| Since 2013,the cryptocurrency represented by Bitcoin has attracted much attention from investors.According to incomplete statistics,as of December 2018,there were about 2,000 cryptocurrencies in the market,including Bitcoin and Litecoin,and they were traded in more than 500 trading platforms in more than 20 countries.At the same time,the market price of cryptocurrency represented by bitcoin showed great fluctuations.Especially since June 2017,the price of Bitcoin has shown an “explosive” rise.By the end of December 2017,the market price of Bitcoin has risen from US$2,400 to nearly US$20,000.Since January 2018,the market price of Bitcoin has dropped sharply,and by the end of June 2018,the market price of Bitcoin fell by as much as 50%.The huge fluctuations in the market price of cryptocurrencies not only bring investment risks to investors,but also bring significant operational risks to companies in related industries.Actually,cryptocurrency has formed a series of relatively complete industrial chains: upstream mining production and sales,midstream cryptocurrency “mining”,and downstream cryptocurrency investment transactions.Therefore,fluctuations in the market price of cryptocurrencies will not only bring risks to downstream investment transactions,but also bring risks to the “mining” activities of the midstream,which in turn will bring significant overlapping risks to the upstream mining production and sales companies.This paper takes the upstream mining machine production and sales company BITMAIN as the case study object,and comprehensively analyzes the operational risk of the cryptocurrency “mine machine” company from the aspects of business risk category,cause and control.The main findings can be summarized as follows: First,the operational risk of Bitcoin is derived from the operational risks of the mining machine's main business and the asset investment risk of holding the cryptocurrency.The specific performance is: in terms of the operational risk of the main business of the mining machine,although BITMAIN has various business,its operating performance mainly depends on the sales of mining machines.When the cryptocurrency market was hot in 2017,the mining machine was a hit,therefore BITMAIN achieved a very high profit level.After the market turned cold in January 2018,the price of mining machines fell,the inventory was backlogged,the profit level of BITMAIN decreased,and the operational capacity deteriorated;In terms of the risk of asset investment in cryptocurrency,BITMAIN received cryptocurrencies from multiple business returns.The total value of cryptocurrency assets held by BITMAIN has increased year by year and currently accounts for about 30% of the total value of assets.However,with the decrease in the market price of cryptocurrencies in January 2018,the cryptocurrency assets held by BITMAIN have actually been impaired by more than 60%.Second,the reasons for the operational risks of BITMAIN include the infection of external supply chain risks and the mistakes of internal management decisions: as for the operational risks of the main business of the mining machine,the fluctuation of the market price of the cryptocurrency has led to the decline of the revenue of mining activities,and the level of customer income has led to the reduction of the price of the mining machine products.At the same time,the increasing difficulty in mining activities has led to an increase in the cost of mining products.As a result,the profit margin of the mining machine has decreased.BITMAIN's own mining machine pricing and production quantity decision was wrong,it caused serious backlog of mining machines;As the risk of asset investment in cryptocurrencies,the value of the cryptocurrency itself is hard to be measured,and its market price is determined by the government's attitude and public confidence,so the change of price is unpredictable,meanwhile,BITMAIN lacked risk awareness towards cryptocurrency assets and didn't sold out them in time.Third,Bitcoin's operational risk control measures are limited: In the main business of mining machines,BITMAIN actively explores AI business,but at present it only stays in the early stage of strategy,AI business has not improved,BITMAIN needs to increase R & D spending and find strategic positioning;In terms of holding cryptocurrency,BITMAIN credits cryptocurrency assets with intangible assets and measures them by cost method,but this only avoids the investment risk of cryptocurrency assets at the financial level.Bitcoin should reduce the form of cryptocurrency payment and combine with market price to develop a dynamic cryptocurrency sales strategy.The research in this paper hopes to provide participants in the cryptocurrency industry with hints on operational risks,reduce the impact of cryptocurrency market volatility on their operations,and help them be more cautious about investing in cryptocurrency assets.For potential cryptocurrency industry entrants,the research in this paper provides a reference for its strategic decision-making.In addition,the government needs to guide the cryptocurrency-related industries to establish industry norms,take measures to reduce the risk of cryptocurrency price fluctuations,and improve accounting standards to provide appropriate accounting treatment for cryptocurrency assets. |
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