Blog Archives - BitcoinNews.ca

Cointerra - shipping asic hardware

1/28/2014

The Bitcoin ASIC hardware vendor that we brought to your attention on Jan 9th has started shipping its products. See our article here.

This marks another major milestone for the Bitcoin hardware community as this is the third major ASIC vendor (Butterfly Labs, KNC, Cointerra) to produce Bitcoin mining hardware on a massive scale.

Click image below for link to story on Cointerra website.

Bitcoin Market Summary - Jan 25 (2 Week Edition)

1/25/2014

Bitcoin continues to grow in popularity the past two weeks and has stabilized around $900/BTC this week.

Based on our last post, online vendors and popular places are jumping on the digital currency bandwagon: TigerDirect.com, WikiLeaks and Las Vegas itself are the latest inductees.

Bitcoin Network Capacity
The Bitcoin network capacity was 14.38PH/s last week and is now 17.42PH/s. The Bitcoin network is now 121% over the span of two weeks.

2014 Network Prediction: The overall network will continue to grow but the incremental % increase will have to reduce due to the current level of hashing power on the Bitcoin network. The relative additional impact of hardware will start plateauing soon.

Bitcoin Market Capitalization
The Bitcoin market capitalization is $11.7B this week. This marks approximately 1 month where the market capitalization of Bitcoin has remained constant. People wanting stability in digital currency world are getting their wish.

For perspective, it was listed at $1.652B --> $2.504B --> $4.0B --> $6.4B --> $10.4B --> $14.8B --> $12.9B --> $11.9B --> $8.27B --> $9.8B --> $9.89B --> $11.4B over these last few weeks.

Bitcoin Pricing Trends
If we look at the pricing trends this week, Mt Gox showed stability around $900.00, this is consistent with our findings over the past 4 weeks.

On Virtex Canada, it appears the pricing was a little more stable, hovering around $850-$890.

BTC pricing - mt gox (10 day)

BTC pricing - virtex canada (10 day)

btc pricing - btc-e (10 day)

Tigerdirect accepts Bitcoin

1/23/2014

Bitcoin continues it's push into mainstream retail with additional retailers...This time it's being accepted by TigerDirect.com.

The great news for the Bitcoin followers is that as more and more retailers accept the digital currency, it continues to build momentum so more retailers will come on board.

Another positive item related to TigerDirect accepting Bitcoins, is they also recognize the mining hardware sales aspect and are supporting both AMD and Butterfly Labs.

AMD could be considered an obvious choice, but the second option is very interesting....Butterfly Labs is going to sell their hardware through TigerDirect's website....Very interesting.

Bitcoins Not Legal Tender in Canada; A good Thing

1/17/2014

There have been a couple of stories regarding Bitcoins within the local Canadian news the past few days.

The first story relates to an article in the Wall Street Journal regarding Bitcoin currency status in Canada.

Based on this article, the Canadian government has announced that Bitcoin is not considered legal tender. This means that it does not compete with the Canadian dollar in the eyes of the finance department.

Subsequently, Bitcoin avoids regulation or potentially being banned in Canada. This is good news for Bitcoin enthusiasts within Canada.

“Only Canadian bank notes and coins are recognized as legal tender in Canada. Bitcoin digital ‘currency’ is not legal tender in Canada,” an official from Canada’s finance department said in an emailed statement.

The official declined to comment on whether the government plans to license money exchanges that would convert bitcoins for real currency such as the Canadian dollar.

The Canadian government, along with regulators including the central bank and the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, will continue to monitor developments involving virtual currencies, the official added.

Financial-stability considerations are what would prompt the Bank of Canada to take a greater interest in bitcoins and other alternative means of payment, said Alexandre Deslongchamps, spokesman for the Bank of Canada.

“Smaller, stand-alone payment systems for which there are many substitutes – like bitcoin — should generally require much less intensive oversight and regulation because they pose much less risk to the Canadian financial system as a whole,” Mr. Deslongchamps said. “Nevertheless, these payment systems should be designed and operated to meet the needs of Canadians which would include convenience and ease of use, price, reliability, safety, and effective redress mechanisms.”

The second story follows the third installation of a Bitcoin Automated Teller Machine (or BTM) in Ottawa. The first BTM was installed in Vancouver and the second was installed in Toronto.

Click Image for Video

Butterfly Labs - 2nd generation ASIC - Monarch

1/15/2014

While Butterfly Labs has taken endless heat and hostility over their shipping delays both in the past and currently, one has to admire the amount of dedication and expertise to continue producing the high quality Bitcoin mining hardware that they are know for.

In this post we will visit their latest creation, Monarch. This iteration of mining hardware has now passed from conceptual phase to reality with photos of their board and mining silicon wafers now posted.

Therefore, please review the details below and see for yourself.

