ASICMINER: Entering the Future of ASIC Mining by Inventing It

[Rodyland]

Surely there has to be a way to use bitcoin itself, or the blockchain, to bid and avoid dummy bids?

http://www.bitescrow.org/

How about if to bid you need to get the auctioneer (one of several maybe) to set up an escrow transaction and send out a payment invite to the bidder.   The bidder pays bitcoin to the escrow account, and then publishes the address and amount to the thread.  The bid is deemed valid when the address hits the thread, and the bid amount can be verified by anyone.

If someone is outbid, the auctioneer sends them the other half of the escrow key.

For the winning bids, the escrow keys are sent to friedcat instead.

No dummy bids, no welching on payments.  Anyone buying to flip needs to front the bitcoin first.

I like this - basically a "cash up front" auction to weed out non-serious people.

Yes, cash up front.  Plus, the slow nature of 'get escrow -> make payment -> post in thread' means last minute sniping is hard to do.  Plus given that the auctioneers are involved in the placing of every bid, they can extend the auction by a couple of minutes for each escrow request?

[Rodyland]

Surely there has to be a way to use bitcoin itself, or the blockchain, to bid and avoid dummy bids?

http://www.bitescrow.org/

How about if to bid you need to get the auctioneer (one of several maybe) to set up an escrow transaction and send out a payment invite to the bidder.   The bidder pays bitcoin to the escrow account, and then publishes the address and amount to the thread.  The bid is deemed valid when the address hits the thread, and the bid amount can be verified by anyone.

If someone is outbid, the auctioneer sends them the other half of the escrow key.

For the winning bids, the escrow keys are sent to friedcat instead.

No dummy bids, no welching on payments.  Anyone buying to flip needs to front the bitcoin first.

Sorry, wouldn't work. You overestimate the general public's willingness to learn. Also, most buyers I know do not have the coins on hand, and transfer them via Gox or otherwise after the auction.

That's a shame.  We have this incredible technology in our hands, and the best we can do to manage the auction is a python script that scrapes the auction page looking for something that looks like a bid, combined with a lot of manual effort by your good self and others.

[JaredR26]

Surely there has to be a way to use bitcoin itself, or the blockchain, to bid and avoid dummy bids?

http://www.bitescrow.org/

How about if to bid you need to get the auctioneer (one of several maybe) to set up an escrow transaction and send out a payment invite to the bidder.   The bidder pays bitcoin to the escrow account, and then publishes the address and amount to the thread.  The bid is deemed valid when the address hits the thread, and the bid amount can be verified by anyone.

If someone is outbid, the auctioneer sends them the other half of the escrow key.

For the winning bids, the escrow keys are sent to friedcat instead.

No dummy bids, no welching on payments.  Anyone buying to flip needs to front the bitcoin first.

Sorry, wouldn't work. You overestimate the general public's willingness to learn. Also, most buyers I know do not have the coins on hand, and transfer them via Gox or otherwise after the auction.

That's a shame.  We have this incredible technology in our hands, and the best we can do to manage the auction is a python script that scrapes the auction page looking for something that looks like a bid, combined with a lot of manual effort by your good self and others.

Welcome to the wild west days again, when people in civilized areas had cars and electricity, and people in the wild west had semi-functional guns and a wagon.  (Before the railroads were completed)

[John (John K.)]

Surely there has to be a way to use bitcoin itself, or the blockchain, to bid and avoid dummy bids?

http://www.bitescrow.org/

How about if to bid you need to get the auctioneer (one of several maybe) to set up an escrow transaction and send out a payment invite to the bidder.   The bidder pays bitcoin to the escrow account, and then publishes the address and amount to the thread.  The bid is deemed valid when the address hits the thread, and the bid amount can be verified by anyone.

If someone is outbid, the auctioneer sends them the other half of the escrow key.

For the winning bids, the escrow keys are sent to friedcat instead.

No dummy bids, no welching on payments.  Anyone buying to flip needs to front the bitcoin first.

Sorry, wouldn't work. You overestimate the general public's willingness to learn. Also, most buyers I know do not have the coins on hand, and transfer them via Gox or otherwise after the auction.

That's a shame.  We have this incredible technology in our hands, and the best we can do to manage the auction is a python script that scrapes the auction page looking for something that looks like a bid, combined with a lot of manual effort by your good self and others.

I would actually prefer your way to weed out problematic bidders, but I'll imagine that I would get more PM's on this. Heck, I had to answer a ton of newbie questions even though the auction is so simplified... Honestly many people would never read before asking. (proved during a group buy I escrowed too)

[organofcorti]

Hmm... I'm not sure of how a Dutch auction for multiple goods would work. It would confuse some bidders too (heck, I've been getting PM's on how basic auctions work)

Easier than you'd think. You have a countdown clock counting down the price from high to low, say 1 btc per hour. As soon as someone accepts a price for a number of items, those items are sold at that price.

It's a very quick auction method, and has the advantage that it can still sell some items before a reserve is reached. It doesn't matter if people know the price range beforehand since they don't know how others will bid. Since people *really* don't want to be left out, they'll probably bid earlier rather than later (when the price is lower but the probability of missing out is higher).

This method removes the end of auction sniping that occurs in English auctions. You wait until the price hits something you can afford and then you post once and you're done, or you miss out. No more having to check the thread regularly after you bid and repost every time someone makes a new bid.

[John (John K.)]

Hmm... I'm not sure of how a Dutch auction for multiple goods would work. It would confuse some bidders too (heck, I've been getting PM's on how basic auctions work)

Easier than you'd think. You have a countdown clock counting down the price from high to low, say 1 btc per hour. As soon as someone accepts a price for a number of items, those items are sold at that price.

