Crypto winter has been blamed for some of the biggest workforce culls in the crypto industry, but in spite of this Bitfury looked like it might just have avoided having to cut numbers. However, Bitfury has cut headcount at the Hut8 mining center in Canada for the second time this year according to new reports. It’s estimated that Bitfury has cut its workforce at the mining center by over 25% already this year, claiming the move was down to “streamlining”. It wouldn’t be the first time a mining hardware manufacturer has suffered in the prolonged bear market, but after a fresh fundraising round worth $80 million, the move comes as a bit of a shock.
Cutting Back Unnecessary Costs
Hut8 has deployed Bitfury’s impressive BlockBoxes that mine cryptocurrencies at an unparalleled level. These state-of-the-art mining containers are essentially huge shipping containers kitted out with Bitfury’s latest tech. Each one is designed to sustain minimal wear and tear, as well as only requiring a skeleton crew to keep things operational. Hut8 has just finished deploying the last of the BitFury BlockBoxes, and Bitfury is likely cutting headcount as the numbers just aren’t needed anymore. Hiring a large workforce to get a job completed on time isn’t an uncommon practice, and we could simply be witnessing that here.
The Largest Publicly Traded Mining Firm in the World
Hut8 has been dubbed that largest publicly traded crypto mining firm in the world after it switched on the first of its new BlockBoxes at its Medicine Hat center back in July 2018. With 85 BlockBoxes deployed, it’s currently pumping out a massive 784 petahashes per second (“PH/s”) – about 1.75% of the current Bitcoin network hashrate. Hut8 has mined more than 7,300 Bitcoins with its impressive kit, and is no doubt minting more as you’re reading this.
Bitfury Providing the Minions
The majority of the staff at the Hut8 mining center spend their days optimizing, fixing, and installing new components, all of whom are supplied by Bitfury. This means that Hut8 had no say in how many people were hired to carry out the roles, and it has no say in how many are let go. These layoffs are in no way a reflection of Hut8’s performance or profitability.
In an exclusive interview with BitStarz News, Andrew Kiguel – Hut8 CEO – noted that Hut8’s average cost of mining one Bitcoin during the second quarter of 2018 was a rather cheap $2,700 USD. If power prices have remained steady for the mining firm, that makes for a juicy profit given the recent uptick in Bitcoin’s price.
Hut8 continues to be one of the most influential publicly traded mining firms in the crypto industry, and Bitfury is still one of the top hardware providers. Despite the layoffs, both firms are looking stronger than ever – so ignore the FUD!
