[BitCentury] Metabank 120Gh 65nm Pre-Order Proxy [CLOSED]

[senseless]

Who is Bitfury?

Bitfury is an individual based in russia who popped on the bitcoin Scene in May of 2012. He created a FPGA miner with 360 Spartan 6 processors producing 110-135Gh/s using 10Kw of power. Since he has appeared on the scene one thing can be said of his posts; they are highly technical and he knows what he’s talking about. In April of 2013 he announced the creation of a 65nm asic (There is evidence he was working on the design prior to the announcement). Since then he has been working to perfect the creation of the 65nm bitcoin asic device targeting a fully optimized design with impressive power figures.

You can see bitfury's own site here: http://www.bitfury.org/


Who is Metabank.ru?

Metabank is a Bitcoin exchange based in russia. They have been in business for several years providing bitcoin financial services in russia. They are currently the primary investor for the Bitfury 65nm asic project. Metabank has started accepting pre-orders for devices but has said they will not ship outside of russia. As a result, a proxy service is necessary to collect and send out your device. You can view the metabank ASIC sales page at the following URL: https://metabank.ru/asic


Who is BitCentury?

BitCentury is a group of 3 individuals working together toward creation of various cryptocoin related products and services. You can speak to us in #bitcentury on freenode IRC.

What are the specifications of the Bitfury Asic?

Technical Details (Translated from various Bitfury Posts)

• The design is built on the 65nm UMC Process (http://www.umc.com/English/process/a.asp)
• Bitcoin Engines: 756 Rolled cores (65 Cycles per Hash)
• Expected operational frequency: 250Mhz-900Mhz
• Packaging: QFN48
• Conservative design, could be 40% smaller
• Risk interconnect and transistor variations +/- 20%
• Core implemented using full custom design process (some global place & route)
• Number of transistors per "core": 55,000
• Power estimate obtained from hspice simulation
• Design optimised for low power and minimum size rather than high clock rate

Each chip is capable of 2.8-10.4Gh/s using a 756 core design
Estimated Chip Power Consumption: 1.96-7.26W (0.7W per 1Gh/s)
Estimated Power Consumption at Wall: 1.4W per 1Gh/s (<200W per 120Gh/s Device)


What are the specifications of the Bitfury PCB/Board?

The reference design is not yet completed; but it is likely to be a standalone unit. The PCB design will be similar to the avalon with a controller containing a FTDI USB to Serial chip providing access to any mining hardware you may wish to connect (TP-Link, PI, Odroid, etc).


What Are You Offering?

We are acting as a proxy for orders from Metabank.ru for 120Gh/s devices which they are offering at 2160$USD per unit.

All units will be picked up from Metabank and taken to our office in downtown moscow. The units will be unboxed, tested, reboxed and shipped out via DHL to your shipping address. Testing will be carried out to ensure every device is operating correctly and that no one receives a DOA unit. Testing will be performed on the eligius pool server and will be done under the bitcoin address from which you paid (you will be able to see when your unit is tested and receive full rewards during the testing). Once testing is complete your unit will be packaged and shipped out to your address directly from moscow.


What is your price?

We are charging 32BTC to cover shipping, handling, and our onsite incidentals (employees, office space, etc) as well as to generate a small profit. The 30BTC includes shipping charges to your location (aside from any customs fees which may be applied by your country). All units will be sent out via DHL.

Only send funds from a full wallet that you can prove you are the owner of. If you ever wish to modify your order a signed message will be requested verifying your ownership over the address which sent the coins.

Bulk Pricing is as follows:
** PRE ORDER COMPLETE **

Note: Pricing is subject to change, depending primarily on Metabank's price changes which are directly related to BTC USD value; however, we will honour orders submitted with our latest posted prices.


When will units be shipped?

Metabank has announced release of devices in Aug-Oct 2013. Once we start receiving the devices; They will be quickly tested and sent on their way toward your location.


What if I want a refund?

