Ebang International Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: EBON, the “Company”), a
blockchain technology company, today issued an open letter from the
Company’s chairman to shareholders.
Dear Shareholders:
Now that we are past the first quarter of 2021,
I had planned to provide a shareholder update in connection with
the upcoming filing of our annual report. As a result of some of
the articles that surfaced last week and the input and questions
that I received from many shareholders, I have decided to
accelerate the timing of this letter in order to address some of
the questions and concerns that have been raised.
First and foremost, I want to reiterate the
vision and mission that led us to found Ebang and subsequently
enter into the cryptocurrency-related business, and drives me and
my loyal and hard-working colleagues each and every day.
Since we went public, we are committed to
serving the needs of all of our stakeholders and have been focused
on a primary goal -- to become a globally prominent blockchain
company driven by technological innovations. To that end, we have
worked tirelessly to position our company in the global crypto
market, maintained a healthy balance sheet with a strong cash
position in order to enable us to take advantage of opportunities
that frequently arise in this fast-paced and dynamic blockchain
industry, and have positioned ourselves to extend our global reach
through our self-developed proprietary cryptocurrency exchange
platform called Ebonex. Why? Because we are committed to serving
the needs of all of our stakeholders. Since our initial listing on
Nasdaq in June 2020, we have been relentless in our quest to create
value for our shareholders by achieving certain key milestones:
- In November 2020, we were granted
an exclusive license of the AsicBoost patent, a method that can
increase performance of Bitcoin mining by approximately 20%. The
increased performance is achieved through a high-level optimization
of the Bitcoin mining algorithm which allows for drastic reduction
in gate count on the mining chip;
- In February 2021, we completed the
design phase of a chip for simultaneous Litecoin and Dogecoin
mining;
- In March 2021, we completed the
design phase of the 6 nm ASIC chip; and
- In April 2021, we launched our
cryptocurrency exchange platform Ebonex (www.ebonex.io).
Looking ahead, the cryptocurrency market remains
a very large and attractive market that is growing globally. We are
focused on developing new technologies to improve efficiency of our
ASIC chips and mining machines and believe that Ebang is well
positioned to capture the market growth. For the remainder of 2021,
we will commit to increasing investments in high performance ASIC
chips and mining machines. I understand that the only way to really
judge our achievements is by our ability to hit operating and
financial performance milestones and have such milestones translate
into shareholder value. The milestones that we have set to achieve
by December 31, 2021 are:
- Rollout of 6 nm ASIC chips and
developing 5 nm ASIC chips;
- Expanding the global footprint of
our cryptocurrency exchange operation;
- Establishing or acquiring
cryptocurrency mining farms used primarily for Bitcoin, Litecoin
and Dogecoin mining with our self-developed and proprietary mining
machines and ASCI chips; and
- Forming a more concentrated
business strategy with the aim to phase out non-cryptocurrency
related business lines and strengthen our market position in the
global cryptocurrency mining and exchange businesses.
Originally, it was not my intention to respond
to the article that appeared on the Hindenburg website on April 6,
2021 (the “Hindenburg Report”). However, I understand the concerns
expressed by shareholders eager to get some validation of our
business plan and understanding of our position on these matters
and thus, to that end, please see the following responses:
1. We did not direct our proceeds from IPO or
any other company funds through “a series of opaque deals with
insiders and questionable counterparties.”
After we completed our initial public offering
in June 2020 (the “IPO”), we purchased redeemable bonds with funds
from offering proceeds that were not to be immediately used as part
of our treasury management practice designed to invest our cash
reserves in order to preserve the principal and earn a return on
the principal to preserve the time value of such cash reserves.
These bonds were issued in arm’s length transactions facilitated by
AMTD, a licensed financial institution in Hong Kong. These bonds
can be redeemed by us at any time prior to the maturity. As of the
date hereof, we have redeemed all such bonds, and collected the
principal and accrued interests in full. We intend to use the
redeemed funds to develop our business operations. Our annual
report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2020 will
fairly present the transactions undertaken during the course of the
2020 fiscal year.
Prior to our IPO, in order to replenish our
working capital, we borrowed from Hong Kong Dewang Limited, a
related party controlled by a relative of Mr. Dong Hu, in the
aggregated amount of US$24.1 million in principal at an interest
rate of 4.75% per annum. Such related party loans were properly
disclosed in our IPO prospectus on pages 141, F-126 and F-127.
After our IPO, to better manage our balance sheet and save
financing costs, the management decided to make early repayments of
such loans: (i) from July to October 2020 and prior to the launch
of our first secondary offering, we made the repayment using a
portion of the IPO proceeds in the amount of US$21 million in
principal; and (ii) from November to December 2020, we repaid the
balance of such loans in full in the amount of US$3.1 million in
principal and US$1.0 million in accrued interests. As of the date
hereof, we had cash and cash equivalents of approximately US$274
million on our balance sheet.
