USB block erupters are now useless. $5 - $7 each.

[Peter Todd]

It is all about supply and demand.  The tough thing is you can be firm on $20 and if other people are willing to pay $40 and they sell out, well there is no reason for them to cut the price (and profit) when they are selling out regardless.   The best price for ASICMiner is the highest possible price that still sells out before the next batch is ready.  So far they have done a good job holding to that equation (BE are accessible but you don't see lots of inventory just sitting around). 

What's so brilliant about those block erupters is the price point is just low enough that even people like me, who know damn well buying one is a waste of money, feel that wasting $50 for a cool desk ornament is justifiable.

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[Damnsammit]

What's so brilliant about those block erupters is the price point is just low enough that even people like me, who know damn well buying one is a waste of money, feel that wasting $50 for a cool desk ornament is justifiable.

Yeah.  It is a cool little item, for sure.  I think that is why it sells so damn well.  It's just a small amount of money and people can justify wasting that on a novelty.  It's not so much an investment as it is a impulse buy.

[axus]

The difference between mining and buying is the anonymity.  If you mine coins, you have a truly anonymous source and can build up a truly secure online presence.  There's no way to buy the coins on an exchange and keep your identity private.  Buying off-exchange has other risks. 

This is why people might be willing to mine at a loss.

[og kush420]

virtualmaster : there is no logic behind saying "they are a cool toy to show people about bitcoin mining and teach kids" because you could just use your computer to do that

Sure. You could use a book and some apples to show how it works a car or you could buy a toy car for your kid. Which one would he prefer ?
You don't need to answer just look how many people follow this logic.

what you said does not apply. there is no logic behind purchasing this for education when a computer can demonstrate bitcoin mining without it... mining bitcoins with this shit plugged into your computer or not will not make your kid understand it any better or make it any more authentic or "real"

nobody followed your logic, they bought it as a cool shiny gift for mom and dad, or based on greed/false hopes/misleading advertising whatever

[glitch003]

There's no way to buy the coins on an exchange and keep your identity private. 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the point of mixing services?  They bundle your transaction with a bunch of other ones, and it's impossible to tell whose BTC went where. 

[axus]

Yes mixing services can do that, but your name is still on a short list of people using Bitcoin.  How much and when you sent to mixing service will be tracked.

Ideally coin shops would sell bitcoins locally for cash, like you can do with gold coins; localbitcoins is another option but they'll be compromised sooner or later.

[atomium]

yea i had a feeling about this

[franky1]

virtualmaster : there is no logic behind saying "they are a cool toy to show people about bitcoin mining and teach kids" because you could just use your computer to do that

Sure. You could use a book and some apples to show how it works a car or you could buy a toy car for your kid. Which one would he prefer ?
You don't need to answer just look how many people follow this logic.

what you said does not apply. there is no logic behind purchasing this for education when a computer can demonstrate bitcoin mining without it... mining bitcoins with this shit plugged into your computer or not will not make your kid understand it any better or make it any more authentic or "real"

nobody followed your logic, they bought it as a cool shiny gift for mom and dad, or based on greed/false hopes/misleading advertising whatever

well following your logic, its like teaching modern day gold miners the only equipment they need is a pan and some water. in todays technology requirements for bitcoin, it is completely logical to assume to get any kind of reasonable income you require a piece of equipment that is not a standard computer part used for gaming (CPU/GPU).

so for teaching purposes using a USB erupter is actually great as the new sandbox testing and learning part of getting into mining before spending thousands on big rigs.

i would never go to any gold mining seminar to learn how to gold mine, if the only demonstration was pan washing. id want to see sloosh machines, excavators, dynamite being used.

that said i think that bitcoin mining has gone far passed the hbby price of every day users. and any education of people on small incomes should be based around the benefits of starting their own retail busines using bitcoins, without all the government red tape and without card processing fee's.

we (in comparison to gold mining) are no longer in the wild west days of pan washing for gold where any man and is son can do it. it requires significant investment to mine, thus leaving the rest of the world to find other methods of getting an income from the new currency. so lets make the educational push into retail start ups, working for bitcoins, buying every day products for bitcoins.

we need to move slowly away from the brain fart opinion that the only way to make money in bitcoins is to mine it.