Performance

600 GH/s nominal performance ( + / - 20% )
350w (0.6w/GH conservative estimate)

Connectivity

USB 2.0 - Monarch cards can be used as an external computer peripheral and chained via USB hub. In this mode the Bitcoin Mining Hardware can be controlled via an Android host or standard Linux or Windows computer.
PCI-Express - Monarch cards consume two PCI slots when installed in a standard ATX motherboard. The PCIe format used is x1 for maximum compatibility.

Dimensions: Weight: 1 lb. 5.5 oz Dimensions: 12.4" x 5.5" x 2.36"

http://www.butterflylabs.com/monarch/

NOTE: All ASIC mining hardware presented on this site is for information purposes only, please do your research prior to making any purchase decisions.

Butterfly labs - monarch

Bitcoin Market Summary - jan 12

1/12/2014

Bitcoin continues to appreciate in value this week. It stabilized around $900/BTC this week.

Based on our announcement last week, Overstock.com reports $180k in additional sales in one day due to Bitcoin (source Wired)...There are rumblings that Netflix and Newegg are looking to use the currency in the near future.

The Bitcoin network capacity was 10.33PH/s last week and is now 14.38PH/s. The Bitcoin network is now 139% over the span of this week.

The Bitcoin market capitalization is $11.4B this week. For perspective, it was listed at $1.652B --> $2.504B --> $4.0B --> $6.4B --> $10.4B --> $14.8B --> $12.9B --> $11.9B --> $8.27B --> $9.8B --> 9.89B over the last few weeks.

Bitcoin has recently been accepted by attorneys, politicians in the US and continues to build momentum with investment by a very diverse group.

If we look at the pricing trends this week, Mt Gox showed an impressive increase to approx $1,100.00 on Jan 6th and a cooling off period to stability around $900.

On Virtex Canada, it appears the pricing was a little more subdued with a Jan 6th increase to $1,000.00 and stability around $900.

MT Gox - Weekly Pricing

Virtex - Weekly Pricing

Bitcoin 2014 OUtlook

1/11/2014

Max Keiser debates the future of Bitcoin on television and provides his opinion on the 2014 outlook.

This is a very interesting debate on the future of this and many other digital currencies in 2014 and beyond.

cOINTERRA - mining hardware NEARS COMPLETION

1/9/2014

The new entrant into the ASIC miner production race Cointerra is showing off it's latest creation called TERRAMINER IV.

This hardware is promising an output of 2000 GH/s or 2TH/s and shipping dates were promised to start around late December. As this time has passed, it could be anytime for the first production run units to ship.

In the meantime, enjoy the following technical specifications and photos of this new ASIC mining hardware.

http://cointerra.com/engineering-update-asic-bringup-diagnostic-testing/

Recent photos

older photos

Bitcoin Market Summary - Jan 4

1/4/2014

Bitcoin once again starts to appreciate in value. It recently stabilized around $800/BTC on most exchanges but now has begun to creep up in value again.

If we review the Mt Gox chart below, we can see this trend clearly over the past week.

The great news is Bitcoin continues to be adopted across the internet by companies that cater to online customers. Two huge players in the internet space an adult site Porn.com (source Coindesk) and Facebook game maker Zynga (source Coindesk) have picked up the currency and already implemented into their websites.

The Bitcoin network capacity was 9918TH/s last week and is now 10331TH/s.
The Bitcoin network is now 104% over the span of this week.

The Bitcoin market capitalization is $9.89B this week. For perspective, it was listed at $1.652B --> $2.504B --> $4.0B --> $6.4B --> $10.4B --> $14.8B --> $12.9B --> $11.9B --> $8.27B --> $9.8B over the last few weeks.

All signs point to a very, very promising year for Bitcoin...Mainstream adoption is edging closer.

Mt Gox - 5 Day pricing

Virtex - 5 day pricing

ASIC Miners - Litecoin & Alt Coins

1/3/2014

UK based Alpha technology has just fired the first shot in the new ASIC arms race for Litecoin and other Scrypt based alternative coins.

These types of digital coins are similar to Bitcoin and run on a distributed network but run on a different platform called Scrypt.

Based on their proprietary technology, they have launched a 5MH/s and 25MH/s miner for sale. While these numbers are much smaller than current Bitcoin ASIC hardware, based on their current GPU competitors, these are indeed powerful machines.

Let the new ASIC mining arms race begin!!

Viper (Scrypt) Miner (5Mh/s)

30% Deposit Required: £405. Total price: £1350.
($2,357 CDN + HST, Freight, Duty)

Hashrate: >= 5 Mh/s speed
Power consumption: <= 100w
Contains one Viper board
Enclosure : 1u Rack mountable

Viper (Scrypt) Miner (25Mh/s)

30% Deposit Required: £1635. Total price: £5450.
($9,498 CDN +HST, Freight, Duty)

Hashrate: >= 25 Mh/s speed
Power consumption: <= 600w
Contains five stacked Viper boards hashing at 5 Mh/s each or higher
Enclosure : 6u Rack mountable