BTCM Bit Mining Limited

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

(Mark One)

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For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021

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For the transition period from __________ to __________

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Date of event requiring this shell company report

Commission file number 001-36206

BIT Mining Limited

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

Cayman Islands

(Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization)

Units 813 & 815, Level 8, Core F,

Cyberport 3, 100 Cyberport Road,

Hong Kong

(Address of Principal Executive Offices)

Qiang Yuan, Chief Financial Officer

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Units 813 & 815,Level 8, Core F,

Cyberport 3, 100 Cyberport Road,

Hong Kong

(Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile Number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934:

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*     Not for trading, but only in connection with the listing of the American depositary shares (“ADSs”) on the New York Stock Exchange. Each ADS represents the right to receive ten (10) Class A ordinary shares. The ADSs are registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, pursuant to a registration statement on Form F-6. Accordingly, the ADSs are exempt from registration under Section 12(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, pursuant to Rule 12a-8 thereunder.

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:

None

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Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the Issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report.

710,078,070 Class A ordinary shares , 65,000 Class A preference shares and 99 Class B ordinary shares, par value US$0.00005 per share, as of December 31, 2021.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

Yes ☐ No ☒

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

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If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.

† The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

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If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.

Item 17 ☐         Item 18 ☐

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

(APPLICABLE ONLY TO ISSUERS INVOLVED IN BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed all documents and reports required to be filed by Sections 12, 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 subsequent to the distribution of securities under a plan confirmed by a court. Yes ☐ No ☐

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CONVENTIONS THAT APPLY TO THIS ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 20-F

Unless otherwise indicated, references in this annual report on Form 20-F to:

Our business is primarily conducted in Hong Kong, the United States and Kazakhstan, and all of our revenues have been denominated in U.S. dollars since the third quarter of 2021, to reduce the impact of increased volatility of the U.S. dollar to  Renminbi exchange rate on the Company's reported operating results. The Company believes that alignment of the reporting currency with underlying operations will better depict the Company's results of operations for each period. The related financial statements prior to July 1, 2021 have been recast to U.S. dollars as if the financial statements originally had been presented in U.S. dollars since the earliest period presented.

Our ADSs are listed on the NYSE under the Company's English name "BIT Mining Limited," and its ticker symbol "BTCM." Before April 20, 2021, our ADSs were listed on the NYSE under the Company's former English name "500.com Limited" and its former ticker symbol "WBAI."

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We had begun the development of our international operations before these recent regulatory and policy developments in China. In light of these developments in China, we have migrated our cryptocurrency operations to international markets. We may be subject to restrictions relating to the transfer of cryptocurrency mining machines out of China, as China has recently strengthened regulations on exports of goods, technology and services. Specifically, for computers and related components used in cryptocurrency mining machines, exporting enterprises should carefully evaluate whether the mining machines, their components, and any data or information contained therein are subject to export restrictions, and therefore are required to go through relevant export licensing procedures before such mining machines can be transported out of China. The relevant restrictions that apply to the transfer of cryptocurrency mining machines by us include, but are not limited to, the Catalogue of Goods Prohibited from Export, the Catalogue of Goods Subject to Export License Management, the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited from Export and Restricted from Export in China, the Catalogue for the Administration of Import and Export Licenses of Dual-use Items and Technologies, and other applicable export control catalogues and lists. In addition, since most of our mining machines are second-hand equipment, we may also be required to evaluate, inspect and dispose of the relevant stored information or data to comply with relevant data security regulations before moving such machines to markets outside China. If we are deemed to have violated export restrictions or data security regulations in China or otherwise become subject to government interferences, we might still subject to administrative penalties or criminal investigation by relevant government authorities.

We have recently adopted the development strategy to focus on the expansion of our blockchain and cryptocurrency mining operations to international markets. On September 22, 2021, we entered into the Ohio Mining Site Agreements with Viking Data Centers to jointly invest in the Ohio Mining Site with access to power capacity of up to 85 megawatts. In October 2021, we increased our investment in the Ohio Mining Site and brought its total planned power capacity up to 150 megawatts. As of the date of this annual report, we have completed the migration of all of our Bitcoin mining machines primarily to the United States and, to a lesser extent, Kazakhstan. However, we cannot assure you that the government authorities in these international markets will not adopt new laws and regulations in the future to restrict blockchain and cryptocurrency business.

Some jurisdictions, including China, restrict various uses of cryptocurrencies, including the use of cryptocurrencies as a medium of exchange, the conversion between cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies or between cryptocurrencies, the provision of trading and other services related to cryptocurrencies by financial institutions and payment institutions, and initial coin offerings and other means of capital raising based on cryptocurrencies. We cannot assure you that these jurisdictions will not enact new laws or regulations that further restrict activities relate to cryptocurrencies.

In addition, cryptocurrencies may be used by market participants for black market transactions, to conduct fraud, money laundering and terrorism-funding, tax evasion, economic sanction evasion or other illegal activities. As a result, governments may seek to regulate, restrict, control or ban the mining, use, holding and transferring of cryptocurrencies. We may not be able to eliminate all instances where other parties use cryptocurrencies mined by us to engage in money laundering or other illegal or improper activities. We cannot assure you that we will successfully detect and prevent all money laundering or other illegal or improper activities which may adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

Due to the environmental-impact concerns related to the potential high demand for electricity to support cryptocurrency mining activity, political concerns, and for other reasons, we may be required to cease mining operations without much or any prior notice by a national or local government’s formal or informal requirement or because of the anticipation of an impending requirement. For example, due to the most recent power shortage and political unrest in Kazakhstan, we temporarily suspended mining activities in Kazakhstan. We are still reevaluating our prospects there, but currently do not plan to carry out any joint construction of a new data center in that country.