[og kush420]

virtualmaster : there is no logic behind saying "they are a cool toy to show people about bitcoin mining and teach kids" because you could just use your computer to do that

Sure. You could use a book and some apples to show how it works a car or you could buy a toy car for your kid. Which one would he prefer ?
You don't need to answer just look how many people follow this logic.

what you said does not apply. there is no logic behind purchasing this for education when a computer can demonstrate bitcoin mining without it... mining bitcoins with this shit plugged into your computer or not will not make your kid understand it any better or make it any more authentic or "real"

nobody followed your logic, they bought it as a cool shiny gift for mom and dad, or based on greed/false hopes/misleading advertising whatever

well following your logic, its like teaching modern day gold miners the only equipment they need is a pan and some water. in todays technology requirements for bitcoin, it is completely logical to assume to get any kind of reasonable income you require a piece of equipment that is not a standard computer part used for gaming (CPU/GPU).

so for teaching purposes using a USB erupter is actually great as the new sandbox testing and learning part of getting into mining before spending thousands on big rigs.

i would never go to any gold mining seminar to learn how to gold mine, if the only demonstration was pan washing. id want to see sloosh machines, excavators, dynamite being used.

that said i think that bitcoin mining has gone far passed the hbby price of every day users. and any education of people on small incomes should be based around the benefits of starting their own retail busines using bitcoins, without all the government red tape and without card processing fee's.

we (in comparison to gold mining) are no longer in the wild west days of pan washing for gold where any man and is son can do it. it requires significant investment to mine, thus leaving the rest of the world to find other methods of getting an income from the new currency. so lets make the educational push into retail start ups, working for bitcoins, buying every day products for bitcoins.

we need to move slowly away from the brain fart opinion that the only way to make money in bitcoins is to mine it.

again, the analogy does not fit, i have already explained it to you, believe what you wish.

[Xyver]

I get power for $0.08, so as long as bitcoins stay at $100, block erupters pay for their power usage until the difficulty hits 750 million.

You may not get fast profits, but you'll be able to use them for so long.

[ijphlrnxewho]

This is based on the assumptions that the usb block erupters can run 24 hours a day 7 days a week for at least 2-3 years before breaking down.

I get power for $0.08, so as long as bitcoins stay at $100, block erupters pay for their power usage until the difficulty hits 750 million.

You may not get fast profits, but you'll be able to use them for so long.

[Damnsammit]

lol 750M difficulty is like... what?  a few months away?

Current Difficulty is 50M, assume 20% increase each change... that's 15 changes away.  5-15 days between. 

 50,000,000.00    0
 60,000,000.00    1
 72,000,000.00    2
 86,400,000.00    3
 103,680,000.00    4
 124,416,000.00    5
 149,299,200.00    6
 179,159,040.00    7
 214,990,848.00    8
 257,989,017.60    9
 309,586,821.12    10
 371,504,185.34    11
 445,805,022.41    12
 534,966,026.90    13
 641,959,232.27    14
 770,351,078.73    15
 924,421,294.48    16
 1,109,305,553.37    17
 1,331,166,664.04    18
 1,597,399,996.85    19
 1,916,879,996.22    20

[millsdmb]

lol 750M difficulty is like... what?  a few months away?

Current Difficulty is 50M, assume 20% increase each change... that's 15 changes away.  5-15 days between. 

I hate planned obsolescence 

[Damnsammit]

Well to say that they will pay for themselves "for so long" is just laughable.

If difficulty keeps up then they will be running for naught before early next year if not before.

[Notanon]

Nothing to stop people pointing their USB miners at PPC and other SHA256 coins. Just saying.

[LukasP33]

Nothing to stop people pointing their USB miners at PPC and other SHA256 coins. Just saying.

true, i think PPC definitely has some chances to become big in the future!

[Numberless]

The good news is the USB hubs and fans used for these should keep their value pretty well.  They could serve whatever USB miner comes next.  Or make it so the user will never be hot or looking for USB ports again 

[Damnsammit]

Nothing to stop people pointing their USB miners at PPC and other SHA256 coins. Just saying.

Truth, but if that was more profitable now then wouldn't people be doing that?

If not, then when it becomes more profitable than Bitcoin, will it still be worth the electricity? I mean free money is free money, but if you are making 20 cents a day off of a dozen block erupters then I think even for free electricity I would just make them into keychains and try to sell them for a few bucks

[tspacepilot]

As for the $5 being the "correct" price are you willing to sell me your BE for $5?  I get the feeling when people say things like "this ASIC should be $x" they only mean they would buy not sell at that price. Of course if that truly is the correct price they would be happy to sell theirs off at fair value. 

Unless they legitimately don't want to sell because they are interested in keeping the product.  I might agree that a fair price for my widget is $N, but I still might not want to sell it because then I'd have to go buy another widget.

Still, I think your point is well made.

[tinus42]

Nothing to stop people pointing their USB miners at PPC and other SHA256 coins. Just saying.

Truth, but if that was more profitable now then wouldn't people be doing that?

If not, then when it becomes more profitable than Bitcoin, will it still be worth the electricity? I mean free money is free money, but if you are making 20 cents a day off of a dozen block erupters then I think even for free electricity I would just make them into keychains and try to sell them for a few bucks

They only use 2.5 watts. A Raspberry PI uses 3.5 watts. Power usage is negligible.