Scrypt ASIC International is a scam - additional evidence found

[watson1741]

Hi,

I just registered to the forum to share my findings about the company Scrypt ASIC International (SAI), who claims to develop an ASIC for scrypt mining, capable of pulling 25000kH/s!

This thread already makes 100 % clear, that SAI is a scam: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=259640.0

Thank you for that, for a second I thought about throwing my money at them by getting some of their shares to get on their preorder list...

As a newbie, I'm not allowed to post directly in that thread, so I put it here. Perhaps someone could move it to the related thread mentioned above.

On the SAI news page http://scryptasic.org/?p=86 is a screenshot of the supposed "Unit 1" PCB layout. A short google images search (keywords: "asic pcb") shows the exact same image on the site of a russian PCB developer: http://www.pcboard.spb.ru/pcb.html

When you hover on that image without clicking it, the tooltip text says: "xc7vx690t-ffg1761", which is a actually a FPGA from Xilinx. So this board may be rather something similar to one of those: http://www.hitechglobal.com/boards/allboards.htm , but defenitely not an ASIC for mining scrypt coins.

So this is another clear evidence, that SAI is undoubtedly scam. Hope, this information helped.

[busoni]

There is definitely evidence that calls the authenticity of Scrypt ASIC International into question, but what you provide does not seem to me to be such evidence. The two images you say are identical are quite obviously not. Compare them yourself:

http://scryptasic.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Scrypt-ASIC-PCB.png
http://www.pcboard.spb.ru/images/pcb_27.gif

[watson1741]

Then have a closer look at them 

It is just mirrored, but exactly identical. If they at least had changed the colours to make it less obvious...

[drm]

exactly the same indeed

[flynn]

Good findings ! Thanx !

[ph4nt0m]

SAI cannot be trusted unless they come up with some real proof which I doubt they have.

[kileris]

thanks for sharing this man, good to know, as I was considering holding out on setting up my 6x7950 rig waiting for ASICs

[Aahzman]

Yeah, those two pics are as close to identical (as detectable by the eye) as can be.  Just use an image viewer and do a vertical flip on one of the two and you'll see it.

A shame. ASIC-based Scrypt mining would be an interesting project.

[busoni]

Then have a closer look at them 

It is just mirrored, but exactly identical. If they at least had changed the colours to make it less obvious...

Wow, good eye. It took me a while to see it even after I knew it was there.

If they're still pulling stunts like this, it's incredibly obvious they're lying through their teeth. Yet people keep buying shares....

[kronicblazer]

So is ASIC mining still coming to scrypt anytime soon? Or can I feel safe investing in a mining rig for Christmas?

[Kergekoin]

Im yet to see any firm evidence of any working scrypt asic, which is a lot more efficent than current AMD cards and costs less per J.

[walters]

So is ASIC mining still coming to scrypt anytime soon? Or can I feel safe investing in a mining rig for Christmas?

Scrypt FPGAs coming first.

[flynn]

So is ASIC mining still coming to scrypt anytime soon? Or can I feel safe investing in a mining rig for Christmas?

Scrypt FPGAs coming first.

Well, for this to work, the FPGA will have to be interfaced with some memory. If most of the time spent performing the scrypt algorithm is spent in memory accesses, it will not be faster than a simple microprocessor, and GPU will still be faster (densier).

If you develop an architecture similar to GPUs, well, you'll get a GPU.

So at the end, I'm not convinced FPGA and/or ASIC are that much of interest here.

[wilson1973]

I see the domain is also registered against a PO Box address.

These are generally only used in the UK to a) hide the users true address or b) hide the fact that they are operating from a bedroom. Either way it smells funny.

I think those who have invested their crypto currency in the share scheme can wave goodbye to their investment.

Just my two bit coin worth.

[delovan]

Here is a post from ScottDavenro/CatpChadd proving this whole thing will blow off. Sell the shares (if you have any) and run away !

Link to post on forum : http://scryptasic.org/forum/index.php?/topic/298-general-sai-and-miner-chat/page-7#entry1025

Screenshot for posterity

https://i.imgur.com/WiJj9aa.png

[elrugrim]

Yeah.. that doesn't seem questionable at all -sarcasm-

[CaptainBeck]

We really need a way to authentic new hardware companies because with the influx of all these ASIC there must be people getting burned out there and badly.

Its far to easy for someone to just start a site and claim to have a new miner, they only need 1 per order to make it worth their while.

[BillGeo]

Im yet to see any firm evidence of any working scrypt asic, which is a lot more efficent than current AMD cards and costs less per J.

My guess it that they will be available in the first or second quarter of 2014.
At first they will be very very overpriced relative to performance with only low wattage to show for...

But anyway investing in a GPU mining rig is till, and will be for a long time (more than the whole year is my guess)
more profitable and safe for the simple fact that GPU hardware (and high-end second-hand hardware at that)
can always be sold back to miners and/or gamers for very little loss of capital.

Try and sell an old 9Mh/s BitCoin ASIC miner no. YOu will not even get 1/8 the price you paid to get it!!!

[BillGeo]

Also the SCRYPT algo does not lend itself very well to ASICs.

Of  course an ASIC can be made to do anything, what I mean is that
the complexity and design effort (and power consumption) that are needed
to manufacture a SCRYPT ASIC are 10 times more than whats needed for an SHA-256 ASIC...

So, yes SCRYPT ASICS will make the diff go a bit higher WHEN they become
publicly available and WHEN they become reasonably priced.
But it will NOT be the same steep climb that was the case with bitcoin ASICs...

[CaptainBeck]

Also the SCRYPT algo does not lend itself very well to ASICs.

Of  course an ASIC can be made to do anything, what I mean is that
the complexity and design effort (and power consumption) that are needed
to manufacture a SCRYPT ASIC are 10 times more than whats needed for an SHA-256 ASIC...

So, yes SCRYPT ASICS will make the diff go a bit higher WHEN they become
publicly available and WHEN they become reasonably priced.
But it will NOT be the same steep climb that was the case with bitcoin ASICs...

It will take some real magic to beat the current crop of GPUs at scrypt. It both terms of speed and cost.

People at my work have also made Scrypt FPGAs out of research equipment we have here, its was so costly compared to gpus and only offered better results interms of power use.