Block reward miner Iris Energy files to go public in US

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Iris Energy Pty, an Australian digital currency mining company, has filed preliminary documents recently for an initial public offering in another sign of the booming interest in the blockchain sector.

The company has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form F-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), adding that it expects the direct listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange to happen in the last quarter of calendar 2021. The IPO prospectus came just weeks after Iris Energy announced the appointment of new senior executives to bolster its leadership team.

Iris Energy confidentially submits registration statement
for proposed NASDAQ direct listing. pic.twitter.com/fInNjLbisv

— IREN (@IREN_Ltd) August 17, 2021

Iris Energy, founded in 2018, operates its core mining operations out of British Columbia, Canada, using renewable hydroelectric energy and has stated plans to scale it to 30MW this year. The company raised $50 million in May to finance its mining equipment buying spree. It hopes to expand the total capacity to 180MW (4.5EH/s) across multiple global sites in 2022.

The announcement comes after a recent Bloomberg report that Iris Energy had considered a SPAC deal to go public. Before shifting away from that plan, the company was rumored to be seeking a raise of as much as $200 million. Iris Energy has been raising funds throughout the year. To date, the company has successfully completed capital raisings of garnering over $130 million in total.

Iris Energy is highly dependent on price speculation and hoarding in the BTC token. The company’s earnings derive from and follow the roller-coaster trajectory of the volatile digital currency. The Sydney-based company was set up by former Macquarie bankers brothers Will and Daniel Roberts.

The planned listing is subject to regulatory review as well as market and other conditions. No further details were announced as to who is leading the offering or the ticker symbol.

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