Elastos, a blockchain-powered internet infrastructure, has proclaimed a merged mining partnership with Bitmain Technologies, a cryptocurrency mining specialist and hardware producer.

Merged mining allows Bitcoin (BTC) and the ELA coin, Elastos’ token, to be mined at the same time and more efficiently. BTC will function the parent chain whereas ELA will work as the auxiliary chain. The partnership enables miners from BTC.com and AntPool to joint mine BTC and ELA using the Auxpow consensus.

Elastos said the partnership was “monumental” for miners and future users of its sensible web platform as it guaranteed the security of the Bitcoin network by sharing its hashpower. The move also serves as a step towards mainstream integration of Elastos’ internet OS.

“ELA is one among the first coins to be merged mined with Bitmain,” said Rong Chen, founder and chairman of Elastos.

“The accomplishments in our first year alone are indicative of Elastos’ potential to make waves far beyond the blockchain space — we are on track to change the whole Internet industry, its users, digital ecosystem and to create an industrial strength Internet-of-Things (IoT) network. This is the Internet of the future, where people will own their data, and connect directly and securely.”

Chinese startup Elastos has been developing the first utterly safe atmosphere on the web, powered by blockchain technology, where decentralized applications are detached from the web while also allowing full scalability to millions of users. The startup is backed and supported by Foxconn, the Chinese Central Government, the Tsinghua University, Bitmain, and NEO.

“At Bitmain, we strive to be at the forefront of recognizing new, innovative technologies in the blockchain area as well because the cutting edge teams leading the way to mainstream adoption — Elastos is one of those projects,” said Jihan Wu, co-founder of Bitmain.

“There are very few projects we have opened our community up to, and there are currently only three merged mining with Bitmain. I have an immense amount of faith in the potential impact of Elastos, which is not limited to the blockchain space alone.”

In addition to the commencement of merged mining with Bitmain, Elastos has also disclosed its incentivized community portal, Cyber Republic, through which it's launched many initiatives, including CR100, which will initially concentrate on funding the development of 100 decentralized applications on Elastos.

The startup also announced the rollout of a full end-to-end test environment of the Elastos sensible web Alpha, referred to as Elastos Trinity. Trinity aims to implement a cross-platform application, compatible with android, iOS, Window, and Mac, which will serve as the gateway from the existing internet to the Elastos internet infrastructure.

Over the coming year, Elastos said it'll concentrate on fueling growth. In 2018 alone, the company has expanded into partnerships with many industry giants such as Zapya, and the TD-SCDMA Industrial Alliance.