Block Erupter USB owners won't make ROI???

[mgio]

At least ASICMiner delivered when they said they would, unlike BFL and Avalon!

People been posting from the very start that these items would never make ROI. I've been saying it all along, but no one listened and they bought them anyways.

Eventually I stopped because I own ASICMiner shares and I realized I was shooting myself in the foot, lol.

ASICMiner priced these EXACTLY right. They made a great business decision. If they ever offered an ASIC product that I felt was reasonably priced, I'd buy from them in a second. I can't say the same for BFL and Avalon, both of which have screwed me over at this point. Hopefully my ASICMiner shares will more than make up for all the money I lost due to the other two.

[Rampion]

At least ASICMiner delivered when they said they would, unlike BFL and Avalon!

People been posting from the very start that these items would never make ROI. I've been saying it all along, but no one listened and they bought them anyways.

Eventually I stopped because I own ASICMiner shares and I realized I was shooting myself in the foot, lol.

ASICMiner priced these EXACTLY right. They made a great business decision. If they ever offered an ASIC product that I felt was reasonably priced, I'd buy from them in a second. I can't say the same for BFL and Avalon, both of which have screwed me over at this point. Hopefully my ASICMiner shares will more than make up for all the money I lost due to the other two.

+1

[derr777]

I think there are quite a few of us who warned people. told people, etc. that the math was not on their side, but it didn't seem to matter.  As long as people are going to buy hashrate just to increase their virtual p*nises, with no regard for return on investment, companies can charge whatever they want for hardware.  I sincerely hope that many prescribed to the, so far, mistaken belief that diff. increases make price go up, so their models were at least flawed.  But, I suspect that is only a fraction of those who bought these USB erupters and blades.  Although, the blades could still break even, depending on when they were purchased.  Most of the equipment bought from ASICMINER, by my math, will not, however.

Just remember, a fool and his money are soon parted..  if you are like me and have itched to make a *wise* investment in mining, and have yet to really find ample opportunity to do so, just sit tight.. opportunities will present themselves *because* of the foolhearty decisions made in the last several months with regard to equipment purchases, not in spite of them.

[Bitweasil]

There's also the possibility that people are interested in obtaining hardware and are NOT focused on ROI.

If one wants to obtain bitcoin without playing the "fiat/btc" game, one can buy mining hardware and then play the long game.  The ASICs should be profitable for quite a while (as will FPGAs, actually) if one assumes that the initial purchase cost is a sunk cost one will not recover.

But, yes, the real money is made selling mining hardware.

[CanadianGuy]

if you made back your investment in only a few monoths why would anybody sell it to you

[Rampion]

There's also the possibility that people are interested in obtaining hardware and are NOT focused on ROI.

If one wants to obtain bitcoin without playing the "fiat/btc" game, one can buy mining hardware and then play the long game.  The ASICs should be profitable for quite a while (as will FPGAs, actually) if one assumes that the initial purchase cost is a sunk cost one will not recover.

But, yes, the real money is made selling mining hardware.

In the long run, when margins get tight, yes. Short term and during a huge step forward in the technology, when a single entity can control a vast % of the network for relatively low cost, no.

[ScaryHash]

I'm liking my block erupter that I just got. It's cute, and according to my calculations, it will come close to paying itself off in a year.

The return on investment can be calculated in different ways, not necessarily on just pure BTC generated.

For example, I got mine because I was looking for a way to bump up the hash speed without generating TONS more heat in my office. Compared to adding a graphics card, it does not put out much heat at all, thus saving me money on cooling costs.

Also, I wanted to test the ASIC concept, see how hard it is to get going, learn something in the process, AND bump up my hashrate IMMEDIATELY (added 30%), so that I can generate more bitcoins to buy more ASICS down the road (generating BTC to pay for assembly costs, etc)....

I don't really want to add graphics cards now, with their associated heat, but I did want to bump up the hash rate.

Block Erupter is available NOW, immediately, to help me accomplish the goals that I set out to accomplish.

If you look at it from that point of view, it is well worth the money, right NOW. A month from now, it will not be, according to my calculations.

[madchance]

If the price of bitcoins goes up, there will be a (not in nominal, but in value i.e. in gold) profit.

Admittedly it would have been a lot easier to just buy bitcoins to make that bet.

Edit: there is also another upside: mined bitcoins are truly anonymous which can motivate a premium in high-friction transactions..

[drlukacs]

If the price of bitcoins goes up, there will be a (not in nominal, but in value i.e. in gold) profit.

Admittedly it would have been a lot easier to just buy bitcoins to make that bet.

Edit: there is also another upside: mined bitcoins are truly anonymous which can motivate a premium in high-friction transactions..

It is true if you mine it yourself. Not if you are part of a pool.

As for the profitability, I suggest that you have a look at this site:

http://www.coinish.com/calc/#

It, finally, takes into account the increase in the difficulty.

[GigaWave]

If the price of bitcoins goes up, there will be a (not in nominal, but in value i.e. in gold) profit.

Admittedly it would have been a lot easier to just buy bitcoins to make that bet.

Edit: there is also another upside: mined bitcoins are truly anonymous which can motivate a premium in high-friction transactions..

It is true if you mine it yourself. Not if you are part of a pool.

