Bitfury has recently announced that former Binance Boss, Brian Brooks, will be taking over as CEO. This puts the former financial regulator in the driving seat of one of the world’s biggest crypto mining firms at a time when the mining industry is booming.
Brooks will replace Bitfury founder Valery Vavilov, who will instead become the company’s Chief Vision officer tasked with developing new projects.
The latest appointment comes after China put a ban on cryptocurrency mining. The move saw a surge in demand from international companies, who stepped in to fill the void.
Bitfury was founded in 2011 as a Bitcoin mining operation. It has now expanded business to include infrastructure projects such as data centre operations, computer chips and software development for the crypto industry.
In August, Brooks made an abrupt exit from Binance after only 3 months on the job. Binance US is an affiliate of the leading crypto exchange that is currently under severe pressure from regulators around the world.
Brooks has stated that he is “highly confident” that his position at Bitfury will last longer than his role at Binance US. He expects to get along better with Vavilov than he did his previous employer.
Brooks explained, “The exchange business is currently profitable but it isn’t necessarily where innovation is happening.” He added that Bitfury’s status as the only mining chip producer outside of China gave it an edge.
Before his role at Binance US, Brooks also worked as acting head of the US banking regulator the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. He has also worked with Cpinbase as its chief legal officer.
Bitcoin mining has recently been under fire over its negative impact on the environment. The industry consumes more electricity than the Netherlands and only slightly less than the United Arad Emirates. This is according to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index.
Despite the criticism, Bitfury aims to build more mining centers around the world. The company recently achieved a valuation of $1 billion at it’s latest funding round.
