Bitmain launches new Antminer S19 series, but there’s a catch
Bitmain, the world’s largest mining hardware manufacturer, has announced the launch of a new series of ASIC miners, the Antminer S19. However, Bitmain has been heavily criticized as it set the delivery date for the sold-out series for May 11, a day after the scheduled Bitcoin halvening.
Bitmain’s new miner series sells out in a day
Bitmain, the global leader in the production of hardware equipment for cryptocurrency mining, announced a new series of their ever-popular Antminer rigs. The company announced the official sales launch of the new series on Mar. 23, saying that the first phase of the sale will be aimed at Chinese customers, while international sales would be announced shortly after.
The company’s basic miner series went for around $2,180 while the pro version costs around $2,900. Both versions were sold out in less than 24 hours, according to information from Bitmain China website.
Bitmain’s first version of the Antminer S19 will come with a hashrate of 95 TH/s and energy efficiency between 4.5 J/TH (joules per terahash). The Antminer pro, on the other hand, will come with a hash rate of 110 TH/s and energy efficiency of around 29.5 J/TH.
Antminer S19s will ship after Bitcoin’s May halving
However, Bitmain’s Antminer S19 launch wasn’t very well received by the crypto community. Many criticized the company for setting up the shipping date for their newest miners as May 12, the day after the scheduled Bitcoin halving.
Jason Urgo, the CEO of SocialBlade, criticized the company for holding the miners for themselves and deciding to ship them only once they’ve gotten the most use out of them.
He tweeted:
“Shipping May 11thish. Gee I wonder why you picked that date lol. I thought you guys said you didn’t use them yourself first before shipping them? Or is it just to make sure the ones you do have for you get the most out before you ship these.”
Others went hard on Bitmain for already beginning to work on the S21 series, saying that with a new miner already in production, miners will have a hard time seeing a return on investment on their S19s.
Apart from that, many miners called on the company to release a profit calculator for their popular products, as the current prices of the S19 series might mean that miners never see a return on their investment.