As for the profitability, I suggest that you have a look at this site:

http://www.coinish.com/calc/#

It, finally, takes into account the increase in the difficulty.

Don't be fooled by that calculator. It doesn't really take into consideration the coming increase. You have to enter the appropriate increase value to get the "right"(likely) difficulty increase.

[CoinHoarder]

Anyone considered the re-sale value?

The only people that are going to make money on Block Erupters are ASICMINER, their shareholders, and the resellers...

Of course people have thought about reselling them... that's the only way to profit from them from the outside looking in.

[drlukacs]

If the price of bitcoins goes up, there will be a (not in nominal, but in value i.e. in gold) profit.

Admittedly it would have been a lot easier to just buy bitcoins to make that bet.

Edit: there is also another upside: mined bitcoins are truly anonymous which can motivate a premium in high-friction transactions..

It is true if you mine it yourself. Not if you are part of a pool.

As for the profitability, I suggest that you have a look at this site:

http://www.coinish.com/calc/#

It, finally, takes into account the increase in the difficulty.

Don't be fooled by that calculator. It doesn't really take into consideration the coming increase. You have to enter the appropriate increase value to get the "right"(likely) difficulty increase.

I agree with you that the calculator is quite optimistic, and is based only on past data. But even that data confirms that Block Erupter USB owners will not make ROI.

The reality is worse: they will be losing a lot of money.

[infoporter]

Delivering on time is one thing, but overcharging for ASIC products is another. I find that most of AsicMiner's products are overpriced from the initial offering. This is obviously to make money for their shareholders, but I'm not sure how long a business can sustain selling products that are not profitable to the consumer, when the whole purpose of buying an ASIC is to turn a profit at mining.

[Bitweasil]

Delivering on time is one thing, but overcharging for ASIC products is another. I find that most of AsicMiner's products are overpriced from the initial offering. This is obviously to make money for their shareholders, but I'm not sure how long a business can sustain selling products that are not profitable to the consumer, when the whole purpose of buying an ASIC is to turn a profit at mining.

Are they having trouble selling their products, or are they selling as fast as they can produce them?

If the second, they're not overcharging.

Also, plenty of people buy at current prices assuming the price of bitcoin will go up long term.

If I were a shareholder (I'm not), I'd be pretty pissed if they weren't charging what the market would pay for their products!  They're one of very few companies shipping any quantity right now.

I don't get this "The purpose of a business is to be a charity and underprice their products so I can get a better deal" approach to running a business many people here seem to have.  It's clearly not people who have run a business or have a tolerable grasp of economics.

[joae1975]

Mine PPC with them.  Yeah, it could take 3 years for ROI if BTC stays ~100.  When blocks go to 12.5, BTC could and should spike, and we'll get our ROI by then I'm sure. ihmo.

[howzbit]

Are there any other use for the ASICminer USB beside mining Bitcoins? (ex:litecoins)

[jarias]

But even that data confirms that Block Erupter USB owners will not make ROI.

The reality is worse: they will be losing a lot of money.

+1

[WuLabsWuTecH]

I got 2 of them, one for my office desk and one that I keep either at home or at my other "mobile" office I set up.

They are cute, colorful, and a nice decoration on my desk.  Will I make, ROI?  Absolutely, unless the price of bitcoin crashes.  Even if the difficulty goes up, it still makes money, just less.  It will EVENTUALLY make back for itself, but even if it didn't I have a coupld of novelty pieces for decoration that cost less to have each day.  (Paid about $250 USD for them each, so total of $500, In the week I've had them, I've made about $15 USD.  Break even point right now is 8 months but with block difficulty increasing is probably closer to a year.  But even so, if I only made 10 USD a week, the decorations would have only cost me $150 a piece by Christmastime which is more than reasonable for a decoration on my desk that shows what I support (the Physicians that work with me have decorations that are worth a TON more).

[SGExodus]

I got 2 of them, one for my office desk and one that I keep either at home or at my other "mobile" office I set up.

They are cute, colorful, and a nice decoration on my desk.  Will I make, ROI?  Absolutely, unless the price of bitcoin crashes.  Even if the difficulty goes up, it still makes money, just less.  It will EVENTUALLY make back for itself, but even if it didn't I have a coupld of novelty pieces for decoration that cost less to have each day.  (Paid about $250 USD for them each, so total of $500, In the week I've had them, I've made about $15 USD.  Break even point right now is 8 months but with block difficulty increasing is probably closer to a year.  But even so, if I only made 10 USD a week, the decorations would have only cost me $150 a piece by Christmastime which is more than reasonable for a decoration on my desk that shows what I support (the Physicians that work with me have decorations that are worth a TON more).

You will never make back 2 BTC of investment with the crap stick, unless there is another big mining operation meltdown causing the network difficulty to have a sharp drop.

You could potentially make back what you spend in cash (if you purchase the 2BTC to buy the stick), if the Bitcoin price will rise above today's value.

In that case, people who bought 2 BTC now will make the same profit as you do, without wasting on their electrical bills.

[Fallout]

Are there any other use for the ASICminer USB beside mining Bitcoins? (ex:litecoins)

You can mine all SHA-256 Coins, so Freicoins, PPCoin, Bytecoin, Terracoin, ...