Pineconebox.com: warning – the website shows signs of a scam ASIC miner shop

According to our check on 24 October 2026, pineconebox.com shows a number of signs of a risky online shop: the domain has existed since March 2026, the owner is hidden, the company “Pinecone Tech Inc.” gives no registration details and the terms contradict each other. On top of that, it sells INIBOX machines for the INI coin, whose project collapsed in summer 2026. In our view this is a risky website and we do not recommend buying here.

Summary

• The domain pineconebox.com has been registered since 30 March 2026; the owner's details are hidden by an anonymisation service.
• The website only gives the name “Pinecone Tech Inc.” and an address in Shenzhen – no registration number, phone or social media.
• The return policy, the terms and conditions and the product pages contradict each other on key points.
• The main machine on offer, INIBOX, earns nothing on the INI coin today – the only thing that makes sense is switching it to mining Nexa.
• We found no independent reviews of the shop. If you have already paid, follow the steps below.

What pineconebox.com offers

The website presents itself as a shop for “Pinecone Matches INIBOX” ASIC miners for the VersaHash algorithm and the INI (InitVerse) network. As of 24 October 2026 it offered four models:

According to the product pages, payment is in USD or bitcoin, with shipping from China scheduled for 31 October – 3 November 2026. According to the website, the price does not include customs duties or taxes.

What we checked on the website (as of 24 October 2026)

Below are only facts that anyone can check – links to the sources are at the end of the article.

A young domain and a hidden owner

According to the WHOIS record, the domain pineconebox.com was registered on 30 March 2026 with the registrar Namecheap. The owner's details are hidden by the “Withheld for Privacy” service. Yet the “About us” page claims that more than 2,000 clients trust the shop, around 70% of them companies.

A company with no traceable registration

The contact page only lists “Pinecone Tech Inc.” and the address X53 Caiyun Rd, Futian, Shenzhen (China). There is no registration number, phone or social media links; the only ways to get in touch are a form and an e-mail address on the shop's own domain. The terms and conditions name no company at all and submit disputes to Dutch law and an arbitration court in the Netherlands.

A template taken from another shop

In the page code, the logo in the footer is labelled “MicroBT WhatsMiner ASIC Miners Store Logo”. The INIBOX shop was apparently built by adapting the template of an online shop selling miners of a different brand.

Terms that contradict each other

• Returns: the Return Policy page promises returns within 30 days, free return shipping and no fees. Every product page, however, says that an order cannot be cancelled or refunded, and the terms and conditions state “All sales are final” for miners.
• Stock: the home page and “About us” claim that everything is in stock, with no pre-orders and dispatch within a week. Yet every product shows a future “Shipping Date”.
• Payment: the home page mentions card payments, while the terms and conditions require payment in advance by bitcoin or bank transfer – methods that cannot be disputed.
• Machines: the home page claims all models are for VersaHash and the INI network. According to its own page, however, the “R1X – XMR Edition” is for RandomX and Monero, and “ZK-Synergy” for Aleo. For the 850 MH/s model, a banner on the home page gives a price of USD 3,150, the shop USD 1,240.
• Ratings: the INIBOX Pro shows “4.7 (25 customer reviews)”, but the reviews themselves are not on the page, and we found no independent reviews of the shop on Trustpilot, Reddit or the bitcointalk forum.

The automated checker ScamAdviser rates the website as risky – mainly because of the new domain and the hidden owner. We did not try to place an order or pay.

Why buying an INIBOX for the INI coin makes no sense today

The INIBOX machine itself works, but the INI coin has collapsed. According to miners, the InitVerse project blocked withdrawals in summer 2026 and the token price crashed – we describe this in detail in the article InitVerse (INIBOX): what happened to the INI coin and how to switch the machines to Nexa.

As of 24 October 2026, the comparison site MiningNow shows a daily income of USD 0 for the INIBOX Pro, a rate of 1 INI ≈ USD 0.0000235 and the warning “Suspicious activity”. At an electricity price of USD 0.07/kWh, the machine therefore loses USD 2.15 a day mining INI.

