Bitmain Becomes Biggest Blockchain Conglomerate Following Series B Funding

Bitmain's series B funding closes to create the largest global cryptocurrency conglomerate in China.

China’s dominant bitcoin mining manufacturer has become the largest crypto conglomerate in the world after securing a new round of Series B funding.

Bitmain Expands Influence

Caixin news agency reported last week that Bitmain has secured between $300 million and $400 million in new funding from Sequoia China, U.S. hedge fund Coatue and Singapore-based EDBI, effectively becoming the largest cryptocurrency company in the world. With the latest round, Bitmain’s total value has swelled to $12 billion.

Bitmain is making waves across the blockchain industry, having recently announced plans to purchase roughly 43% of Opera Ltd., a Norway-based internet browser that has filed for an initial public offering with Nasdaq.

Back in May, the company led a $110 million financing round for Circle, an influential cryptocurrency company with backing from Goldman Sachs and others. In an official announcement, Circle said Bitmain’s stake in the company will allow it to expand critical infrastructure needed to power the crypto economy:

“Bitmain Co-founder and CEO Jihan Wu is well known for espousing a vision similar to ours regarding the creation and adoption of a new global economy powered by cryptographic...


Taxation Reinvented by Bitcoin Miners in Hong Kong?

At the Coingeek Conference in Hong Kong recently a prominent group of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) miners got together to discuss the funding of BCH development. Attendees included Jerry Chan from SBI Bits and Jonald Fyookball of Electron Cash.

Press reports indicate that most of the attendees agreed that it makes sense for miners denote a (small) portion of block rewards, between 1% and 5%, to fund community proposed initiatives. The initiatives could be adopted by a supermajority of miners (75% was discussed) then supported automatically by the mandated percentage from every block found.

This created a moment of what one might call ideological discomfort. Jamie Redman wrote about this informal meeting, and that consensus, in a post at Bitcoin.com. The commenters on Redman’s piece proceeded to debate whether the BCH miners were reinventing taxation. The crypto community harbors a number of anarcho-capitalists and other anti-statists and “taxation” is a dreaded word.