Bitmain-Rival MicroBT Plans for a US IPO

Another Chinese Bitcoin miner hardware maker is approaching the United States to list its stocks publicly. According to 8BTC, MicroBT, which manufactures Whatsminer-branded miners, is planning for an initial public offering (IPO).

Based in Shenzhen, MicroBT aggressively captured the Bitcoin miner hardware market in recent years, reportedly to become the second-largest supplier in the industry, staying only behind Bitmain.

The company did not confirm on the reports of its plans of publicly listing its shares on Nasdaq yet.

Though MicroBT is planning to go public since 2019, the attempt got delayed due to a lawsuit over IP issues against its founder Yang Zuoxing by Bitmain, his former employer. Yang joined Bitmain’s Antminer S7 and S9 design team in 2015, but left the company after a year when the co-founders refused to give him a stake in the company.

Crypto Miners’ Rush for Public Listing

Earlier, many of the major Bitcoin miner manufacturers tried to list their shares publicly. Though most of the attempts failed, Canaan become the first to list its shares on Nasdaq in November 2019. The company, however, performed poorly on the exchange and its share is now trading at half the initial listing price, despite rallying in the past month.

Bitmain and Ebang had multiple attempts to list their stocks on the United States and Hong Kong stock exchanges, but could not succeed yet.

While the Bitcoin prices are soaring since December and breaking records frequently, many crypto companies are trying to go public. ICE-owned Bakkt recently confirmed that it is merging with a blank-check company to go public, bypassing the tougher traditional IPO route.

MicroBT became very popular after the last Bitcoin halving as many pointed out that its machines are most efficient to mine Bitcoins. In fact, Bitmain also lost its significant market share to rival MicroBT.

The local media additional outlined that MicroBT closed a $700 million financing round in January 2019.

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