Hey Steemians or should I say wassa wassa wassa wassa wasssaaaap Hashcoooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnneeect. The world is no more the way it was for cloud mining contract owners, huh ah no no no! Hash Flare has announced that it has completely shut down its Bitcoin mining contracts. All current SHA-256 bitcoin mining contracts will be terminated today, July 20. As you would expect contract owners are pissed and cloud miner detractors are saying I told you so as many cryptopeeps have taken to Twitter and Reddit and calling this an exit scam. 

It's not really an exit scam in its true sense since the company looks like it will still be around and offering alternative products and who knows? If Bitcoin prices skyrocket again these contracts could be reinstated but that would just be wishful thinking at this point. Cloud mining was never meant to last, anyone with simple math and logic could figure that one out.

Yes, you could make money on it, you could make money on Bitconnect, Davor Coin, Proof of weak hands and all those other ethically blurred projects we've been forced to endure. I think the fact that I was put onto cloud mining from the Mr. Crypto "I'm not too sure what a public key is" Nick who shilled Bitconnect, Genesis mining and Hashflare for all its worth speaks volumes on the type of audience these projects attract. I'm not telling anyone what to do with their money, by all means, invest it how you see fit, but then don't come crying when you lose all your money.

So let's look at how people are losing money in crypto today!

![Is-Hashflare-Cloud-Mining-About-To-Pull-An-Exit-Scam-1024x576.jpg](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmZWjqjCxKBi5iRqe1wUY7dqhKCp4d5Jbe3hoXhz93SVCL)

## The dreaded email of doom

The bear market has been tough for many investors and projects alike and the length of it has really shown which projects have steel and longevity attached to them, cloud mining was certainly not one of them and Hash Flare had to suck it up and inform its user base they were calling time on their mining contracts.

According to the email (screenshots found below) that just went out, the company has been unable to make any bitcoin payments to its contract holders for the last 28 consecutive days due to the amount earned being allegedly less than the daily maintenance fee the company charges. This, they claim, what is causing all contracts to be terminated prematurely.

The email states that the company is within its rights to do this as the action is “in accordance with clause 5.5 of our Terms of Service, which are required to be accepted when creating a purchase and are the basis of concluding the contract.”

![Screen Shot 2018-07-23 at 08.49.18.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmNkqmVAs8nmZ1PkswrxKmJTWAxmdACDW3coy8joWpXWSM)
![Screen Shot 2018-07-23 at 08.49.42.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmXE1E5VQputCj7c4MsJS4Hbk5D48pcqcZFbd3NwKhotUh)

What that essentially means is that for 28 days users did not receive payments and now hash flare are like you saw we had problems paying you guys for the last month since we're not making profits, so we're just going to cancel your contracts and leave you with nothing. Enough to piss off any customer for life, I would assume. 

![23rfnx.jpg](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmaKqsuHxDU4Xgqpw3mSexS48N7kguaWmhpMVaqsy6nyNi)

My biggest issue with cloud mining is, if it's SOOoooOOOOoo profitable having all this hashpower, why would I sell it to the public in the first place? I could just well mine away and make profits without having to involve anyone, worry about creating a platform to allocate payments, deal with contracts and set up all these long convoluted payment structures that are geared in the companies favour and protecting them against the downside of corrections?

![DWj4iqaX4AEiNaB.jpg](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmWSuSkoQJEThSCNU6KBioUBGph9TALa1CJK35oJRtf1oX)

## The huge oversight

What pains me most about this whole situation is that this company was all fine to run and make huge profits during the bull market and never thought to use those profits to mitigate risk and protect against its downside. Surely you can't be ignorant to think prices would continue to go up forever? Why did they not take out insurance? Why did they not try to short Bitcoin? Why did they not take out futures and augment their income streams so that they could honour their contracts and then shut them down once the contracts expire? 

They were happy to take clients money in the beginning but not happy to give it back now? It's not as if these contracts were hugely profitable, to begin with, plenty of users could have been paid out without them blinking an eye im sure of it. 

If you would like to check out the value of a hash flare contract then I suggest you check out this video from @mrsotko who has always been a trooper for us crypto lovers and brining you that authentic and juicey sauce on the regular. I encourage you to check out his channel and subscribe. 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XSK-m07T6JU" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

## The bear market is a gift

As painful as the bear market is for our bottom line it is a necessary evil that allows the market to purge itself of products and projects that aren't in the markets best interests. It allows liquidity that was otherwise tied up and going nowhere to be migrated to legitimate projects and gives a fragmented market the ability to consolidate and finally gives Bitcoin a platform to begin testing higher resistance levels. What we want now is sustainable growth not growth prompt up on speculation but actual value generation of the medium. 

## Don't just take my word for it

Some YouTubers have begun to report on the news and well they don't hold their punches 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_YyDUEpPekY" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gY_vQr60DpU" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

## The outcry

The community reaction has so far been overwhelmingly negative as you would assume and those contract clauses has flare leaned on to make these decisions are being taken apart by users with contract owners stating that they considering filing lawsuits against the Estonia-based company, but it’s too soon to tell whether or not anyone will proceed with legal action. While new users who joined the service just recently and stand to suffer the most loses have claimed that they are trying to perform a chargeback with their banks

Another subset of users are questioning the legitimacy of Hashflare’s claim that mining is no longer profitable. Social media has been filled are posting screenshots of mining calculator sites like Coinwarz.com which suggests that currently, mining is profitable, especially considering the uptick in price that bitcoin has seen in the last week. But profitability is apparently not enough, as the terms seem to be that mining hasn’t to be profitable enough to pay for their own maintenance fees.

Hmmm seems like centralisation isn't a good thing after all, who would have thought? 

## Have your say

What do you think of cloud mining services? Did you own a hashflare contract? What will cloud miners do now? Move to another service or call it time and either move to staking nodes or buying asics?

## Let's connect

If you liked this post sprinkle it with an upvote or resteem

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**Sources:**

* [CCN](https://www.ccn.com/cloud-mining-service-hashflare-disables-bitcoin-mining-contracts-shuts-down/)
* [Alt Coin Buzz](https://altcoinbuzz.io/is-hashflare-cloud-mining-about-to-pull-an-exit-scam/)
* [Blockonomi](https://blockonomi.com/hashflare-vs-community/)
* [Hashflare Exit Scam Explained by @mememaster](https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@mememaster-1/hashflare-exit-scam-explained)