Bitmain responds to layoffs and sale of mining machines: The news is false, please refer to the prospectus

On the evening of December 29, Bitmain responded to recent rumors about changes in the company's senior management and business conditions. Sina Technology said that it is inconvenient to comment on the many false information about Bitmain recently. The company's current situation is subject to the prospectus.

Today, some self-media reported that Bitmain is laying off employees on a large scale. The company has planned to cut all mining operations, leaving at most 10 people to operate as light assets. The report said that this means that more than 500 employees in the mine maintenance and operation business line will be laid off. Bitmain has also commissioned relevant dealers to sell off second-hand mining machines in its own mines, and disassemble the inventory mining machines and sell them as accessories.

A day earlier, the same self-media reported that Jihan Wu and Zhan Ketuan might resign as CEO of Bitmain at the same time. Sina Technology had sought confirmation from Bitmain, but the company declined to comment.

Public information shows that Bitmain mainly develops and manufactures ASIC chips. The "computing power" provided by mining machines produced with such chips supports the mining and trading of digital currencies, mainly Bitcoin.

Before the value of Bitcoin plummeted, Bitmain submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on September 26 this year, with "Bitmain Technology Holdings Co., Ltd." as the main body, and officially launched the plan to list on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The prospectus shows that Bitmain currently has more than 2,000 employees. Data shows that Bitmain achieved revenue of US$2.5 billion in 2017 and a net profit of US$1.25 billion. In the first quarter of 2018, Bitmain's revenue was US$1.87 billion and its net profit reached US$1.14 billion.

As of press time, Bitmain has not disclosed updated operating data. (Zhou Feng)

The following is the full text of Bitmain’s response:

We have noticed a lot of false information about our company recently. We are not in a position to comment on each one individually. Please refer to the prospectus we announced. As for the false information, we have collected evidence and reserve the right to pursue legal liability.