UPDATED 03:40 EDT / SEPTEMBER 08 2015

NEWS

Australian Bitcoin mining firm Bitcoin Group to go public on the ASX in November

Australian Bitcoin mining company Bitcoin Group Ltd. is going public, with stock in the company due to be listed of the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in November.

The company is seeking to raise AU$20 million ($14 million) in the initial public offering of 100 million new shares at AU$0.20 (14 cents) a share with a market cap of AU$32.9 million ($23 million) based on 164,870,930 shares at the completion of the IPO.

Founded in 2014, Bitcoin Group claims to have a vision of making “trust more accessible via Bitcoin’s underlying Blockchain technology,” which they then explain is through “securing the Blockchain through verifying transactions…known as ‘Mining’.”

Unlike many in the Bitcoin mining space, the company claims to be cash flow positive and profitable.

The path to an IPO hasn’t been a simple one for the Bitcoin Group, with the company first having floated the idea for an IPO last year before hitting multiple regulatory hurdles with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), including stop orders on its first two initial attempts to go public; ASIC lifted the most recent stop order on the company Friday.

Chief Executive Officer Sam Lee told Fairfax Media that the revisions to the new prospectus were so that the regulator could make sure investors would be fully informed.

“As the world’s first IPO in our industry, we are no doubt setting a precedent…ASIC’s role to protect Australian investors means they need to understand our unique business model. We appreciate the patience ASIC have taken to understand what we do, and thank their co-operation in helping ensure our prospectus accurately reflects the current and future opportunity of Bitcoin Group.”

Prospectus

According to Bitcoin Group’s prospectus the company has a number of goals, including investing and focusing on current operations by maintaining and expanding on current Hash Power levels, with the acquisition of additional mining equipment to be serviced under fully hosted solutions as well as seeking additional Hash Power providers.

Longer term, the company wants to expand into middleware and application layer opportunities leveraging the Blockchain by developing mobile apps such as Bitcoin wallets; the acquisition of smaller Bitcoin miners, and potentially investing and acquiring Digital Currency industry startups that focus on building fintech applications.

Ninety percent of the funds raised will be spent on acquiring new computing power to mine bitcoins, with the remainder of funds to go to a bonus pool if the IPO is fully subscribed, and the repayment of loans.

Revenue from Bitcoins mined was AU$1.73 million ($1.21 million) as of the financial year to June 2015 and total profit was AU$10,000 ($7 million).

Bitcoin Group has much higher numbers pitched for the years ahead, with the prospectus predicting revenue of between $21.3 million ($14.9 million) to $63.7 million ($44.5 million) for the 2015-2016 period.

The offer, managed by AFS Capital Securities Ltd. closes October 30 for a November 11 listing under the stock ticker BCG on the ASX.

Image credit: Bitcoin Group

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