Bitmain, the world’s largest manufacturer of hardware for digital currency mining using ASIC technology has decided to close its development center in Israel, according to reports by Globe, a local business news outlet.
The Ra’anana based development center in Israel with 23 Israeli employees is set to shut down this week because the company needs to reorganize its activities in line with the current market trends. The center’s head and VP at Bitmain Gadi Glikberg, while addressing the employees this morning said:
“The crypto market has undergone a shake-up in the past few months, which has forced Bitmain to examine its various activities around the globe and to refocus its business in accordance with the current situation.”
The development center was set up in 2016 and has been working on developing blockchain technology, the Connect BTC mining pool, and artificial intelligence technology for the Sophon project in Israel.
Bitmain has been suffering the impact of the crypto market crash as the demand for Bitcoin mining equipment continues to dwindle with several miners abandoning the mining of Bitcoin. Just recently, the news was making rounds about Chinese miners abandoning a large Bitcoin mining farm and selling their mining equipment as scrap.
Bitmain was forced to review its market revenue forecast downward for 2018 after the market started showing a negative trend even prior to the November bloody market. The harsh bear market which cryptocurrencies are yet to recover from has finally placed Bitmain on the edge and so it has to make some changes.
Not only is the crash affecting Bitmain but it has led to the loss of jobs by the thousands maybe millions who work in the crypto mining industry. Although the market is showing some signs of recovery by entering the green zone, there is no substantial price gain to make investors believe there is hope of a bull run any time soon.
After a brief recovery last week, Bitcoin fell under $4,000 and has remained there since barely staying above $3,500. Analysts and industry experts who gave bullish predictions about the asset have reversed their predictions showing there is no sign of hope for this year.
Although there are bullish predictions for the Bitcoin market in 2019, some experts believe the crypto winter will be here for at least a few months. The question then is does the new year 2019 really hold a better promise for Bitmain and Bitcoin miners with a better market?
