New Player: SFARDS?

[windpath]

Claiming to be China’s largest holder of bitcoin, angel investor Li Xiao Lai has funded a new Beijing-based currency mining operation, Sfards Technology. The company is the result of a merger between Gridseed and WiiBox. Additional funding was provided by venture capital firm Matrix Partners China. The seed capital for the new endeavor was not disclosed in a press release.

Lai will lead the management team for the new operation which plans to launch “next-stage” ASIC technology, promising more power and efficiency.

“We are also expanding the capabilities of the WiiBox: an open-source mining hardware control system,” the company said in the release. “The platform will now also include an innovative hash rate rental feature, granting users the ability to seamlessly rent their equipment and use bought hashing power to mine a multitude of coins with complete autonomy.”

Sfards also states that it intends to offer cloud mining services in the future.

http://www.sfards.com/

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[yan7181]

interesting, now wait till they release their product, hope it's not pre order?

[Rabinovitch]

 

We are currently researching structural design, heat generation solutions...

Yeah, we basically need more heat from mining equipment... 

p.s. funny font they use on their website.

[rammy2k2]

well, they have a 5$ website so next step is to ask money for pre-orders, thats how things works for years, right ?

PS : i hope im wrong
PS 2 : i doubt

[dogie]

well, they have a 5$ website so next step is to ask money for pre-orders, thats how things works for years, right ?

PS : i hope im wrong
PS 2 : i doubt

I'll give them a message and feel them out.

[cereal7802]

I'll give them a message and feel them out.

pervert...

[Gleb Gamow]

I'll give them a message and feel them out.

pervert...

Umm, actually SFARDS felt us out first with their press release, thus dogie's comment is akin to a reach-around during the first dance.

Yes my life is better left to chance
I could have missed the pain but I'd have had to miss the dance

[Gleb Gamow]

According to his Facebook page (not linked), Jack exited the closet in 2010.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackniederer

Jack Niederer 孟巍

International Project Development Manager at Sfards Technology

Haidian District, Beijing, ChinaOutsourcing/Offshoring
Current   
Sfards Technology Ltd
Previous   
Teleperformance, Mercedes-Benz UK Ltd
Education   
Peking University

[notlist3d]

Looks like a place to get someone to set up industrial farm.  I didn't see any new products.  On http://www.sfards.com/product#part2 the close up of some miners looked like back of S3's to me(I could be wrong).

[Gleb Gamow]

Looks like a place to get someone to set up industrial farm.  I didn't see any new products.  On http://www.sfards.com/product#part2 the close up of some miners looked like back of S3's to me(I could be wrong).

The above image depicted on their site representing their own can be viewed here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=738232.0 (OP)



So, one can easily conclude that both entities are one and the same, or SFARDS is using an image sans permission.

[TheRealSteve]

Looks like a place to get someone to set up industrial farm.  I didn't see any new products.  On http://www.sfards.com/product#part2 the close up of some miners looked like back of S3's to me(I could be wrong).

GridSeed G-Blade
http://gridseed.com/en/product/blade_en.html
( Antminer S3 is non-square, taller )

As for the picture:

国内另一家矿业巨头格锐思捷GridSeed拥有三代矿场机房建设和运维迭代经验，近期与WiiBox合作推出了

From [...] the merging of two industry leaders Gridseed and WiiBox, comes SFARDS

Not so much a 'new player'.

[daddyfatsax]

From [...] the merging of two industry leaders Gridseed and WiiBox, comes SFARDS

Not so much a 'new player'.

So we know their stuff is going to be expensive. I was not a fan of the first Wiibox controller either.

[Bogart]

What a horrible name.  Makes me think of smelly farts.

[Gleb Gamow]

What a horrible name.  Makes me think of smelly farts.

They put as much thought in their name as they did in opting to not tick the appropriate permalink box in their Wordpress theme. At least they're consistent, having the ugly name go hand-and-hand with their sites ugly URLs.

[opieum2]

Marked difference in scammer pages and legit ones. The legit ones show their hardware and photos of their stuff....the scammers use stock photography, ironically one vendor used stock photos with someone I know in it. Got some serious lulz out of that. But that should be a red flag as they are unethically (not necessarily illegally) misrepresenting themselves as something more than what they are.

[opieum2]

be VERY VERY careful downloading from httx://wiibox.ne t/ (deliberately screwed up URL to prevent the stupid thing from happening) This is linked on the sfards site as a tool for monitoring miners.....by itself a potential security hazard. It is obvious they are targeting bigger miners operations....IF it is malware, then it will pretty much be a red flag to avoid them at all costs.

They have an app on there. I am running some forensic tests on there to see how it works. They have done nothing to show they are legit here. But that does not mean they are not. But it would be stupid for them not to at least try to reach out.

Also Wii is a registered trademark of Nintendo.....

[sbogovac]

Is this Josh's new alias?

According to his Facebook page (not linked), Jack exited the closet in 2010.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackniederer

Jack Niederer 孟巍

International Project Development Manager at Sfards Technology

Haidian District, Beijing, ChinaOutsourcing/Offshoring
Current   
Sfards Technology Ltd
Previous   
Teleperformance, Mercedes-Benz UK Ltd
Education   
Peking University

PS sorry, that was just tooooo easy...  

