Bitcoin mining company Bitmain acquires Dutch startup Blocktrail
Bitmain may be best well known for their bitcoin mining equipment Antminer, bitcoin mining pool Antpool, and developing bitcoin mining chips (ASICS).
Most recently they created the web portal BTC.com which is a block explorer and bitcoin statistics site. Their newest update marks the expansion of their company by acquiring Dutch startup Blocktrail.
Blocktrail is a block explorer too with bitcoin wallet software that allows users to send, receive, and store bitcoins. The wallet is designed to be a web wallet, as well as having apps for Android and iOS users. Core features are that it’s an HD wallet, with users having full control over their private keys, and the wallet uses multisignature technology.
Blocktrail was founded in 2014 with €500,000 ($669,310) funding from BlockCorp, which was set up by Lev Leviev, co-founder of VKontakte (Russian Facebook rival), and Blocktrail CEO Boaz Bechar. According to a press release, Bitmain aims to not only merge Blocktrail’s platform into BTC.com, but also utilize Blocktrail’s talent and knowledge, which have joined Bitmain as part of the acquisition.
“Bitmain is the world’s leading company in the bitcoin space. Joining forces with Bitmain will not only benefit both our companies, but also all our present and future customers”, says Blocktrail’s CEO Boaz Bechar.
Blocktrail’s platform and services will continue to operate with both wallet and API users unaffected by these changes.
At the time of this writing, Bitmain’s mining pool accounts for 18.8% of the total bitcoin mining pool hashrate distribution according to the Blockchain.info mining pools chart for the last four days. Bitmain is headquartered in Beijing, China, with offices in Hong Kong, San Francisco, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Tel Aviv.
