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The Japanese internet giant GMO Internet Group is abandoning the mining hardware sector of Bitcoin, Cointelegraph Japan reported on December 25 that refers to a public document.
Citing "extraordinary losses" in Q4 this year, GMOs, which began its foray into the Bitcoin mining sector in 2017, declared that "it will no longer develop, manufacture and sell" miners.
"After taking into account the changes in the current business environment, the Company expects it to be difficult to recover the accounting values of the company activities related to internal mining activities and, therefore, it was decided to record an extraordinary loss", the document reads.
The OGM will further transfer its mining activity "to a region that will allow us to ensure a cleaner and cheaper energy supply".
The news makes GMOs the latest victim of the 2018 Bitcoin (BTC) bearco market, with falling prices weighing on mining profitability.
As reported by Cointelegraph, scenes from China showed the mass dumping of hardware, followed by news of layoffs by major player Bitmain.
After closing Israeli operations this week, new reports have suggested that Bitmain was preparing to fire up to half its 2,500 employees.
Consolidated losses of GMOs for the fourth quarter amounted to 35.5 billion yen ($ 320 million), while unconsolidated losses will be approximately 38 billion yen ($ 334.5 million).
The company claimed that the losses had no impact on its "financial integrity".
In contrast, in November, the company recorded "historical" performance of its cryptocurrency projects in the third quarter, which included sales of mining hardware. Profits amounted to 2.6 billion yen ($ 22.8 million).
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