BitFury

Basics

• Founded in 2011

• Full-service Blockchain technology company and mining pool with roots in Georgia. Main mining opperations are now in Georgia, Iceland, Canada and Norway. Claims to go for green energy.
• “The Bitfury Group develops and delivers both the software and the hardware solutions necessary for businesses, governments, organisations and individuals to securely move an asset across the Blockchain.” Is now in around 10 countries and has more than 500 employees (2018).
• From this post (9-2019) by Bitcoin.com:

"History: Bitfury is an industrial mining company that created some of the earliest ASICs, and by 2014 was mining in a pool simply known as pool.io. By early June 2014, this pool, about half of whose hashpower came from Bitfury ASICs, controlled more than 51% of the BTC network, prompting the company to remove some of its power from the pool.

Trivia: Bitfury is a widely mistrusted company that has willingly collaborated with law enforcement to deanonymize bitcoin transactions and erode privacy."

• Only mines BTC (9-2019)

• The Bitfury Group has offices in San Francisco, Washington D.C., Hong Kong, London and Amsterdam, and data center operations in Iceland and the Republic of Georgia. (And more, see top)
• Runs SegWit
• Also creates ASIC chips, blockbox AC miners and has data centers in Georgia, Iceland, Norway and Canada. Is also into immersion cooling and turn-key solutions.
• Has several different software products and other business ventures. For instance Exonum, Crystal and Lightning Peach
• Exonum: “Exonum is an extensible framework for blockchain projects;

Exonum enables you to build decentralized, secure and reliable blockchain applications. It is designed to allow people, companies and governments to design custom private or permissioned blockchains that benefit from the unmatched security of public blockchains.

"Exonum brings all the advantages of a true blockchain — auditability, transparency, and unparalleled security — and combines them with privacy, efficiency and controllability.” https://exonum.com/ it uses the BFT algorithm and anchors itself to the BTC blockchain. Uses the Rust language."

It is being used right now for land titles in Georgia, and there are a couple projects in Ukraine. And 'dozens' commercial projects in pilot phases.

• Crystal, blockchain analytics (for law-enforcement). “Provides a comprehensive view of the public blockchain ecosystem and uses advanced analytics and data scraping to map suspicious transactions and related entities.

Whether it is tracking a bitcoin transaction to a real-world entity, determining relationships between known criminal actors, or surveying suspicious behaviour, Crystal can help move your investigation forward.”

• Lightning peach is a wallet for using the lightning network
• SurroundTM; an open-source music platform secured by the bitcoin blockchain

Partnerships and memberships

• Attender of Satoshi Roundtable
• Was part of Hong Kong consensus
• Has a multitude of high-profile ties between the US Government and DCG. “On the board of BitFury, Brian Forde likely will meet old acquaintances from his time at the White House. You will find no company in the Bitcoin space that has such strong ties to the US government than BitFury. Not only has the company an office in Washington D.C., it has hired several former government employees and advisors.”
• part of a blockchain working group of the World Economic Forum, cooperating with Toomas Hendrik, Ex-president of Estonia, Ma Jun from the People’s Bank of China and other.
• signed a deal with Ernst and Young (EY), one of the biggest consultant firms in the world, to provide blockchain software to the clients of EY.
• Founding member of the Global Blockchain Business Council
• Partner with Cointelegraph
• Is a sponsor of Coin Center
• “The Blockchain Trust Accelerator was founded in 2016 by the Bitfury Group, New America, and the National Democratic Institute. The purpose of the accelerator is to connect blockchain-based pilot concepts with technologists, governments, and funders in order to deliver better governance outcomes and social impact.”  
• founding member of the Blockchain Alliance. The Blockchain Alliance is a public-private forum created by the blockchain community to foster open dialogue between industry and law enforcement and regulatory agencies.
• The Blockchain Summit, hosted by The Bitfury Group and Bill Tai, welcomes key global influencers in technology, civil society, democracy promotion and innovation to a riveting discussion about the world-changing potential applications of the blockchain.
• The Bitfury Group actively supports Coin Center - the leading non-profit research and advocacy center focused on the public policy issues facing cryptocurrency and decentralized computing technologies.
• World Economic Forum Member alongside the world’s top innovators. The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
• Bitfury is teaming up with South Korea's Commons Foundation to launch a Bitcoin transaction processing site in Paraguay; this is part of the duo's "Golden Goose" initiative to open Spanish markets to cryptocurrency; Bitfury's mobile data center, the BlockBox AC, will be run on hydroelectric power from waterfalls Itaipú and Yacyretá, the former being the largest hydro power producer in the world.
• "Has teamed up with Swiss-based blockchain and AI investment firm Final Frontier to launch a regulated Bitcoin mining fund; Bitfury will scout global crypto mining locations for funding with the goal of on-boarding institutional and professional traders into crypto mining."

Team, etc.

