ASICMINER: Entering the Future of ASIC Mining by Inventing It

[ning]

@aahzmundus Thanks.

[San1ty]

How much is known about Gen 3? 1600 PH sounds ridiculous.

[minerpumpkin]

How much is known about Gen 3? 1600 PH sounds ridiculous.

Well, no. If we're talking about distributing that hashrate over the course of a year, it is reasonable. And keep in mind that the whole network hashrate will be tremendously higher in a year from now.

Apart from that: Keep calm, I believe an update is just around the corner

[Jutarul]

Any board members here want to comment on when and whether there will be an update? I thought there was going to be one at the end of February or early March... we're almost at mid-March now.

friedcat noted that the next major update will likely come after the chips have been tested and the final specs determined. At the same time the overall ordering process will become clearer, as supply will have to be met by demand. Based on latest information the first chips are on track and to be received end of March.

[San1ty]

How much is known about Gen 3? 1600 PH sounds ridiculous.

Well, no. If we're talking about distributing that hashrate over the course of a year, it is reasonable. And keep in mind that the whole network hashrate will be tremendously higher in a year from now.

Apart from that: Keep calm, I believe an update is just around the corner

I guess you can call it normal when network hashrate increases this high percentage wise as it has been doing. It's still hard to wrap my head around...

Do we have a guesstimate on how AM will compete in the coming year? Do we have any statements like that from other manufacturers?

[chriswilmer]

How much is known about Gen 3? 1600 PH sounds ridiculous.

I remember when IceDrill started talking about building a 500 TH/s operation when the network was 30 TH/s (and dominated by ASICMINER, mind you), that it sounded ridiculous.

The rate of increase of mining hashpower in the Bitcoin world has been absolutely ridiculous. I still can't believe that it basically doubles every month or two... have you ever stopped to really think about what that means? All of the mining hardware that was ever produced over 4 years... being produced in a single month, and then all of that combined is produced again the following month... my mind explodes thinking about it.

[San1ty]

How much is known about Gen 3? 1600 PH sounds ridiculous.

I remember when IceDrill started talking about building a 500 TH/s operation when the network was 30 TH/s (and dominated by ASICMINER, mind you), that it sounded ridiculous.

The rate of increase of mining hashpower in the Bitcoin world has been absolutely ridiculous. I still can't believe that it basically doubles every month or two... have you ever stopped to really think about what that means? All of the mining hardware that was ever produced over 4 years... being produced in a single month, and then all of that combined is produced again the following month... my mind explodes thinking about it.

Yeah I know, I'm pretty frustrated about it, because I used to have a lot of fun mining with GPU's. Almost setting my attic on fire. These days it's impossible to mine as an individual, even with asics...

[bitcoin.newsfeed]

Any board members here want to comment on when and whether there will be an update? I thought there was going to be one at the end of February or early March... we're almost at mid-March now.

friedcat noted that the next major update will likely come after the chips have been tested and the final specs determined. At the same time the overall ordering process will become clearer, as supply will have to be met by demand. Based on latest information the first chips are on track and to be received end of March.

So this was bullshit ...again  :

I just got word that the next announcement is now expected to be given 'after the first week of March' and that 'everything is still on track'.

Second week of March. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=99497.msg5404569#msg5404569

"received end of March" so tested 1-2weeks of April, so update on 2nd-3rd week of April (classic add : *I hope™* *I believe™*) ... so another month of blindness, congratulation, great PR

[chriswilmer]

Any board members here want to comment on when and whether there will be an update? I thought there was going to be one at the end of February or early March... we're almost at mid-March now.

friedcat noted that the next major update will likely come after the chips have been tested and the final specs determined. At the same time the overall ordering process will become clearer, as supply will have to be met by demand. Based on latest information the first chips are on track and to be received end of March.

Thanks Jutarul.