Metabank is currently offering a 30 day no questions asked refund guarantee. We will be extending that to you in the form of a 29 day no questions asked refund guarantee. We have removed one day from the refund time to ensure that we can forward your request to metabank and that you receive all of your funds back.

We will refund your full bitcoin order amount and not based upon it’s USD value.


How do I order?

** PRE ORDER COMPLETE **

[1715196284]

1715196284

[1715196284]

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[1715196284]

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[senseless]

Current BitFury ASIC Status:

Chip Production Complete. Test chips to be shipped from Taiwan to BitCentury facilities for Alpha Testing in the week of June 10 - June 14.

Note: He posts primarily in Russian and his posts tend to be extremely technical. however, most should gain a basic understanding of the situation. You can view bitfury's posts at the URL below. I recommend you use Google Chrome to access that URL, as Chrome will offer to translate all the posts into mostly readable English. Look for a button pop-up on top of the Chrome web browser.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=58469;sa=showPosts


Current BitCentury Status:

** PRE ORDER COMPLETE ** METABANK IS NO LONGER ACCEPTING BATCH 1 ORDERS **



Batch 10 (Ordered 06/09/2013) - 3 Devices (360Gh/s) - 5793b364d6d7534b2d25b81da2a7c43b14f537fd4d3248aa145caca0edab47e2
Batch 9 (Ordered 06/08/2013) - 3 Devices (360Gh/s) - 6eea068f0d3dda0d6cfdcdcd7a57a1fd77ff8f7fa524ef6c2e44afd6acd6b368
Batch 8 (Ordered 06/08/2013) - 10 Devices (1200Gh/s) - e0bd82aeebdeed8580d0decca0299d4344ed9fcaf0fae84b730fa1ba3e4d2ded
Batch 7 (Ordered 06/08/2013) - 6 Devices (720Gh/s) - 1049155b405758c143dfc5789c44def88e97e18eab331f9faef1b5b25acb313c
Batch 6 (Ordered 06/07/2013) - 4 Devices (480Gh/s) - 362f1096ca88b2f70dc7259daa50a2aaeec809858d1224d486636c04ca01141e
Batch 5 (Ordered 06/07/2013) - 4 Devices (480Gh/s) - 0fd3b6dab8e509a55eedc338a303ae650223e29bc012011b55bedc94cd1eb363
Batch 4 (Ordered 06/07/2013) - 2 Devices (240Gh/s) - dd4f704ce171872e70dc863c8eaa7c51a4b02062dbd2dec96de370a04e9a3552
Batch 3 (Ordered 06/06/2013) - 2 Devices (240Gh/s) - fa3f32c7dd65ba75dd9ac735f6007b7adb73bef90b315ea0d1c3ea56b62066d0
Batch 2 (Ordered 06/04/2013) - 7 Devices (840Gh/s) - 67e4f4a5430cad3097a20185139ac7e867b93abbbf804e5e948a7bd0057e3275
Batch 1 (Ordered 06/03/2013) - 16 Devices (1920Gh/s) - 1fee2541c6386d3afef2e607a653b98951182a6891f4b8aeb91d4112fe0264d5


Frequently Asked Questions:

Q#1: If it turns out that metabank and the bitfury asic are a scam, will you refund our money?
A#1: If it turns out metabank is indeed perpetrating a scam and all funds sent to them are lost; we will take a loss on any onsite incidental expenses (Employees, Plane Tickets, Rent, etc) incurred and refund the remainder of your transaction to your bitcoin address. Unfortunately we cannot take responsibility for the actions of anyone but ourselves. The amount refunded should be roughly 12 bitcoins per device (Depending on the BTC/USD value at the time of order).

Q#2: Will you accept fiat (USD, EUR, etc) in exchange for devices?
A#2: This is a possibility we are looking into; it depends on how quickly we can get a new account created for the purpose of receiving funds. I highly doubt we will accept paypal. But wire transfers are a definite possibility. We should know more next week (06/03-06/07). But due to the short nature limited availability of this offer I do not believe it will be possible.

