I
really shouldn't encourage this tinfoil asshattery, but...
The core uses code that would violate copyrights if revealed - This is probably the most likely.
No. And there have been offers for unrestricted-but-not-open-source bistreams, which conflicts with your theory. However it isn't written in an existing/public HDL, so it's not going to be much use to people without the compiler. But none of this is really the main point.
The core does things in addition to what is advertised - It is entirely possible
This is exactly why 100% of the software on the host computer is (at minimum) "visible source". Much of it is public domain. You send the work-to-be-signed to the server in cleartext and the encrypted nonces you send for decryption are exactly 32 bits -- no room for leaking information; you'd notice a mismatch between the number of encrypted nonces sent and valid nonces received. Remember, the client-side software is completely under your control. Go ahead, read the code. Experiment with it if you like.
I'm going to have to go out on a limb here and just say that I feel there is something shady going on with this whole operation.
Ask the
numerous third parties who have verified performance on several different boards (click the "confirmed" links).
the logical thing to do would be to accept the bounties
Well, I'll admit, there is one totally illogical motive: the "bitstream that processes only signcrypted work" is, as far as I can tell (and I've researched this pretty extensively) a completely novel mechanism for making a profit off of something that is easy to copy. Some people throw around the term "DRM", but nothing here really enforces any "rights" -- the bitstream does exactly what I advertise it does: search for hash collisions in
signcrypted jobs and I can't limit/revoke/etc your ability to use it for that purpose (or any other, but that's the only useful purpose it has). This is different from DRM, which seeks to limit your ability to use or copy some work. Combined with the fact that bitcoin mining provides a way to turn compute cycles into money in a more direct way than ever before, it's pretty new. Seeing how it plays out and having a working example of this scheme in operation to point to is something I get enjoyment from. Totally illogical enjoyment.
Casascius (dammit, I'm sure I'm misspelling his name, is there a mnemonic for it?) can surely make a lot more money doing something other than putting physical bitcoins into circulation, but I'd hazard a guess that seeing them float around brings him some illogical enjoyment.
obviously there is some hidden reason we don't know about that is preventing ET from open sourcing this bit stream.
Nope. But any halfway-sane businessperson should immediately understand why I will not engage in
public, multilateral bargaining on a web forum. Come on, man, this is negotiations 101. You know this stuff.
Last of all I am immensely skeptical of the timetable people are assuming for custom mining ICs. Yeah, sure, things might unravel on schedule -- but the odds are against it. I also doubt that this will play out the way people think it will, although make no mistake it will play out eventually.