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Cloud mining — a service that enables individual users to lease hashing power from dedicated cryptocurrency mining operations — came forth as professionalization and cartelization of the mining business began to drive out smaller and insufficiently equipped players from the scene.
Since there is no way to verify that the share of the mining rig you are supposedly leasing actually exists — even if returns on your investment seem to be flowing regularly at first — the scheme is widely regarded as a happy hunting ground for scammers. Perhaps the only way to steer clear of fraud is to rely on the reputation of the established cloud mining brands. But with the outbreak of the recent scandal around the cloud mining platform HashFlare, this option might also soon be off the table.
HashFlare, one of the leading names in the business, announced on July 20 that it has dropped its mining service of active SHA-256 Bitcoin contracts, pursuant to a clause of the platform’s terms of service reading the following: “The Mining process will stop if the Maintenance and Electricity Fees will become larger than the Payout. If mining remains unprofitable for 21 consecutive days the Service is permanently terminated.”
Citing the ongoing “difficult time for the cryptocurrency market,” the firm claimed that by July 18, the payouts were lower than the maintenance fees for 28 days in a row, which activated the clause allowing for the the conclusion of the contracts. The statement implied that HashFlare would be open to resume Bitcoin mining, should more favorable market conditions arise. Apparently, the cease only concerned Bitcoin contracts, as operations with other crypto assets available in the firm’s portfolio — such as Litecoin and Ethereum — proceeded as usual.
While this July has not been the brightest month ever for the crypto market, especially in comparison to December 2017, many users have rightfully questioned HashFlare’s reasoning. After briefly touching the floor at just above $6000 in the first days of the month, Bitcoin prices entered a steady upward trend, coming close to $8000 by the day that the contract termination was announced.
Additionally, the first week of the month saw the Bitcoin network’s hashrate drop massively as a result of heavy floods in the Sichuan province of China, home to a dense conglomeration of mining rigs. This should have led to a corresponding decrease in difficulty for the rest of the nodes. Even before the disaster, around the time when the mining platform’s dry season allegedly started in mid-June, the network’s hashrate plummeted to around 30 TH/s. As the HashFlare’s account of things seemed to stand in contrast with a widely accepted version of reality, the allegations of fraud began to pour out.
More, https://cointelegraph.com/news/hashflare-s-exit-and-the-future-of-cloud-mining