Chinese mining behemoth Bitmain has strongly refuted allegations that it pressurized an ASIC manufacturer into shutting out a foreign competitor. In a widely shared blog post, Siacoin’s lead developer David Vorick lifted the lid on the cutthroat ASIC mining business. In a response, Bitmain praised Vorick’s input to the industry – but took exception to one particular section of his writeup.
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Bitmain Breaks Its Silence
Bitmain is a company of few words, preferring to let its ruthlessly efficient ASIC miners do the talking. It was stirred into breaking its silence, however, after an explosive blog post by David Vorick was published three days ago. The lengthy article contained a number of revelations and allegations about the cryptocurrency mining business, and Bitmain’s role in particular.
As we : “Siacoin’s lead developer repeats claims he has heard that “Bitmain plays dirty”. Vorick was allegedly told that Bitmain would use its power to stop other ASIC companies from manufacturing in China. Despite going to great pains to conceal Obelisk’s involvement in such a deal, the Chinese manufacturer backed out suddenly in a move that reportedly cost Obelisk $2 million. There is no proof that the manufacturer was leaned on by Bitmain, but David Vorick leaves no doubt as to where his suspicions lie.”
Not content to take this accusation lying down, Bitmain has hit back, : “Considering the truly vast number and diversity of suppliers in China, it’s difficult to consider that Bitmain could possibly exert such powerful control over a competitor’s supply chain to the degree the article suggests.” Interestingly, Bitmain doesn’t outright deny the allegation, focusing instead on the fact that “six percent of [Vorick’s] total article” is taken up with exploring these supposed dirty tricks.
A Few Words From One of the Industry’s Most Furtive Organizations
The new Obelisk ASIC miner
David Vorick’s was a 5,300-word tour de force. Bitmain’s , in comparison, runs to just 380 words, which provide just enough space in which to refute allegations of “dirty tricks” and the notion that “Bitmain floods the market with its mining rigs”. It’s curious that the mining company should choose to address this latter point, because nowhere in Vorick’s article does he accuse the company of flooding the market with rigs per se. He does though accuse the company of various other underhand tactics, such as mining with its own units and then shipping them once they’re no longer profitable, but Bitmain makes no mention of this.
As David Vorick acknowledged in his blog, it is extremely difficult to prove his audacious claims. If a large ASIC manufacturer was to conspire with a domestic supplier to thwart a rival, there would be no paper trail to go on. As a result, readers can only speculate as to who they believe is telling the truth: Siacoin and Obelisk developer David Vorick or Bitmain.
Do you believe Bitmain? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Adds Accredited Investor Verification to KYC/AML Platform for Compliant Token Sales
Los Angeles, May 15, 2018: Today, Netki announced the company has expanded its digital identity verification service to support security token offerings by adding accredited investor verification services to its KYC/AML platform. The company is the industry leader in creating global standards and working with enterprises and policymakers at the intersection of tokens, identity, blockchain, risk and compliance.
Netki’s digital identity verification service, launched last year, offers the most robust modular tools on the market for token sales and exchanges to meet their global compliance obligations. After supporting numerous token sales and exchanges with its KYC/AML onboarding software, Netki has integrated accredited investor verification services to further support the security token offering explosion across the globe.
As Jay Clayton, Chairman of the SEC, and J. Christopher Giancarlo, Chairman of the CFTC wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “some products that are labeled cryptocurrencies have characteristics that make them securities. The offer, sale and trading of such products must be carried out in compliance with securities law.”
“US regulators have made it clear through the Munchee case and other enforcement actions that long-existing securities laws unsurprisingly do indeed apply to token sales and ICOs,” said Justin Newton, CEO of Netki. “Our goal has always been to help the tokenized economy grow through user-friendly compliance tools. We recognized the immediate need to add integrated accredited investor verification services as more offerings take advantage of security registration exemptions like Regulation D and others.”
Netki’s automated software instantly validates identification documents from across the globe from a user’s mobile phone and uses biometric analysis to link users to their provided documents, a requirement for compliant remote onboarding that few services offer today. Once validated, users are sent through bank-grade global AML and negative news screens with results delivered for compliance review via a dashboard within seconds. Netki’s modular tools are highly customizable by jurisdiction and use case. Netki’s software is the only ID verification service on the market that reflects the local language of the user’s phone.
“No two token sales are alike, and because of that a cookie cutter approach to compliance isn’t acceptable. For that reason we continue to relentlessly add innovative technology to help companies meet their regulatory requirements and offer frictionless end-user and compliance experiences alike,” said Newton. “We’re excited to offer one platform with all of the tools needed to accelerate the tokenization of trillions of dollars of assets in the US and abroad.”
Netki is the only service that offers AML, KYC, and accredited investor verification inside of a single app, dashboard and API, providing customers essential a fluid integration with compliance services with a single contract.
Netki will be demonstrating their end-to-end onboarding platform and technology at Consensus on May 14-16 in New York.
About Netki:
Founded in 2014, Netki is the leading provider of Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti Money Laundering (AML), Counter Terrorism Financing and accredited investor verification tools to the growing blockchain, token sale, and ICO marketplaces. Netki delivers software and services that enable companies to meet the myriad of regulatory and legal compliance requirements worldwide. Netki’s digital identity solutions are part the IBM blockchain ecosystem, and power PwC Australia’s Digital Asset Services Platform.
