China's blockchain industry under the shadow of the epidemic: conference postponed, mining machines suspended

Source: A blockchain, the original title "China's Blockchain Industry in the Shadow of the Epidemic: Conference Delayed, Mining Machines Stopped, and Practitioners Have Nothing to Do at Home"

Author: Ratchet Pisa

In the shadow of the new coronavirus, the Spring Festival of 2020 is not very flat.

On the first A-share trading day after the holiday, the Shanghai Stock Index hit the highest one-day drop since 1997, with more than 3,000 stocks falling to their daily limit.

Gold and Bitcoin have become the few rising targets in the global market.

• Forbes: Fear of New Crown Virus May Make Bitcoin Break $ 10,000
• U.S. bailiff to auction bitcoin worth nearly $ 40 million
• Cryptocurrencies rose during the Spring Festival holiday

Affected by the epidemic, a group of blockchain companies began to work remotely. But many people find that they have nothing to do.

The domestic summit is no longer attended by audiences. Many countries have banned Chinese citizens from entering the country, which has also made overseas conferences fail.

The bitcoin miners in the old forest in the mountains may be the group most affected by the epidemic. However, the complete shutdown of the mining machine after-sales and logistics has also caused them to fall into anxiety.

01coin price rise

On January 26, the second day of the New Year, Bitcoin rose.

From January 26th to 30th, within five days, the price of Bitcoin rose from US $ 8,300 to US $ 9,400, an increase of 13%.

Recent Bitcoin trends

At the same time, the stock market is falling.

On January 23, the Shanghai Index fell below 3000 points, with a single day drop of 2.75%. Except for the pharmaceutical sector, almost all industry sectors are falling.

On February 3, the A-share market reopened, and the Shanghai Composite Index plunged 8.7% during the session, setting a historical record since 1997. At the close, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Index plunged 229 points to close at 2,716 points, a limit of over 3,000 shares.

Hong Kong stocks were not spared. For the first three trading days after the Spring Festival, the Hang Seng Index continued to fall, with a cumulative decline of 5.86%.

"In the short term, the impact of the epidemic on China's economy and even the world economy is severe." Liang Dong, director of the Zhongguancun IoT Blockchain Lab, pointed out.

In fact, not only the Chinese market, but even Apple stocks in the US are falling. Some analysts point out that China's pneumonia epidemic will impact Apple's iPhone production line. In this epidemic, few companies can survive alone.

Wang Hanfeng, chief strategy analyst of CICC, believes that at present, the number of confirmed cases is still on the rise and the market is still in a relatively worried state. If we refer to the A-share market trend during the 2003 SARS epidemic, the market index may still have a 4% to 5% correction.

In this case, funds may go elsewhere.

"Today (February 3), the opening of the A-shares fell sharply, but Bitcoin rose by $ 200 in the first five minutes of the opening of the A-shares, from $ 9,400 to $ 9,600," said investor Wang Xin.

He said that USDT, which has always been a negative premium recently, has also seen a positive premium of up to 1%.

02 Industrial crisis

Despite the rise in currency prices, the outlook for the currency and blockchain industries may not be optimistic in the face of the epidemic.

Currency circle love party. However, in the context of the spread of the epidemic, almost all meetings were postponed or even cancelled.

Binance's official website announced on January 8 that Binance will hold "Binan Blockchain Week" related activities in Vietnam from February 29th to March 4th. The event includes a two-day developer competition, a closed-door charity dunk contest, and a two-day industry summit.

Binance official website meeting information

However, the Vietnam Civil Aviation Authority issued a statement on February 1 stating that in order to prevent and control the epidemic, all routes between China and Vietnam will be cancelled. The ban on navigation is effective today.

"Binan's Vietnam summit is likely to be postponed." Blockchain practitioner Wang Yang told a blockchain.

The domestic blockchain offline activities will also be suspended due to the epidemic.

Activity line data shows that at present, there are 50 blockchain offline activities nationwide that are still in the "sale" state, involving nearly 20 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen.

"Who dares to go to the meeting now?" Wang Yang said. "Obviously, these meetings cannot be held as scheduled."

Coindesk reports that Jason Wu, CEO of digital currency lending platform DeFiner, said he has cancelled 12 Chinese meetings. "During the epidemic, no one was willing to attend the meeting," he said.

Outside the currency circle, technology service providers in the blockchain industry are also facing the challenge of the epidemic.

On February 3, a blockchain company in Guangdong where Zhang Wen was officially started, and all employees worked remotely from home. But this obviously does not guarantee the company's operational efficiency.

"For previous customers, customers are run out of pre-sale consultants." He said, "Now everyone can't travel, and pre-sale consultants can only sort out documents at home, organize business information, and keep it for future presentations. use."