2. We are not related to Yindou or any of
Yindou’s schemes alleged in the Hindenburg Report.
We cannot, and are not in the position to,
comment on Hindenburg’s allegations against Yindou. Nonetheless, we
confirm that we have never engaged in any business relationship
with Yindou, and our listing application with the Hong Kong Stock
Exchange (the “HKSE”) had nothing to do with Yindou. It is true
that our listing application with HKSE expired without any action
by HKSE. To our knowledge, in addition to Ebang, there are other
companies in the bitcoin mining machine industry whose listing
applications with HKSE also expired, and one of them completed its
US listing before Ebang.
3. We remain committed to the designing and
manufacturing of Bitcoin mining machines.
Our results of operations, especially the sales
of mining machines, have been and are expected to continue to be
subject to significant impact from the fluctuations of Bitcoin
price and market conditions. However, we remain committed to the
designing and manufacturing of Bitcoin mining machines as well as
mining machines for other cryptocurrencies because our management
team believes that there is a strong demand for high-performance
mining machines. We have recently completed the design of the 6 nm
ASIC chip and expect to officially launch several new models of
high-performance Bitcoin mining machines this summer. With
sufficient working capital, we believe that we are financially
well-positioned for the mass production of our mining machines.
4. We developed and own software and
technologies of our cryptocurrency exchange.
We did not purchase a white label online
exchange solution package from Bluehelix. Instead, our in-house
research and development team was in charge of the development of
the core software of the cryptocurrency exchange, Ebonex.
Therefore, we are very proud of our ownership in the technologies
embedded in the Ebonex platform. As of the date hereof, we are
preparing for the software copyright application in connection with
our Ebonex platform in China. To accelerate the development
progress, we purchased certain software source codes from
Bluehelix, and Ebonex has also used AWS cloud services as well as
licensed software from third party software providers such as
Tencent. We understand this is a common practice in the
industry.
5. We did not artificially inflate the trading
volume of Ebonex.
We have noticed the extraordinary trading volume
displayed on Ebonex, which is not representative of its actual
trading volume as a newly launched cryptocurrency exchange. After
an investigation, we confirmed that such displayed trading volume
was not correct due to a software glitch in the backend of the
Ebonex platform. Our developers and engineers are working
diligently to provide a correct display of trading volume on
Ebonex.
To our knowledge, both CoinMarketCap and FTX are
independent agencies, and it typically takes several months to
collect and analyze trading data before they can list a new
cryptocurrency exchange on their websites. As Ebonex was only
launched on April 5, 2021, its trading metrics have not been quoted
on crypto exchange trackers on CoinMarketCap or FTX.
Dear shareholders, we always appreciate your
support and our team will continue to work hard to achieve a
successful 2021 for you.
Yours, sincerely,
Dong HuCEO and Chairman
About Ebang International Holdings
Inc.
Ebang International Holdings Inc. is a
blockchain technology company with strong application-specific
integrated circuit (ASIC) chip design capability. With years of
industry experience and expertise in ASIC chip design, it has
become a leading bitcoin mining machine producer in the global
market with steady access to wafer foundry capacity. With its
licensed or registered entities in various jurisdictions, the
Company seeks to launch a professional, convenient and innovative
digital asset financial service platform to expand into the
upstream and the downstream of blockchain and cryptocurrency
industry value chain. For more information, please
visit https://ir.ebang.com.cn/.
Forward-Looking Statements
This letter contains forward-looking statements
within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. T Certain statements contained
herein and in our investor conference call related to these results
are “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of the
applicable securities laws and regulations. Generally, these
statements can be identified by the use of words such as “aim,”
“anticipate,” “believe,” “commit,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,”
“expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “outlook,” “plan,”
“potential,” “predict,” “project,” “remain,” “should,” “will,”
“would,” and similar expressions intended to identify
forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking
statements contain these identifying words. Such statements are not
historical facts, and are based upon the Company’s current beliefs,
plans and expectations, and the current market and operating
conditions. Forward-looking statements involve inherent known or
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, all of which are
difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company’s
control, which may cause the Company’s actual results, performance
and achievements to differ materially from those contained in any
forward-looking statement. Further information regarding these and
other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Company's
filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These
forward-looking statements are made only as of the date indicated,
and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise the
information contained in any forward-looking statements as a result
of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required
under applicable law.
Investor Relations Contact
For investor and media inquiries, please contact:Ebang
International Holdings
Inc.Email: ir@ebang.com.cn
Ascent Investor Relations LLCMs. Tina XiaoTel: (917)
609-0333Email: tina.xiao@ascent-ir.com
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