Chinese Crypto Heavyweights Canaan, OneConnect Aim for USD 100m IPOs

Two Chinese blockchain, crypto heavyweights are targeting the American market – with both filing applications to launch USD 100 million initial public offerings (IPOs) with regulators.

Per a filing lodged with the United States Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), crypto mining equipment provider Canaan, based in Hangzhou, wants to raise around USD 100 million, and has applied to offer 10 million American Depository Shares at prices of between USD 9 and USD 11. Canaan says it has also applied to list shares on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "CAN."

If successful, Canaan stands to become the first mining company to go public on a major stock market, and could amass a market value of some USD 1.6 billion. It originally filed for a USD 400 million offering in October, and had planned to raise as much as USD 1.5 billion in 2018.

The company, which was founded in 2013, has listed a number of big-name underwriters on its SEC application, including Galaxy Digital and Citigroup, as well as Chinese investors, such as Huatai Securities and China Renaissance.

Canaan posted USD 177 million in sales for the year September 2018-September 2019.

Also filing for a USD 100 million IPO with the SEC is OneConnect Financial Technology, a part of the Shenzhen-based Ping An business group.

OneConnect, which has also received financial backing from the likes of Japan’s SoftBank, is focusing on fintech and blockchain-powered finance, and says it operates 50 blockchain finance labs. The company claims to have registered at least 274 blockchain patents in China.

Reuters reported that the company had hoped to launch a USD 1 billion IPO in Hong Kong earlier this year, but has since shelved these plans in favor of a smaller American offering.

OneConnect was founded in 2015, and has listed Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan as underwriters, as well as major bank HSBC and another of Ping An’s business arms.