Green-energy bitcoin miner Iris Energy to raise $200 million ahead of Nasdaq listing

Australian mining company Iris Energy, ahead of a direct listing on Nasdaq, plans to raise $200 million from investors. Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.

According to a person familiar with the matter, the Sydney-based company is working with a consultant on the financing round and has already met with several potential investors. The raised funds will go toward listing costs, which are planned for 2021.

In May, it was reported that Iris Energy was considering a SPAC deal. In a reverse merger, the entity was said to be able to raise $300-500 million.

Then co-founder and CEO of the company Daniel Roberts confirmed Iris Energy’s plans to go public. He also noted that the structure is in talks with potential investors to arrange a fundraising round just before listing.

The Bloomberg source noted that the company is currently focused on a direct listing, because a SPAC deal would result in greater dilution of existing investors. According to him, management has not yet made a final decision and may abandon the planned path.

Iris Energy focuses on Bitcoin mining powered by green energy. The company operates a 50 MW data centre in Canada, powered by renewable energy sources, including a hydroelectric plant.

At the end of May, a ‘respected North American institutional investor’ opened Iris Energy a $50 million credit line to purchase mining equipment as part of a strategy to expand operations in Canada. By 2022 the company plans to increase the aggregate hashrate of its sites to 4.5 EH/s.

“Iris Energy has secured additional data centre development sites and new computing hardware which, with further funding, will expand capacity to 180MW (4.5EH/s) across multiple sites in 2022, making Iris Energy one of the largest #Bitcoin miners in the world.”

— Iris Energy (@irisenergyco) May 31, 2021

According to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, in April 2021 the US and Canada accounted for 16.85% and 3% of the total Bitcoin hashrate, respectively.

Chinese mining pools accounted for almost 50% of the network’s hashrate. For comparison: in April 2020 they accounted for about 65% of the total hashrate.

As of now this figure may have declined further. In June, Foundry’s president of business development Kevin Zhang suggested that by the end of the month about 90% of local operators would shut down their equipment due to the repressive policies of the Chinese authorities.

Earlier in May, Roberts said that Bitcoin would weather the consequences the intense scrutiny of the environmental aspects of its mining.

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