Crypto exchange giant, Binance is preparing to roll out its own crypto mining pool. According to a recent report, the company has already employed some professionals for the project, some of which are former Bitmain employees. The launch is scheduled for the second quarter of 2020, says the report.

The news was confirmed by Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao, who tweeted about it on his official Twitter account. Zhao added that there are so many projects currently going on in the Binance ecosphere, making it hard to keep track of all of them.

Yes, there is a #BinanceMiningPool coming soon. 👀



A new addition to our suite of #BinanceFinance products we offer including: Staking, Earn, Savings and Loans.#useBNB https://t.co/hYa48hynX4 — CZ Binance 🔶🔶🔶 (@cz_binance) April 1, 2020

Interestingly, Zhao’s post was made on April Fool’s Day, making community members to get confused whether this was a joke or real. However, Zhao specified that the announcement was not one of the April Fool’s joke. According to Zhao, the company didn’t intentionally choose to make such announcement on this day, but it just happened. He said the company is now moving forward to the next step.

Binance has joined the likes of OKex and Huobi exchanges who have already taken the lead in such service. OKex launched its own mining pool in August 2019 whiles Huobi also launched its own in September that same year. Data from Blockchain.com shows that both exchanges’ pool are currently counted among the top 10 pools producing the most blocks in Bitcoin blockchain.

Several industry players have shared their ideas about Binance’s move. Notable among them is Bitriver mining farm CEO Igor Runets who believes launching a mining pool is a logical step for a crypto exchange. According to Runets, both businesses are software-based so no extra professional skills are required before one can establish them together. He said most mining pool users are also clients of exchanges.

Head of Sigmapool mining pool also said Binance is already offering potential clients generous referral bonuses as it has been reaching out to some miners in China to promote the company’s upcoming service.