As talks of MicroBT (Whatsminer maker) planning to go public on the US Nasdaq stock exchange market persist, a Chinese holding company that provides marketing data, technology and solutions has joined the list of new players going into crypto mining.

SOS Limited, formerly known as China Rapid Finance Limited, says it wants to invest in crypto mining to take advantage of the growing investors’ realization of the values and potentials of the crypto assets.

The planned cloud-based crypto mining and cryptocurrency security operation will be set up in regions with low energy costs like Sichuan, Gan su, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Inner Mongolia, etc and will initially focus on mining key mainstream cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. 

The company which presently uses cloud and other cutting-edge technologies to provide a wide range of services and products to corporate and individual members in China including medical and life rescue cards, now wants to provide a variety of cloud-based crypto mining services such as SOS self-mining, miner trusteeship, crypto-related DeFi, security and insurance services for cryptocurrencies.

SOS will tail The9 Internet company which last month – with the help of investors including former Canaan directors, Jianping Kong and Qifeng Sun – reported its plan to venture into crypto mining with a new wholly-owned subsidiary NBTC Limited handling its blockchain and cryptocurrencies business.

The9 wants to build mining machines that will contribute 8% to 10% of key mainstream cryptocurrencies and become one of the world’s largest companies in terms of hash rate, its CEO Jun Zhu said.

گفته شده حدود ۸درصد بیت کوین استخراجی در ایران با مشارکت چینی ها انجام می‌شود. باتوجه به ارزش فعلی آن پای میلیاردها دلار در میان است که در شرایط تحریمی از درآمد نفتی فراتر است.آلودگی هوا و قطع برق سهم مردم بوده و درآمد بی حساب و کتاب سهم دیگران. بودجه ۱۴۰۰‌‌ردیف بیت کوین می طلبد pic.twitter.com/WXKSsIHCxr

— M.T Karoubi (@KaroubiMT) January 12, 2021

Latest on Chinese miners from Iran, US

Relatedly, while new players joining the mining sector shows the industry’s growing state in China, the activities of some Chinese miners and their local associates in Iran are being looked into to know whether they are responsible for recent blackouts in various parts of the country including its capital, Tehran. 

Investigations have been opened into allegations of illegal cryptocurrency mining after a spokesman for the Iranian electricity company notes that Bitcoin miners were using excess electricity “illegally” for their daily mining activities. 

There are also investigations into an emerging Bitcoin mining company, Bit Digital, which supposedly runs the BTBT mining operation for reporting that “it was operating 22,869 bitcoin miners in China” at the end of Q3 2020 . 

The law firms of Kirby McInerney LLP and Howard G. Smith launched investigations into Bit Digital based on a report alleging that the company is operating “a fake crypto currency business”. The lawyers doubt the  said amount of miners and have “verified with local governments supposedly hosting the BTBT mining operation that there are no bitcoin miners there.”

While the US firms look into whether the CEO Min Hu-led company violated federal securities laws or misled investors about its Bitcoin mining activities, Bit Digital’s stock price has fallen by more than $8 in five days despite announcing it entered a $80 million private equity line facility with an institutional investor this week.