BitFury

Bitfury is a cryptocurrency mining hardware and blockchain software developer. The company also studies blockchain technology and publishes research reports.
== Overview ==
Bitfury is an Amsterdam-based "full service" cryptocurrency and blockchain company. The company offers a number of crypto and blockchain-related services, such as software applications, cybersecurity, and blockchain research. They also design, manufacture, and sell mining hardware. The company made Forbes's "Top 50" list for fintech companies in 2018.
== Background ==
Bitfury was founded in 2011 in Amsterdam, North Holland by Valery Vavilov and Valery Nebesny, though the company didn't open its first official office until 2013. It currently has offices in Amsterdam, Washington D.C., and San Francisco. The company also owns data centers in Iceland and the Republic of Georgia. In 2015, Bitfury acquired the Hong Kong-based tech startup Allied Control.
=== Funding ===
In 2015, Bitfury raised $40 million from two rounds of venture capital fundraising.
In October 2018, Bloomberg reported that Bitfury had reached out to global investment banks in order to potentially launch an initial public offering (IPO). The sale was planned for 2019 and would likely trade in Amsterdam, London or Hong Kong, according to Bloomberg's sources. This IPO would be the first of its kind for the European blockchain industry.
== Products and services ==
=== Hardware ===
Bitfury makes mining rigs, such as the Blockbox AC and Bitfury Tardis. It also makes hardware components for mining machines, such as cooling systems.
==== Bitfury GPUs and coronavirus research ====
In April 2020, Bitfury announced it would begin reallocating the processing power of its high-powered GPUs from mining bitcoin to helping Washington University's “folding@home” project. The GPUs helped research the coronavirus by running calculations on virus proteins. Bitfury's GPUs joined a distributed network of thousands of computers, including rival crypto mining firm CoreWeave, as well as individual miners and non-mining individual GPU owners worldwide.
=== Software ===
Bitfury develops blockchain software for data storage ("Exonum"); micropayments with cryptocurrency ("Peach"); and software that provides cybersecurity, KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) services ("Crystal").
=== Research ===
Bitfury researches blockchain technology and publishes research reports, whitepapers, and educational documents on their website.
=== AI ===
In August 2019, the Bitfury Group announced that it had launched a new division of the company specializing in artificial intelligence (AI), which would operate alongside the company's other services. According to Valery Vavilov, the company's CEO and co-founder, Bitfury was driven to explore AI because the volume of information the company had collected had exceeded their ability to analyze it efficiently. Vavilov said that "data is becoming the next oil...we have collected so much data, but only 2 percent of all this data has been analyzed. 98 percent is sitting idle waiting to be analyzed." Vavilov said that the division has not yet created an AI, but that it is in "research mode." 
The division will be led by technology expert Fabrizio Del Maffeo, the former vice president and managing director of AAEON Technology Europe, a computing company specializing in Internet of Things (IoT) and AI within the ASUS group of Taiwan.
== Key People ==
*Valery Vavilov - Founder and CEO 
*George Kikvadze - Executive Vice Chairman 
*Marc Witzke - CTO 
*Jeremy Sewell - CFO
== References ==
Category: fintech
Category: digital assets
Category: cryptocurrency
Category: mining
Category: CryptoMarketsWiki