If the epidemic continues, it is clear that many blockchain practitioners will have nothing to do. "Surely there will be layoffs from companies." Wang Yang said.

Obtaining customers has encountered obstacles, and many of the original business have encountered problems. On February 3, Zhang Wen has been busy calling customers to communicate the progress of the project.

"We have to communicate one by one to confirm whether the customer has the ability to work remotely with us." He explained, "In fact, if the customer cooperates, 85% of our work can be completed online."

Online office has reduced the pressure of enterprises to some extent, but in the epidemic center Wuhan, some enterprises are still worried about when to resume work.

A person in charge of a blockchain company with a branch in Wuhan told a blockchain that the resumption time of the Wuhan branch will be at least after February 10th. Even if the workers resume work, they can only let employees work remotely.

"Our headquarters is also assisting Wuhan HR to do the work. It collects employee's temperature every day, collects the latest epidemic information, and also finds various channels to purchase masks and other protective supplies for use after construction." Said the above person.

The enemy is ahead, and the entire blockchain industry is waiting.

03 Mining is still stable

In the face of the epidemic, will the mining industry, which has the most "entity" attribute in the blockchain industry, be affected?

Currently, 70% of the world's Bitcoin computing power is concentrated in China. And Chinese miners are mainly concentrated in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Yunnan, and Sichuan, a major mining town.

As of February 3, 254 cases of new coronary pneumonia were confirmed in Sichuan, 105 in Yunnan, 34 in Inner Mongolia, and 24 in Xinjiang. Some people worry that once the epidemic spreads in Sichuan, Bitcoin mining will be hit hard.

However, many front-line miners and mine owners told a blockchain that in the short term, the epidemic will not have a major impact on the mining industry.

This is because bitcoin mines are mostly built in old forests in deep mountains, with a sparse population and limited personnel mobility, which will hardly be affected by the epidemic.

"Until now, I haven't heard of any mine being closed because of the epidemic." Yunnan miner Chen Hanping said, "As long as the electricity and network are constantly connected, the mining machine can always dig, and the mining machine will not get pneumonia."

In addition, Bitcoin mining is not a personnel-intensive industry. Many medium-sized mines with thousands of mining machines even require only two operation and maintenance personnel. In addition, the mine is open 24 hours a year, and there is no problem of "return to work" caused by the extension of the Spring Festival holiday.

Some miners said that compared to the epidemic, the short-term impact of currency prices on mining is greater. "As long as the currency price rises, everything is fine."

However, concerns have also been expressed.

"If the epidemic lasts for a few more months, mining will definitely be impacted," said miner Wang Chuan.

Two months later, Sichuan will usher in a period of abundant water. In the past, many mining machines were transferred from thermal power mines in Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang to hydropower mines in Sichuan. However, if the epidemic continues, these miners will not be able to migrate smoothly.

"A county town under Ya'an City in Sichuan Province has closed its roads. If the cars outside can't get in, the mining machine can't be started." Wang Chuan told a blockchain.

However, he also pointed out that the impact of logistics disruption is definitely more than one industry. Compared to other industries, the impact of mining is not significant.

In fact, outside of miners and mines, the epidemic has a greater impact on Chinese miners and dealers.

A few days ago, mining machine manufacturers Bitmain, Jianan, and Shenma have issued announcements announcing the postponement of mining machine production, delivery, and after-sales time.

Taking Shenma Mining Machine as an example, on January 29, Shenma issued an announcement saying that in view of the current epidemic situation, Shenma Spring Festival holiday will be extended to February 9. Shenma's production, delivery, after-sales delivery and maintenance arrangements will also be delayed.

The mining machinery company that was most affected by the epidemic is the core movement headquartered in Wuhan.

A core motion customer service told a blockchain that the core motion customer service is still online at present, but the after-sales maintenance of the mining machine will not resume until the factory starts on February 10.

Due to the limited production and transportation of mining machines, the mining machine products of major mining machine manufacturers have almost completely ceased to be sold. As of now, Bitmain's official website shows that popular mining machines such as Ant T17 and S17 are sold out, and the price of mining machines may increase in the future.

Bitmain mining machine sales page

At present, the mining machine dealers in Huaqiangbei have also stopped working. "Huaqiangbei Market has issued a notice, and the opening time has been postponed to February 10. The logistics providers we cooperate with are not working now," said a merchant operating a mining machine business in Huaqiangbei.

In some mining machine trading groups, there are still people advertising, but the vast majority of mining machines cannot be shipped.

Moreover, some mining machine makers "changed jobs" and started mask business in the group.

In a mining machine industry group, a practitioner is selling masks

It is not yet known when the epidemic will end.

However, most blockchain practitioners are still optimistic.

"Compared with many physical industries, the impact on the blockchain industry is limited." Zhang Wen said, "As long as you survive, there is hope."

* Some respondents in the text are pseudonyms.

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