Any project or service linked to Bitcoin Cash will get a lot of attention sooner or later. Many people were surprised to find out SBI Group is mining cryptocurrency. More specifically, it seems they are mining Bitcoin Cash, as they consider this to be the true vision of Satoshi Nakamoto. Although this is a major development, the company is seemingly mining with a slow hash rate right now. It is possible that will change, though.
SBI Group Embraces Bitcoin Cash Mining
Most people in the cryptocurrency world have heard of SBI Group by now. It is one of Japan’s premier financial conglomerates, and they are involved in everything from asset management to biotech. Adding cryptocurrency mining to their repertoire makes a lot of sense on paper, even though it remains to be seen how this will play out in the coming weeks and months.
The company has set up a subsidiary known as SBI Crypto. This cryptocurrency-oriented arm of the company will focus on mining cryptocurrencies and potentially other ventures as well. As part of its first public mining venture, the company mined a few blocks on the Bitcoin Cash network. Although it only happened a few times, this does indicate the Japanese conglomerate is prepared to work with Bitcoin Cash rather than Bitcoin itself.
Unsurprisingly, they decided to join one of the larger Bitcoin Cash mining pools for this venture. All of the blocks mined and processed by SBI Crypto were signed “SBI Crypto” in the coinbase string. This legitimizes the mining operation as a whole, although no one knows the full extent of this venture as of right now. There are a lot of questions regarding the hashpower used by SBI Group’s subsidiary, as it seems they are not using a lot of hardware as of right now.
SBI Crypto has mined less than a handful of BCH blocks so far, which is not entirely surprising. It is possible this was due to a lack of competitive mining hardware. Another possible explanation is that the company simply conducted a brief field trial of their mining operation before bringing in big equipment. With no further information shared with the public, all people can do is speculate as to how much mining power SBI Crypto has at its disposal as of right now.
SBI Holdings’ president and CEO, Yoshitaka Kitao, commented on choosing Bitcoin Cash:
The vision of the original Bitcoin white paper written by Satoshi Nakamoto calls for a peer-to-peer electronic cash system. That is a powerful vision, and SBI Group will devote resources to enable a future world where Bitcoin Cash is used globally for daily payments. SBI Group will acquire cryptocurrency share through mining, in order to stabilize the market. Presence of a cryptocurrency “stable shareholder” will stabilize the market.
It is evident that positive momentum for Bitcoin Cash continues to grow on a global basis. With an entity such as SBI Crypto picking BCH over Bitcoin or any of the other top cryptocurrencies, a clear message is sent to the rest of the industry. Although it remains unclear if the company will hold their mining earnings or convert them to fiat currency right away, this particular venture will help legitimize Bitcoin Cash’s place in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
