Amazon starts delivering Bitcoin computers. What can you do with them?

Author: Cleopatra Image source: Dazhi

Remember the Amazon hack we introduced earlier? The product, called 21 Bitcoin Computer, is currently being delivered by the online retail giant. 21 Bitcoin Computer is the first product of 21Inc, the industry's most well-funded startup. 21Inc began accepting orders on September 21, and on the same day, 21Inc launched its first product, 21 Bitcoin Computer, and believes that in the future 21 Bitcoin Computer will be used to further develop the field of machine-to-machine payments.

Unlike previous products that focused on the bitcoin mining market, 21Inc reiterated in a new blog post that they do not expect their components to be optimized for speculative bitcoin mining, but rather accelerate transactions in the bitcoin industry chain. Instead, 21Inc's components will provide users with "bitcoin streams," an effort to emphasize that bitcoin, despite being a scarce and precious resource, is very effective data.

So far, the product may still be struggling to communicate the subtle differences with the developer community’s target consumers. Reviews on social networking sites and Amazon show that consumers are still skeptical about the product’s value and high price.

In a blog post, 21 Inc CEO Balaji Srinivasan reiterated the value of the product, saying: "The 21 Bitcoin Computer is an integrated hardware and software device designed to connect to other similar devices, be updated, and integrate with the online development community. It provides a bitcoin stream to purchase digital products and services, and it has the ability to set up simple micropayment servers to sell these products. In addition, it can be created with a library of demo applications to build your own library."

According to Amazon's official product documents, the product is expected to start shipping on November 16, and soon after, a Reddit user said he had received a confirmation email from the e-commerce company. Later, 21Inc confirmed the start of shipment via Twitter.

An informal survey conducted by CoinDesk on Twitter showed that not all buyers received the confirmation email. Only 30% of the 27 people who responded to the survey said they received a notification when the product was shipped before the survey deadline.

The shipping deadline is important for 21Inc and its reputation, given the problems startups in the industry have historically had in shipping consumer mining products.

Butterfly Labs, KnCMiner, HashFast, and a number of other mining companies have experienced delayed shipments, negative customer reviews, and ultimately, lawsuits and bankruptcy.

As of publication date, 21 Inc has not responded to requests for clarification on the delivery date.