Up to 80% of South Korea miners folded during 2018: report

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The crypto winter has been harsh for many players in the digital currency industry. Profits are hard to come by when the market keeps sliding downward. Now a report out of South Korea indicates exactly how rough it’s been for miners in that country.

Yong Yongtai, head of the South Korea Finance Center, told the Chinese Financial Channel (CCTV-2) that he believes 70-80% of South Korean miners have not only ceased operation, but they may have also gone bankrupt due to the down market.

Some of this might be a result of an over saturated market. The highs of late 2017 and early 2018 resulted in a flood of players into the market. The crypto winter that followed was sure to shake out some of the weaker hands. Smarter investors, and those who are patient enough to wait for broader adoption and business functionality for cryptocurrency, like the developers behind Bitcoin SV (BSV), will reap the rewards long term.

Regardless of how cunning they may have been, South Korean players had a gauntlet to run if they hoped to come out in the black. Authorities have cracked down hard on Bitcoin Core (BTC) miners looking to find discounts on their energy prices. Mining rigs weren’t going to come any cheaper either, as regulation forced them to import only government approved equipment. Add on top of that the South Korean Initial Coin Offering (ICO) ban and pressure on crypto exchanges, and it’s not surprising that opportunities were few for the miners to profit.

Crypto winter could have been worse though. Miners in Abkhazia recently lost their electricity supply because winter, the literal season, increased the demand for power for residential heating.

Although the last year might have been harsh for markets, and as a result South Korean miners, the 10th anniversary of the Bitcoin genesis block might signal a turnaround for the industry. Now that Bitcoin has been reborn in Satoshi’s original vision as Bitcoin SV (BSV), serious developers are working on a sound plan to develop BSV as a business friendly digital currency that is ready for mass adoption. It’s the only crypto that is ready to massively scale, with a 103MB block mined very recently. As adoption and demand increases for BSV, South Korean miners will have opportunity once again.