(Rejected) Major Chinese Crypto Mining Firm Valarhash Baite Will Stop Mining Bitcoin, Targeting to Pursue Altcoins
A prominent mining company in China has decided to stop Bitcoin mining because of the uncertainties in the mining industry. Valarhash Baite mining pool has opted to drop out of Bitcoin mining but instead has decided to move into altcoin mining.
Baite sees Bitcoin mining not as a safe haven
Valarhash Baite mining pool has abandoned Bitcoin mining operations because its hash rate significantly declined to 200 petahashes per second from a peak of 4000 petahashes per second earlier in March. Bitcoin is experiencing lots of challenges ahead of the forthcoming halving. Despite the Bitcoin hash rate has risen 33% in the last two days, critical uncertainties remain how the crypto will cope with the present COVID-19 pandemic and forthcoming halving.
China’s Bitcoin miners control as much as 66% of the global hash rate. The huge Bitcoin mining farms in China are the ‘De Facto’ market movers within the crypto mining industry. A large number of uncertainties hang over Bitcoin. The steep decrease of petahashes shows that Bitcoin mining operations face significant challenges that likely to make suspension of the crypto mining. Besides the current coronavirus pandemic, the technical challenges associated with Bitcoin halving are likely to cause a double blow to the leading cryptocurrency.
A large firm like Baite stopping mining could cause a significant impact on Bitcoin prices. Baite mining is set to counter the current depressing scenario by entering into a more lucrative altcoin market. The mining company has learned that investment opportunities in the altcoin arena will perform well in the long run as the market recovers.
Valarhash Baite is a major market player, and about 9% of the total Bitcoin hash rate is attributed to the mining firm. Its absence would create a huge void within the Bitcoin mining arena. Baite operates two mining pools, namely Bytepool and 1 THash. Other operations under Baite include Nelson crypto mining farm management software and Bitcoin cloud mining project 1 TMine. Bytepool and 1THash have been responsible for over 9% of the entire Bitcoin network hash rate. Currently, 1THash ranks the eighth according to the report, it is, therefore, likely that 1 THash will obtain the majority of hash power from Bytepool.
Impacts of the coronavirus on Bitcoin miners
The plague of coronavirus has caused a temporary closure of China’s businesses. Firms are showing concern regarding how the situation of the new dangerous virus has caused a drastic impact on their businesses. Crypto mining operations is one area where the effect of the COVID-19 has proved to be dangerous. China has about 70% share in Bitcoin mining, thanks to the availability of robust technological prowess and cheap electricity. However, the virus outbreak has adversely hit the mining operations. Over 40 established crypto mining operations have been forced to close down their businesses because of the price decline of Bitcoin and unprofitable mining equipment business. However, it remains to see how Bitcoin miners will cope with the current situations.
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