09 May The CoinDesk 50: Bitmain, the Behemoth of Bitcoin Mining
Founded in 2013, the Beijing-based Bitmain Technology remains at the center of the crypto economy. With its flagship AntMiner bitcoin mining equipment still dominating the hardware market and its mining pools accounting for about a quarter of the bitcoin network’s computing power, it retains a uniquely powerful place in the ecosystem of by far the largest cryptocurrency and blockchain project.
That’s not to say it isn’t also controversial. Its vocal support for a Bitcoin hard fork (Bitcoin Cash) in 2017, following contentious community disagreement, won the company, and its masterminds, many enemies.
This post is part of the CoinDesk 50, an annual selection of the most innovative and consequential projects in the blockchain industry. See the full list here.
Over the years, Bitmain has been involved in many controversial developments to the point that the Chinese crypto community refers to its foes as the “mining avengers.” In 2017, Bitmain filed a lawsuit against Yang…