It's a very quick auction method, and has the advantage that it can still sell some items before a reserve is reached. It doesn't matter if people know the price range beforehand since they don't know how others will bid. Since people *really* don't want to be left out, they'll probably bid earlier rather than later (when the price is lower but the probability of missing out is higher).

This method removes the end of auction sniping that occurs in English auctions. You wait until the price hits something you can afford and then you post once and you're done, or you miss out. No more having to check the thread regularly after you bid and repost every time someone makes a new bid.

Sounds like what louong said above too - yeah this should be a good way of auctioning these off painlessly.

[BitHub]

Any chance they'll be a separate auction or selling to shareholders direct with friedcat, not PT shareholders but friedcat ones? I'm sick of losing out to people who don't even have asicminer shares.

[🏰 TradeFortress 🏰]

Any chance they'll be a separate auction or selling to shareholders direct with friedcat, not PT shareholders but friedcat ones? I'm sick of losing out to people who don't even have asicminer shares.

I think Apple should only sell products to shareholders too! I'm sick of not being able to get a release day iPhone 6S.

Less bidders -> less prices fetched

[John (John K.)]

Any chance they'll be a separate auction or selling to shareholders direct with friedcat, not PT shareholders but friedcat ones? I'm sick of losing out to people who don't even have asicminer shares.

Nah, I don't think so. It would be trivial to buy one share for example, and bid.

[louong]

Any chance they'll be a separate auction or selling to shareholders direct with friedcat, not PT shareholders but friedcat ones? I'm sick of losing out to people who don't even have asicminer shares.

If I was a shareholder I would want ASICMINER to maximize profit by making the products available to all bidders, not just ASICMINER shareholders.

[John (John K.)]

Any chance they'll be a separate auction or selling to shareholders direct with friedcat, not PT shareholders but friedcat ones? I'm sick of losing out to people who don't even have asicminer shares.

If I was a shareholder I would want ASICMINER to maximize profit by making the products available to all bidders, not just ASICMINER shareholders.

True. As a shareholder I agree to this.

[Transisto]

What AsicMiner need is a better public image, a website.

And a forum while at it, This bloated thread is not cutting it.

I have no idea where we are on that front but that should be a priority if you intent on selling products to end-users.

[friedcat]

The Block Erupter USB sticks passed all the tests and we are about to produce them in quantity.

[organofcorti]

Any chance they'll be a separate auction or selling to shareholders direct with friedcat, not PT shareholders but friedcat ones? I'm sick of losing out to people who don't even have asicminer shares.

If I was a shareholder I would want ASICMINER to maximize profit by making the products available to all bidders, not just ASICMINER shareholders.

True. As a shareholder I agree to this.

The way the dividends will soon be going, the shareholders will be the only ones who can afford the price!

[BitHub]

that's cool i understand that i guess, i just dont want to miss out hey.

[organofcorti]

Hmm... I'm not sure of how a Dutch auction for multiple goods would work. It would confuse some bidders too (heck, I've been getting PM's on how basic auctions work)

Easier than you'd think. You have a countdown clock counting down the price from high to low, say 1 btc per hour. As soon as someone accepts a price for a number of items, those items are sold at that price.

It's a very quick auction method, and has the advantage that it can still sell some items before a reserve is reached. It doesn't matter if people know the price range beforehand since they don't know how others will bid. Since people *really* don't want to be left out, they'll probably bid earlier rather than later (when the price is lower but the probability of missing out is higher).

This method removes the end of auction sniping that occurs in English auctions. You wait until the price hits something you can afford and then you post once and you're done, or you miss out. No more having to check the thread regularly after you bid and repost every time someone makes a new bid.

Sounds like what louong said above too - yeah this should be a good way of auctioning these off painlessly.

As long as people can buy as many as they want on the way down until all are sold - is that what louong meant? Anyway, a Dutch auction is perfect for forums especially if it's to take place over hours or days (unless sold out first).

English auctions are really suitable only for short periods of time, and where upping your bid any number of times is possible - which it isn't on a forum.

[gmouse]

What AsicMiner need is a better public image, a website.

And a forum while at it, This bloated thread is not cutting it.

I have no idea where we are on that front but that should be a priority if you intent on selling products to end-users.

I agree with this sentiment, at least in the long-term.  The product, in six months' time, if it is to compete with BFL, will need to be more user-friendly, and sold to the masses, not just here in auctions.  A web presence seems like a logical first step.

[Rodyland]

While I like the idea of a dutch auction, when your client base is spread across all the timezones of the world, that makes it either very slow, or very unfair.  Maybe very slow would work - 24 hours per tier.

You could probably get around the slowness somewhat by pre-advertising the auction schedule, and people could make sure that they or someone they trust is around to bid for them when the auction price hits their limit.

The other option would be silent auction.

Although from what John has been saying it seems like many people wouldn't understand either dutch or silent auction rules, given how many don't seem to get how a 'normal' auction works.

[Jutarul]

The Block Erupter USB sticks passed all the tests and we are about to produce them in quantity.

Hip hip hooray!

Looking forward to the auction. Will likely receive a huge mark up, since due to its form factor it will serve as a promotional and educational tool.

It would be nice if someone would create a script package which allows a laptop to automatically start mining, the moment the stick is plugged in. Could run as a background service.

[redbeans2012]

The Block Erupter USB sticks passed all the tests and we are about to produce them in quantity.

Any more specifics on this? When are you expecting them to be complete? What will be the starting price? Any other info is appreciated.