Jihan Wu’s cloud-mining firm may not go public till December 2023.
The deadline for completing a merger that would see crypto-mining firm Bitdeer go public on the Nasdaq might be extended by up to one year, a Wednesday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shows.
Last year, Bitdeer announced that it was merging with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Blue Safari Group Acquisition Corp. But according to Wednesday’s filing, the SPAC will hold a shareholder meeting to vote on extending the deadline to close the deal to as late as Dec. 14, 2023.
Bitcoin (BTC) miners have been struggling with liquidity, and raising capital has proved difficult amid the market downturn. Their margins have dwindled as the price of bitcoin is low while energy prices are high.
The deadline has already been extended twice by three months each, and the SPAC is asking shareholders for the discretion to continue pushing it back, with another four three-month extensions, the filing says.
Bitdeer offers cloud-mining services, meaning customers can rent computing power from machines that Bitdeer owns and operates. It is founded and led by Jihan Wu, a co-founder of mining rig manufacturer Bitmain who is renowned within the industry.