Bitpay and Bitmain Collaborate: The Aim is to Make Bitcoin Better and Solve Problems Faced by Miners

Golden Finance News - This week, Bitpay founder Stephen Pair gave an in-depth interpretation of the relationship between the company and Bitcoin mining machine manufacturer Bitmain Technologies to avoid causing more suspicion and misunderstanding.

(Bitpay founder Stephen Pair explains the partnership with Bitmain. Image source: Golden Finance)

Bitpay founder further explains company’s relationship with Bitmain Tech

Recently, for the Bitcoin mining industry, there have been discussions about the market not supporting certain companies to continue conducting Bitcoin business, and the recent Bitcoin mining machine Asic Boost problem has caused market concerns.

Specifically, the Bitcoin client alternatives implemented by Bitpay have caused dissatisfaction in the market. Some Bitcoin supporters have proposed boycotting Bitpay until Bitpay stops its "alternatives" that are not fully recognized.

(Bitpay's Bitcoin client alternative has caused dissatisfaction in the market. Image source: Golden Finance)

On the other hand, the Bitcoin mining machine produced by Bitmain was found to have a backdoor vulnerability, which has called into question the company's industry reputation. Although Bitmain has quickly made a remedy, the discussion about this backdoor vulnerability continues.

Now, Bitpay and Bitmain have announced a deep cooperation. The two parties recently signed a "multi-million dollar" development agreement, and Bitpay announced that it will provide the industry with more advanced Bitcoin client open source software.

(Bitpay and Bitmain have announced in-depth cooperation. Image source: Golden Finance)

The market has mixed reactions to this. Opponents believe that Bitpay's Bitcoin client alternative will cooperate with the powerful computing power of Bitmain's mining pool, which may bring unpredictable impacts on the stability of the Bitcoin industry.

Quite a number of Bitcoin supporters were unhappy with Bitpay’s “alternative” and reached out to Bitmain’s founder Jihan Wu for feedback.

“I advise anyone using BitPay to close their account and resist using them. This company should go out of business. https://t.co/mBWNAOJbPL

— Alphonse Pace UASF (@AlpacaSW) May 16, 2017

In addition, there have been many forum posts and Twitter comments calling for the Bitcoin industry to boycott Bitpay. Bitpay founder Stephen Pair has taken note of these aggressive oppositions and detailed how the company is working with Bitmain.

“I like reading negative comments about our relationship with Bitmain. The Bitpay partnership with Bitmain was initiated by me. I talked to Bitmain a lot about our existing collaboration and we found that we were interested in developing viable alternatives for various Bitcoin C++ clients.”

“Competing with Bitmain to make Bitcoin better”

For Stephen Pair, he didn’t believe that the Bitcoin client written in C++ could have an alternative until he saw a new direction. Pair said that the original code base has been improved, and he believes that the large C++ software can continue to reduce its size over time.

“We needed an alternative. But in the past, it became clear to us that we didn’t have the necessary staff to sustain the implementation of the alternative and make it successful,” the Bitpay founder explained.

(Stephen Pair believes that Bitcoin client alternatives have a bright future. Image source: Golden Finance)

The alternative client, Bcoin, has been in production for several months and is the only alternative code tested by bitcoin miners. Pair said this is an opportunity for Bitpay to develop the technology to fit the company. Bitmain also sees future development potential in Bcoin’s client, and Pair believes that confirming a partnership is a good way to “get enough financial commitment.”

“So, I guess we’re working with Bitmain to make Bitcoin better,” Pair elaborated.

Addressing Bitcoin Miners’ Concerns

(Stephen Pair said the company’s cooperation with Bitmain is to solve the miners’ problems. Image source: Golden Finance)

Another thing that Pair has noticed is the recent negativity among bitcoin miners. Pair said the company has been “disturbed” by the sentiment among miners.

“Bitpay’s success depends heavily on miners providing a well-functioning network,” Pair explained. “We appreciate miners and we think they deserve better. If miners have issues, Bitpay wants to help miners identify the problem and find a solution.”

The Bitpay CEO said the company initiated the collaboration with Bitmain to address the difficulties miners are currently “facing” in getting their jobs.