Bitmain’s Rockdale Mining Operations kept on Hold

As reported by the Texas public radio station, Texas Public Radio, Bitmain has taken a decision to suspend its operations in Rockdale. The Chinese mining giant and ASIC hardware producer made the decision somewhat due to the substantial fall in cryptocurrency prices.

Rockdale is in Milam County, in the United States state of Texas. Bitmain had launched its center in Rockdale during the summer of 2018. The majority in Rockdale were concerned and eager to see what would Bitmain be bringing to the city. It was estimated to generate around 400 local jobs within the area.

Bitmain’s decision to suspend its operation gave disappointment as Greater Milam County was already stressed financially after the closure of Alcoa power plant and a smelter which resulted in a loss in the tax revenue up to 30 percent.

A Milam County Judge, Steve Young, had considered the launch of the mining operation as a “step in the right direction” which would bring positive news, increase the tax revenue and provide job opportunities within the area. Bitmain had apparently spent millions on setting up the plant and to renovate the old Alcoa power plant as per its needs. It had installed around 7,000-8,000 servers in the Rockdale mining facility. He stated “They have spent millions thus far to renovate the buildings. […] I’m told there are 7,000 or 8,000 servers out there already.”

Young, in a statement, said that except two engineers and the director of human relations, all other Bitmain employees have been asked to leave and all its operations have been stopped. Later, Young said that Bitmain has informed him that they will only be scaling down its operation and will be operating with just five employees rather than 15 and that the company will not be suspending its operations altogether.

As per the article, Young held the fall in the price of Bitcoin (BTC) as the reason for the company’s trimmed down plans. A spokesperson from Bitmain man said: “The right-sized team at Rockdale now has the expertise to re-start the project at small scale anytime. Bitmain would like to ramp up the site at a slower pace and scale based on market conditions.”

Bad times for Bitmain:

Recently, few Media reports had also reported that Bitmain has been planning to lay-off its employees across various projects.

There was also news of a new CEO being hired to replace the co-founders Wu Jihan and Zhan Ketuan

Many Chinese reporters have also confirmed that Bitmain has laid-off its entire team of developers of Bitcoin Cash (BCH). In December there were also speculations that Bitmain was laying-off its employees from the Israel Development center and was closing down its Israel operations.