I’ve heard this question asked a lot lately,“should I buy an ASIC miner or invest directly in Bitcoin?” I asked myself the same thing back in November. After much research I did both,investing $200 in Bitcoin and $150 on an ASIC. Today my Bitcoin purchase is worth $484.40 US Dollars ($29.18 USD / 1 BTC) well over doubling my initial investment. The $150 Butterfly Labs Jalapeno hasn’t arrived yet,though I’m told I can get a refund if I’d like. With that said,I’m happy with my choice and will likely do the same again. My analysis and explanation follows.

Initial Involvement

Though I’d read about Bitcoin in 2011 it wasn’t until mid 2012 that I finally got involved. For much of last year I was mining Bitcoin on a single Radeon 6850 which brought in somewhere between 30-60 Millibits (.030 – .060 BTC) per day. What’s more is that I wasn’t even mining constantly as my GPU had a hard time keeping up while I was working. By November I’d been watching the exchange rate on MtGox for a few months and felt I had a decent enough understanding of Bitcoin to make a small investment.

Direct Investment

I decided to split my small,experimental investment in two by preordering a BFL Jalapeno and by purchasing $200 worth of Bitcoin. After transaction fees through BitInstant and a small fee from MtGox I ended up purchasing 16.6 Bitcoins for roughly $212. Three months later those same Bitcoin are valued at $484.20. Were I to cash out today I’d do so for a profit of $270.20.

ASIC Preorder

My Jalapeno hasn’t arrived and,according to today’s announcement,likely won’t much earlier than June of this year. Considering that I can still get a refund if I’d like,my preorder is worth the $150 plus shipping that I originally paid. If I’d put this $150 directly into Bitcoin then I’d have made about $215 at this point.

Source: cryptojunky.com