Reports: Bitmain Allegedly Fires All BCH Developers in Wave of Redundancies

Published at: Dec. 24, 2018

Cryptocurrency mining giant Bitmain has reportedly fired its entire staff of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) developers, Blockstream CSO Samson Mow reported, citing Chinese social media sources on Dec. 23.

The second in what appears to be a phase of staff losses for Bitmain, around 50 workers are reportedly set to go this week.

The messages follow reports on China’s version of LinkedIn warning about a giant wave of redundancies targeting as much as half of Bitmain’s 2,500-strong workforce, with rumors now circling on Twitter after being uploaded by Primitive founding partner and commentator Dovey Wan.

According to Wan, such social media reports are “usually very high accuracy, posted by employees themselves.”

The BCH developers that were reportedly let go had formed Bitmain’s Copernicus team and were working on the company’s Bitcoin Cash GO client.

“Only 1 week notice. Some had just joined the company,” Mow added.

Earlier this month, Bitmain announced the complete closure of its blockchain development lab in Israel amid low prices across Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoin markets, resulting in the loss of 23 jobs.

Controversy around plans to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong meanwhile continues as rumors regulators are concerned about the volatile state of cryptocurrency markets emerged in mainstream media last week.

Bitmain has yet to provide official comment on the staff layoffs or IPO progress.

Tags
Related Posts
Bitmain Announces Energy-Efficient ASIC Chip for Mining Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash
Chinese mining giant and ASIC hardware producer Bitmain has announced its next generation 7nm (nanometer) ASIC mining chip, according to a press release published on Monday, Feb. 18. The new mining hardware, BM1397, is designed for mining cryptocurrencies that use the SHA256 algorithm for their proof-of-work (PoW), such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). BM1397 requires less power for mining cryptocurrencies, representing a 28.6 percent improvement in power efficiency in comparison with the company’s previous 7nm chip, BM1391. The new chip will be used in new Antminer models — S17 and T17 — which will be revealed later this …
Bitcoin / Feb. 18, 2019
Bitmain stops shipment of Antminer crypto mining rigs into China
Bitmain, a Chinese manufacturer of cryptocurrency mining equipment, has been forced to stop its business in China from Oct. 11 following the crypto ban imposed by local authorities. In addition to China’s blanket ban on crypto operations, the company has attributed the move to stop shipping Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency mining rigs as a response to China’s carbon-neutral policies. According to Bitmain’s announcement: “From October 11, 2021, Antminer will stop shipping to mainland China. For customers in mainland China who have purchased long-term products, our staff will contact them to provide alternative solutions.” While the company has yet to reveal …
Bitcoin / Oct. 10, 2021
Bitmain reportedly cuts off funding to Bitcoin Core developers
Bitmain, one of the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) miner producers, has reportedly halted its funding for some primary developers maintaining Bitcoin-related software. Jonas Schnelli, a major Bitcoin Core contributor and maintainer, claimed that Bitmain halted its support after funding his efforts for more than three years. In a Dec. 1 tweet, Schnelli said that he lost his sponsorship from Bitmain alongside Joao Barbosa, another Bitcoin Core contributor also known under the “Promag” nickname on GitHub. “Thanks Bitmain for all the help (despite the disagreement we had),” Schnelli tweeted, asking the crypto community to contribute to his further efforts on Bitcoin …
Bitcoin / Dec. 2, 2020
Bitmain Shifting IPO Plans to the US on Growing Bitcoin Optimism
Chinese cryptocurrency mining giant Bitmain is revisiting plans for an initial public offering (IPO,) Bloomberg reported on June 21. The company had filed to list an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, but the application expired on March 26. Now, Bitmain is reportedly planning to file listing documents with the United States Security and Exchange Commission, potentially paving the way for a share sale to take place later this year. While the company was hoping to raise $3 billion from its planned Hong Kong IPO, the Bloomberg report suggested that this fundraising target will be reduced to between $300 …
Bitcoin / June 21, 2019
Mining Giant Bitmain Hurries to Deploy 90,000 S9 Antminers Ahead of Bitcoin Cash Hard Fork
Ahead of the imminent Bitcoin Cash (BCH) hard fork, mining giant Bitmain has rushed to deploy around 90,000 Antminer S9 machines to the western Chinese region of Xinjiang, Chinese blockchain news source DeepChain reports Nov. 8. As reported, the BCH network will hard fork on Nov. 15, and Bitmain is reported to be strategizing its role in the forthcoming computing “power war” by reaching out to local mining farms in the coal-rich region of Xianjing. Local mining pool operator Yu Hao told DeepChain that the mining titan has been in talks with “almost all” the local mining farms since late …
Blockchain / Nov. 8, 2018