Exclusive: Shenma Mining Machine is preparing for listing on the US stock market, and China's crypto mining industry may usher in a listing boom

Wu said blockchain has learned from multiple sources that MicroBT (Shenma Mining Machine), the second largest mining machine manufacturer in the Bitcoin mining machine market, is preparing for a U.S. stock listing. It may complete new financing before listing to help acquire more Samsung chip production capacity in the bull market, and it is likely to sign a listing bet clause.

As the price of Bitcoin has nearly tripled in half a year, the computing power of the entire network has only increased by 30%, and the price of mining machines has also increased by nearly 3 times. Any mining machine manufacturer can quickly make a profit as long as it obtains more chip production capacity. For mining machine manufacturers, cherishing the bull market time, shipping as much as possible and making profits is also the strategy of Shenma Yang Zuoxing and Bitmain Zhan Ketuan.

Therefore, it is said that the main purpose of releasing the news of Shenma's listing is to complete a new round of financing and obtain more Samsung chip production capacity. However, investors will inevitably put forward a deadline for listing, so the listing speed will also be accelerated.

Yang Zuoxing, the founder of Shenma Mining Machine, once worked at Bitmain and claimed to be the main force in developing the flagship S9 (but this was denied by some Bitmain R&D personnel). After leaving Bitmain, Yang Zuoxing founded Shenma Mining Machine and received investment from Bixin, F2Pool and other institutions as well as support from BTC core.

Shenma Mining Machine rose in 2018, relying on the success of Samsung's 8nm chip products and the unfavorable development of Bitmain's 7nm products, and successfully seized the market. At present, the market share of high-computing power Bitcoin mining machines exceeds that of Bitmain. It is expected to ship hundreds of thousands of units in 2020.

Due to the heavy investment, high inventory and high risk of the mining machine production industry, there is a time cycle from ordering to mass production. If the price of the currency plummets in the middle of the process, it is possible to lose all the money. Therefore, listing is of great significance to the financial flexibility of mining machine companies. Multiple sources told Wu Blockchain that Shenma began planning for the listing in 2019, but the lawsuit that occurred at the end of 2019 disrupted the listing rhythm.

At the end of October 2019, Yang Zuoxing, the founder of Shenma Mining Machine, was taken away by the police for investigation after Bitmain reported the case for infringement of trade secrets. In early December 2019, the Nanshan District Procuratorate of Shenzhen approved the arrest of the suspect Yang Zuoxing for the crime of embezzlement. In January 2020, Yang Zuoxing was released on bail pending trial.

After being released on bail, Yang Zuoxing is still in charge of the company's R&D, but on the surface he has withdrawn from the legal person of BitMicro's related companies in the mainland. On December 5, 2020, Yang Zuoxing participated in the "Pingshan High-tech Zone Shenzhen New Future" salon dialogue, with many government officials from Guangdong and Shenzhen participating. On December 19, after more than a year, Yang Zuoxing posted on WeChat Moments. Although the content was about a long run, "I am back" implied that the problem had been solved and he had returned in full force.

Shenma is in good operating condition, and its revenue in 2020 is expected to be hundreds of millions of US dollars. Bitmain's revenue in 2020 should be between 1 billion and 2 billion US dollars. Shenma's new generation M50 series machines have also been officially put into trial production, and may strive to ship them before the flood season. Considering its current market share of second place and looking forward to first place, it may be highly sought after in the US stock market. Due to the sharp rise in the price of mining machines, Shenma's revenue in 2021 may reach 1 billion to 2 billion US dollars.

The concept of Bitcoin mining is currently very popular in the US capital market. The market value of BTBT, which is a second-hand mine filled by Yuhong, has reached 1.2 billion US dollars. Canaan's market value has also tripled in the past six months. It is expected that Shenma's market value may reach billions of US dollars after its listing, and it is not impossible to exceed 10 billion US dollars. Currently, Chinese crypto mining companies listed on the US stock market include Canaan, Ebang, Bit Digital, 500.com, and The 9th City.

Mining machine manufacturers such as Canaan and Ebang have successfully listed on the US stock market, so there is no big problem for Shenma in terms of procedures. However, the first premise is that Bitmain’s trade secret infringement case is indeed “finished” as Yang Zuoxing’s circle of friends implies; on the other hand, Shenma is also facing a lawsuit dispute from Ebang.

On November 30, Wu said blockchain exclusively disclosed that Ebang announced that it had obtained the exclusive right to use the ASICBOOST Korean patent from the patent holder Circle Line International. The patent holder of ASICBOOST has taken Samsung to court in Korea on the grounds of patent infringement, demanding that Samsung stop supplying chips to Shenma, as well as demanding huge compensation and destroying the manufactured products. The lawsuit is still in the court acceptance stage. Refer to ASICBOOST re-emergence: Ebang obtains exclusive authorization, Shenma Samsung is sued, reviewing the history of patent chaos. It is reported that Shenma has assessed that the impact is not significant and has not chosen to pay for settlement.

In addition, Wu said blockchain learned that when Bitmain split, Zhan Ketuan promised to complete the qualified listing of US stocks before December 31, 2022, with a minimum valuation of 5.5 billion US dollars and a listing financing of no less than 500 million US dollars. If it fails to complete, it may need to repurchase from investors and pay interest. Refer to Bitmain's big split: Zhan Ketuan returns and Wu Jihan exits with cash from B pool Xiaolu (Bitmain Series 26) Bitmain's business is richer than Shenma, and it also has mining pools, mining farms, small currency mining machines, AI, etc. Therefore, if it can be listed in the bull market, the market value will soar and even reach tens of billions of US dollars.

Therefore, if nothing unexpected happens, Shenma and Bitmain will most likely be listed on the US stock market in the next two years. It was once rumored that a mining pool and cloud computing power would also consider listing on the US stock market. After years of struggle, chaos and fighting, China's cryptocurrency mining industry is finally reaching the top of the capital market.