Bitmain reportedly files for US IPO in secret; Deutsche Bank is the sponsor

Cryptocurrency miner manufacturing giant Bitmain Technologies is said to have secretly filed an initial public offering (IPO) application in the U.S. with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Tencent News reported the news on Wednesday, saying that the sponsor for Bitmain’s IPO application is German multinational Deutsche Bank. A Deutsche Bank spokesperson declined to comment to The Block.

Wednesday's report did not mention the amount Bitmain is looking to raise through the U.S. IPO. However, according to a report by Bloomberg in June, Bitmain was looking to raise roughly $300-500 million in the U.S. offering.

The figure is drastically down from its previous target of raising up to $3 billion when Bitmain had filed an IPO application to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX). But that application eventually lapsed in March.

According to the Tencent report, Bitmain has now also hired Zheng Hua, the former representative of Nasdaq China, as a consultant to the company, in order to increase the probability of its listing on a U.S. stock exchange.

Just yesterday, Bitmain went through a corporate restructuring exercise and its co-founder and executive director Micree Ketuan Zhan was ousted abruptly. Jihan Wu, another co-founder of Bitmain, now has taken over Zhan’s responsibilities.

Earlier this week, Bitmain rival Canaan Creative also publicly filed for a U.S. IPO, aiming to raise $400 million.