So in conclusion -- Am I missing something or does it seem unlikely that someone was mining Bitcoin with ASICs as early as 2012? Because given the technical challenges and capital requirements it seems weird for someone to produce ASIC chips without scaling production for either themselves or for sale to the public, either of which should have made a splash back then.
Unless they were early prototypes that never made it into production or, something made privately that was never marketed.
Then as far as I remember, or can find, all of the 1st real production ASIC miners that people could buy came into being in 2013.
-Dave