Bitmain, the biggest Bitcoin hardware manufacturer of the world has now acquired Telescope, a popular Bitcoin Cash wallet. This acquisition has been confirmed by Telescope and it comes at a time when Bitmain has been working towards getting listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX). Bitmain has also been working towards changing their brand positioning to more than just a Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer - and this comes in at a critical juncture.
This latest acquisition from Bitmain, Telescope is a browser-based cryptocurrency wallet, which is available for the users of Google Chrome and Firefox. This wallet also supports BitPay and MoneyButton. Users can make use of a browser extension to transfer Bitcoin Cash (BCH) to each other. Telescope was created earlier in this year by Aaron Angert, a former IBM executive.
Angert commented on this acquisition, saying:
“I am extremely proud of what Telescope has been able to achieve so far and am excited for its future with the additional help and support of Bitmain. We are honored to be a part of the bitcoin cash community, as a vibrant collection of individuals contributing towards the development of blockchain technology and the cryptocurrency industry.”
The transaction keys of this Telescope wallet are stored in the browser extension, following which all the transactions are signed by the browser and are then sent into a Bitcoin Cash block explorer. Further, the Telescope wallet also encrypts the cross-browser private keys over the blockchain network, which ensures that the funds stored by the users remain secure, just like they would be on a regular standalone wallet.
In the past, Bitmain has been alleged to have a conflict of interest on several incidents - but the biggest one is perhaps that of the fact that Bitmain, which is the largest manufacturer of Bitcoin mining holds a large supply of Bitcoin Cash. The company has since been trying to project their image as that of a company which is beyond just Bitcoin-focused projects.
Bitmain reportedly holds Bitcoin Cash cryptocurrencies worth $600 Million, which is approximately 5% of all BCH reserves in existence. This acquisition of the Telescope Bitcoin Cash wallet now portrays the company as more than just a Bitcoin-mining firm. Moreover, Bitmain has also been expanding towards the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) related research and development.
Bitmain’s Head of International PR and Communications, Nishant Sharma commented on this acquisition, saying:
“We are extremely proud of Telescope wallet and the simple but key innovation that the project brings to the bitcoin cash eco-system. Browser-embedded cryptocurrency wallets are a promising technology. The Telescope development team is doing some very interesting work and we look forward to working together with them on the Telescope project and future bitcoin cash projects.”
Bitmain has been coming out with a number of announcements over the past couple of weeks. The company recently announced their latest Bitcoin mining chip - the BM1391, which is all set to be a part of their upcoming Bitcoin mining hardware devices. Bitmain has filed the initial papers (the draft papers) of their IPO, and the company is expected to come out with the final IPO over the next month or two.