The hits just keep on coming. After numerous questions have surfaced prior to the planned initial public offering (IPO) this month by cryptocurrency mining company Bitmain, the company once again finds itself on the wrong end of the sword. An investment firm out of Singapore, Temasek, has issued a public statement denying any involvement with the company, contrary to statements made by Bitmain.
Temasek was reportedly one of the main investors in the pre-IPO funding round that pushed the company’s valuation up to $15 billion. It allegedly had given Bitmain as much as $560 million; however, in the company statement, the company asserted, “We’ve seen commentary about an IPO involving a cryptocurrency company, Bitmain. Temasek is not an investor in Bitmain, and has never had discussions with, or an investment in Bitmain. News reports about our involvement in their IPO are false.”
Japan’s Softbank has already publicly refuted Bitmain’s claims that it participated in any funding activity related to the crypto mining company. The company’s Kenichi Yuasa has said that “neither the SoftBank Group Corp. nor the SoftBank Vision Fund were in any way involved in the deal.”
Tencent, the Chinese company that owns the WeChat social media platform, was also said to be involved in the pre-IPO funding, but hasn’t confirmed its participation. However, media outlets in China have reported that Tencent was not involved.
There’s more, as well. DST Global is a potential investor in Bitmain, according to a translation of the mining company’s investor deck. The language, when translated into English from the deck’s original Chinese, suggests that a DST investment was “recently completed,” but DST managing partner John Lindfors asserted in late August, “[I] can confirm that DST has never invested in Bitmain.”
All of these revelations beg a simple question—what is Bitmain really up to? Its IPO, which is expected to take place on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, is still currently on the books. However, in light of the consistent revelations of possible creative public marketing, it would be extremely beneficial to the entire crypto community if regulators looked deeper into the company before it’s able to move forward.
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