Bitmain IPO Filing Set to Imminently Expire in Absence of HKEx Committee Hearing – Cointelegraph
What happened: Beijing-based crypto exchange Bitmain is set to lose its IPO filing on Hong Kong’s HKEx stock exchange, according to reports. The startup’s IPO application was filed on Sept. 26, 2018 and has yet to proceed to a required committee meeting with the exchange within a required six-month window. While there has yet to be official word on how Bitmain will proceed, Primitive Financial’s Dovey Wan tweeted, “Bitmain’s next attempt can be NASDAQ but it needs to find another underwriter, and fix its financials.”
Why it’s important: A sluggish crypto market and questions surrounding Bitmain’s financials have put pressure on the company amid its efforts to secure an IPO filing. According to an August 2018 report by BitMEX, Bitmain spent the majority of the year selling its mining equipment at a loss. It also closed some of its overseas offices in an effort to weather the market slump. Despite these difficulties, it is reportedly planning to deploy up to 200,000 units of its own mining equipment in China this summer, a project estimated to cost between $80 million and $100 million.