Good news fellow Bitcoin enthusiasts, the long wait is reportedly coming to an end. Bitcoin ASIC manufacturer Butterfly Labs has announced that they are finally shipping their line of Bitforce SC ASIC miners. If you have an order with BFL you can login to their site here and check your order status.
Why The Wait
In an email to their customers dated May 1st, 2013, Butterfly Labs cited the use of 65nm ASIC processors a primary cause of the delays. The full email can be viewed via this link.
Butterfly Labs shipping dates have become somewhat of a joke over the last several months in the Bitcoin community. Originally rumored to be shipping in late 2012, BFL is well beyond the original timeline. However, if successful, Butterfly Labs will be only the second company to offer Bitcoin ASIC miners. For a brief overview of other Bitcoin ASICs you can check our post, Bitcoin ASIC Roundup.
In addition to delays, Butterfly Labs has had to make adjustments to their original product specifications. They have guaranteed that any customers with preorders placed prior to the product adjustment announcement will receive the original hash rate for the specified amount. The price increase was significant as the cost for a single BFL Jalapeno increased from $149 to $274. The Jalapeno is their most affordable model, bringing in 5 GH/s of hashing power.
Butterfly Labs also had to adjust the size of their products. The case originally intended for the Single and Little Single now appears to be used for the Jalapeno. Meanwhile larger cases are being used for the Single. BFL has stopped taking preorders for their mini-rig and have yet to announce plans for the case for that product.
It should be noted that Butterfly Labs also recently announced that they would be shipping their BFL Jalapenos first, as they were able to complete them with existing cases and chips. The Single line of BFL products are projected to follow shortly.
Avalon ASIC
Avalon ASIC has also released an update on their progress with batches two and three. Avalon ASIC became the first Bitcoin ASIC miner manufacturer to ship earlier this year. The email discussing their updates can be found at this link.
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