Q#3: Will you accept funds via escrow?
A#3: Not at this time, We're not willing to incur that amount of risk on our part. We will be using your funds as they're sent to place the order for your device(s).

Q#4: Can you provide any information about DHL shipping from russia?
A#4: Information about DHL.com courier shipping from Russia (the one we intend to use): http://www.dhl.ru/en/country_profile/key_facts.html

Q#5: What is the average export/shipping time from russia?
A#5: Average Export shipping time out of Russia (4.58 days in 2009):
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/russia/average-time-to-clear-exports-through-customs-days-wb-data.html

Q#6: What will my import duties and taxes be?
A#6: At the following URL you will find a duty importation calculator for dozens of countries: http://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and-tax-calculation/

Q#7: Are there any import regulations or limitations for my country?
A#7: Importation regulations & limitations overview per country: http://www.dutycalculator.com (click on "Country Guides" on top left and select the country you live in) /help_center/      

Q#8: What are the items which are prohibited from import/export in Russia?
A#8: List of prohibited shipping items in/from Russia: http://www.russianpost.ru/rp/servise/en/home/postuslug/goodslist
Encryption, Circuit Boards, and/or Computing Devices are not banned from export in russia.

Q#9: What outlet type and voltage will the unit operate on?
A#9: Electrical Plug/Outlet and Voltage Information for Russia  (we do not yet know what kind of power connector, adapter will be provided or if the device will auto-sense the voltage of the line (110 to 230 compatible). Assuming it is Russian, since they are shipping only in Russia, see this URL: http://www.adaptelec.com/index.php?main_page=document_general_info&products_id=187

[OrphanedGland]

Hi All,

My name is Nigel Brine.  I have experience in chip design (see image below), FPGA development, and signal processing, and completed my PhD in wireless communications in 2010 at the University of Adelaide, South Australia.

You may recognize me as a contributor to the open source FPGA Bitcoin miner project on github, started by fpgaminer.  I originally came into contact with senseless through his interest in this project, and have since decided to join him and digitalmagus to form BitCentury.  We are all passionate about Bitcoin and believe it has a bright future.  We have been looking for opportunities in the Bitcoin mining space, and I see our initial offering as a stepping-stone to bigger and better things in the future.  In the meantime I hope I can assist with any technical questions you may have.

This is a photo of the chip I developed using TSMC 0.18um:



Regards,
Nigel Brine / OrphanedGland

[Foofighter]

Hello,

Just one question, are there more Informations if Metabank has just this one Batch of 366 devices?

regards
Foo

[digitalmagus]

Hello,
Just one question, are there more Informations if Metabank has just this one Batch of 366 devices?
regards
Foo

Hi Foofighter,

I can tell you that Metabank has a limited number (likely less than 350 by now), primarily because they are only creating X number of chips for batch 1, and while fab'ing large quantities of  chips is a very fast process (1 or 2 days type scenario), from the perspective of Metabank, they have to make a decision in terms of financial risk to them. It would be something like: How much money are we willing to risk on a chip that is not yet confirmed to be working (hence batch "1")? If batch 1 fails, they would want to still have money left to enter into batch 2 after the bitfury attempts to fix any design flaws, which would not be for several months later as regardless of whether batch 1 chips fail or not. This is because foundries work on a scheduled process and there are many customers from other companies waiting in line to fabricate their own asics (not bitcoin related), so even if batch 1 works, and it only takes 1 or 2 days to fab thousands more chips, they have to wait several months before the next opportunity; hence why batch 1 has limited quantity of units.

I hope that makes sense,
Luis

[greaterninja]

I am very interested in this. Correct me if I'm wrong..you are saying your FPGA is 180nm package?    I am a IT Engineer for one of the top Global -  chip / IC packaging companies in the world.  We do packaging up to 22nm.  I would need a bill of materials, etc.   If I can be of assistance, please ping me.
I have a Russain translator on hand as well .

