[Arm-netbook] EOMA68 / Libre RISC-V team financing

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

---
crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68


On Wed, Dec 27, 2017 at 1:32 PM, Luca Saiu <positron at gnu.org> wrote:
> On 2017-12-27 at 12:35, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
>
>> if the amount of BTC going out is GREATER than the BTC coming in,
>> then, clearly and logically, that would be unsustainable, meaning that
>> they would HAVE to get some extra BTC from somewhere....
>
> Correct, but that's a very big "if".  I don't believe the hypothesis.

 ... if there *existed* a way to find out the numbers that would
disprove the hypothesis (do a model of their business and see if it
can be proved that there's no way they could be financially viable) i
would do the model.

 ultimately... i did the risk / value proposition a different way:
only put in those "funds"... not funds at all they're actually just
"numbers".... which were "free".  i.e. i did NOT go out and register
on a bitcoin exchange, i did NOT register a bank account with them, i
did NOT give anyone cash in exchange for bitcoin.

 i happened to have 0.4 BTC left over from some mining i did 5 years
ago, and someone donated me 0.25 BTC a few months ago.


> I've given what I believe is fair warning; if it turns out I'm wrong,
> which I unfortunately consider unlikely, that's better for everybody.

 yehyeh.  it's why i didn't take *actual* cash, buy bitcoin, *then*
put it into bitclub mining shares.  i've never actually registered on
any of these exchanges so couldn't get money in or out to USD or any
fiat currency even if i wanted to.  i only used BTC which i happened
to already have.


> You say that the EOMA68 quotes are not at risk;

 well, if i don't find *some* way to pay for food and the apartment
here, that is much more of a risk to the EOMA68 project than anything
else possibly could be, particularly as i am in a foreign country on a
tourist visa and they don't take too kindly to foreigners not being
able to pay for their own flight the hell out of the country.

 i have enough cash (from a contract i did 3 months ago) to pay for
accommodation for about 2-3 months.  if i have to pay the flight to
FOSDEM out of that, then that cash reserve drops to around 1-2 months.

 that is far more of a quotes risk quotes to the EOMA68 project than
me taking 0.65 of a BTC which i happened not to be using, where BTC
happened to rise enough to the point where it was worthwhile throwing
it at bitclub.

 so i have not quotes risked quotes anything.  i have not spent actual
cash.  and - this is REALLY IMPORTANT TO GET ACROSS - i have AT NO
TIME UTILISED ANY FUNDS FROM THE CROWDFUNDING.

 i am going to emphasise this and say it in capitals only the once

 i VERY VERY DELIBERATELY ONLY UTILISED THE BTC THAT I HAD MINED OVER
FIVE YEARS AGO (and 0.25 BTC which someone donated me about... 3-4
months ago).

 if you recall, right at the beginning of the crowdfunding success,
one of my first posts was about getting the money the fuck out of the
US due to possible currency destabilisation, given that the U.S.
President's total lack of understanding of his new position
destablised BOTH the Mexican currency AND the Canadian one.  if he'd
tried the same thing with the Yuan it could have wiped 10 to 15% off
the project right there.

 now, luckily that didn't happen but i pointed out that there was NO
WAY that i could gamble with the money that had been entrusted to me,
and pushed for USD $60,000 to be transferred immediately... right
before Chinese New Year.  we JUST managed to get the money out the
country in time.



> okay, if the project
> itself in not in jeopardy then I can be less nervous.

 if i don't find some way to pay for rent and food and the FOSDEM
flight then the EOMA68 project basically will be the least of my
concerns.  i did put the message out on the last couple of updates.  i
put it in a positive fashion, i received some very welcome suggestions
(and need to modify the rhombus-tech website to add a librepay and
also a BTC donation link)....

 ... nothing concrete actually received yet though.

 so this, luca, is one primary reason *why* i am telling people about
bitclub, because it represents a very big jump in income.  six
thousand dollars a month, tax free.  that's more than i've ever earned
at even the highest-paying of any of the companies i've ever worked
at.


> This will be my
> last messages on this topic for the time being (if bitclub collapses
> soon I can't guarantee I won't succumb to the temptation of a "told you
> so" mail).

 :)

> However, Luke, I do appreciate the actual technical work you are doing.

 thanks luca.

l.