PBmining - legit?

[dyask]

Hello,

here is an update on my experience. To refresh everybody's memory: I started (I think) around End of Feb/Beginning of March, investing 8.9 BTC at pbmining (yes, there is a ref code in that link).

I have to this day been paid 8.2 BTC and will very likely break even next week.

Now I do know this does not proof anything regarding whether this website is legit or not. The only thing that I can say is that I got my money back and I still mine at about 0,3 plus change BTC per week.. So for the coming months I will generate a not too bad share of coins week by week. And it's more than I expected it to be. This can change if diff levels increase at higher rates, of course, but at this time I am more than happy that I risked my fiat.

To be honest: If this is a Ponzi it is the first one I ever came across where I generate a gain. And I am not one of the first ones that used pbmining, I don't think that I am an early adopter of them.

The golden rule stays (as mentioned so many times by others): Don't invest if you can not afford to lose your investment. BTC is still a very very new market and it will take a few more years until it matures.

Happy mining,

iFlash

That's good to know, so in total you break even in about 4 months.  I jumped in rather late (about two weeks ago) but according to this calculator (http://pratscher.org/pbmining/) I could still break even in about 5 months (mid November). Of course predictions are predictions, nobody can guesstimate rising difficulty and/or future BTC price, so in the end yes I agree that this is quite a gamble, and yes we should all not invest money we could not afford to lose. It does however, give a good thrill and were it just a portion of your investment then it would be a pleasant surprise when they actually come through.

Godspeed all! :-)

Well you can predict the next difficulty increase will probably be a crushing 26%.   

[KimNam]

Anyone here knows where did pbmining get their hardware (if really exist )?
i saw one time, their GHS contracts just sold out, and they can make it ready for short time
and they sold more than 60-80 TH/s for that time
is it possible someone buy and install huge amount of hardware within short time?

[xstr8guy]

Well, according to their website SaskPower which I guess is the power company in Saskatechewan is 11cents per kwh.  Which I'm assuming that is in Canadian money, so it's probably close to 10 cents in USD.  If they are far enough North they can also save a bundle on cooling costs. 

Just a guess but are you quoting residential power cost? Industrial and commercial power is usually much, much cheaper.

[fivejonnyfive]

Well, according to their website SaskPower which I guess is the power company in Saskatechewan is 11cents per kwh.  Which I'm assuming that is in Canadian money, so it's probably close to 10 cents in USD.  If they are far enough North they can also save a bundle on cooling costs. 

Just a guess but are you quoting residential power cost? Industrial and commercial power is usually much, much cheaper.

If he was looking at the same sheet I was, that is for commercial. 

[Group Bitcoin]

Well, according to their website SaskPower which I guess is the power company in Saskatechewan is 11cents per kwh.  Which I'm assuming that is in Canadian money, so it's probably close to 10 cents in USD.  If they are far enough North they can also save a bundle on cooling costs. 

Just a guess but are you quoting residential power cost? Industrial and commercial power is usually much, much cheaper.

If he was looking at the same sheet I was, that is for commercial. 

Please understand this ($0.10Kwh cost) 1GH/s at 0.5w efficiency which doesn't exist (more like 1w per GH/s) is over $2 for 5 years in ELECTRICITY ALONE.

They are not mining it's mathematical fact not opinion.

[tempestb]

You keep going to the 5 years calculation.  Miners continue to get more efficient and faster.  If they started with Antminers running 350 watts at 200gh (Let's assume they overclock) and then they start getting Spondoolie hardware at 6th for 2600 watts.  They can move a whole bunch of contracts to the 6th and shut down the Antminers and sell them off for profit.

It's not like they are going to run an Antminer for the next five years and pay more money in power than it earns in mining.

At some point, you don't even mine for those people if it doesn't make fiscal sense to do so.  You scrape up a dollar and pass out the change without even bothering to mine.

[Group Bitcoin]

You keep going to the 5 years calculation.  Miners continue to get more efficient and faster.  If they started with Antminers running 350 watts at 200gh (Let's assume they overclock) and then they start getting Spondoolie hardware at 6th for 2600 watts.  They can move a whole bunch of contracts to the 6th and shut down the Antminers and sell them off for profit.

It's not like they are going to run an Antminer for the next five years and pay more money in power than it earns in mining.

At some point, you don't even mine for those people if it doesn't make fiscal sense to do so.  You scrape up a dollar and pass out the change without even bothering to mine.

