Cryptocurrency mining giant Bitmain has reportedly fired its entire staff of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) developers, Blockstream CSO Samson Mow reported, citing Chinese social media sources on Dec. 23.
The second in what appears to be a phase of staff losses for Bitmain, around 50 workers are reportedly set to go this week.
The messages follow reports on China’s version of LinkedIn warning about a giant wave of redundancies targeting as much as half of Bitmain’s 2,500-strong workforce, with rumors now circling on Twitter after being uploaded by Primitive founding partner and commentator Dovey Wan.
According to Wan, such social media reports are “usually very high accuracy, posted by employees themselves.”
The BCH developers that were reportedly let go had formed Bitmain’s Copernicus team and were working on the company’s Bitcoin Cash GO client.
“Only 1 week notice. Some had just joined the company,” Mow added.
Earlier this month, Bitmain announced the complete closure of its blockchain development lab in Israel amid low prices across Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoin markets, resulting in the loss of 23 jobs.
Controversy around plans to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong meanwhile continues as rumors regulators are concerned about the volatile state of cryptocurrency markets emerged in mainstream media last week.
Bitmain has yet to provide official comment on the staff layoffs or IPO progress.