[minerpumpkin]

Any board members here want to comment on when and whether there will be an update? I thought there was going to be one at the end of February or early March... we're almost at mid-March now.

friedcat noted that the next major update will likely come after the chips have been tested and the final specs determined. At the same time the overall ordering process will become clearer, as supply will have to be met by demand. Based on latest information the first chips are on track and to be received end of March.

The 'first chips' being the chips to be tested or to be sold?
Either way, that would mean tape out has been successful. If there are no gen 3 chips physically available now, the increase 2 weeks ago was just variance.

[sayonara_sam]

hard to imagine that it was only luck  there's only 1 person who could clear it out 
and hopefully does in the 'next weeks' ...

[Elokane]

"received end of March" so tested 1-2weeks of April, so update on 2nd-3rd week of April (classic add : *I hope™* *I believe™*) ... so another month of blindness, congratulation, great PR

Starting to feel like a cult in here. 

[Endlessa]

"received end of March" so tested 1-2weeks of April, so update on 2nd-3rd week of April (classic add : *I hope™* *I believe™*) ... so another month of blindness, congratulation, great PR

Starting to feel like a cult in here. 

lol "Starting to"

[Elokane]

Heh. I guess I've been away for too long.

[SmiGueL]

0.00007777 BTC/share confirmed!

[loboferoz]

I only received divs for 1 share.  Anyone in the same boat?

[romerun]

facepalm nothing to eat this week 

[Jutarul]

....
"received end of March" so tested 1-2weeks of April, so update on 2nd-3rd week of April (classic add : *I hope™* *I believe™*) ... so another month of blindness, congratulation, great PR

I don't know whether it is clear by now, but AM is going the B2B route. If you want to enter the sphere of relevance, you have to position yourself as a business partner to AM, which requires large capital investments into IC and datacenter technology. So far AM seems to have all the important business partners lined up for the first months of chip production. The forum will likely be used to source new business partners, which otherwise would not be available.

Unfortunately AM investors and small scale customers take a back seat when it comes to updates, which of course doesn't help with the price discovery for AM. Based on the information available to me, while shareholder management is an important issue to friedcat, company valuation is of a lesser concern. I hope I didn't break the market with that remark.

I understand that the exact timing of chip production and sales are important factors in price discovery and company valuation and I will continue to share updates to the timeline as they become available to me. But firstly, I have no control over when friedcat finds it important to advertise and release information on the forum, and secondly, the business lends itself to production delays which easily can break anticipated dividends. So trade with care.

[neilol]

....
"received end of March" so tested 1-2weeks of April, so update on 2nd-3rd week of April (classic add : *I hope™* *I believe™*) ... so another month of blindness, congratulation, great PR

Unfortunately AM investors and small scale customers take a back seat when it comes to updates, which of course doesn't help with the price discovery for AM. Based on the information available to me, while shareholder management is an important issue to friedcat, company valuation is of a lesser concern. I hope I didn't break the market with that remark.

This has become very clear over the past few months. Likely a positive for the company as a large scale B2B model will provide higher overall revenue albeit at a lower margin. It will also draw less regulatory/legal inquiry that usually comes along with consumer businesses. Thanks for continuing to share updates, much appreciated.

[chriswilmer]

Is there any reason for ASICMINER to be accountable to its shareholders? Let's disregard any legal arguments for the moment... I am interested purely from a free-market incentive perspective. My rookie understanding of the situation was that the primary driving force for ASICMINER (or any company for that matter) to communicate and pay-dividends was to maintain a high company valuation (because friedcat/bitfountain is also a shareholder). What are the forces that hold this together and make it economically rational to hold shares of the company? (i.e., maybe a rational economic analysis would suggest that it is in friedcat's best interest to simply stop paying dividends to shareholders... even if the share price goes to zero, he would be more than compensated by not sharing profits)

EDIT: There are factors beyond "pure economic analysis" such as honor, morality, laws, etc. I am not implying anything about friedcat's motives, but I am just trying to think about how the incentives are structured.