Crypto Miner Manufacturer Canaan Seeks a US IPO

China’s second-largest Bitcoin mining hardware manufacture Canaan is considering to file for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States, according to a recent Bloomberg report.

This came months after the company’s application for an IPO lapsed in Hong Kong's stock exchange.

The firm is targeting to list itself in New York as soon as in the first half of 2019. However, according to Bloomberg’s anonymous sources, the deliberations are still in the early stages.

Canaan’s Hong Kong filing was done after the firm quashed its plans to list itself in both Hong Kong and the United States. It was, reportedly, aiming to raise $1 billion via its IPO.

Established in 2013, Canaan is China’s second largest Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer only following the market giant Bitmain. It designs and manufactures high-performance ASIC-based miners for Bitcoin mining and is well know for the Avalon series of bitcoin mining machines.

According to an unaudited income report released in January 2018, Canaan made a profit of $64 million (410 million yuan) for 2017 alone - a 600 percent increase from its previous year’s figures.

Moreover, before Hong Kong, the Beijing-based hardware manufacturer also tried to list itself on multiple exchanges in China, but all of its applications were rejected by the exchanges.

Hostility in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) has become very cautious about listings of crypto mining firms amid the crashing Bitcoin prices. Reports showed that the exchange is reluctant to list Bitmain’s IPO and thinks that its “premature for any cryptocurrency Trading Platform – or business associated with the industry – to raise funds through an IPO in Hong Kong before the proper regulatory framework is in place.”

Despite the hostility of the exchange, another crypto miner-manufacturer - Ebang Communications - filed for an IPO the second time on HKEX as its first application to the same was lapsed.