• Vavilov, Valery; CEO & co-founder (Was part of Hong Kong consensus), “Valery's entrepreneurial experience and passion for Blockchain technology led him to found the company in 2011, when blockchain technology was just beginning to capture the world’s attention and imagination. A native Latvian who experienced first-hand the challenges resulting from the collapse of the Soviet Union, Valery was inspired by blockchain technology and saw an opportunity to build technological solutions that could improve the lives of people all over the world. Valery focused first on the hardware solutions that would ensure security and trust in the Bitcoin Blockchain, leading Bitfury to develop five generations of cutting-edge mining chips and state-of-the-art data center designs. Under his leadership, the company has expanded its focus to provide custom-designed software, consulting solutions, and advanced hardware, all while maintaining its position as one of the major public Bitcoin Blockchain security and transaction providers. Prior to founding Bitfury, Valery spent more than 15 years in a variety of technical and leadership positions. He received his MS from Riga’s Transport & Telecommunication University in Latvia.”
• Kikvadze, George; executive vice chairman, has worked at GCF Fund, York Capital Management, AFK Sistema and Morgan Stanley. He obtained his MBA at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and his MA at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). George is a member of the Europe One YPO Club and is a Founding Member of the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC).
• Witzke, Marc; CTO, he served Yota Devices, the inventor of the dual-screen YotaPhone as the CTO and led the HW and SW R&D teams in Finland, Moscow and China developing consumer electronics and connectivity devices. Prior to Yota Devices, he served Plastic Logic - a pioneer in flexible and organic electronics technology - for more than 6 years as the Director of Manufacturing and General Director of Plastic Logic’s Russian entity. Prior to this, Marc was the Senior Manager of Technology in AEMtec, a spin-off of Infineon Technologies, for 7 years. He was one of the start-up management team members of AEMtec and has led technology development through rapid growth. Marc started his career with Siemens, Fibre Optics business unit, where he served as a Process Engineer and later Operations Manager. He has led various novel technology, start-up businesses and manufacturing projects in many countries.
• Valery Nebesny; Founder & CTO (gone from the website 8-2018)
• Garzik, Jeff; Board Advisor (gone from the website 8-2018)
• Monzon, Henry; Chief revenue officer
• Givishvili, George; chief marketing officier
• Minets, Anna; Chief human resource officer
• Mariani, Nicola; chief legal officor, head of Bitfury Dubai
• Sewell, Jeremy; chief financial officer
• Mercurio, John; communications officer
• Kozlov, Michael; chief energy officer
• Taverner, Marc; global ambassador, market development, the founder of a successful modem distribution company. Marc has held sales leadership roles with many leading technology companies, including the world's largest provider of unified communications services and market leaders in educational technology solutions. Marc received his BA Hons in European Business Studies from Brunel University, UK and Ecole supérieure de Commerce de Clermont-Ferrand, France.
• Kichikov, Marat; managing partner of Bitfury Capital, the founder of several successful companies, including a consumer finance bank, and a securities and currencies brokerage. He is also an angel investor in several financial and e-commerce startups. Marat has a master's degree in finance and a bachelor's degree in law.
• Botezatu, Alex; Head of Bitfury Labs, Alex was a manager at MIPT and worked at the largest telecom company in Eastern Europe. Alex is an award-winning mathematician and computer scientist, which afforded him the opportunity to meet and later work with some of the world’s best developers and researchers. Alex graduated from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technologies with a master’s degree in Applied Mathematics.
• Perchikov, Alexander, product director
• Tai, Bill; Head of Strategy, Board of Advisors. Bill Tai is a prolific individual investor and entrepreneur, serving as the Founding Chairman of Treasure Data; a Board Director of BitFury, and a Board Director of Voxer. He is also a lead investor as an individual in Canva, Shoes of Prey, Tango.me, Tweetdeck/Twitter, and Zoom.us. Bill established the Silicon Valley office for Charles River Ventures and is a Partner Emeritus backing Ark, Maxthon, Scribd, and Wish.com on CRV's behalf. Previously Bill served as Partner at IVP, and was Founding CEO of iAsiaWorks (IPO 2000 via Goldman Sachs & Morgan Stanley). He was Founding Chairman of IPinfusion (Tokyo:4813) and past Board Director of 7 publicly listed companies: AWRD EGHT IAWK NPIX TMTA TUNE and IMGO. He serves on the World Economic Forum's Technology Pioneer Committee is an Adjunct Professor of Innovation at Curtin University in Perth Australia. He started his career as a computer chip designer and previously worked for semiconductor behemoth TSMC. He holds a BSEE with Honors from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Harvard.
• Petrov, Alex; CIO (Was part of Hong Kong consensus) Prior to working with Bitfury, he spent 15 years in the Ministry of interior Affairs of the Republic of Latvia. Other experience includes: Secret Regime department officer; NATO summit 2006 & public events security management; Chief of computer crime investigation unit; Police officer, Computer crime investigation; Lecturing for Interpol; Forensics investigations; Lecturer, Risk management, IT Security, Communications; and GE AML & Risk Manager chief.
• Radysh, Vlad; government relations director, CIS region, Vlad has spent his career developing and deploying ICT strategies for industrial and governmental customers in Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Kazakhstan, with a focus on business development, countrywide projects, multilayer security and standardization. Prior to joining Bitfury, he served as the Head of Government Relations for the leading mobile operator VEON Group, the Director of Global Government Relations for the CEMEA region for Visa and the Public Sector Director for Microsoft.Pipan, Rachel; senior communications manager, previously worked at Edelman Public Relations in Washington, D.C., on the media strategies and services team. During her tenure at Edelman, she worked with organizations such as Samsung, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Educational Testing Service, the U.S. Travel Association and others.
• Smith, Jamie Elizabeth; global chief communication officer, “formerly served as presidential spokesperson, deputy White House press secretary, director of public affairs for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and press director for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign. Her newly engaged deputy, Sam Youngman, is also well-known at the White House.”  (gone from the website 8-2018)
• Teo, Jonathan; board advisor, the founder of Binary Capital. He led Google’s International R&D department, and has invested in companies such as Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and Whisper. He received his BSEE from the University of Sydney and his MS from Stanford University.
• Forde, Brian; Advisory Board, former White House advisor and MIT lecturer
• Weinstein, Jason; Advisory board, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice
• Tillman, Tomicah; advisory board, has been a speechwriter for Hillary Clinton and is now director of the Bretton Woods II program at the political think tank New American.
• de Soto, Hernando; advisory board. The Peruvian economist is one of the world’s most important economic advisors of governments of emerging countries
• Newsome, Jim; advisory board. Has served as chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
• Hu, jackson; board advisor,  35-year veteran of the semiconductor industry. He is currently a Venture Partner for Wi Harper, an international venture capital firm. He is the former Chairman and CEO of UMC, the world’s second largest semiconductor foundry. He was also formerly the CEO of SiRF, IC Ensemble, S3 and Verticom. He received his Ph.D. and MS in CS from University of Illinois, and his MBA from Santa Clara University.
• Sohn, Young; board advisor, the president and chief strategy officer at Samsung Electronics. He has worked in the semiconductor and manufacturing for 30 years. He is the Board director at Cadence Designs Systems and formerly was the CEO and president of four Silicon Valley public companies: Quantum, Oak Technologies, Agilent Semiconductors and Inphi. He was instrumental in starting Intel’s highly successful PC chipset business. He received his MBA from MIT and received his BSEE from the University of Pennsylvania.
• Newsome, James; board advisor, the founding partner of Delta Strategy Group. While serving as executive of a Mississippi-based trade group, Dr. Jim Newsome was nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by the Senate to be a Commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in 1998. When President Bush was elected in 2000, Jim was nominated and confirmed as Chairman of the CFTC. As Chairman of the CFTC, Jim guided the regulation of the nation’s futures markets. He served as one of four members of the President’s Working Group for Financial Markets, along with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairmen of the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission. In 2004, Jim left Federal service to assume the role of President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). As head of NYMEX, Jim managed daily operations of the largest physical derivatives exchange in the world. Jim retired from the NYMEX after the merger with CME Group. He serves on the boards of Gavilon and the Williamson Dickie Company. He has previously served on the boards of the NYMEX, CME Group, Dubai Mercantile Exchange and the National Futures Association.
• Jason Weinstein; board advisor, also on the board of Blockchain Alliance and a partner at law firm Steptoe & Johnson