[opieum2]

So the verdict? Legit? or scam? Seems off. But if they merged with another company with a legit rep, then it could be the real deal.

[windpath]

I'm still on the fence, and as they are not selling anything at this point I guess they have some time to legitimize themselves.

Would be interested to hear from SFARDS, Gridseed and WiiBox....

The Gridseed site indicates nothing about them being acquired.

[opieum2]

I'm still on the fence, and as they are not selling anything at this point I guess they have some time to legitimize themselves.

Would be interested to hear from SFARDS, Gridseed and WiiBox....

The Gridseed site indicates nothing about them being acquired.

Well here is the red flag. Downloads. They have downloads to monitor gridseed devices. They also claim "open source" but there is no source code to be found. So they need to post up the source and get their ducks in a row. Makes sense if they are looking to establish legitimacy. But this is a poor start.

[xstr8guy]

Very unfortunate name for a company.  

[Rabinovitch]

Looks like this guy:
http://youtu.be/3fh8uP0fbH8

 

[Gleb Gamow]

Just honin' my Google-fu skills.  

[Gleb Gamow]

If you get pissed off easily, then don't click the link. You've been warned!: http://sfards.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/bishbashbosh/

[Gleb Gamow]

Claiming to be China’s largest holder of bitcoin, angel investor Li Xiao Lai has funded a new Beijing-based currency mining operation, Sfards Technology. The company is the result of a merger between Gridseed and WiiBox. Additional funding was provided by venture capital firm Matrix Partners China. The seed capital for the new endeavor was not disclosed in a press release.

Lai will lead the management team for the new operation which plans to launch “next-stage” ASIC technology, promising more power and efficiency.

“We are also expanding the capabilities of the WiiBox: an open-source mining hardware control system,” the company said in the release. “The platform will now also include an innovative hash rate rental feature, granting users the ability to seamlessly rent their equipment and use bought hashing power to mine a multitude of coins with complete autonomy.”

Sfards also states that it intends to offer cloud mining services in the future.

http://www.sfards.com/

The richest man of bitcoin ,Li xiao lai :Chinese government is most friendly to bitcoin

Li xiao lai ,who owns most bitcoin in China ,said ,:The understanding from China government to bitcoin is in advance ,and China is one of the most friendly countries to bitcoin .
His judging is on the basis of the document from central bank of China and the attitude from Its president Zhou xiao chuan .According to the document last year ,bitcoin doesn’t enjoy the equal legal status with currency .It’s virtual goods .So the public can join in bitcoin investment free .
However ,since the end of April ,almost all recharging ways are suspended .As the supervision is more serious ,five famous bitcoin website in China take self-discipline measures unitedly .

At present ,different governments have different attitudes to bitcoin .And Li xiao lai emphasized that we cant be too optimistic to bitcoin development .He believed that like Internet agreement ,bitcoin is a kind of agreement and trading language .So we should not judge it with morality .
“The real world is more crazy than our imagination .”Li xiao lai claimed that he couldn’t imagine today three years before .When he paid attention to bitcoin and start to purchase it ,others believed that he was mad .At that time ,one bitcoin price was only over 1 dollars .Last year ,the highest bitcoin price was more than 1 thousand dollars .According to the information ,Li xiao lai at least owns more than 100thousand trunk bitcoin .

Li xiao lai has started his business on bitcoin field ,but he thinks the opportunity is little .”On bitcoin field ,it’s difficult to innovate for bitcoin itself is innovation .”Since last year ,Li xiao lai founds pixiu ,Bitcoinsand ,BTC funds and so on .“When you own more bitcoin ,there are much people wait for your jokes .”He has said before ,”Starting business is purchasing happiness with money .”

Remaks: Due to language difference, sometimes people out of China can’t know what happened in China quickly. so we are here to make effort to change little, we will translate 3-4 bitcoin news in China to English everyday to help people out of China know what happened and what people thinks about bitcoin in China, If somewhere translate not that good, pls PM us so that we can  correct it.
Source http://www.forbeschina.com/news/news.php?id=33101

[opieum2]

Many words making no sense saying nothing while talking about nothing saying many words. Bitcoin, cloud services. Richest man in bitcoin. Many words saying nothing about everything. next stage ASIC blah blah everyone promises, many more words making no sense marketing speak by company. Cloud stuff Wiibox ripoff nintendo, more many words, speaking nothing about nothing with no substance or purpose.

A press release won't do anything until they show some hardware. But IF they are a merger of gridseed and what appears to be nintendo....well looking promising.  Ohh and the so called Open Source Wiibox software....where is the sources? Calling it open source means the source is open for all to view.

Claiming to be China’s largest holder of bitcoin, angel investor Li Xiao Lai has funded a new Beijing-based currency mining operation, Sfards Technology. The company is the result of a merger between Gridseed and WiiBox. Additional funding was provided by venture capital firm Matrix Partners China. The seed capital for the new endeavor was not disclosed in a press release.

