A critic of Bitmain, BTCKING555, expects to see a class action lawsuit over the cryptocurrency mining giant’s failed Hong Kong IPO.

It was just a few days ago that BitcoinerX reported about Bitmain letting their application for a Hong Kong IPO expire. The company said they plan on filing the application at some later time, but current market conditions have forced them to make the company leaner and more responsive. Now it appears that more woes are coming the manufacturer’s way as a critic says a class action lawsuit from investors is brewing.

Failure to Launch

Bitmain had filed an application for an IPO in Hong Kong, hoping to raise $3 billion. However, the bear market that has loomed over the cryptocurrency market for all of 2018 hampered their efforts. In a blog post, the crypto mining manufacturer said:

Bitmain’s listing application to HKex in September 2018 has reached its 6-month expiration date. We do recognize that despite the huge potential of the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, it remains a relatively young industry which is proving its value. We hope regulatory authorities, media, and the general public can be more inclusive to this young industry. We will restart the listing application work at an appropriate time in the future.

1/ there are now tons of pissed of Asian investors that were duped by Jihan to invest during summer at $12 – $14 bn with a promise of IPO at minimum $18 bn. Now many understand this is mirage and Jihan deceived them on numbers and outlook. His reputation is shit! — BTCKING555 (@btcking555) March 26, 2019

The reaction by one individual to this event has been utterly fascinating. BTCKING555 is a noted Bitmain critic, and he gave the company both barrels recently on Twitter. In a series of tweets, he said that a class action lawsuit is brewing from investors over the failed IPO. In a tweet, he said:

There are now tons of pissed of Asian investors that were duped by Jihan to invest during summer at $12 – $14 bn with a promise of IPO at minimum $18 bn. Now many understand this is mirage and Jihan deceived them on numbers and outlook.

Ire Raining Down on Bitmain

BTCKING555 added in two subsequent tweets:

2/ Noone will go nowhere near Bitmain for funding and expect litigation for investors try to recover their moneys. If not for the summer $700 mln fund-raise, Bitmain would be bankrupt now. Jihan and CFO lied on numbers and investors (Softbank, Tencent) to lock in capital 3/ already in august I warned many investors and prevented them from investing. Those that did not listen, good luck recovering your moneys. I hear there is class action in works in Hong Kong.

One of the SPV investors that were FOMOed to invest at $14 bln summer round into Bitmain just asked again for 2018 year numbers.

CFO’s office basically told him to [email protected]&K off .. Thats a great show of corporate governance Bitmain! Well done!!

But truth will come out regardless🤥 — BTCKING555 (@btcking555) March 14, 2019

BTCKING555 alleges that the reason why co-founder Jihan Wu stepped down as co-CEO was to avoid litigation. The critic goes on to say that the company’s numbers have been deliberately muddled and not being reported. He cites an investor who put a great deal into the company during last year’s $14 billion summer round and asked the company for their 2018 numbers. Apparently, the CFO’s office told the investor to “[email protected]&K off.”

Bitmain has had a rough few months. Back in December, the entire Bitcoin Cash development team was laid off, and BTCKING555 says Jihan Wu pushed for the focus on BCH, which ended up costing the company a cool billion.

BitcoinerX will report any news if a class action lawsuit is filed.

Do you think Bitmain faces legal trouble? Let us know in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Twitter/@btcking555, Pixabay, and Shutterstock.