The Chinese mining company Bitmain is manufacturing equipment for crypto mining and running mining pools for bitcoin. The mining process creates new bitcoin and verifies transactions that are then saved on a blockchain.
Now, Bitmain has submitted an application to become listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Coindesk reports. For a while, the mining giant has hinted about a possible IPO by contacting people who previously shown interest in investing in Bitmain, Coindesk previously reported.
A big player in the crypto world
According to many in the crypto space, Bitmain has become an important big player in the crypto world. The company was founded in 2013 and is currently controlling the two largest bitcoin mining pools Antpool and Btc.com. If you look at Blockchain.info, the two make up for one-third of all bitcoin mining.
Bitmain also owns a stake in the third largest mining pool Viabtc. Through the three mining pools, the company controls almost a majority of all bitcoin mining in the world.
Bite the hand that feeds you
By filing for an IPO, Bitmain wants to raise new capital. With money available, the company will have the possibility to expand. However, the fact that the company can expand and get a bigger share of bitcoins network is something that has caused concern with some bitcoin investors, Bitcoinist writes.
If a single player controls a majority of the bitcoin network, it can attack bitcoin through a so-called 51 percent attack. However, Bitmain attacking the bitcoin network is very unlikely. It would be like Bitmain biting the hand that feeds the company, Bitcoinist writes.
