Chinese online-lottery provider buys Bitcoin-miner manufacturer Bee Computing

The NYSE-listed online-lottery services provider in China, 500.com, acquired the Hong Kong-based ASIC-miner manufacturer Bee Computing for $100 million. The corresponding filing has been submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Founded in 2018, Bee Computing specializes in the design and manufacture of chips and devices for mining various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, ETH and LTC.

In 2019, the company, together with Asia’s leading chip designer MediaTek Inc. (MTK), developed an ASIC miner based on a 7-nm chip from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. The maximum hash rate of the Miner Pumbaa model is 52 TH/s.

Earlier, Bee Computing attracted $9.5 million in Series B funding from MTK and $3 million from Taiwan’s ASE Group.

CEO Yufei Jiang said that the company’s development slowed during the bear market, but with capital from BIT Mining they will gain a new impetus.

Under the purchase agreement, BIT Mining will pay Bee Computing $35 million by the end of the second quarter of 2021. The remaining $65 million will be paid after delivering a specified number of ASIC miners and releasing new, more productive models for cryptocurrency mining.

In February 2021, 500.com bought the BTC.com mining pool, which had previously been transferred to Bitmain co-founder Jihan Wu as part of a settlement.

In the same month, the company signed agreements to purchase 5,900 ASIC miners from Bee Computing for 55.2 million yuan (~$8.5 million).

In March 500.com changed its name to BIT Mining Limited. One of its shareholders is the Chinese semiconductor conglomerate Tsinghua Unigroup, but it is unclear how it participates in the company’s activities.

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