Layoffs Underway Amid 'Adjustments,' Bitcoin Miner Bitmain Confirms

Months after it filed an application to go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Beijing-based cryptocurrency mining giant Bitmain is undergoing a series of business changes that extend even to its China offices, the company confirmed Tuesday.

The discussion of the company cutting off staff first emerged on Maimai, China's equivalent to LinkedIn, where one anonymous user posted a thread on Dec. 17 asking if anyone had insider information about a possible layoff at Bitmain soon.

The post has generated nearly 200 replies since then, some of which came from other users that appear to be verified Bitmain employees on the social network, who indicated the layoffs would start from the week of Dec. 24.

"It's affirmative. The layoff will start next week and involves more than 50 percent of the entire Bitmain's headcount," replied one verified Bitmain staff on Maimai to the thread. "Some departments have to be let go entirely," replied another verified Bitmain employee on the same thread. Currently, some Bitmain employees have already taken to the social network to discuss their respective layoff compensation packages since the week began.

The source added this round of operational adjustments has an impact on virtually all business units of Bitmain, including its flagship mining pool product.

The news makes Bitmain another major industry company that is undergoing reshuffles amid months of cryptocurrency market decline, joining others such as ConsenSys and Steemit.

Previously, layoffs were confirmed by Bitmain, but outside of mainland China, where the firm's core operations are based.

The source said even without the overall market decline, this round of adjustment was inevitable, due to an extraordinarily fast expansion Bitmain has seen this year.

"Now Bitmain has about 3,100 people, even several hundreds more than what was disclosed in the IPO prospectus in September. But there were only about 1,000 people at the beginning of the year," the source said, adding the growth rate is like two to three times in general.

Bitmain said also that it is still hiring, despite the layoffs, adding: "As we move into the new year, we will continue to double down on hiring the best talent from a diverse range of backgrounds."