Crypto mining company out of Israel files for IPO in Canada

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An Israel-based cryptocurrency mining Company, Bitfarms, is going public. According to a report by the Calcalistech Israeli financial news outlet from earlier this week, Bitfarms has filed a preliminary prospectus with Canada’s Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) in hopes of being able to eventually launch an initial public offering (IPO) in the country.

Bitfarms was previously known as Blockchain Mining and was listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange five days ago. That move came after the company had seen a steady run-up of shares that spanned 13 months and which saw the company’s stock price climb around 6,500%.

According to the company’s CEO, Wes Fulford, Canada has “one of the most active public markets” in the blockchain industry. He added that the company ultimately decided on Canada after determining that it had one of the most “crypto-friendly” legislations in the world.

The mining company has a strong preference for IPOs over initial coin offerings (ICO). It announced this past January that it would introduce American Depository Receipts on NASDAQ and that it was also considering a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange by June. It subsequently backed off the plans slightly, instead beginning to offer ordinary shares on OTCQX, the top level of the ADR program, in July.

The firm was previously nothing more than a shelf company called Natural Resources Holdings. In October of last year, its owners cleared off the dust and launched the mining farm through a merger deal with Canada’s Backbone Hosting Solutions. That merger produced a stock boost and renewed interest in the company.

Known then as Blockchain Mining, the company’s luck continued to increase. At almost the same time, the Israeli Securities Authority began a crackdown on cryptocurrency firms in order to prevent them from being listed on stock markets. However, the firm survived the move and continued to be traded publicly with a lot less competition.

Bitfarm maintains four mining farms in Quebec. It concentrates its efforts on Bitcoin Core (BTC), Bitcoin BCH, Litecoin (LTC), Ether (ETH) and DASH. When it released its first public financial statement this past August, it reported net revenue of $22.3 million for the first six month of the year. Of that amount, $4.9 million was net profit. The company asserted that it had mined 1,923 BTC, 2,222 BCH, 3,324 LTC, 567 ETH and 220 DASH.