In a bad patch, Bitmain, the specialist in ASIC-based cryptocurrency mining machines, had to resolve to shut down its Israel-based research center.
Chinese company Bitmain has shut down Bitmaintech Israel, its development center established two years ago in Ra’anana, according to Israeli business publication Globes.
Tossed about by the course of crypto-currencies
All 23 office workers will be made redundant and Bitmain’s vice president Gadi Glikberg, who ran the center, will also be leaving the company.
To justify the shutdown, Bitmain blames the layoffs on the protracted cryptocurrency bear market that started earlier this year and has worsened month-to-month.
If Bitmain specializes in the development and manufacture of equipment for cryptocurrency mining, the Israeli office had also focused its efforts on the development of the Connect BTC mining pool and the artificial intelligence (AI) used. in Bitmain’s “Sophon” project.
This is a strategic turnaround since last July, Bitmain planned to triple the size of its Israeli development center, which then had 15 employees.
The bursting of the bubble claims victims
The general decline of the crypto markets largely explains this choice, although the Chinese company has also made some bad choices that are weighing on its balance sheet.
The company also recently underwent a major board reshuffle.
Bitmain is the world’s largest manufacturer of mining devices based on application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips. The group also operates a mining pool by the name of Antpool.
Bitamin is not the only one suffering from the current downtrend in cryptocurrencies, however.
So last week, ConsenSys, the blockchain software technology company founded by Joseph Lubin in 2014, laid off more than 13% of its 1,200 employees as part of a major restructuring the company calls ConsenSys 2.0.
Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange, also laid off nearly 3% of its workforce last October.
(Photo credit: @Bitmain)
