In the early days of my bitcoin/cryptocurrency experience, I chanced to have dealings with a company called Butterfly labs. I took the path and got into many aspects of blockchain technology including mining. I found that the mining part of crypto was and is very interesting, being a geeky numbers guy and all. So it did not take very long for me to come into contact with BFL(Butterfly labs), which at the time was one of a tiny few companies that were in the business of manufacturing mining equipment. BFL, had boasted that they would release the best most inexpensiveness mining tech on the market.
A partner of mine went in with me to “pre order” one of BFL’s early to be great miners. The Jally. Now, had I did a bit more research into BFL before I had placed my pre order, I would have found that many people had been waiting on their pre orders for months, some people for almost a year at this time. So then I decided to do my due diligence. The more I learned, the more I got the picture that something was wrong with this company. People that had placed pre orders started complaining about the missed release dates of the miners, and wanted their funds back, understandably. BFL denied refunds. About 5 months later after I placed my pre order I got my Jally’s, which was 3 months late. Fortunately for me and my partner, we only had invested a few hundred dollars. There were others that invested tens of thousands of dollars in pre orders.
Now being a business owner myself, I do understand that often things do not go according to plan and that set backs do happen. But treating your customers in the most rude of ways is just wrong. The reps of BFL treated people very nastily in many instances.
BFL became a company of fraud and stole millions of pre order monies. Was it their intentions to start out this way.? I do have reason to believe their intentions were sound at the start, but got in over their heads as this tech space moves with lighting speed.
I am glad to say now that FTC has closed down Butterfly labs.
The crypto currency world is a new technology and to be sure, many more situation like this will happen.
The point in me sharing this story is this, always remember to do your due diligence in any new company and understand the potential risk involved before you put your hard earned funds on the line.
I was very close a few month ago in starting a class action law suit against BFL, but life happened and more immediate things took my attention. All in all it is long over due that BFL being closed down!!
TeamBitBillions 