The first sales were in the order of 20 BTC per miner, now they seem around 1 BTC. Which one was a definitely losing proposition?

Diff went only up about ten times (while exchange value exploded and is twentyfold of preorder time for Augst delivery).

(Punin's) BTC price doesn't seem very unfair to me. Let go those fiat mind warps and just praise those smart ASIC producers, who will make an awesome lot of fiat and actually work for it. And if you disagree, just sit tight on your coins and make an awesome lot of fiat without any significant labour involved.