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Bitmain, the leading producer of ASIC mining rigs, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) during the China Mobile Global Partner Conference. The exact nature of the deal is unknown. China Mobile is one of the largest state-run telecoms, reported AsiaCryptoToday.
In the past, Bitmain has also partnered with Aichain (AIT), a small crypto-based startup aiming to work on machine learning and AI solutions. AIT currently trades on thin volumes with a price of $0.01.
In the past few months, Bitmain saw significant setbacks, after an extremely successful start for 2018. The demand for ASIC mining devices slowed down, as the bear market diminished the profitability of cryptocurrency mining. Bitmain is one of the most influential miners in SHA-256 mining, suitable for the networks of Bitcoin (BTC), but also Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin SV (BSV).
The slowing sales and demand for fewer mining machines are happening just months ahead of the Bitmain initial public offering (IPO). The worsened financial results may make for a less appealing prospectus, further hurting Bitmain’s valuation. Before the series of negative results in the past quarters, and the expectation for an even worse third quarter, Bitmain expected to be valued at more than $18 billion.
Bitmain has also been hurt by its large holding of BCH, about one million coins, which are now valued much lower due to the market price crash after the November 15 hard fork. Additional losses may have come from the hash wars, a period of competitive mining between the two blockchains branched from the main Bitcoin Cash network.
Unfortunately, Bitcoin Cash, a project that started with significant support from Bitmain, continues to lose positions:
https://twitter.com/BitmainCash/status/1073105149265149952
For now, the company has decided on holding its coins, which still keeps a relatively high number of coins out of the markets:
https://twitter.com/CobraBitcoin/status/1072892376635576320
So far, Bitmain has been slow in announcing third quarter financial results, to confirm or debunk the allegations of a $740 million loss, including write-offs on the BCH market price.