Sydney-based Bitcoin-mining company Iris Energy has filed for a direct listing on the Nasdaq, and expects to make its debut on the New York-based stock exchange later this year.
Iris Energy plays right into the Michael Saylor- and Elon Musk-endorsed push of “green” Bitcoin mining. The Aussie company’s flagship project is a 30-megawatt data centre in Canadian province British Columbia, which runs Bitcoin mining equipment powered completely by renewable energy.
The company has “confidentially” lodged a draft registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and anticipates a fourth quarter 2021 listing on the Nasdaq, it said in a press release on Wednesday. The planned listing is “subject to SEC review and market and other conditions”, the company said.
Iris Energy has big plans, aiming to expand its operations within rural Canada to increase its overall capacity to 180 megawatts over the next 18 months, according to its website.
And, as reported by The Australian in May, that level of expansion would take them to no.3 in the global Bitcoin-mining market.
“In the current market, that amount of computing power would be generating $US560m of run rate gross profit,” co-founder Daniel Roberts told the publication.
For local expansion, Iris Energy is also “actively looking at Australia”, which has “the perfect problem of grid instability”, according to CEO Jason Conroy, who also spoke to The Australian.
For now, though, the business’s operations are British Columbia-focused, where the majority of electricity produced comes from hydroelectric power.
Iris Energy’s operations are powered by hydroelectricity previously used by a large lumber mill in British Columbia’s Canal Flats. According to another company press release, the “use of this power provides much-needed stability to the energy grid and ensures ongoing job opportunities and economic support.”
The company’s expansion plans have reportedly been laid out with consideration for, and consultation from, British Columbia’s First Nations people in an effort to foster that economic support.