DCG’s mining subsidiary to introduce access fees 

Bitcoin (BTC) mining pool Foundry USA has reportedly notified its users of its plans to introduce service access fees. Its parent firm, Digital Currency Group, is one of the entities hit hard by Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX collapse.

Foundry USA, a leading New York-based bitcoin mining pool from the stables of the Digital Currency Group, has signaled plans to start charging its customers fees for its digital assets mining services.

Per a Bloomberg report on April 6, the mining pool, whose services have been free for miners since its launch in 2019, plans to introduce a tiered pool fee system between April 19 and April 22. 

According to a notice sent to clients, the proposed tiered fee system would enable the mining pool to expand its features further. The firm has clarified that the “pricing tiers” during each quarter will be determined by the average hashrate of the previous quarter.

Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group is one of the entities still suffering from the disgraced Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX contagion. 

As reported by crypto.news in January, DCG shut down its wealth management subsidiary, HQ Digital, citing unfavorable market conditions. Genesis Trading, another entity under DCG, laid off over 30% of its workforce in Jan. and suspended withdrawals due to a serious liquidity crunch brought about by its exposure to FTX. 

At the time of writing, Foundry USA is the world’s largest bitcoin mining pool, controlling 34.16% of the market with its hashrate of 115,238.16 petahashes per second (Phs), according to BTC.com.