China's second-largest bitcoin mining machine maker Canaan Creative plans to go public in Hong Kong

Sina Technology News, Beijing time, May 9th afternoon news, China's second largest Bitcoin mining machine manufacturer Canaan Creative is planning to go public in Hong Kong instead of going to the United States for an IPO. According to sources, if the listing is successful, Canaan Creative will become the first blockchain-related listed company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The Hangzhou-based company plans to raise $1 billion in the IPO, the source said. Canaan has previously expressed interest in listing in both Hong Kong and the United States. However, the source also said that the final decision has not been finalized and things may still change. Canaan declined to comment on the listing plan.

Canaan Creative was founded in 2013. The company specializes in designing and selling high-performance integrated circuit boards and is also the manufacturer of the Avalon series of Bitcoin mining machines. In January this year, the company released its unaudited financial report, which showed that the company's net income in 2017 was 410 million yuan (about 64 million US dollars), an increase of 600% over the previous year.

Canaan has attempted an IPO several times before. In 2016, the company tried to list on China's A-share market by acquiring Shandong-based electronic equipment maker Luyitong. But the listing plan was ultimately abandoned because regulators suspected the transaction was overvalued.

Last year, Canaan applied again to list on China’s New Third Board despite a ban on cryptocurrency trading and initial coin offerings (ICOs). Once again, the application was rejected, and the company did not disclose the reason.

Most of Canaan’s customers are still in China, where electricity is cheap, but as Chinese regulators step up their crackdown on cryptocurrencies, questions are raised about Canaan’s ability to maintain its usual pace of development.

In a telephone interview in April this year, Kong Jianping, the company's co-chairman, said that in addition to producing chips, the company also plans to get involved in the software business.