Recently, a financial technology company named Antalpha submitted a prospectus to Nasdaq, planning to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) with the code “ANTA”. Antalpha is a financial solutions provider in the Bit mining field. However, the close connection revealed in its prospectus with mining giant Bitland, and the intricate relationship with Bitland’s co-founder, Janketuan, make this IPO full of profound implications. Beyond the appearance of a financial technology company going public, is this a crucial step in the expansion of Bitland’s financial territory?

The ‘financial lifeline’ behind Bit mining

Antalpha was founded in 2022, and there is little introduction on its official website, focusing on its strategic cooperation with Bitland. According to its prospectus and public information, Antalpha’s core business is to provide financing, technology, and risk management solutions for digital asset institutions, especially Bitcoin miners. Its goal is to help miners expand their operations and enable them to better manage the impact of Bitcoin price volatility by providing financing solutions, such as supporting miners’ ‘HODLing’ strategy.

Antalpha’s core products and services are mainly implemented through its technical platform Antalpha Prime. The platform allows customers to initiate and manage their digital asset loans, and monitor collateral positions almost in real time. Its main sources of income include two aspects.

One is supply chain financing, which is reflected in the income as ‘technical financing fees’ and is the main revenue pillar of Antalpha. Specifically including: miner loans, providing financing for purchasing Bitmain’s listed miners, with the purchased miners as collateral. Hashrate loans: providing financing for mining-related operating costs (such as hosting fees), with mined bitcoins as collateral. According to the data disclosed by Antalpha, as of December 31, 2024, a total of 28 billion US dollars in loans have been facilitated, with approximately 97% of supply chain loan customers using BTC as collateral.

In addition to providing direct financing and loans, another major business of Antalpha is the Bitcoin loan matching service: this part of the income is reflected as “technology platform fees.” Antalpha provides Bitcoin collateral loan services for its non-U.S. clients through the Antalpha Prime platform. It is worth noting that historically, the funds for these loans were mainly provided by its affiliate, Northstar. In this model, Antalpha plays the role of a technology and service provider, earning platform fees, and does not bear the credit risk of these loans.

Financial data shows that Antalpha’s total revenue reached $47.45 million in the most recent fiscal year ending on December 31, 2024, an increase of 321% year-on-year. Among them, technology financing fees were $38.7 million, an increase of 274% year-on-year; technology platform fees were $8.8 million, a staggering increase of 859%. The company also successfully turned losses into profits, achieving a net profit of $4.4 million, compared to a net loss of $6.6 million in the previous fiscal year.

In terms of loan size, as of December 31, 2024, Antalpha’s total loan book size reached $1.6 billion. Among them, the supply chain loan portfolio (mining machine loans and computing power loans) issued by Antalpha increased from $344 million at the end of 2023 to $428.9 million, a year-on-year increase of 25%. The Bitcoin loan volume served by Northstar surged from $220.8 million at the end of 2023 to $1.1987 billion, a staggering year-on-year increase of 443%. In terms of regional distribution, its loan business is highly concentrated in Asia, with 77.4% of loans (approximately $1.26 billion) flowing to Asian clients by the end of 2024.

Bitmain’s “Financial Special Forces”

Antalpha does not shy away from its close relationship with Bitmain in its prospectus, calling itself the ‘primary lending partner of Bitmain.’ The two even signed a memorandum of understanding, agreeing that Bitmain will continue to use Antalpha as its financing partner, mutually refer clients, and as long as Antalpha provides competitive terms, Bitmain grants Antalpha the first right of refusal to serve its financing clients.

This preferential purchase right means that Antalpha can have prior access to Bitmain’s large customer base for mining machine purchases, significantly reducing customer acquisition costs and gaining a continuous business flow. The prospectus also mentions that Antalpha collaborates closely with Bitmain at various levels from sales to operations to senior management, being an indispensable part of Bitmain’s sales and business initiation process.

However, Antalpha’s connection with Bitmain is not only limited to business cooperation. A deeper relationship lies with the co-founder of Bitmain, Jihan Wu.

