EMERGING TECH
EMERGING TECH
EMERGING TECH
Bitfury Group raises $30M for Chinese blockchain expansion
The Bitfury Group, a world leading Bitcoin and blockchain infrastructure provider, announced today that Credit China Fintech Holdings Limited will invest $30 million in the company as part of a joint venture into the China market.
As a company, the Bitfury Group provides a full range of blockchain-powered software and hardware infrastructure. Over the years, the company has been in constant expansion mode, with a $20 million funding in 2015 to build a 100 megawatt datacenter in the Republic of Georgia and an investment in Kenyan Bitcoin exchange BitPesa in 2016. This investment brings the total for Bitfury Group to a total of $90 million in less than three years.
The company is also well known for its introduction of Internet of Things-enabled lightbulbs that could mine bitcoin at the 2015 Block Chain Summit on Necker Island.
Valery Vavilov (pictured), chief executive and founder of Bitfury, had glowing things to say about the Chinese market and the significance of the country for blockchain technology ventures. Credit China Fintech is an integrated financial technology service provider in China with a focus on providing financial services to customers using the internet. The company offers a suite of solutions that include third-party payment, technology-enabled lending, online financial asset investment and supply chain financial services.
Bitfury Group’s push into China with the help of Credit China Fintech puts the company on the doorstep of what is an expanding market for blockchain technology in finance. According to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Francis Chan and Zhen Qin, the Asian blockchain market saw a surge of $10.5 billion in investments during the first half of 2016. China saw over 90 percent of the region’s total.
“Blockchain is a fast emerging technology allowing effective secured value transfer over the internet,” said Phang Yew Kiat, chief executive and vice-chairman of Credit China Fintech.
Phang also told CNBC that his company would explore the use of blockchain technology for peer-to-peer lending and payments services. “We have a working prototype payment system using blockchain technologies working in our research laboratory,” Phang said.
Photo courtesy of Bitfury Group
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