Share this article
Blockchain Firm Bitfury Turns to AI for Big Data Mining
The Bitfury Group has launched an artificial intelligence division with the aim of creating value out of the vast amounts of data now available.
Updated Apr 10, 2024, 2:23 a.m. Published Aug 13, 2019, 8:19 a.m.
Make us preferred on Google
The Bitfury Group may soon be known as a data miner, as well as a crypto mining firm.
In an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, the firm's co-founder and CEO Valery Vavilov said Bitfury has launched an artificial intelligence (AI) division in order to break down the world's vast amount of data and derive value from it.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Calling data "the next oil," Vavilov said that 98 percent of all data is just sitting waiting to be analyzed.
While giving away few details, he added that the data analyses would utilize blockchain. “We also need to trust that data so that’s where blockchain comes in,” Vavilov said.
offers a number of blockchain services, as well as making computer and crypto mining hardware and running crypto mining data centers.
Last November, Bitfury closed an $80 million funding round led by venture capital firm Korelya Capital. Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital, Macquarie Capital, Dentsu Inc., Armat Group and others, also participated.
A month prior, the firm was said by Bloomberg sources to be considering holding an initial public offering (IPO) via a stock exchange listing in Amsterdam, London or Hong Kong. The sources said Bitfury may be valued as high as $3 billion–$5 billion if it goes public within the next two years.
Bitfury’s AI division is currently in “research mode,” according to Vavilov, with a clearer vision of its potential use cases and products expected at the end of the year or early 2020.
He said in a statement:
“Just as blockchain technology enables us all to fix our most broken and distrusted systems, artificial intelligence will bring new and extraordinary benefits to nearly every facet of our lives. To help this incredible technology achieve maximum impact, Bitfury is expanding our mission to offer hardware and software solutions designed especially for AI applications.”
To head up the new unit, the firm has appointed tech veteran Fabrizio Del Maffeo, formerly vice president and managing director of AAEON Technology Europe, a firm that focuses on AI and IoT as part of the ASUS Group.
Prior to that, Del Maffeo held positions at at Advantech, Esprinet and Accenture, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Data image via Shutterstock
More For You
Pudgy Penguins is building a multi-vertical consumer IP platform — combining phygital products, games, NFTs and PENGU to monetize culture at scale.
What to know:
Pudgy Penguins is emerging as one of the strongest NFT-native brands of this cycle, shifting from speculative “digital luxury goods” into a multi-vertical consumer IP platform. Its strategy is to acquire users through mainstream channels first; toys, retail partnerships and viral media, then onboard them into Web3 through games, NFTs and the PENGU token.
The ecosystem now spans phygital products (> $13M retail sales and >1M units sold), games and experiences (Pudgy Party surpassed 500k downloads in two weeks), and a widely distributed token (airdropped to 6M+ wallets). While the market is currently pricing Pudgy at a premium relative to traditional IP peers, sustained success depends on execution across retail expansion, gaming adoption and deeper token utility.
More For You
Tesla made no changes to bitcoin holdings in Q4 as it booked $239 million digital asset loss
The company's bitcoin stack remained at 11,509 coins, worth about $1 billion at BTC's current price near $89,000.
What to know:
- Tesla made no changes in its bitcoin holdings during the fourth quarter, continuing to hold 11,509 coins.
- The company recorded a $239 million after-tax mark-to-market loss on its digital assets due to bitcoin's decline from about $114,000 to $88,000 during the year's final three months.
Top Stories
