Japanese internet services conglomerate GMO Internet Group has announced plans for a significant investment in bitcoin mining as part of their core business moving forward. GMO has been primarily a web hosting and domain registration service, so this is a significant shift in their business. The move further entrenches bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general as a significant part of Japan’s technology and finance sectors moving forward.

$3 Million Investment in Bitcoin Mining

GMO announced its plans to embark on cryptocurrency mining with a USD$3 million initial investment. This amounts to 10% of the company’s non-current assets, as outlined in the announcement. An investment of this size by a recognized internet company has a chance to shake up the bitcoin mining playing field globally.

Because of the fast pace of bitcoin mining ASIC development, established players can find themselves at a disadvantage. If they have had to cash out their mined bitcoin to pay power and facility costs, they may not have resources to fall back on. New players can start up with the latest technology, leaving more established miners to play catch-up.

GMO Developing Proprietary ASIC Mining Chips

With this in mind, GMO does not plan to start its mining op by purchasing last year’s mining tech from other suppliers. GMO’s bitcoin mining investment involves plans to develop their own proprietary 7nm ASIC mining chips. A reduction in circuit scale of this magnitude would cause a four-fold increase in efficiency from the current industry-standard 16nm chips, rendering existing mining hardware almost obsolete overnight.

ENIAC was Turing-complete, too

If the developed product meets these targeted expectations, it would offer a significant technical advantage for GMO’s mining operations. Essentially, a leap forward like that would require other miners to move their own hardware up to similar specs in order to compete. At least initially, that hardware technology would belong only to GMO.

Triple Threat To Existing Miners

GMO’s business plan with regard to its mining operations is similar to the plan used by current mining leader Bitmain. GMO will operate its own mining operation, as well as leasing out some of its hardware to other miners. GMO will also sell its mining hardware to others. If history is any guide, availability of the new technology will be delayed while the manufacturer maximizes its own advantage.

Photo of KnCMiners Swedish facility; KnCMiner declared bankruptcy in 2016
Now the telco that bought its assets is mining bitcoin

The move could also mark a significant shift in the global balance of bitcoin mining power. Many users have been wary of the apparent Chinese dominance of bitcoin mining and of bitcoin ASIC manufacturing. This move could mark a major shift toward a Japanese mining power plurality.

GMO Group also operates a cryptocurrency exchange in Japan, formerly known as Z.com Coin by GMO and recently rebranded as GMO Coin.