Bitcoin mining equipment maker Canaan Creative went public on the Nasdaq Exchange Wednesday, but its stock fell flat on debut.

Coming into the initial public offering, first announced in October, Canaan offered 10 million American depository shares at $9 per share for a total of $90 million. The company had previously been reported to be seeking as much as $400 million in the IPO on a valuation of $2 billion to $3 billion.

The shares surged as high as $11.23 by 10:50 a.m. but then fell back below their debut price, trading as low as $8.36 before closing regular at $8.99, down 1 cent on the float price. The shares declined slightly lower in after-hours trading, to $8.97.

Like rival Bitmain Technologies Inc., Canaan’s financials showed that it had struggled with the collapse of bitcoin’s price and hence demand for mining equipment last year, reporting a $45.8 million loss on net revenue of $42.1 million in the first half of this year compared with a $25 million profit and net revenue of $275 million in the first half of 2018. The company was predicting better days ahead, however, forecasting net income for the entire year $8.3 million on net revenue of $394 million.

Bitcoin, while still well up on price from the beginning of the year, has slumped since peaking at 12,5765.90 July 10. Despite a few minor movements away from a downward path, such as a mini-boost in Oct. 27 on positive news out of China, the price of bitcoin continues to decline and analysts now suggest that bitcoin may be in a long-term bear market.

Coindesk suggested that the shift may be the result of a lack of positive developments in the crypto and blockchain market, leading to fading sentiment and further declines in bitcoin’s price. The problem for Canaan is that demand for its bitcoin mining rigs is related to the price of bitcoin.

Should the price continue to fall, so will demand. If it crosses below a certain a point, there’s a risk of a repeat of late last year where bitcoin mining rigs were being sold as scrap as mining companies went out of business.

Bitcoin was trading at $7,654.53 as of 9:15 p.m. EST, down 5.6% over the last 24 hours.

Photo: Youwei-han/Wikimedia Commons