Funding

• Invested in Coinbase and might get further partnerships (2018)
• BitFury Capital invested in BitGo
• The company used the $90 million it received in four funding rounds to develop a huge variety of software services, including Blockchain data mining (to score transactions risks and break mixers,) Blockchain asset solutions and property right registrations on the Blockchain
• Secures $80M in Private Funding Round in 10-2018
• From CoinDesk (11-12-2019):

"The Bitfury Group has made what it calls a “strategic acquisition” in decentralized credential provider Shyft Network as it prepares to build out government-facing identity products. The deal, as outlined in a press statement Wednesday, will see Bitfury invest in Shyft’s Financial Action Task Force (FATF) travel compliance solution. Shyft has been building out its travel rule product’s partners and teams for much of 2019. It onboarded two former FATF executives in October and, according to its website, claims it has at least 20 partners across the industry. Notably, Shyft has not announced virtual asset service providers like Binance and Bitfinex – the actual target of the FATF travel rule – as partners at the time of publication. Joseph Weinberg, co-founder of Shyft, hinted in an email statement that exchanges are indeed assisting in the product set to launch alongside the Shyft mainnet early next year. The partnership will also bolster the company’s government-facing digital identity solution, according to the press release. Shyft is building such a system for the government of Bermuda in conjunction with Perseid."

• From their blog (10-6-2020):

"The Bitfury Group and the Nippon Angel Investment Company (NAIC) announced the launch of a digital currency infrastructure fund, the first of its kind in Japan. The fund will enable individual and institutional investors to diversify their portfolios into digital currency infrastructure. NAIC is a licensed fund manager in Japan, regulated by the Japan Financial Services Agency."

• Participated in the NuCypher SAFT (7-10-2019).