How blockchain projects survive in the bear market: layoffs? Reorganization? Bankruptcy? | world cup betting sites, hobi 69 rtp

If you pay attention to the dynamics of the blockchain industry, you will find that this industry is always mixed.

On the one hand, governments in many countries are tightening supervision, on the other hand, all walks of life are competing for layout; on the other hand, Internet financial giants are entering the market one after another, and on the other hand, hundreds of blockchain projects are dying on the battlefield...

Crisis coexists and remains unchanged forever.

According to statistics from the deadcoins.com website, there are currently nearly 1,000 blockchain projects in a "dead" state, including those whose teams ran away, were hacked, suspected of plagiarism, and deceptive.

And many projects that have not yet entered the "death list" will have to shed their skins if they do not die.

Affected by the "crypto winter", since the second half of last year, a large number of blockchain companies have begun to lay off employees and reduce their burdens, and many potential projects have even been forced to reorganize or are on the verge of bankruptcy.

Some are embarrassed, some are calm, some succeed, and some fail. From the bear market survival battle of these blockchain armies, we can see the unique risks, turning points, growth and potential of this industry.

Bitmain: Reorganization and layoffs, falling from the altar, and the road to listing is getting colder and colder

In the cold wind of cryptocurrency, the first ones to catch the cold are companies with mining business as their core business.

The downturn in the market has resulted in reduced demand for cryptocurrency, which directly leads to a decline in demand for mining operations and mining hardware.

As early as December last year, Coinpost reported that the Japanese Internet giant GMO Group announced that it had decided to stop the development, manufacturing and sales of mining equipment due to the severe competitive environment in the mining business and heavy losses in the mining business.

The Chinese cryptocurrency mining giant Bitmain has been greatly impacted.

From the end of last year to the beginning of this year, Bitmain has successively closed its Israeli R&D center, its overseas office in Amsterdam, and shelved its plan to build a giant Bitcoin mining farm in Rockdale, Texas.

At the same time, multiple media reported that Bitmain has successively completed large-scale layoffs involving multiple business lines such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and chips, cut off its mining business, and dumped second-hand mining machines on a large scale.

According to Bitmain’s latest financial data, other media inferred that it lost approximately US$500 million in the third quarter of last year.

According to Mars Finance, Bitmain admitted that there were problems with its expansion during its 2018 business review and 2019 business outlook, and stated that it has begun to optimize business lines, reduce business processes, return to core businesses, and achieve refined operations.

Of course, Bitmain’s vigorous road to listing has also been affected by the sluggish mining market and poor financial results, and it is still unresolved.

NEM (New Economic Currency) Foundation: Quickly reorganize and seek new life after receiving funds

NEM (New Economic Coin) is a veteran blockchain project started in 2015, and it is also a star project ranked among the top 20 in global market capitalization.

However, on January 31 this year, Coindesk reported that the NEM Foundation planned to lay off 150 employees and seek $7.5 million in emergency funds to prevent bankruptcy.

In an instant, investors were shocked, thinking that NEM was going bankrupt.

According to the new NEM Foundation Chairman AlexTinsman revealed to Coindesk on February 1 that the foundation was facing severe budget cuts and layoffs due to mismanagement by NEM’s previous governance committee.

In response to this financial crisis and management crisis, the NEM Foundation has made three efforts in the past month:

1) In terms of funding, the NEM Foundation submitted an emergency funding application to the community.

Thankfully, on February 20, the foundation finally decided to withdraw 210 million native tokens XEM (approximately $8.7 million) from the reserve through voting. Among them, the first batch of 25 million XEM ($1.04 million) will be used for the first phase, which was launched on March 7.

2) In terms of team management, the NEM Foundation announced its reorganization plan on March 8, deciding to modify the existing organizational structure and fund use regulations, plan to reduce marketing activities, and establish a product-centered team; at the same time, it laid off most (approximately 100) employees, including consultants and full-time staff. It is also proposed to establish a "transformation working group" to work on short-term goals, including the development of weekly and monthly reports for employees, as well as an employee performance scoring system.

3) In terms of technology, NEM is about to launch the Catapult blockchain engine, which is designed to provide support for private and public networks.

