Bitmain will buy $50 million in shares from Opera Ltd., the company behind the popular web browser Opera. The subscription agreement was made public last Friday but flew under the radar as it was part of a filing with the SEC for an initial public offering (IPO) to raise $115 million. The exact shareholding Bitmain will obtain remains unclear.
In a private placement, Tospring Technology Ltd. is mentioned alongside two other major buyers. Tospring, also known as Bitmain, holds one of the most significant market shares in bitcoin (BTC) mining equipment, with estimated profit for 2017 is between $3 and $4 billion. The Chinese-based company is notorious for its secrecy, which sets it apart from its other competitors.
In addition to that, unlike most equipment manufacturers, Bitmain uses its own range of ASIC rigs to mine for BTC. In June, the company raised concerns within the crypto community as it headed towards 51% control of the bitcoin network.
Opera offers a range of web browsers for desktop and mobile with a combined market share of 1.5%. In March, the company claimed a user base of 350 million users. In January, Opera entered crypto news after it provided in-browser cryptojacking protection to its users.
Opera Limited, the parent company of Opera Software AS, filed a registration statement with the SEC on June 30, 2018. According to the filing, the company intends to use the proceeds from the IPO for distribution and marketing to increase brand awareness across all markets, as well as R&D to “continue to strengthen our AI-driven content discovery.” It will issue American Depositary Shares in an undisclosed ratio to its common stock. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and CICC have been brought on board to underwrite the offering.s
Opera shares will be traded NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “OPRA.”
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