The prospectus introduces the complex relationship between Antalpha and Northstar. Historically, Northstar provided almost all of the funds for loans to Antalpha, and through the AntalphaPrime platform, it provided Bitcoin margin loans to Antalpha’s non-U.S. customers. The key point is that Antalpha and Northstar were originally sister companies, both ultimately controlled by a parent company controlled by Janke Group.

After the “2024 restructuring”, Antalpha was spun off and transferred to the current listed entity Antalpha Platform Holdings. Subsequently, the original parent company disposed of all its interests in Northstar. Currently, Northstar is owned by an irrevocable trust, with Janke Group as the settlor and beneficiary of the trust, and managed by a professional trust company. The prospectus emphasizes that Janke Group does not participate in the operation of Northstar.

Despite the reorganization, Northstar remains an important source of funding for Antalpha’s Bitcoin lending service. As the ultimate beneficiary of the Northstar trust, the economic interests of the Jenk Group are indirectly but significantly linked to the performance of Northstar’s business, and even the scale of Antalpha’s business.

Therefore, although in legal terms, Antalpha’s platform holding company may have been somewhat separated from Jank Group’s direct control, from a business logic, fund flow, and strategic synergy perspective, Antalpha can still be seen as an important part of Bitmain’s financial map. It is more like a carefully designed and stripped “financial special forces”, focusing on providing financial ammunition for Bitmain’s mining empire.

The strategic chess piece of Bitmain in the post-halving era

The profound strategic significance of Antalpha’s listing is closely related to the industry environment and its own strategic adjustments that Bitmain will face after the Bitcoin halving in 2024.

In April 2024, the Bitcoin halving as scheduled has compressed miners’ block rewards, posing a direct challenge to the profitability of the entire mining industry. For Bitmain, this means that the market demand for its products will be more focused on high efficiency and low power consumption. Over the past year, in order to consolidate its leading position in the field of mining hardware, Bitmain has accelerated the launch of a new generation of efficient miners represented by the Antminer S21 series. It has also signed purchase agreements for the S21 series miners with partners such as BitFuFu and Hut8. By continuing to deepen cooperation with large-scale mining farms, Bitmain strives to ensure large orders for its latest miners.

On the one hand, the mining industry has become increasingly busy after the halving, as miners must improve the performance of their mining machines to maintain income, which has significantly increased operating costs. This poses potential business growth risks for Bitmain. On the other hand, with the soaring price of Bitcoin, more and more external companies, even publicly listed ones, are joining the mining industry, bringing new opportunities for Bitmain. However, these opportunities also depend on the price changes of Bitcoin. Therefore, Antalpha provides loan support for Bitmain’s customers to purchase new-generation mining machines like S21. This not only directly promotes Bitmain’s sales performance but also indirectly helps miners smoothly navigate the capital dilemma caused by equipment iteration.

Antalpha’s IPO has also attracted some well-known investors, among them, Tether expressed interest in subscribing to $25 million worth of Antalpha common stock at the issue price in this IPO. Calculated at $12 per share, the investment will account for approximately 54.1% of the total basic shares issued this time, equivalent to about 2.08 million shares. According to the prospectus, Antalpha’s loan business is usually settled in USDT, and this investment is another move by Tether in its multi-line layout. However, the prospectus also states that this intention is “not a binding purchase agreement or commitment”.

In addition, Antalpha mentioned in the prospectus the plan to explore financing solutions for the GPUs needed in the AI field. For Bitmain, Antalpha’s expansion capabilities also serve as a leveraged configuration to resist the uncertainty and risks in the crypto industry. If Antalpha can succeed in new areas such as AI GPU financing, its own growth will indirectly enhance the resilience of Bitmain’s entire ecosystem.

Therefore, Antalpha’s IPO is not simply a fintech company going public, but more like Bit Continental in the post-halving era, a crucial step to consolidate its mining empire, optimize its financial tools, and reserve strength for its long-term strategic development.

Statement:

1. This article is reproduced from [PANews], the copyright belongs to the original author [Frank ], if you have any objections to the reprint, please contact Gate Learn Team, the team will process it as soon as possible according to the relevant procedures.
2. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not constitute any investment advice.
3. Article other language versions translated by Gate Learn team, unspecifiedGate.ioCopying, disseminating, or plagiarizing translated articles is not allowed.