Alpha Technology Litecoin (Scrypt) ASIC Miner Order Batch 1 Now!

[DarkKnight]

ASICs Killed BTC/SHA256 mining for GPU owners. LTC/Scrypt was born. ASICs compete with Scrypt, push out low end GPUs, a new (more ASIC resistant) coin will be made.

Bottom line, $9000 will buy you ~15MH/s in GPU Scrypt performance, with the added security of being able to resell the hardware. If you're frugal, you can probably improve on that. Cooling is still an issue, but both cooling and electricity aren't problems for a lot of people. Even if this isn't some elaborate scam (don't hold your breath) this isn't the same deal as with BTC.

Also, seems like saying Global Foundries will be doing your manufacturing is just name dropping for credibility. GF is a very large company. I'd be surprised if they would bother with a small order like this. Maybe we should call them up and ask if they are affiliated.  

[lenny_]

9 months wait?
Illegal refund conditions (check Terms and Conditions).
So much overpriced?
I don't want to be BFL'd again, thanks, I am done here.

[Sk1llS]

Within 3-5 months after receipt of payment: 50% of the deposit will be refunded.

Wow this is even more dodgy! How about you refund 200% deposit for not delivering after 5 months? What stops these guys stalling for 3 months then refunding everyone only 50%  SCAM!

[djaychela]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who thought this looks a bit dodgy:

1) The website is littered with spelling/grammar errors.  You don't see that from companies who have the profile that this lot are claiming.

2) The Ts&Cs look dodgy to me, as others have pointed out.

3) No sign of any development hardware or testing, etc.  In a market like this, that would be the thing that would turn people's heads; having a working prototype or proof of concept, even if it was sub-standard in terms of performance.  I know that this sort of thing will need custom ICs built to work, but a PoC would be needed beforehand, I think, to convince anyone this was anything other than wishful thinking (at best)

4) Checking out their development partners, they seem to have produced a few bits of kit a while ago, and do some FPGA development.  Nothing particularly special, and a load of claims/specs but not that much in the way of hardware on show.

Having checked out the other people who were going to make a scrypt miner which was FPGA based and seeing it would cost the earth and underperform, it's difficult not to see this the same way.  As someone's already said, 2015...best case scenario.  I say that as someone who invested in OpenPandora on week 3, and it took 3 years to arrive, instead of the 6 months they promised; that was on a fairly straightforward product that didn't involve any custom ICs...

[SimonG]

I hope everyone understands this is a SCAM.

8906 USD for 25 MH/s = 29 graphics card (280x) for about 300 USD each. 22 MH/s.

I know they better provide value for money and far less energy usage but their terms and condition are awful.

Code:

Within 0-1 month after receipt of payment: Full deposit will be refunded.

Within 1-3 months after receipt of payment: 75% of the deposit will be refunded.

Within 3-5 months after receipt of payment: 50% of the deposit will be refunded.

Please note a cancellation fee of £70 towards handling charges will be applicable along with any cancellation.

Shipping  Booked shipments will be delivered within Q2/Q3 of Year 2014. 

Viper (Scrypt) Miner (5Mh/s) = £1350  = 7 graphics card = 5250 Mh/s

If someone changes the scrypt code base they will both be worthless. And if you cancel pre-order before its begin shipped you'll only get 50% back + as if that were not enough they also charge 114.45 USD for canceling order.

In my country electrical power is so cheap I dont even notice any diffrent on my power bill if its using 100 or 1500+ watt.

ASIC miners are only created for one solid purpose which means they will be very hard to sell if a new ASIC resistant proof of work algorithm is created.
After GPU mining is no longer profitable selling computer parts will be easy even if you dont get full retail value back.

[peterlustig]

I thought a 5MH miner is 405 pounds?

[SimonG]

I thought a 5MH miner is 405 pounds?

Its only the pre-order fee you pay in december/january and then you have to pay full price 70% 2 months before shipping. Total price: £1350 inc. VAT.

[dbzenhosting]

I don't think I will be getting one of theses. The main factors are it won't arrive until 2015, no protection or money back if they fail to ship out on time. I can mine with my GPU for a year and still make a decent amount of coins. Their refund policy is just crap, price could be a little better. Good luck everyone else. We need more information before anyone should get into this.

[ZetaOS]

The CEO name is Mohammed Akram  

Here is his picture, please people this smells like a scam.

[c0ldfusi0nz]

These noobs had their web site crash under the load of a couple hundred people registering. LOL. https://twitter.com/UkAlpha/status/415848475985973248

[rhubear]

As one of the Twitter posts said : it's strange that they release a statement today, unless they're mainly based in India.  There is no xmas there. 

My post here is just wondering if anyone apart from myself is unconvinced (ok there are a couple unconvinced posts already).

Alpha's post indicated software & firmware update...  I was under the impression that Asic chips had firmware that is not updateable?

[Mirsad]

A lot of people will get scammed. The greedy get burnt 

[verloren]

As one of the Twitter posts said : it's strange that they release a statement today, unless they're mainly based in India.  There is no xmas there. 

Alpha-T is based in Manchester.

Their partner (Dexcel) is based in India.

[zachamo]

Is it just me, or is their website down???

I've been keeping an eye on these guys for at least a month -- would expect a scam to have started taking money earlier, these guys have (reportedly) been working on this for awhile -- look up their other threads.

[GigaCoin]

your website is down.

[ninjaboon]

your website is down.

https://alpha-t.net/login-register/
still offline.

[guugll]

the website is off and that is not very promising - is it?
also lack of details is alarming - if they had it they would show it - nobody can steal it from picture or movie so...

my opinion: SCAM

[patnor1011]

Scam or not it looks very much like BFL scenario.
New pricey wonders which may come in half a year and at the time when they come they may be too little to matter much. When they come then it may be already late for various reasons.

[GigaCoin]

website seems to be back up, however the registration doesn't work.

if anyone else has any luck , do update.

I agree though the prices are way too high and with poor refund policy and lack of any prototype they are requiring too much faith from clients.

[Oldminer]

The CEO name is Mohammed Akram  

Here is his picture, please people this smells like a scam.

What I find interesting is how 2 accountants are supposedly making this technology available. They likely now nothing about technology though I'm sure their quite good at counting money (yours)