Hong-Kong based bitcoin exchange, BTCC has made known through a press release, plans to shut down its mining pool business BTCC Pool Limited after four years of operation in Hong-Kong.
According to a statement from the firm published on November 6, 2018, the company says it would “shut down all mining servers on November 15 and will cease operations indefinitely from November 30.” BTCC Pool did not divulge any particular reason for deciding to shut down operations but said it was due to “business adjustments.”
China’s First Exchange Platform
Founded in June 2011 as BTC China, the company ranked as the world’s second-largest Bitcoin exchange by volume in October 2014. It enjoyed massive followership in China is the country’s first bitcoin exchange. The company benefited immensely from its first round of venture capital financing in 2013 which involved the participation of notable investors including LightSpeed China Partners and LightSpeed Venture Partners.
The announcement would probably not affect the price of bitcoin as it did the last time BTCC made a major announcement. Last year, in September, CEO Bobby Lee released a statement on the company’s website that it will “stop accepting new account registrations on the BTCC exchange” after “considering the Seven Regulatory Bodies announcement of preventing risks associated with token fundraising.”
BTCC ’s recent announcement has triggered reactions in the Bitcoin mining space. Apart from miners reeling under the relatively stable bitcoin prices which have inflated the general cost of mining, industry bigwig Bitmain continues to fuel speculations about an imminent public flotation, while Bitfury recently raised $80 million in Series C funding.
Through the financial backing of notable investors including the likes of crypto Galaxy Digital, European investment firm, Armat Group, Dentsu Inc., Macquarie Capital, MACSF Insurance Group and Europe-based fund managers, Lian and Jabre Group, Bitfury successfully closed an $80 million “private placement.”
Bitmain, leveraging its strides, announced the new 7nm application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) processor with a greater hashing power and superior energy efficiency in comparison to other models.
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