The INIBOX hardware computes the NexaPoW algorithm, so today the only thing that makes sense is mining the Nexa coin – and even that pays off mainly with cheap electricity. In our view, a seller offering the INIBOX as a machine “for the INI network” is not telling buyers something important.

A similar clone: pineconemining.com

In its guide on how to spot fake INIBOX websites, the miner seller Yesmining names the domain pineconemining.com, with a price well below the market, as an example of a fraudulent shop. We have not verified whether the two websites are connected.

Do not confuse them: the Canadian shop pineconebox.ca sells gift boxes and has nothing to do with the miner websites.

How to check an ASIC miner seller

1. Company in the register: for a Czech seller, look up the company ID (IČO) in ARES and the commercial register; for a foreign one, in that country's register. The name and address must match the website and the invoice.
2. Domain age: WHOIS tells you when the domain was created. A website from this year that boasts thousands of customers is a warning sign.
3. Contact details that work: call the listed phone number and check the address on a map. A real shop or warehouse can be visited.
4. Price compared with the market: compare the price with several sellers. A machine well below the market price is the most common bait.
5. Model at the manufacturer: check that the manufacturer really makes the model with these specifications – more in the article on fraudulent miner pre-orders.
6. Payment method: crypto only or a bank transfer abroad in advance means you will not get your money back. A card, cash on delivery or collection in person is safer. For a VAT payer, check the bank account in the register of VAT payers.
7. Terms and conditions: they must name a specific company and must not contradict each other. Copied terms with foreign law or a different brand give away a hastily assembled website.
8. Independent reviews: look for experiences on Google, Trustpilot and forums, not only on the seller's website.
9. Coin and pool: a coin with a single machine manufacturer and a single pool is a risk in itself, as the INI case has shown.
10. Pressure to decide quickly: “last units”, countdowns and discounts for today only are classic tricks. A reputable seller gives you time.

You can also quickly check a seller in our database Seller check and warnings.

What to do if you have already paid

1. Do not pay anything more. No “customs”, “insurance” or fees to release the shipment.
2. Keep the evidence: screenshots of the website and the order, e-mails, the payment confirmation, the website address and, for crypto, the transaction ID.
3. Card payment: contact your bank straight away and ask for a chargeback. The deadlines are usually several months, but the sooner the better.
4. Bank transfer: ask your bank to try to recall the payment. The chance is small, but it grows the faster you act.
5. Crypto: the transfer cannot be reversed. Report it to the exchange the payment was sent from – it can block the recipient's account if it holds it.
6. Police: file a criminal complaint with the police and attach the evidence you have kept.
7. Shop in the EU: for a dispute with a shop from another EU country, the European Consumer Centre (ECC) in your country can help; for a domestic shop, the consumer protection authority. For a shop outside the EU, like this one, they cannot help.
8. Beware of “recovery agents”: anyone who contacts you on their own and promises to get your money back for a fee is usually another scammer – see the article AI trading bots: how to spot a scam.

Our conclusion

In our view this is a risky website and we do not recommend buying here. We have no information about specific customers who have been harmed – we only describe what can be seen on the website and in public records. Do you have experience with pineconebox.com, good or bad? Write to us and we will add it to the article. If the operator provides proof of company registration and actual deliveries, we will gladly correct the information.

What next

• Seller check and warnings – a database of checked websites and a form to report a suspicious shop.
• What happened to the INI coin – and how to switch an INIBOX to Nexa.
• Cloud mining: why most offers are a scam.

Sources

All sources checked on 24 October 2026.

• pineconebox.com – home page, shop, products, About us, contact, terms and conditions and Return Policy
• WHOIS record of the domain pineconebox.com
• ScamAdviser: rating of pineconebox.com
• MiningNow: Pinecone Matches INIBOX Pro – income and INI rate
• Yesmining: how to spot fake INIBOX websites (mentions pineconemining.com)