Chinese Sfards Targets Mining Industry with World’s First Dual SHA256 and Scrypt Miner

Published at: Oct. 20, 2014

Chinese giant cryptocurrency mining company Sfards Technology Ltd. announces it has started business operations.  

On October 20, Chinese cryptocurrency mining venture Sfards Technology Ltd. announced its ambition in becoming a leader in the industry while officially starting to operate, stated the company in a release.

Sfards is funded by China's alleged largest holder of bitcoins and angel investor Li Xiaolai, as well as international VC firm Matrix Partners China. While the total funding amount hasn't been disclosed, Sfards is said to be China's first cryptocurrency mining firm to receive considerable funding.

The new Beijing-based cryptocurrency mining solution provider is the result of a merger between two industry leaders: cryptocurrency chips manufacturer Gridseed and mining control solution Wiibox.

Thus, Sfards' leadership is composed of several senior managers from both Gridseed and Wiibox, who provide the newly formed company with expertise in various fields including microchip design, consumer electronics, Internet commerce and capital management.

According to the release, the company conceived the world's first "dual-miner machine" capable of running simultaneously SHA256 and Scrypt. The company said it was planning on launching semiconductors that have "reached the new stage of ASIC technology in both power and efficiency," reads the announcement.

"We want to position ourselves at the cutting edge of this industry research-wise and to utilize the world’s manufacturing powerhouse to build a solid and trusted brand that can offer cheaper prices than anyone else without sacrificing quality."

Sfards said it was currently working on improving the WiiBox, an open-source mining hardware control system, which will soon include a hash rate rental feature that will allow user to rent their equipment and use bought hashing power to mine multiple cryptocurrencies. The company added it was planning to add cloud mining services among its offerings.

Along with being the most famous figure in the Chinese Bitcoin world, Li Xiaolai is said to be China 's largest Bitcoin holder with current wallet holdings amounting to an estimated 100,000 BTC.

Since 2011, Xiaolai has been engaged in Bitcoin, most particularly in the mining industry. He has invested in Shenzhen mining equipment manufacturer ASICminer, and is involved in several Bitcoin-related projects and startups, including Bitcoin wallet Bitfoo/Bifubao, and open-source cryptocurrency exchange project Yunbi, formerly Peatio. 

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