The development center of Bitmain set up in Ra'anana two years ago under Gadi Glikberg will close this week and its 23 employees will be laid off, "Globes" learned this morning. Glikberg, who is a VP at Bitmain, will also leave. The Israeli activity of one of the largest companies in the global blockchain industry thus comes to an end. The background is the sharp fall in the price of Bitcoin and the general decline in the digital currencies market.
Glikberg told Bitmain's Israeli employees today: "The crypto market has undergone a shake-up in the past few months, which has forced Bitmain to examine its various activities around the globe and to refocus its business in accordance with the current situation."
Bitmain is the world's largest manufacturer of hardware for digital currency mining using ASIC technology, under the Antmine brand.It also manages the Antpool mining pool and the cloud-based mining platform Hashnest. The company, based in China, operated development centers in Amstredam and Hong Kong besides the center in Ra'anana.
Bitmain's Israeli development center, set up in 2016, was engaged in developing blockchain technology, developing the Connect BTC mining pool, and developing artificial intelligence technology for the Sophon project. Besides his position at Bitmaintech Israel, a subsidiary of Bitmain, Glikber also served as a VP at Bitmain, with responsibility for sales and marketing.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 10, 2018
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