AntPool, one of the largest cryptocurrency mining pools, has announced it will now support the siacoin token.

The announcement of AntPool mining support comes alongside the news that China's mining chip giant Bitmain, which owns AntPool, has launched a new mining hardware device, dubbed the AntMiner A3. Data shows that, currently, AntPool accounts for 18 percent of the global bitcoin hashing power.

Siacoin is the native token of the sia blockchain, developed by Boston-based blockchain startup Nebulous to support its decentralized cloud storage system.

According to Bitmain, the new 815 GH/s miner supports the "blake2b" hashing algorithm, which is also used to secure the siacoin blockchain.

However, the launch appears to be not well-received by at least one member of the siacoin development team.

One representative, going by the pseudonym "Taek42" on Reddit, argued that Bitmain might put profit ahead of the sia ecosystem. Taek42 added that the sia blockchain could be changed to block mining via the AntMiner A3, but that it would require a soft fork to do so.

While some agreed with Taek42's sentiment, others welcomed the addition of Bitmain to the sia arena.

"Bitmain selling a Sia miner is great for the price of the coin, it brings us into the mainstream," wrote JoWi96 on Reddit.

As of press time, Bitmain had not responded to a request for comment.

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