[2013-11-21] Alpha Technologies Announces ASIC Miners for Litecoin are Coming

[LiteCoinGuy]

Alpha Technologies Announces ASIC Miners for Litecoin are Coming Soon

Manchester, UK-based Alpha Technologies has announced it will start developing the first purpose-built ASIC mining hardware for litecoin, signing a partnership deal with Indian designer and manufacturer Dexcel Designs.

http://www.coindesk.com/asic-miners-litecoin-soon/

[Barek]

Wasn't that the thing that made Litecoin different from Bitcoin?

[Gabi]

Wasn't that the thing that made Litecoin different from Bitcoin?

Why should not be ASIC for litecoins? Everything that run on a computer can run on specialized hardware. It runs on generic hardware, why the hell should it NOT run on specialized one?

[Barek]

Why should not be ASIC for litecoins? Everything that run on a computer can run on specialized hardware. It runs on generic hardware, why the hell should it NOT run on specialized one?

That's how people sold Litecoin. They were told that it was only a matter of time until there were ASICs for Litecoin. I suppose there is a market now to make it worthwhile to start development.

With it about to have the same properties as Bitcoin, there does not seem to be much point to it.

[LiteCoinGuy]

why is there silver when there is gold? no need for that 

[Barek]

why is there silver when there is gold? no need for that  

That comparison does not work. Though I suppose it explains why Litecoin is valued the way it is.

Availability of Litecoin ASICs basically makes it a Bitcoin clone. What then makes it special among the Bitcoin clones?

The value of a virtual currency comes from people using it (or the expectation of people using it in the future). Bitcoin has a much larger user base, a much larger and therefore secure network, .... Imagine there was a second totally separate internet. Why would people use that?

Gold/Silver/Copper/... are raw materials that were traditionally used as store of value. I suppose that is why people still use them as such. They also look nice.

Here's another thought. Imagine someone set up a Litecoin2 and called it Copper. I'm pretty sure you would think that to be nonsense.

[lumierre]

why is there silver when there is gold? no need for that 

Gold and silver have different and unique industrial uses. The way I see it now, Litecoin and Bitcoin are the same stuff.

[420]

Tell me when they're available to pre-order

[Rygon]

The price of LTC relative to BTC has been decreasing steadily for the past 6 months. No reason to think that won't continue since LTC is only trivially different from BTC. You're better off using that money to buy and hold BTC.

[420]

The price of LTC relative to BTC has been decreasing steadily for the past 6 months. No reason to think that won't continue since LTC is only trivially different from BTC. You're better off using that money to buy and hold BTC.

1st: you're wrong (price went up in June to early July

2nd: no one cares about past 6 months; they care about 3 months before that when the price multiplied by 5x vs bitcoin:
http://www.cryptocoincharts.info/period-charts.php?period=1-year&resolution=day&pair=ltc-btc&market=btc-e

#burned

[cr1776]

BFL is "shipping in two weeks."   

Tell me when they're available to pre-order

[TraderTimm]

So these are Scrypt-enabled ASICs? I find it highly amusing that a group supporting Litecoin, who originally were promoting it as a haven for people who wanted to put their GPU's to work, are now adopting the technology that they decried as "centralizing mining power". Wow, what a bunch of hypocrites.

And that isn't even addressing the massive scalability problems that Litecoin will have if they attempt to get it anywhere near the total network size that Bitcoin is right now.

What a clowncar of an alt-coin.

[420]

BFL is "shipping in two weeks."  

Tell me when they're available to pre-order

ass. BFL's finally catching up: https://forums.butterflylabs.com/blogs

So these are Scrypt-enabled ASICs? I find it highly amusing that a group supporting Litecoin, who originally were promoting it as a haven for people who wanted to put their GPU's to work, are now adopting the technology that they decried as "centralizing mining power". Wow, what a bunch of hypocrites.

And that isn't even addressing the massive scalability problems that Litecoin will have if they attempt to get it anywhere near the total network size that Bitcoin is right now.

What a clowncar of an alt-coin.

dude, did ASICMINER block erupters more centralize or decentralize the mining?

[Seth Otterstad]

Litecoin was originally billed as a CPU-only coin, with Coblee even threatening to change the proof-of-work after GPU mining was demonstrated.  After GPU mining took over and Coblee was too lazy to change the proof-of-work, litecoiners started calling CPU coins "botnet coins".  What will they call GPU coins now?

In two years litecoin couldn't even get 100 merchants.  Meanwhile, Bitpay has 12,000 merchants and Coinbase has 13,000, up 2000% year over year.

[seleme]

I'll try to get some info about the guy and company. It's Manchester, UK based company and I know lot of local Manchester City fans so I have already sent some PMs.

[niothor]

Time to sell all the GPU mining gear

[Tirapon]

Here's another thought. Imagine someone set up a Litecoin2 and called it Copper. I'm pretty sure you would think that to be nonsense.

Someone already did. They called it feathercoin.

[LiteCoinGuy]

Here's another thought. Imagine someone set up a Litecoin2 and called it Copper. I'm pretty sure you would think that to be nonsense.

Someone already did. They called it feathercoin.

And thats worthless. Litecoin has far the best devs and community after bitcoin.
When time goes by, both currencys will have even greater variations. Its also a backup for bitcoin. If these devs do something terrible wrong, you can go with litecoin which is far more community based in my opinion.

And its always the same:

Example: You have samsung. Why apple, sony, motorola etc?

People want to have options. And they think: dont put all eggs In one basket.

[Barek]

And thats worthless. Litecoin has far the best devs and community after bitcoin.
When time goes by, both currencys will have even greater variations. Its also a backup for bitcoin. If these devs do something terrible wrong, you can go with litecoin which is far more community based in my opinion.

And its always the same:

Example: You have samsung. Why apple, sony, motorola etc?

People want to have options. And they think: dont put all eggs In one basket.

In all your arguments you assume that Litecoin and Bitcoin are/will be different. Yet, this is here is a news post about the start of ASIC development for Litecoin. The claim that Litecoin could not be run on ASICs is the one property that sets it apart from Bitcoin. Once those ASICs are running, Litecoin is pretty much Bitcoin just with a different blockchain.

And as you point out yourself, a direct copy is worthless.

[mccorvic]

Wasn't that the thing that made Litecoin different from Bitcoin?

Of course.  Now the  litecoiners will have one less lame argument to make.  Pretty much all that is left is "Please buy my ltc so I can buy btc. Please?"