They had to work through some issues and let the 2019 registration expire.
Ousted Founder of Bitmain Buys Back Control in $600 Million Settlement: Reports
And the latest from Investopedia, January 18:
Crypto Mining Giant Bitmain Is Going Public With a $40 to $50 Billion Valuation
Cryptocurrency mining giant Bitmain Technologies Ltd. filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in September 2018. Although Bitmain closed its pre-IPO round with $1 billion (valuing the firm at $15 billion post-deal), the company ultimately failed in its attempt to go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE). The company's application lapsed in March 2019 and it was not re-filed.
The Beijing-based company had been valued somewhere between $40 billion and $50 billion prior to its IPO, making it potentially one of the largest public offerings ever had it been successful. The company had raised approximately $450 million from investors between 2013, when it was founded by Jihan Wu and Micree Zhan, and 2018, and it was valued at $12 billion in private markets during its funding round in June 2018.The failed offering was underwritten by China International Capital Corporation.
At the end of 2019, it was reported that Bitmain confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, as of January 17, 2020, Bitmain is still a private company.
In November 2019, Canaan Creative, the Chinese bitcoin-mining machine manufacturer, became the first cryptocurrency company to be listed on the Nasdaq. Canaan, a Cayman Island-registered company, is one of the largest manufacturers of the Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) devices that are used to mine cryptocurrency. Because Canaan and Bitmain both filed for an IPO with the SEC around the same time, the successful listing of Canaan was considered a kind of "coup" by some in the cryptocurrency community.
How Does Bitmain Make Money?Coindesk, which claimed to have seen filing documents for the IPO, stated that Bitmain had earned a total of $2.3 billion in profits across 2016, 2017, and the first quarter of 2018. Skyrocketing prices in cryptocurrency markets garnered a profit of $1.1 billion for the company in 2017.1 Industry analysts have a more optimistic take on Bitmain’s prospects. In February this year, Bernstein Research estimated that Bitmain is generating profits of as much as $3 billion per year.
Bitmain is a vertically-integrated company. It makes its own chips for mining rigs, which are sold to end customers. It also uses them in equipment for cryptocurrency mining farms....
....MUCH MORE
The company has sold out their production through August 2021 prompting NVIDIA to reconsider manufacturing chips for mining rigs although I thought the battle of Graphics Processing Units versus ASICs was settled a few years ago in favor of the more stripped-down, single purpose chip.
Bitmain will be joining a couple others trying to squeeze through the window:
Finance Magnates, January 14: "Bitmain-Rival MicroBT Plans for a US IPO"
And Bitcoin.com, January 14: "Crypto Mining Hardware Manufacturer Whatsminer Plans to Launch Public Offering in the US"
As an historical note, Goldman Sachs came public on May 3, 1999. They were early.
The market continued higher into the New Year with the Nasdaq peaking on March 10, 2000.
The index then dropped 77% before hitting bottom on September 24, 2002.
