SBI Crypto shuts Bitcoin mining pool after five-year run
SBI Crypto, the crypto unit of Japanese conglomerate SBI, is shutting down its Bitcoin mining pool on July 31 after five years of operation and will stop accepting mining shares at the same time. The company gave no reason for the closure. It asked miners to keep directing hashrate to the pool until the cutoff so final payouts can be calculated correctly, then move to alternative pools such as Braiins, Luxor, and NeoPool. SBI Crypto launched its Bitcoin mining pool in March 2021 and currently ranks around 12th globally, with about 21.46 EH/s and roughly 2.24% of Bitcoin network hashrate. The closure signals a shift in SBI’s crypto strategy beyond mining. SBI Holdings recently agreed to buy full control of Bitbank, aiming to build Japan’s largest crypto exchange, and has also increased its focus on stablecoins, including JPYSC and Ripple’s RLUSD in Japan.
