There hasn’t been a lot of communication out of Bitmain lately. It’s probably because the company is dealing with a lot of issues – it’s replacing its two CEOs, Jihan Wu and Micree Zhan, and has also had difficulty finding support for its initial public offering (IPO), even by the exchange it expected to host it. As the cryptocurrency mining company has seen one blow after another, it is becoming increasingly possible that the end is near. This is substantiated even more by the fact that its share of hashpower is now at the lowest point it has been in the past 16 months.
Early last year, Bitmain’s two mining pools, Antpool and BTC.com, controlled 42% of the hashpower of Bitcoin Core (BTC). There was concern that the company could eventually take over the entire ecosystem if it were able to continue to gain, but Bitmain quickly began to stumble and has been sliding downhill ever since.
According to The Block Crypto, Bitmain now only controls 26% of BTC’s hashpower. The drop is just the latest example of the company’s inability to properly manage its resources, an ineptitude that resulted in at least two offices – one in Amsterdam and another in Israel – being shut down, as well as the potential demise of an entire Texas town.
Bitmain was once reportedly the largest supplier of crypto mining equipment, in addition to operating the mining pools. However, questions began to surface early in 2018 over the company’s stability and purpose, especially in light of its inability to provide clear financial details. As the year progressed, it became more and more apparent that it was not as viable as it wanted everyone to believe, and is now possibly on its last legs.
Whether it is able to bounce back remains to be seen, but the odds are certainly not high. It has fallen out of favor with many in the crypto industry and has lost almost all the respect it once felt it deserved. As it has not been able to pay its debts and has inventory it can’t sell, the latest developments do not paint a bright picture for the company’s future.
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