BIT Mining — a New York Stock Exchange-listed company that only months ago became a big investor in Chinese cryptocurrency mining — has decided to exit its Chinese lottery-related business and focus more on mining outside the country.
Fast facts
- BIT Mining, formerly known as 500.com, has operated online sports lottery services, but announced on Friday that it had decided to dispose of its lottery business, according to a statement.
- In the first quarter of the year, the company’s lottery business booked a net loss of 9.8 million yuan (US$1.5 million), and it said in its statement that the disposal decision came as it recorded “continued losses sustained by its Chinese lottery-related business operations.”
- BIT Mining pivoted its business to crypto mining in December 2020 when Bitcoin was still on a bull run, and in February, it announced that it was acquiring the entire mining pool business of BitDeer.
- Earlier this month, BIT Mining said it had raised US$50 million in a private placement from unnamed institutional and accredited investors to allow it to grow its overseas operations. It has also entered into an agreement to acquire crypto mining machine manufacturer Bee Computing.
- The company’s move comes as China continues tightening the vise on the crypto mining sector. In response, Chinese miners are migrating to countries where they are less unwelcome. Some early favorite destinations for displaced Chinese miners include Kazakhstan, North America and Northern Europe.