BIT Mining Ltd. (NYSE: BTCM)

BIT Mining Ltd. (NYSE: BTCM) is a leading technology-driven cryptocurrency mining company with a long-term strategy to create value across the cryptocurrency industry. Its business covers cryptocurrency mining, mining pool, and data center operation. The company owns the world’s top blockchain browser, BTC.com, and the comprehensive mining pool business operated under BTC.com, providing multi-currency mining services including BTC, ETH and LTC.

The company has also entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a 7-nanometer cryptocurrency mining machine manufacturer, Bee Computing, to complete the company’s vertical integration with its supply chain, increase its self-sufficiency and strengthen its competitive position.

BIT Mining has adopted a development strategy to focus on the migration and expansion of cryptocurrency mining operations globally. As part of the company’s pivot away from mainland China and focus on global deployment, on October 14, 2021, the company announced that its mining pool subsidiary, BTC.com, would completely exit the China market, cease registering new users in China and begin to retire accounts of existing users in China. Due to BTC.com’s discontinuation of service to users in China, BIT Mining expects to see a decrease of 10 percent to 20 percent in revenues for the three months ending December 31, 2021.

The company is working on solutions with its existing users in China, such as migrating such users’ mining machines to overseas markets, so that they may have access to BIT Mining’s services in a compliant manner. In addition, BIT Mining expects that its continued growth in international markets will help offset its loss of business in China. For the three months ended September 30, 2021, the mining pool business generated revenue of approximately $397.8 million.

The company is headquartered in Hong Kong.

Operations

BIT Mining continues to execute its strategy to create value within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Over the last six months of 2021, the company completed the migration of its mining machines out of China and made significant progress in the construction of its U.S.-located data centers, which provide critical operational efficiencies for the company’s business. Additionally, BIT Mining saw the potential value that Ethereum has as the fundamental currency for applications such as nonfungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized finance (DeFi), and the metaverse. The company foresaw the growth of Ethereum mining and, as a result, has deployed massive Ethereum computing power in advance, which has generated positive returns.

Going forward, BIT Mining plans to continue to strengthen its mining technology. The company has commenced Ethereum mining operations with a theoretical maximum total hash rate capacity of 3,451 GH/s deployed as of October 2021. For the three months ended September 30, 2021, the company produced 779 Ethereum from its cryptocurrency mining operations and recognized revenue of approximately $2.5 million.

As of November 2021, BIT Mining produced 52 Ethereum per day and has produced 2,300 Ethereum in aggregate. Based on the current total network hash rate of Ethereum, the company expects to produce approximately 80 Ethereum per day theoretically, starting in December 2021. Based on an Ethereum price of $4,279 and a bitcoin price of $60,366, BIT Mining expects to produce approximately 2,400 Ethereum monthly, which is equivalent to approximately 170 bitcoin and worth approximately $10.3 million in aggregate.

Market Overview

According to a market analysis report from Grand View Research, the global blockchain technology market size was valued at $3.67 billion in 2020. Grand View forecasts the market could expand at a CAGR of 82.4% from 2021 to 2028. That CAGR projects a market worth a whopping $450 billion by 2028.

Grand View points out that blockchain has emerged as a highly promising technology. Blockchain provides an open, immutable, distributed public ledger that can be accessed by several parties involved in a transaction, and acts as a universal depository of all transactions between the involved parties.

The increasing worldwide acceptance of cryptocurrencies is one of the major drivers of market growth, Grand View reports. Commercial and central banks across the world are now using blockchain technology for payment processing and issuance of their own digital currencies. The technology enables cross-border payments that are less expensive and faster, as compared to traditional systems.

Management Team

Xianfeng Yang is the CEO of BIT Mining. He has extensive experience in the cryptographic digital virtual currency industry. He has been in charge of the construction and operation of the big data center of Loto Interactive Limited. He also serves as the chairman of Changhe Hydropower Absorption Blockchain Big Data Industrial Park in Sichuan, China. He served as the company’s senior vice president from 2018 to 2020. Mr. Yang received a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Qiang Yuan is the CFO at BIT Mining. He has served in various positions within the company since 2001. He was a vice president in charge of financial matters for the company from June 2014 to July 2016, when he was promoted to senior vice president. Mr. Yuan received a bachelor’s degree in financial management from Zhongnan University of Finance and Economics in 1995.

Bo Yu is the COO at BIT Mining. He served as a member of the BIT Mining board of directors between January 2017 and December 28, 2021, when he was promoted to chairman of the board. He previously served as the company’s general counsel. He received a law degree from the University of Iowa and a master’s degree in law from the University of Wuhan. He is a member of the Bar of the State of Michigan.