Very Respectfully,

GreaterNinja

[digitalmagus]

I am very interested in this. Correct me if I'm wrong..you are saying your FPGA is 180nm package?    I am a IT Engineer for one of the top Global -  chip / IC packaging companies in the world.  We do packaging up to 22nm.  I would need a bill of materials, etc.   If I can be of assistance, please ping me.
I have a Russain translator on hand as well .
Very Respectfully,
GreaterNinja

Hi GreaterNinja,
No, this is not FPGA at all. This is 65nm ASIC.
Luis

[stripykitteh]

Hi BitCentury,

Could you estimate when you will have the contract of sale ready?

[senseless]

Hi BitCentury,

Could you estimate when you will have the contract of sale ready?

We are currently still waiting for the contract to be drawn up. I will touch base with our firm tomorrow and check on its status. My earlier estimates appear to have been quite optimistic. Our contract needed more customization than a typical contract so we couldn't use one of their templates.

Regards

[Rora]

So do we send the funds prior to seeing the contract? Or can we reserve units pending the contract release and pay immediately afterwards?

[dan99]

From what I read, you do not know the bitfury Russian guy very well. Is really scary that he could just run away with your money. Have you ever write to him or communicate with him?? At least 1 of you meet Yifu at the bitcoin conference, but hey where is the Russian?

[JordanL]

Alright, I'm in.   

[Foofighter]

Hi everyone,

please consider to enter your order in this spreadsheed, so we have all an inofficial order status available
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmyZBD2EHCEEdG9SdENBV0l4YnNuNklrdDItMTJwdlE#gid=0

regards

[digitalmagus]

So do we send the funds prior to seeing the contract? Or can we reserve units pending the contract release and pay immediately afterwards?

Hi Rora, we are not currently accepting reservation units pending the contract; however, you may order a unit immediately and if you don't like the contract, you can request a full refund up to 29 days from  your purchase date. FYI, we have already executed two  full refunds successfully from Metabank without issues.  I hope this helps ease your decision.
Cheers,
Luis

[digitalmagus]

From what I read, you do not know the bitfury Russian guy very well. Is really scary that he could just run away with your money. Have you ever write to him or communicate with him?? At least 1 of you meet Yifu at the bitcoin conference, but hey where is the Russian?

Hi dan99,
These are the risks we all take. Nobody really knew Yifu (Avalon) well either, or the guy from ASICminer etc. Unquestionably there are risks, but also potential for high rewards. We have had some communications with Bitfury; however, we are not at liberty to disclose any details at this time, though whenever possible and with permission we will. Further, please note these statements do not stand as an endorsement of him. Sorry to have to be so vague at this time.

Best Regards,
Luis

[digitalmagus]

Alright, I'm in.   

Great, how many dozens can I put you down for? 

[JordanL]

Alright, I'm in.   

Great, how many dozens can I put you down for? 

As soon as I get my first one hashing... ∞

 

[OrphanedGland]

I am very interested in this. Correct me if I'm wrong..you are saying your FPGA is 180nm package?    I am a IT Engineer for one of the top Global -  chip / IC packaging companies in the world.  We do packaging up to 22nm.  I would need a bill of materials, etc.   If I can be of assistance, please ping me.
I have a Russain translator on hand as well .

Very Respectfully,

GreaterNinja

Hi GreaterNinja,

I was referring to my previous full custom chip design being 180nm.  For our first offering BitCentury are providing systems developed by Metabank using Bitfury 65nm ASICs.  Stay tuned for future developments.

Nigel / OrphanedGland

[Foofighter]

Hi Digitalmagnus,

are there any informations how much Units are left of the ~350 total pre orders? besides of the inofficial spreadsheed here.

regards
Foo

[senseless]

Hi Digitalmagnus,

are there any informations how much Units are left of the ~350 total pre orders? besides of the inofficial spreadsheed here.

regards
Foo

Unfortunately It is unknown at this time as Metabank is not publishing their sales figures.