Yibang International responded to the "Yindou.com" incident: cooperating with the police investigation

According to financial news, yesterday, a business person from Yibang Communication said in an interview with Caijing New Media that the company is cooperating with the police investigation and "it is inconvenient to say anything more about the financial issue."

On November 15, according to Reuters, the Hong Kong IPO application of cryptocurrency miner Canaan Inc expired six months after submission. The previous fundraising target was about US$400 million.

A reporter from Planet Daily checked the website of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX). In the "No Progress after Hearing" column of the HKEX website, Canaan Creative appeared in the updated list with an "invalid" status. The website showed that Canaan Creative submitted its first listing application on May 15 this year.

Public information shows that Canaan Creative was established in Beijing in April 2013 and is the manufacturer of the Avalon series of cryptocurrency mining machines. According to its prospectus, Canaan Creative's global Bitcoin mining machine shipments in 2017 are expected to total 294,500 units, accounting for 20.9% of the global market share in terms of shipments; and 19.5% of the global market share calculated by computing power, ranking second in the world in terms of Bitcoin mining machine manufacturers.

Earlier this year, Canaan planned to seek $1 billion in funding, but Reuters reported in August that Canaan had reduced the size of its financing plan to about $400 million.

People familiar with the matter said that although Canaan Creative emphasizes its AI attributes, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Hong Kong financial regulators have questioned the company's model and prospects given the instability of cryptocurrencies. If Canaan Creative plans to restart the IPO process, the company may provide the latest financial information in the IPO application.

According to the listing rules and guidance provided by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, an IPO issuer can reactivate a listing application after it has lapsed, however, the company must submit a new application, the previous application will be deemed outdated, and the new application must be initiated three months later.

Looking back at Canaan's listing process, it was full of twists and turns. Before going public in Hong Kong, Canaan had attempted to seek an A-share listing by backdoor listing with listed company Luyitong (300423). In June 2016, Luyitong, a GEM stock, planned to acquire 100% of Canaan's equity for 3.06 billion yuan. However, due to the close shareholding ratios of the top two shareholders after the merger, suspicion of circumventing backdoor listing, Canaan's overvaluation, and overly high performance commitments, the merger and reorganization was strictly supervised by the exchange and terminated after three letters of inquiry.

In addition to Canaan Creative, two other domestic mining companies, Bitmain and Ebang International, also went public in Hong Kong in June and September this year, respectively. Currently, the IPO applications of the two mining companies are also awaiting approval from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. However, according to Reuters, citing a direct source, Ebang International may not go public this year. And according to Sina Finance on November 1, Ebang International was suspected of being involved in the illegal fundraising case of Yindou.com and its public listing procedures were suspended by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, Reuters cited people familiar with the matter as saying that Bitmain is still answering questions from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).

Canaan Creative and Bitmain declined to comment on the matter, and Ebang International has not yet responded.

Just a few weeks ago, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced new regulations for companies managing cryptocurrencies. The SFC said that "based on the significant risks that virtual assets pose to investors", all licensed portfolio management companies that intend to invest in virtual assets (regardless of whether these virtual assets constitute "securities" or "futures contracts"), regardless of whether the portfolios they manage are invested in virtual assets in whole or in part, should be subject to substantially the same regulatory requirements.

In addition to the pressure brought by the upgraded regulation, Bitcoin fell below the $5,700 mark in the early hours of this morning, reaching its lowest point since October 2017. In fact, the pessimistic digital currency market this year has also made it quite difficult for miners to go public.