The pure play blockchain technology company has secured an Ethereum mining contract and starts a pilot project. This is a new venue for BTCS previously focused on bitcoin digital currency.
BTCS secures blockchain through transaction verification services and works on furthering consumer solutions. It also positions itself as a company alarmed by the challenges of consumer education and blockchain adoption.
As stated in the official press-release, the contract allocates about 50 kilowatts of BTCS' 3-megawatt capacity, which has been increased recently with a North Carolina facility and the introduction of new generation mining equipment.
“With the capacity expansion we completed at our North Carolina facility in 2015, we're well-positioned to scale operations when necessary, even as we continue to ramp our current bitcoin-focused transaction verification operations,” said Charles Allen, the CEO of BTCS.
He explained that the step was taken as the company seeks to provide its investors with “diversified exposure to digital currencies and blockchain technologies.” The reason for moving towards Ethereum, according to Allen, is the growing interest from investors and the company's own trust in Ethereum's potential:
“Like many others, we're excited for the prospects of Ethereum,” he said.
Still, BTCS CEO remarks that, although Ethereum is known as a major smart contracts platform, there are also startups, like Rootstock, trying to build smart contracts on bitcoin's blockchain, which he finds “more established and secure.”
Since early February, the currency unit ether defined as the “fuel that powers the Ethereum network” has grown five times, its overall market capitalisation having surpassed $1 billion but then quickly gone down to about $830 million. Experts believe that this first-in-two-months fall can be explained by “normal” consolidation of profits on behalf of traders and investors. The correction followed the widely anticipated release of the Ethereum’s new software Homestead which brought some significant changes to the network, including the hard fork protocol EIP-2.
Maria Rudina
