@friedcat... Can you give a date when the datacenter will be ready so that deployment can move on and can you give a date when the standalone asics will be ready for auction?
can someone trustworthy create a groupbuy? (DeadTerra?, Burnside?, John?)
I would be interested in such buy as well.
Depending on pricing, I would definitely be interested in a group buy.
I believe that will be a tricky part. Because the end price isnt fixed. So how will a groupbuy work? Giving out a max-price? I mean some people would buy for 1000btc, others wont buy a part if the endprice is 500BTC. Im not sure how this can be solved. Maybe each payment from each groupbuyer must have a limit? If the auction goes above that price then this investment goes back to the investor. Something like this. But this way its probably hard to get enough btc.
Only one unit per customer would be a nice gesture.
Prevent the formation of monopolies .....
I think its not possible to prevent. I believe many people here run around with multiple accounts.
The only reason to limit the quantity of units per customer is to prevent the formation of arbitrage markets, which can form in very illiquid markets (people buying at a fixed price and selling it for more). Given that ASIC mining units are short in supply such a policy would make sense.
However, that said, since the units are auctioned off, the prices will reflect the real demand. So no policing required.
Like you said, i doubt a bit that this business plan will work with an auction because the auction will already bring out the maximum price too. A buyer of multiple miners will have a hard time to sell it for more.
Exactly -- friedcat said mid-April, but that was before he posted again talking about problems with deploying and maybe selling chips. So I'm wondering when the new batch of chips are expected, and when we expect those chips are likely to be plugged into the wall and generating new hashes..
It looks like it will move on only until the datacenter is ready. But friedcat didnt say a word till now when he expect that the datacenter is ready or when the standalone asics are ready to be auctioned.
Only one unit per customer would be a nice gesture.
Prevent the formation of monopolies .....
But this is a "free market!" *screeches and throws brick out of glass window*
Or wrong thread...?
The only reason to limit the quantity of units per customer is to prevent the formation of arbitrage markets, which can form in very illiquid markets (people buying at a fixed price and selling it for more). Given that ASIC mining units are short in supply such a policy would make sense.
However, that said, since the units are auctioned off, the prices will reflect the real demand. So no policing required.
As long as the selling process gets maximum price, shareholders should be well-compensated.
But that's the trick - getting maximum price. There are several theories about how to get the best price (as a seller) in an auction.
Personally I think the traditional public auction is NOT the best way to get the best price. In a public auction, the highest bidder doesn't have to bid their maximum value - the just have to bid the second highest bid + minimum increment. And in a group auction for multiple (say, 500) items, someone who wants the item can bid at price #500+increment (effectively trading a lower bid price for the risk of being outbid just before the auction finishes - similar to being sniped in an ebay auction). Sniping wouldn't be a thing if people didn't bid #1+increment, but instead bid the maximum they valued the item.
Alternatively, a hidden auction (in theory) forces all bidders to bid their maximum value for their expected utility. Given high demand for ASIC miners, this could be a good way to maximise the prices received.
The other thing is that time is a factor. The longer the auction runs, the more time there is to pull in bidders (within reason), but for a good such as this, time value deteriorates the value of the product.
As an asicminer shareholder, it is very much in my interests that the prices for sold hardware are maximised (even though I'd like to buy one myself).
I believe a hidden auction will only work for products where you know the price. I really think that the price with a public auction will go higher because the buyer then will see that the others bid more and will recalculate if he better want to spend more. A hidden auction holds the risk of a bad awakening. That the sellers only bid low because they dont see how high the others bid. I think thats the reason why ebay is doing its system like they do. Even auctions for art or similar are public. I believe the reason is because the greed comes into play and leads to higher price at the end. Arent there studies about this maybe?
Regarding sniping and bidding a small amount more only than the highest bidder i suggest to make a minimum higher bid in the rules. For example from 1000BTC on you have to go higher in steps of 50BTC. Something like this. This way its prevented that someone wins only because he always overbids the highest bidder with one btc.
And i would suggest that sniping can be avoided by letting the auction run a half hour longer when a new bid came in. Both rules together should help that this doesnt leed to an endless auction.