Lai will lead the management team for the new operation which plans to launch “next-stage” ASIC technology, promising more power and efficiency.

“We are also expanding the capabilities of the WiiBox: an open-source mining hardware control system,” the company said in the release. “The platform will now also include an innovative hash rate rental feature, granting users the ability to seamlessly rent their equipment and use bought hashing power to mine a multitude of coins with complete autonomy.”

Sfards also states that it intends to offer cloud mining services in the future.

http://www.sfards.com/

The richest man of bitcoin ,Li xiao lai :Chinese government is most friendly to bitcoin

Li xiao lai ,who owns most bitcoin in China ,said ,:The understanding from China government to bitcoin is in advance ,and China is one of the most friendly countries to bitcoin .
His judging is on the basis of the document from central bank of China and the attitude from Its president Zhou xiao chuan .According to the document last year ,bitcoin doesn’t enjoy the equal legal status with currency .It’s virtual goods .So the public can join in bitcoin investment free .
However ,since the end of April ,almost all recharging ways are suspended .As the supervision is more serious ,five famous bitcoin website in China take self-discipline measures unitedly .

At present ,different governments have different attitudes to bitcoin .And Li xiao lai emphasized that we cant be too optimistic to bitcoin development .He believed that like Internet agreement ,bitcoin is a kind of agreement and trading language .So we should not judge it with morality .
“The real world is more crazy than our imagination .”Li xiao lai claimed that he couldn’t imagine today three years before .When he paid attention to bitcoin and start to purchase it ,others believed that he was mad .At that time ,one bitcoin price was only over 1 dollars .Last year ,the highest bitcoin price was more than 1 thousand dollars .According to the information ,Li xiao lai at least owns more than 100thousand trunk bitcoin .

Li xiao lai has started his business on bitcoin field ,but he thinks the opportunity is little .”On bitcoin field ,it’s difficult to innovate for bitcoin itself is innovation .”Since last year ,Li xiao lai founds pixiu ,Bitcoinsand ,BTC funds and so on .“When you own more bitcoin ,there are much people wait for your jokes .”He has said before ,”Starting business is purchasing happiness with money .”

Remaks: Due to language difference, sometimes people out of China can’t know what happened in China quickly. so we are here to make effort to change little, we will translate 3-4 bitcoin news in China to English everyday to help people out of China know what happened and what people thinks about bitcoin in China, If somewhere translate not that good, pls PM us so that we can  correct it.
Source http://www.forbeschina.com/news/news.php?id=33101

[TheRealSteve]

Ohh and the so called Open Source Wiibox software....where is the sources? Calling it open source means the source is open for all to view.

While I can't check the veracity, there's links to: https://github.com/wiibox-group

[opieum2]

Ohh and the so called Open Source Wiibox software....where is the sources? Calling it open source means the source is open for all to view.

While I can't check the veracity, there's links to: https://github.com/wiibox-group

Looks legit. that's a positive sign in the right direction. Gonna have to review code. But it's a start.

[Sfards]

Hi everyone.

I am the Jack in question.

Thanks for the interest in Sfards, and my Linkedin profile I suppose  

You have every right to be skeptical in an environment such as that of cryptocurrency mining. A lot of people have been burnt by a lot of companies.

I have posted an announcement here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=830122.0

Sfards will be involved in a few different areas of bitcoin mining. Some of the projects we are currently working on include a hash rate rental platform. Bought hashing power can be split among a variety of different coins. We will also be involved with semiconductor research, and plan to bring to the market some new ASIC technology. Additionally, we will be using this technology to build mining hardware.

The reason we have no pictures of our hardware yet is due to the fact that they are still in early stages of production. Our first products will be announced in due course and I can assure you we will provide ample documentation that they are, in fact, real.

Let's see if I can address a few specific concerns:

1. As mentioned in our announcement thread, we do not plan to use the pre-order method for our devices when they are ready to be sold.

2. @TheRealSteve is correct, those are indeed G-Blades. The article in question contained pictures of a number of farms, though the image we used was of our own hardware.

3. WiiBox open source documents can be found here: https://github.com/wiibox-group

[Rabinovitch]

I was always wondering: why does anyone rent his hashrate to individual miners? Why not to mine themselves instead of playing these games with hashrate rent, cloud mining and whatever else? If I could purchase 100, 500 Th, - I'd better mine myself in solo and I suppose I would get more money...

[Gleb Gamow]

I was always wondering: why does anyone rent his hashrate to individual miners? Why not to mine themselves instead of playing these games with hashrate rent, cloud mining and whatever else? If I could purchase 100, 500 Th, - I'd better mine myself in solo and I suppose I would get more money...

Those that least hashing contracts do such in one year increments. Approximately six months down the road, the farm is obsolete, with all the miners already heading to the landfill and electricity has been turned off at the data center where said miners were once hashing their little asses off. Genius business model if you ask me. And, that's the best case scenario if the entities are playing 100% fairly, otherwise they profit even more. Further, imagine if there were no miners in the first place, but who in their right mind would fall for such a ruse, let alone an entity dreaming up such a contraption, for then they wouldn't even need a building with a Starbucks working out just fine for their studio?  

How close am I?