The eco-friendly blockchain maker thinks market conditions are set to improve.
(Bloomberg) — Crypto startup Chia Network Inc. indicated Friday that it has moved a step closer to a US initial public offering. The company said that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Chia, which was valued at about $500 million in 2021, said in the announcement that the size and price range for the proposed IPO have not been determined yet.
“We believe the SEC is sincere in their desire for projects to come in and register, so here we are,” Chief Executive Officer Gene Hoffman said in a statement. “We’re serious about compliance and transparency, and we’ve chosen this path because we believe it’s the right thing to do.”
Hoffman, who was appointed as chief executive officer of Chia this year, told Bloomberg in January that the startup didn’t plan on going public in 2023 because it didn’t think the market would be “open.”
Chia joins other digital asset companies angling to go public. Jesse Powell, the co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, said that his company was positioning itself for a potential public listing when he announced that he was stepping down as CEO. Bitcoin miner Bitdeer Technologies Holding Co. started trading on the Nasdaq on Friday, after completing a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company.
But crypto-related companies that have gone public have faced numerous challenges. Coinbase Global Inc., which received a notice from the SEC in March that declared the regulator’s intentions to bring an enforcement action against the crypto exchange, has seen its stock price fall by more than 70% since its direct listing. Core Scientific Inc., Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. and Riot Platforms Inc. — the top three publicly traded Bitcoin miners — had combined losses of more than $1 billion during the second quarter of last year. Some miners have even turned to stock sales in order to raise money.
Chia, based in South San Francisco, California, has positioned itself as the developer of a more environmentally friendly, less energy-intensive blockchain that relies on hard drives, including recycled ones, for data storage.
(Adds company statement in the third paragraph.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.