Bitcoin Miner Manufacturer Whatsminer Allegedly Preparing for a U.S. IPO

Chinese bitcoin miner manufacturer MicroBT, or Whatsminer maker, is planning to go public on the Nasdaq market, people familiar with the matter disclosed.

The Shenzhen, China-based company, is currently the second largest bitcoin mining equipment manufacturer, close behind bitcoin mining giant Bitmain.

It signals that MicroBT becomes the latest China-based mining company seeking to tap public equity markets after Bitmain, Canaan Creative and Ebang International Holdings Inc.

The mining rig mega-seller aims to acquire more funds via the planning IPO so that it can be well-capitalized to cater to the booming demand for bitcoin mining machines. As bitcoin rally extends and new all-time highs are broken, bitcoin mining machines that mine the digital gold are in desperate need in the market.

The company has reportedly mulled over going public early in 2019. Despite the bear cryptocurrency market and a slump in miner demand at that time, MicroBT sees a boom in its miner sales and started to grab Bitmain’s market share.

While a lawsuit between the company’s founder Yang Zuoxing with his ex-employer Bitmain at the end of 2019 disrupted the pace of its listing.

In the spring of 2015, Yang joined Bitmain’s team to design the Antminer S7 and S9, the company’s flagship bitcoin mining models. He left the company in June 2016 after Jihan Wu and Micree Zhan, co-founders of Bitmain, disapproved of his request for a stake in the business. One month later, he established his own mining hardware company, MicroBT.

Since then, the company has been in disputes with Bitmain over IP issues. And Yang has been toiling hard to fight against his old employer and build his young startup into the dominant provider for crypto mining chips.

A BitMEX report last June pointed out that MicroBT is the only major ASIC manufacturer that hasn’t reported losses in the past few quarters. The company has a 100% track record with respect to tape-outs, with all 4 tape-outs resulting in products, and completed a $700 million financing round in January 2019.