Bitmain refunds bitcoin miners

Bitmain, the leading manufacturer of bitcoin mining machines, reimburses customers who purchased its AntMiner S17+ and T17+ devices from mid-February to the end of April. 

The decision is curious, as the refund is not caused by an error or lack of the company, but by the collapse of the bitcoin price. 

In fact, precisely because of this collapse, Bitmain had to reduce its sales prices, for example for the S17+ from $ 1,567 to $ 1,320, a reduction of 15.7% in a few days. Since deliveries of these devices always take place a few months after purchase, those who ordered them in the months before the collapse would now risk using them at a loss. 

The fact is that since mid-February, the price of BTC has gone from over $9,000 to just under $7,000, making bitcoin mining much less profitable. 

In view of the imminent halving in May, many miners had bought more powerful machinery to take advantage of the competition, as the halving of the rewards will penalize mainly miners with less efficient machinery, so in recent months many miners had replaced old inefficient machinery with new, more efficient equipment, with the result that Bitcoin’s hashrate hit an all-time high at the beginning of March. 

This, however, had led to a significant reduction in mining profitability, which literally collapsed after the crash of the financial markets in mid-March. In fact, it is now back close to the levels of early March, but still very low. 

At this point, Bitmain, the world’s largest manufacturer of ASICs used for bitcoin mining (the famous AntMiner), announced that it will issue vouchers worth between $17 and $272, which will be delivered to all those who have purchased on the official website an S17+ or a T17+ shipped from mid-February until the end of April. 

However, the coupons will be neither changeable nor cashable in currency, and can only be used as vouchers for the purchase of other machines, or accessories, sold on the official Bitmain website. The maximum discount that can be used will be 10%. 

The coupons can also be transferred to other accounts on the official website different from those to which they will be assigned, and can only be used until December 31st, 2020.

Starting today, April 14th, 2020, these coupons will be distributed directly to the accounts of the Bitmain website. 

Thus, this is basically a marketing initiative that creates a discount that can only be used for purchases on the official website until the end of the year. In addition, the maximum cumulative discount will be 10%, which is less than the 15% price reduction that became necessary after the collapse of the bitcoin value.