I go to the 5 year calculation. Because they claim to sell 5 year contracts with no additional fees ?!

Lets say they bought Antminer S1's a few months ago check the price now against SP30's lol.

The whole idea of them upgrading the hardware periodically doesn't work as the value goes down so quickly which makes it impossible to sell old stuff to buy new ones.

Also imagine how swamped the second hand market would be.... 800TH/s

[tempestb]

Honestly, I'm glad it's a Ponzi.  Think about it.  That is 800th that isn't adding to the difficulty. 

[KimNam]

Honestly, I'm glad it's a Ponzi.  Think about it.  That is 800th that isn't adding to the difficulty. 

yes if you see from that point of view
but if you see from customer view, they won't glad since their "investment" will gone someday

[tempestb]

True, but I think we've provided more than enough warning and reasons why in this forum post.  Anyone who is still in it deserves what they get.

[Syke]

You keep going to the 5 years calculation.  Miners continue to get more efficient and faster.

Not really. Further increases will be minimal. My Bitfury rigs from Aug '13 run at .9 J/GH. Nearly a year later, new rigs are .7 J/GH.

At some point, you don't even mine for those people if it doesn't make fiscal sense to do so.  You scrape up a dollar and pass out the change without even bothering to mine.

Bingo! That's where they are now. No need to mine, just send new customer coins to old customers. Ponzi!

[tempestb]

Whatever man.  Antminers are 350 watts for like 180gh.  And a SP30 is going to be  6th for 2600 watts.  Sort of a huge difference there.  The difficulty makes it so that the guy earning .0000001 every week can be pooled together with thousands of other old contracts and put on a single miner that is modern and earning more than they need.

I don't see how you don't understand this.  I don't run my 333mhz block erupter right now, because it earns something like .00000001 coin a day or something terrible.  I can earn more than what 500 of them make by using 1 antminer.  They will do the same thing.

[hellraven]

hmmmm, as long as they still paying
just play this game 
anyway, always "afford what u can lose"

[zcline]

The answer is always yes, they are making money or else they wouldn't be offering the service.  The only question that matters is if they're legit.

hmmmm, as long as they still paying
just play this game  
anyway, always "afford what u can lose"

Early adopters can benefit from a ponzi but you're putting yourself and the entire community at a huge risk of loss.  Not just money but a loss of trust by potential adopters.

At some point people have to stop investing in companies that have no transparency.  If there's no proof PB is mining, they're not mining.

[Syke]

Whatever man.  Antminers are 350 watts for like 180gh.  And a SP30 is going to be  6th for 2600 watts.  Sort of a huge difference there.  The difficulty makes it so that the guy earning .0000001 every week can be pooled together with thousands of other old contracts and put on a single miner that is modern and earning more than they need.

What you don't understand is they can't afford to buy SP30s, unless they're using new customers funds to buy mining equipment for old customers. Their continued operation requires new customers, or they will fail. That's a ponzi.

[Group Bitcoin]

Whatever man.  Antminers are 350 watts for like 180gh.  And a SP30 is going to be  6th for 2600 watts.  Sort of a huge difference there.  The difficulty makes it so that the guy earning .0000001 every week can be pooled together with thousands of other old contracts and put on a single miner that is modern and earning more than they need.

What you don't understand is they can't afford to buy SP30s, unless they're using new customers funds to buy mining equipment for old customers. Their continued operation requires new customers, or they will fail. That's a ponzi.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh that's so nice to hear thanks !

Why can't anyone understand that. You can't sell S1's to buy future hardware as a business model it's impossible. IT GOES DOWN IN VALUE.

[ronskii]

Something seems shady about them. A ponzi? Who can prove otherwise?

[Mike18feb]

No one can prove otherwise. Why do you think there's 24 pages (and growing) of talks back and forth?! Everyone who says it's a ponzi is wrong until right, everyone who says it isn't is right until wrong. Page 25 soon...

[fractal02]

No one can prove otherwise. Why do you think there's 24 pages (and growing) of talks back and forth?! Everyone who says it's a ponzi is wrong until right, everyone who says it isn't is right until wrong. Page 25 soon...

Lookin forward for the page 100... 

[jonsi]

PBMining discovered a user that was using a keylogger to steal his refferals accounts. They frozen his account and said they will gladly give the informations about the hacker to law enforcements. If they would run a ponzi wouldn't they expose themselves and make them so easy to find after they decide tu pull the plug?