Bitpay, the leading Bitcoin payment service provider and parent company of the multi-signature wallet platform developer Copay, has entered into a strategic partnership and agreement with Bitmain to develop open source Blockchain security software.

The partnership, which entails a multi-year and multi-million dollar development contract, was revealed on May 3 by the Bitpay team in its official statement. Bitpay announced that over the course of the agreement, the firm will collaborate with Bitmain to create open source software which can protect and secure mining pools, miners and full node operators.

BitPay CEO Stephen Pair stated:

“At BitPay, we recognize that there is an untapped market of mining companies that require more advanced platforms for their businesses than are available today. We value having Bitmain as a customer, and we believe that miners and mining technology providers like Bitmain play a vital role in the security and ongoing success of the Bitcoin Blockchain.”

What Bitpay brings to the partnership

Over the past six years, Bitpay has served some of the largest companies in the technology and finance industry including Microsoft, Valve and PaySafe. The firm has been processing hundreds of millions of dollars on a yearly basis for businesses, merchants and individuals in the Bitcoin market.

Although technical specifications of the security software being developed by Bitpay have not been released yet, its partnership with Bitmain represents a valuable testing and implementation platform for its software.

Currently, Bitmain and its hardware miners support approximately 70 percent of global mining. With the vision of further innovating the Bitcoin mining industry and its technologies, Bitmain CEO Jihan Wu stated that it will cooperate closely with Bitmain to make actual improvements in Bitcoin mining technologies.

Wu announced:

“BitPay has established itself as a leader in open source development for the Bitcoin Blockchain. We believe that together we can make real improvements in how we secure Blockchain transactions and grow the impact of Blockchain technology in digital payments.”

Moving on from Antbleed controversy

Bitmain’s partnership with Bitpay comes after the company’s controversial implementation of Antbleed, a type of malware designed to surveil on its miners and customers.

Although Bitmain released its official statement on the matter to clarify their claims, ultimately, Bitmain is responsible for creating potential vulnerabilities in its latest hardware that can be used to shut down approximately 70 percent of the global mining infrastructure.

As Bitcoin and security expert Andreas Antonopoulos said:

“I honestly doubt Antbleed was in any way malicious. It shows the intention to centrally control customers, is reckless and poorly implemented.”

Moving on from the Antbleed controversy, Bitmain aims to collaborate with Bitpay in order to provide an enhanced and a more secure environment and ecosystem for Bitcoin miners.