The NEM Foundation responded quickly to the crisis and received support from the community, but it remains to be seen whether the reorganization has injected enough new power into NEM.

RChain (Japanese chain): There is no further explanation for the reorganization and the countdown to bankruptcy is in progress

"How is our Japanese chain doing now? Is there any hope of survival?"

——This is the regular greeting from investors in the RChain Chinese community user group since March.

This old project launched at the end of 2016, whether it is development goals, technical concepts, team composition, or early supporter lineup, all demonstrate its high-quality genes and strong strength. The project market value ranking once exceeded the top 30 in the world.

After two years, Rchain has not been accused of taking money and running away, has not suffered hacker attacks, has not been lying in shock, and its Github code updates have been diligent and leading. However, the foundation has spent all its money, and the project owes huge debts that cannot be repaid and faces bankruptcy liquidation.

It is understood that the main reason was poor team management and improper governance during the operation of the project, as well as the lack of forward-looking fund use, operational planning and supervision and review systems, which resulted in a rupture of cash flow and unsustainable development work.

Community users are generally dissatisfied with the existing management team headed by Greg, and hope to overturn the current governance framework through bankruptcy and achieve "scratching and healing."

However, after weighing the pros and cons, the RChain board of directors finally made the decision to "continue to operate the cooperative and not go bankrupt for the time being" and stated that the board of directors will be reorganized in the near future, and Greg will focus on technology research and development rather than management.

However, so far, there is no information on how the reorganization of RChain's board of directors is proceeding. The reporter contacted Barry Cynamon, the executive director who was appointed at the critical moment, and has not yet received a reply.

However, according to core community members, based on disclosed financial data,It is speculated that RChain's cash flow can only last for one month, and it is believed that if the team cannot introduce new funds and cannot solve the debt problem, it will go bankrupt. Therefore, community users are counting down Rchain's bankruptcy.

At the time of editing this article, the core user group of RChain China community was still voting spontaneously on community development intentions.

No matter what, the Rchain project has gone from being brilliant to being in danger, which is worthy of deep thought and introspection by industry practitioners.

As mentioned in the previous article, RChain not only threw a poison of faith into the market, but also made a governance joke to investors. Finally, a good hand has an embarrassing ending.

ConsenSys: Layoffs and burden reduction while business expansion

Compared to RChain's "big spending" that lacks planning and forward-lookingness, ConsenSys, a blockchain company in the Ethereum ecosystem, seems to be particularly sensitive to spending cuts.

In early December last year, ConsenSys proactively announced that the company was reorganizing to streamline business modules and "refocus on priorities" in the bear market, and confirmed that it would lay off 13% of its employees.

At the end of December, people familiar with the matter revealed that ConsenSys was spinning off or reducing funding for some startups in its portfolio and would further lay off employees. Vanessa Grellet, executive director of corporate and social impact at ConsenSys, responded in January that the layoffs in this round were primarily support staff and amounted to no more than 10%.

At the same time, ConsenSys founder Joseph Lubin also responded generously to the layoffs in 11 tweets, saying that the development of the Ethereum protocol is accelerating and he will continue to invest in external projects, recruit talents, and balance the company's business and workforce.

Following this, in the first quarter of 2019, ConsenSys invested in startups such as Allinfra (an infrastructure investment startup), Ligero (a zero-knowledge proof cryptography startup), PDAX (Philippine cryptocurrency exchange), and opened a new Hong Kong office in February to support its development in the Asia-Pacific market. In early March, ConsenSys’ Pegasys Tech team also launched a new enterprise Ethereum client, Pantheon 1.0.

ConsenSys, which has experienced large-scale layoffs, does not appear to be dying. On the contrary, its business expansion pace seems to be more vigorous.

The battle for survival has just begun, from pioneering to deep cultivation, from "boarding" to "sustaining battery life"

In addition to the above-mentioned blockchain projects, there are actually many, many blockchain projects that have been forced to make countermeasures in the bear market. Layoffs, restructuring, business adjustments, etc. are all for new demand.

At the end of November last year, the blockchain social content platform Steemit issued an announcement announcing that due to reduced business returns, market weakness, and increased node operating costs, it would reorganize its business and lay off 70% of its employees.

