Bitmain IPO Plans May be Rekindled With Crypto Winter's End

Toward the end of June 2019, news emerged that the mining giant Bitmain might be reviving its initial public offering plans.

Bitmain - being the largest player in the mining sector - first attempted to go public in the second half of 2018, but soon was heavily damaged by the intensifying crypto bear market.

The world's most powerful crypto mining giant: A brief introduction to Bitmain.

"As a China company," said Wu, "We have to be prepared." He added that Bitmain plans to start earning as much as 40% of its revenue from AI chips within five years.

Next month, BitMEX Research analyzed the allegedly leaked data on the potential Bitmain IPO and declared that the Chinese mining giant had conducted a pre-IPO round that reportedly raised around $14 billion, suggesting that no less than $20 billion could be raised during the IPO stage, which would make Bitmain the largest public crypto company by far.

The crypto mining giant's plans to go public soon turned uncertain, as companies that were previously listed as Bitmain investors began denying their involvement.

In March 2019, Bitmain's filing with HKEX was lapsed - which came as no surprise to some, given that HKEX had previously treated the IPO application of Canaan, Bitmain's competition on the mining market that also had plans to go public in Hong Kong, in the same manner.

Experts attribute the alleged reactivation of Bitmain's IPO plans to the growing market, considering that Bitcoin alone has gained around 300% since the 2018 lows.

"I'm somewhat suspicious that their AI plans are little more than wishful thinking to placate potential investors because nothing they've done previously shows they have competence at building anything but ASIC miners. I'm certain nvidia isn't shaking in their boots at the thought of Bitmain entering the AI market. I personally think it would be foolish for Bitmain to take their eye entirely off the ball. But like any good company they're always looking to pivot and/or expand into related markets."

Cointelegraph has requested Bitmain to confirm or deny the reported IPO plans, but has yet to hear back from the company.