Zeusminer has officially joined the ranks of proven digital currency companies with their latest progress update . CryptoCoinsNews previously reported on Zeusminer in the first week of May, when Zeusminer committed itself to a 5/20/14 ship date. Today, Zeusminer revealed that shipping of items had started on 5/20/14 as planned. In fact, many of Zeusminer’s customers were Chinese nationals that went to physically pick up their units on 5/20/14 when they were available. For other Zeusminer customers, Lightnings, Thunders, and Cyclones are being assembled and shipped at equal paces as you read. For Zeusminer’s smallest offering, the Blizzard Scrypt ASIC, they are promising to start shipping ASAP pending delivery of re-sized cases. As promised, each and every Zeusminer Scrypt ASIC undergoes 48 hours of stress testing in the most strenuous of mining environments before they are packaged securely and shipped out to avoid reputation-damaging fiascos, such as those that are currently plaguing KnCMiner. Zeusminer has also announced a partnership with GAW to provide hosting solutions to customers. Similar plans have been announced by CoinTerra and other ASIC companies in the mining industry.
A Critical Moment For Litecoin
Zeusminer is aware that the shipping of Scrypt ASICs represents a critical moment for Litecoin. Yesterday, a Litecoin pool, Coinotron, reached 51% of the total Litecoin Network hashrate, a potential point of failure that could potentially allow for the sudden loss of faith in a particular cryptocurrency. Though Zeusminer is not the first Scrypt ASIC company to ship Scrypt ASICs, they are the first to actively raise their voice in assuring the Litecoin community that the community’s interests are still being regarded:
We want to ensure the community that we are not testing our miners for the time being at Coinotron and ask users to choose alternative pool options until the 51% threat diminishes.
The 51% threat has diminished somewhat to manageable levels at this time; however, Zeusminer is still recommending that Scrypt ASIC operators “swim” in a pool other than Coinotron. As has happened before in the Bitcoin network’s transition from GPUs to ASICs, the centralization of miners becomes unbearable for short periods of time before the average mining enthusiast has upgraded his or her hardware. Luckily for the network, the type of people willing to shell out tens of thousands of dollars for unconfirmed hardware are usually the type with bullish outlooks on digital currency.
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Scrypt ASIC Race Competitors
As the Scrypt ASIC race heats up, Innosilicon is still the only other Scrypt ASIC company with a set ship date. KnCMiner and Mining ASICs Technologies have both promised to deliver by the end of 2014 and appear to be in direct head-to-head competition with each other. Fibonacci has promised repeatedly in their only forum/form of communication to begin deployment of their Scrypt ASICs sometime in July or August. Despite having promised to ship earlier than all competitors, Alpha Technology is still awaiting the successful delivery of their Scrypt ASIC chips, which have already been taped out to the foundry, a step that some other Scrypt ASIC companies have yet to complete. Alternatively, Gridseed Scrypt ASICs like the dualminer USB, and more recently the Gridseed Blade, are also available for purchase right now from Chinese manufacturers and also American re-distributors. Other Scrypt ASIC companies include sfminer, Bliss, Flowertech, Alcheminer, and SiliconArt. The Scrypt ASIC race is heading into its final lap as “vaporware” becomes hardware running software and backed by firmware. It is refreshing to see completely new companies arise from the dust and successfully raise funds in a pre-order fashion and keep the promises made to customers. On the other end of the spectrum are scams such as LSM Labs, which CryptoCoinsNews had the great pleasure of exposing, just a few weeks ago. The entire Digital Currency community is eager to see the effects of Scrypt ASIC dissemination on the overall health of the altcoin community, particularly the Litecoin and Dogecoin communities. As Zeusminer’s and most Scrypt ASIC company’s websites show, Scrypt ASICs can be used for more than just Litecoin and Dogecoin mining: The other coins on the horizon include Auroracoin, Worldcoin, and hundreds of other alternatives.
