Green energy bitcoin mining firm Iris Energy has filed with the SEC for a direct listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange for this year.
The Sydney-based company hopes for the debut to take place in the fourth quarter of 2021. However, this timing is only provisional, as the planned listing is subject to regulatory review as well as market conditions. If successful, it would make Iris the second cryptocurrency-related company to be listed on an American public exchange, after Coinbase.
Bitcoin mining boom
Iris Energy uses renewable energy to produce its bitcoins Last month, the company raised $200 million in a private funding round to prepare for this potential U.S. listing. Additionally, the firm was exploring options for special purpose acquisition companies in May. This confirmed an earlier Bloomberg report, saying the company had been approached by several blank-check companies. The report featured a potential U.S. listing that could have raised $300 million to $500 million.
Apart from public offering goals, Iris also has some operational goals it is on track to achieve. For instance, Iris signed new contracts locking allowing it to reach a mining capacity of 15.2 exahashes per second. While this capacity could be reached within a few years, the firm is currently on track to reach 4.5 exahashes by the end of 2022. This is a considerable jump up from its current capacity of 0.7 exahashes. According to its website, the company’s flagship project is a 50-megawatt data center in British Columbia, Canada.
Australia’s crypto slump
Perhaps Iris is so inclined towards these North American efforts because of the relative stagnating development of the crypto space in its native country. Despite still being well-placed in the crypto space, Blockchain Australia told a Senate committee that the country is falling behind its peers globally.
Blockchain Australia said that other countries are moving quickly, and subsequently establishing ‘real success’ in the blockchain space. For Australia, it says, the fundamental challenge has been a lack of guidance. To this end, the country’s leading blockchain association extended its call for regulation around the nascent technology.
The Australian Senate’s Select Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre started exploring how crypto assets could be regulated in the country earlier this year.
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