Coronavirus outbreak continues to disrupt crypto and blockchain firms in China

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Updated on Mar 11, 2020

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China-based companies are still largely disrupted due to the coronavirus outbreak, including the country's crypto and blockchain firms.
Many of them have advised workers to remain home even after the holiday season had ended.
A lot of companies have allowed their employees to work remotely, from home, while others such as OKEx have returned to business with certain precautions to ensure a safe work environment.

The virus outbreak in China is still raging at full strength, but the crypto and blockchain companies have found a way to cope with the reality of the situation. Fortunately, crypto trading and marketing remain mostly intact, and the same can be said about customer service. However, the outbreak has had a severe impact on product development, logistics, technical upgrades, business travel, and other similar activities.

After the outbreak took place, the country’s government expanded the Lunar New Year vacation by an entire week, to February 10th. It has been weeks since then, and several of the country’s major cities are still under lockdown. Meanwhile, companies in those cities had to request that their employees work from home. This included blockchain businesses, but also many others.

How are crypto firms handling the situation?

According to ZB Group’s VP, Aurora Wong, employees are encouraged to work remotely, as the virus outbreak is not regional. It spreads quite easily, and it has already reached most parts of China, as well as numerous countries around the world.

Wong continued by saying that the virus is causing psychological stress, and while most cities are not locked down, the companies do not wish to compromise their employees’ health. Wong also mentioned that the outbreak is likely to slow down ZB Group’s technical upgrade to a new version. The company was fast and efficient before the outbreak, but the situation has changed in the new year.

Some exchanges,s such as Estonia-based Bibox, which originated from China, said that it might relocate its core engineering team to another Asian country such as Vietnam or Singapore. At the same time, the major crypto exchange OKEx said that it continued business as usual, although it is staying vigilant due to the virus. It did so by disinfecting offices, preparing protective equipment, and securing the workspace in similar ways.

Many other blockchain startups outside of the trading venues have been affected as well, including B Labs, Conflux, and many others, who are doing as much as they can by conferencing and working remotely.