According to Coindesk, in January this year, enterprise blockchain software company R3 underwent a large-scale internal reorganization and two senior executives will leave.

According to bitcoinexchangeguide, on February 16 this year, the UK crypto miningSupplier Argo announced that it will restructure its business, cut costs, and will close its mining-as-a-service business in April.

According to Globes, in March this year, Israeli blockchain company First Digital Assets Group decided to adjust its strategy, embark on restructuring, and will conduct large-scale layoffs.

Even relevant government departments made business adjustments specifically for the cooling of virtual currencies in February this year. According to Money Today, as the craze for virtual currencies cooled down, in February this year, South Korean financial authorities disbanded specialized organizations responsible for virtual currency business (blockchain research group, virtual currency research working group, etc.).

……

At present, whether it is cryptocurrency mining companies, blockchain projects, or cryptocurrency exchanges, they are actively or passively conducting self-examination and self-correction in order to survive longer in this "encryption winter" with an unknown deadline.

Through the years of Bears and Bulls, the blockchain industry can be regarded as an industry with stories and accumulation.

For the first batch of people entering the blockchain industry, the most valuable thing is pioneering and forward-looking. No matter what these practitioners do and what their achievements are, most of them will make money;

But now, globally, the blockchain industry has and is influxing more and more entrepreneurs, media people, investors, Internet financial giants, etc.

Obviously the entire industry has transitioned from the stage of "better than who is earlier" to the stage of "better than who else", and from the stage of wild development to the stage of professional competition.

The blockchain industry experienced a large-scale reshuffle in 2018, leaving behind the corpses of many entrepreneurs. Perhaps, these blockchain projects that are on the verge of bankruptcy or forced to reorganize should be congratulated now, because they are still fighting and struggling in the market squeeze.

As for whether organizational restructuring, burden reduction and layoffs will mean a new life, it is too early to say. The battle for survival in the blockchain industry has just begun, and blockchain projects also need to be polished and continuously strengthened in market competition.

Blockchain entrepreneurship is never easy

"Blockchain is the last chance for ordinary people to counterattack, we must boldly embrace blockchain"; - During the bull market in 2017, such shouts were everywhere.

Perhaps the blockchain has given ordinary people a generous access channel, but this does not mean that the blockchain is a shortcut for chickens and dogs to ascend to heaven.

First of all, there is a big difference between blockchain entrepreneurship and Internet entrepreneurship.

Internet entrepreneurship, from a start-up company to a listed company, is a step-by-step process of hard work, accumulation and expansion.

The blockchain project has been promoted by the collaboration of community users around the world from the beginning. Maybe it starts with a team of a few people, but often in just a few months, it will become a global project, attracting a large number of individual investors, institutional investors, media, foundations, etc. Compared with the listing cycle of traditional equity companies, the time for blockchain companies to enter the public eye has been greatly compressed, and at the same time, the problems that need to be solved have not been reduced.

Therefore, unlike Internet companies, blockchain project founders and entrepreneurial teams often need to manage a startup company and a listed company at the same time from the beginning, which greatly tests the comprehensive solution capabilities of a startup team.force.

In addition, from the cases we have reviewed and summarized before, we can see that the direct reason why most projects are on the verge of bankruptcy or forced to reorganize is that cash flow is interrupted and project operations are in crisis.

The fundamental reason is that most blockchain project teams lack management experience and often focus on technology, products, and marketing business modules. Many companies even have one person holding multiple positions, and there is a lack of professional staffing.

The long-distance running of blockchain enterprises is a comprehensive planning process of blockchain technology, blockchain economy and blockchain business.

It is not just a race for technological advancement, but also a long-term competition of business vision, foresight and execution. Especially in an increasingly competitive environment, each blockchain project must not only be able to protect itself, but also find ways to develop differentiation and maintain long-term competitiveness.

For the majority of investors, the unique financing and investment system of blockchain projects allows everyone to participate. This seems to give ordinary people the opportunity to "counterattack", but in fact it always tests personal risk judgment and response capabilities.

The cost of laborious analysis of projects is high, but the cost of blind betting or following the trend of investment is even greater. The profit-seeking nature of capital is correct, but whether it can be achieved depends mainly on wisdom and not luck.

(Source: shallot)