Bitmain May Soon Cut 50% Of Staff Ahead of Bitcoin Halving

At a time, Beijing-based cryptocurrency mining company Bitmain was easily the largest Bitcoin-related company, sporting a valuation of (at least) $14 billion in the Chinese private equity markets.

Though, since it secured such valuations in 2018, Bitmain’s business has slowed in a spectacular fashion seemingly due to three reasons:

1. The price of Bitcoin, despite it recovering since the 2018 bear market, is still much lower than it was two years ago;
2. Other companies have entered the cryptocurrency market, producing machines that are comparable to Bitmain’s ASICs;
3. Internal disputes within Bitmain, specifically those between its founders, have likely driven profitability lower.

This slowdown resulted in the company cutting hundreds of positions at the end of 2018, per various reports. Bitmain itself claimed that these layoffs were conducive to the success of its business, adding that they would continue to hire talented individuals to help grow the company.

Despite this, it appears that…