Bitmain acquires Bitcoin data and analysis company Blocktrail, reportedly adding CEO and three other full-time employees

Bitmain, one of the largest mining pool operators on the bitcoin network, has acquired a bitcoin data and analytics startup for an undisclosed amount.

The company being acquired is Blocktrail, and Bitmain will seek to use the acquisition to advance its services offered at BTC.com, a block explorer and analytics service launched by the company in September last year. The acquisition has proven to be the latest in a year of industry consolidation, following several notable acquisitions in the exchange space.

Prior to this, the industry's largest public acquisition had already taken place: Canaan Creative, a manufacturer of the Avalon chip series of bitcoin mining chips, was acquired by listed company Luyitong for approximately RMB 3 billion, and CoinDesk was acquired by Bitcoin investment company Digital Currency Group.

It is reported that three full-time Blocktrail employees will join the Bitmain team, including Blocktrail co-founder and CEO Boaz Bechar, who is optimistic that BTC.com can help his team gain more users.

“We’ve seen a lot of consolidation in the industry over the past year, and this is a perfect match for us to have access to all the technology we’ve built,” Bechar told CoinDesk.

Boaz Bechar

Bechar said Blocktrail will now “significantly” grow its European team, with VKontakte co-founder Lev Leviev also co-founding Blocktrail.

“I think BTC.com is going to be much stronger,” Bechar said. “We’re going to have a much bigger team and more resources.”