What a day...yes one whole day.
Well actually two. We decided it would be a good idea to mine again after a five year hiatus yesterday. We figured why not, the gains from our crypto investments have exploded into epic proportions across the board. Why not make MORE with some of it.
Well apparently the entire planet figured this out about five minutes before we did.
Three days ago you could pick up an antminer S9 for around $3500 US. The price had jumped to over $5500 by the timewe started shopping this afternoon. This was outrageous, so I decided to go straight to the source, Bitmain. They had S9's in stock for $2750...OH my GOD! I immediately ordered one and clicked through to the pay wall...
Sorry we only take Bitcoin Cash today.....HUH?! WTF? Since when?
Well, lo and behold, the bitcoin blockchain is full again and the ridiculous transaction delays and fees of over $10 have ground confirmations to a standstill....but WAIT....My buddy calls and tells me he cant move his money because the fees are bigger than the transaction - a whopping $80!
This warrants further investigation....Obviously the new capital infusion from all the new money flowing into this market from the hedge funds and others is overwhelming the network. The folks working on solving the block size problem had better get their act together quick....
But I digress....
So THAT's why Bitmain is suddenly taking only bitcoin Cash for orders this afternoon.
Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to the exchanges I go. I have 1 hour to close the deal. Tick tock tick tock. I get the bitcoin cash from two different exchanges and move them into my Jaxx hot wallet. everything is going fantastic. I am getting a brand new Antminer S9 for under $3000 direct from the manufacturer is late february.
I don't care that the price of bitcoin cash has almost doubled in the last hour while I buy it because I am going to be moving it over to Bitmain immediately....or NOT. My handy dandy, lovely f(&ng Jaxx wallet decides I can't move my BCH out of itself.
Now I begin the frantic email campaign begging Bitmain to hold the order while I desperately try to get help from Jaxx support. Oh that went well. NOT. So I go to the Bitmain web site to beg for more time and I find my order has been cancelled. No problem, I'll just buy another one......NOT
Not only are they sold out now but also they wont even let you pre-order...no buy button, just a "coming Soon" where the buy button should be. GREAT...Just wonderful. Now I am stuck with Bitcoin Cash that is worth HALF what I paid for it only an hour ago that I can't even move off of my Jaxx wallet.....
This is turning out to be a great day so far....
So it's back to Amazon and ebay.....well will you look at that! There are NO antminers at ANY price....Oh wait, there is one....for $8500.....HUH?!
Better look at some other options for crypto mining....The window of opportunity at profitable BTC mining opened and closed in less than three days. Ah just like the good old days. I love the smell of silicon in the morning. For now I wait and watch for another window of opportunity.
You can bet I won't miss the next one
Meanwhile, I still haven't gotten any help from Jaxx
Go figure