Bitmain in troubled waters

2018 has been a year of agony for Bitmain and other crypto miners as cryptocurrency prices continue to tumble to yearly lows. While the markets still struggles to find a support on the downside, problems for Bitmain continues to rise.

According to the recent reports Bitmain has made massive losses in Q3 2018, has shut down its Israeli office and owes hundreds of millions to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).

Bitmain’s Israeli centre closure render 23 employees jobless.

Bitmain’s development center, which was set up in Ra’anana nearly three years ago under the direction of Gadi Glikberg. All 23 of its employees will be made redundant. This would also bring an end to Glikberg’s stint with Bitmain who served as vice president of Bitmain Worldwide.  The closure of Israeli operations for Bitmain shows difficulties faced for crypto miners.

Glikberg, probably, in his last statement at the company spoke to his employees in Israel where he said

“The crypto market has been in turmoil for the last few months, forcing Bitmain to examine the various activities in the global company and to refocus activities according to the current situation.”

Bitmain’s losses $740 million in disastrous Q3.

There are rumors that Bitmain’s third quarter has not been a profitable one. Specifically, a Twitter user by the name of @btcking55 has claimed that it is a “complete disaster”, and that the company has lost over $700 million. The user attributed to the information to a leak in Bitmain records. For some context, the @btcking555 seems to tweet exclusively about Bitmain, and has over 4,000 followers. The tweet has over 300 retweets and 900 likes. You can find the tweet below:

Bitmain’s owes hundreds of millions of dollars to Taiwan Chip Maker.

Rumours have it that Bitmain is in major debt to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and it looks like things are about to get ugly.

The assets held by Bitmain are in equipment that sits in warehouses, unable to be sold. It reportedly ran up a tab of around $1 billion with TSMC, an astounding amount of debt. After TSMC went on the offensive, Bitmain reportedly paid back $700 million and is still on the hook for the remaining $300 million.

Bitmain is also looking to go public, and one of the figures that has been discussed is an $18 billion valuation. In August, various media outlets were reporting that the company was on its way to a staggering $10 billion in revenue, as well. The achievement is more stunning considering that its 2017 revenues were $2.5 billion, and its 2016 reasons were actually only $300 million.

However, with the plummet in price of crypto, especially that of Bitcoin Cash, and the struggles between Bitcoin Cash SV and Bitcoin Cash ABC. It remains to be seen whether Bitmain will continue with its planned IPO, and whether they are still in the black.

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