It is completely reasonable.
Bitcoin Only - It is easier to accept BTC, and they need to move money fast to pay suppliers
No Refunds - This protects Avalon against people freerolling them as a hedge against BFL. If Avalon allowed refunds, and BFL shipped both on-time and within-spec, then nearly every rational buyer would ask for a refund, due to the 65nm vs 110nm efficiency gap.
No Proof - They are just being honest here. No amount of pictures / video will satisfy the doubters (but seriously Avalon, how about a video of a unit hashing...) and they are trying hard to expedite the delivery of the first unit to Jeff.
Oh, of course. And these suppliers take Bitcoin, eh? Think about that for a minute.
I thought about this some more and it does sound odd. Perhaps selling BTC in china is faster than receiving international wires? Regardless of speed, Bitcoin is certainly easier to set up automated orders for.
So...
Bitcoin, our favourite fledgeling currency that we all wish to be accepted by everyone, is the medium of exchange demanded by this merchant.
They say they need Bitcoin in order to move funds around quickly to their vendors, implying there are companies or people who are willing to accept Bitcoin in exchange for goods and services.
Why is that a bad thing? Isn't that precisely what we have all wanted?
I'm still willing to give Avalon the benefit of the doubt. When my 1st-batch Avalons arrive I'll happily share photos and details with everyone, although I imagine by that time we'll all know the details thanks to Jeff and/or the Foundation.[/list][/list]