SBI Crypto broke off cooperation with BitRiver – Crypto News
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Japanese SBI Holdings, the parent company of the miner SBI Crypto, has stopped cooperation with the Russian operator of data centers BitRiver, which is under US sanctions. It is reported by CoinDesk, citing informed sources.
The SBI Crypto division placed its mining machines on the basis of BitRiver sites in Siberia.
BitRiver has neither confirmed nor denied that SBI Holdings or its subsidiary were their customers.
“The SBI Group has already stopped all production in Siberia. And we are not engaged in mining in the rest of Russia. As for any other information, I am afraid I cannot disclose it, “a representative of SBI Holdings replied to CoinDesk’s request.
Earlier, in an interview with Bloomberg, the financial director of SBI Crypto Hideyuki Katsuchi said that after the sanctions restrictions against the Russian Federation, they tried to sell their equipment in the country. However, he did not specify how this can be achieved without the participation of their hosting company.
The fact that mining companies help Russia circumvent Western sanctions, in April said OFAC.
According to the latest quarterly financial report, the financial conglomerate SBI Holdings retains a connection with the Russian Federation, since it still has a bank branch in the country.
The company rarely disclosed information about its mining business and has not previously mentioned its presence in Russia. In 2020, even mentions of chips and ASIC miners produced by the division disappeared from income reports.
The representative of the SBI did not explain the reasons why this information became closed.
After the company’s departure from the Russian Federation for the second quarter of 2022, SBI Holdings lost 9.7 billion yen ($ 71 million) of profit before tax.
About 7.2 billion yen ($52 million) of that amount was due to “temporary factors,” including falling cryptocurrency prices. As a result, 2.5 billion yen ($ 19 million) losses can be attributed directly to the cessation of cooperation with Russia.
As of June 30, the total assets of SBI Holdings amounted to 18.6 trillion yen (about $ 136 billion).
According to BTC.com, at the time of writing, SBI Crypto ranks 11th among mining pools. Its hashrate is 1.26 EH/s. According to Blockchain.com, the total computing power of the pool in the bitcoin network has fallen by about a third since February.
Recall that in April, the US Treasury imposed sanctions against the BitRiver group of companies engaged in cryptocurrency mining in the Russian Federation. The founder of the company, Igor Runets, said in a comment to ForkLog that he regards this step as unfair competition.
In the same month, the provider of equipment and services for bitcoin mining Compass Mining decided to sell equipment placed on the basis of BitRiver.
At the same time, the Russian operator of data centers continued to cooperate with the mining company from the UAE Phoenix Technology Consultants. In November 2021, BitRiver announced an agreement to supply Phoenix with 300 MW of hosting capacity by the end of 2022.
Phoenix CEO Munaph Ali did not comment on the relationship with BitRiver, adding only that “the company operates widely in the Russian Federation.”
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