mh/s isn't worth your job.

M

[radiumsoup]

Heck, you can run one on your work PC unaware to anyone else. 

While visibly true, it's not recommended.  The different network traffic should raise suspicions and any good IT dept should know what USB devices are being used or be blocking "unsanctioned" USB devices from being used on PCs.  333mh/s isn't worth your job.

M

Most places don't have a good IT department

/IT pro for 15 years, now turned consultant

[alibert]

Maybe depending on the country you live in. Haven't seen a workplace where port 8332 would be allowed in 10 years as a consultant. But I am pretty sure a pool on 443 or 80 will work. Oh and what about admin rights to install the drivers??

[alibert]

2.5W, so around 1.9 kWh per month. Like 50 Eurocent in Germany.

[daemondazz]

2.5W, so around 1.9 kWh per month. Like 50 Eurocent in Germany.

For me it's also about spreading out the network load a bit, I don't want all my hashing power at home in case of power or network outage, all of my family members have small file servers, so (with permission!) I have redundancy in my hashing power.

[alibert]

Because it happens soooo often, right

[turtle83]

all of my family members have small file servers

Sounds like a fun family to be a member of..

[daemondazz]

Because it happens soooo often, right

Well, the power here is reasonably reliable, only about 3 outages lasting more than 20 minutes or so in the 5 years we've been here - the ADSL on the other hand is completely crap, so, yes, it does!

[FiatKiller]

Heck, you can run one on your work PC unaware to anyone else. 

While visibly true, it's not recommended.  The different network traffic should raise suspicions and any good IT dept should know what USB devices are being used or be blocking "unsanctioned" USB devices from being used on PCs.  333mh/s isn't worth your job.

M

I AM the IT dept!  lol  I do agree for most users though.

[mdude77]

Heck, you can run one on your work PC unaware to anyone else. 

While visibly true, it's not recommended.  The different network traffic should raise suspicions and any good IT dept should know what USB devices are being used or be blocking "unsanctioned" USB devices from being used on PCs.  333mh/s isn't worth your job.

M

I AM the IT dept!  lol  I do agree for most users though.

Still.. I stand by my statement, 333mh/s isn't worth your job.

M

[radiumsoup]

Maybe depending on the country you live in. Haven't seen a workplace where port 8332 would be allowed in 10 years as a consultant. But I am pretty sure a pool on 443 or 80 will work. Oh and what about admin rights to install the drivers??

I'll certainly give you admin rights (didn't realize these required non-standard drivers), but in my experience, even with some very large corporations I've dealt with, most companies do not block outbound traffic but instead rely on traffic analysis at the gateway to determine inbound threats. The key here is to remember that most companies are not "very large corporations". Most companies are under 500 seats, and use off-the-shelf components with default settings, configured only minimally for their own use case, such as a VPN. And rarely do I come upon any medium-sized company (and never once a smaller one of <100) with an IT group "good" enough to block all outbound traffic by default. It all comes down to management's willingness to allow employees to do things on company systems - and most of the time, they don't care as long as it's not porn or filesharing. See: the rising popularity of BYOD.

[alibert]

Ok, maybe for small companies. The smallest I worked for was 1500 employees, the biggest 250000.