Bitmain has been making large losses recently, with a net loss of US$395m in Q2 2018. The magnitude of wasted production costs is also revealed, with almost US$0.5 billion spent on failed chips in the last 18 months. However,we also confirms that Bitmain successfully raised US$442m from investors in August 2018, significantly strengthening their balance sheet. At the same time, this brings the IPO closer, which is good news for Bitmain and something its rivals should be concerned about.
Another fall down for Bitmain who decided to create manufactures ASICS secretively for Sia mining in 2017 . In response Sia community decided to make a hard fork leaving Bitmain and another manufacturer outside the Sia market. The only one staying operational will be a 16nm chip from Obelisk manufacturer, who will become the new manufacturing monopoly for Sia.
"Sia is forking today to reprimand the current ASIC monopoly for the damage it did to the Sia community, to make whole the supporters of Sia’s community ASIC project, and to send a clear message to all future Sia ASIC manufacturers: we will not tolerate an abusive ASIC monopoly" said - David Vorick Sia’s lead developer
