Avalon Bitcoin Miner Maker Canaan Is Plotting Another IPO Attempt

Canaan Creative, manufacturer of the Avalon bitcoin miner, is considering another attempt to go public, people familiar with the situation said.

Canaan did not respond to CoinDesk's request for comment by press time.

Canaan is considering a second stab at going public on the heels of a recent funding round, which one news report said raised.

Notably, the report of a multi-billion dollar valuation for Canaan came just after the publication of the Shanghai exchange's listing rules for startups seeking to raise money on the new board.

This would include Hangzhou-based Canaan, whose holding firm Canaan Inc. is incorporated in the Cayman Islands.

Before the recently completed round, Canaan might not have made the cut.

On April 24, 2018, Yang Jiang, the vice president of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, paid a visit to Canaan Creative's Hangzhou office.

"Whatever applications your chips will be used for, essentially you are still a chip company. I hope that you will go public on the domestic market." Canaan published a post with the comment from Jiang on its WeChat platform, but the article was later removed.

While the third source would not say which shareholders contributed to the new round or the exact amount raised, Canaan named its largest existing shareholders in the Hong Kong IPO prospectus.

Further, Jianping Kong, an executive director, and Qifeng Sun, a non-executive director, own 7.8 percent and 5 percent, respectively, in Canaan.