Bitmain Is Going Public, But What Type of Investment Is It Anyway?

Last week, CoinDesk was first to give its readers a glimpse at the application documents of the much-anticipated initial public offering of Bitmain, a mining chip manufacturer and one of the cryptocurrency sector's largest companies in terms of revenue.

Bitmain's cryptocurrency holdings account for 28 percent of its total assets.

What's more, the cryptocurrencies are valued at cost.

It's also worth noting that, in spite of the weak markets so far this year, Bitmain earned over $180 million of profit on cryptocurrency sales in the first half.

While the cryptocurrency markets largely determine the health of its business, Bitmain is not a pure cryptocurrency play.

Not to mention security - in 2017, Bitmain suffered the theft of almost $27 million-worth of cryptocurrencies.

Just as we struggle to fit cryptocurrencies into the pre-established categories of financial instruments, it is hard to label Bitmain as well.

There's its exposure - direct and indirect - to the cryptocurrency markets.

As the application recognizes: "Our business and financial condition correlate closely with the market price of cryptocurrencies."

Whatever happens to the cryptocurrency markets, surely there is value in that.