Any such government action or anticipated action could have a negative impact not only on the value of existing miners owned by us, but on our ability to purchase new miners and their prices. Such government action or anticipated action could also have a deleterious impact on the price of cryptocurrencies. At a minimum, such events could result in an increase in the volatility of the price of the cryptocurrencies and value of miners owned by us. Moreover, if we discontinue mining operations in one location in response to such government action or anticipated action, we likely would transfer miners to another location. However, this process would result in costs associated with the transfer to be incurred by us, as well as the transferred miners being off-line and not able to mine cryptocurrencies for some time. Our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected by these adverse changes in the regulatory and policy environment in in the markets where we operate our blockchain and cryptocurrency mining operations.

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Any failure to obtain or renew any required approvals, licenses, permits or certifications could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

In accordance with the laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate, we are required to maintain various approvals, licenses, permits and certifications in order to operate our cryptocurrency mining business. Complying with such laws and regulations may require substantial expense, and any non-compliance may expose us to liability. In the event of non-compliance, we may have to incur significant expenses and divert substantial management time to rectify the incidents. In the future, if we fail to obtain all the necessary approvals, licenses, permits and certifications, we may be subject to fines or the suspension of operations at the mining facilities or data centers that do not have all the requisite approvals, licenses, permits and certifications, which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. We may also experience adverse publicity arising from non-compliance with government regulations, which would negatively impact our reputation.

We have adopted the development strategy to focus on the expansion of our blockchain and cryptocurrency mining operations in international markets, and have established, and plan to establish cryptocurrency mining data centers in Hong Kong and the United States. As such, we are subject to regulations applicable to operators of cryptocurrency mining business and data processing business in these jurisdictions. We have obtained relevant governmental approval and license required for our data center operations in these jurisdictions. However, we cannot assure your that we will be able to maintain or renew the required government approval, permit, licenses for our proposed operations on commercially reasonable terms and in a timely manner or at all. Failure to maintain or renew these government approval, permit or licenses for our international operations may cause us to suspend or terminate our data center operations in such jurisdictions, and may subject us to regulatory investigations or legal proceedings and fines in these jurisdictions, which could disrupt our international operations and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

More broadly, we cannot assure you that we will be able to fulfill all the conditions necessary to obtain the required government approvals in the jurisdictions where we operate, or that relevant government officials in these jurisdictions will always, if ever, exercise their discretion in our favor, or that we will be able to adapt to any new laws, regulations or policies. There may also be delays on the part of government authorities in reviewing our applications and granting approvals, whether due to the lack of administrative resources or the imposition of new rules, regulations, government policies or their implementation, interpretation and enforcement, or for no discernible reason at all. If we are unable to obtain, or experience material delays in obtaining, necessary government approvals, our operations may be substantially disrupted, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A particular digital asset’s status as a “security” in any relevant jurisdiction is subject to a high degree of uncertainty, and if we are unable to properly characterize a digital asset, we may be subject to regulatory scrutiny, investigations, fines, and other penalties, which may adversely affect our business, results of operations and/or financial condition.

The SEC and its staff have taken the position that certain digital assets fall within the definition of a “security” under the U.S. federal securities laws. The legal test for determining whether any given digital asset is a security is a highly complex, fact-driven analysis that evolves over time, and the outcome is difficult to predict. The SEC generally does not provide advance guidance or confirmation on the status of any particular digital asset as a security. Additionally, the SEC’s views in this area have evolved over time, and it is difficult to predict the direction or timing of any continuing evolution. Furthermore, it is also possible that a change in the governing administration or the appointment of new SEC commissioners could substantially impact the views of the SEC and its staff. Public statements by senior officials at the SEC indicate that the SEC does not intend to take the position that Bitcoin or Ethereum, in their current form, are securities. However, Bitcoin and Ethereum are the only digital assets as to which senior officials at the SEC have publicly expressed such a view. Such statements are not official policy statements by the SEC and reflect only the speakers’ views, which are not binding on the SEC or any other agency or court, and cannot be generalized to any other digital asset, such as Dogecoin. With respect to all other digital assets, there is currently no certainty under the applicable legal test that such assets are not securities, notwithstanding the conclusions we may draw based on our assessment regarding the likelihood that a particular digital asset could be deemed a “security” under applicable laws. Similarly, though the SEC’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology published a framework for analyzing whether any given digital asset is a security in April 2019, this framework is also not a rule, regulation or statement of the SEC and is not binding on the SEC.

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Several foreign jurisdictions have taken a broad-based approach to classifying digital assets as “securities,” while other foreign jurisdictions have adopted a narrower approach. As a result, certain digital assets may be deemed to be a “security” under the laws of some jurisdictions but not others. Various foreign jurisdictions may, in the future, adopt additional laws, regulations, or directives that affect the characterization of digital assets as “securities.”

The classification of a digital asset as a security under applicable law has wide-ranging implications for the regulatory obligations that flow from the offer, sale, trading, and clearing of such assets. For example, a digital asset that is a security in the United States may generally only be offered or sold in the United States pursuant to a registration statement filed with the SEC or in an offering that qualifies for an exemption from registration. Persons that effect transactions in digital assets that are securities in the United States may be subject to registration with the SEC as a “broker” or “dealer.” Platforms that bring together purchasers and sellers to trade digital assets that are securities in the United States are generally subject to registration as national securities exchanges, or must qualify for an exemption, such as by being operated by a registered broker-dealer as an alternative trading system (“ATS”), in compliance with rules for ATSs. Persons facilitating clearing and settlement of securities may be subject to registration with the SEC as a clearing agency. Foreign jurisdictions may have similar licensing, registration, and qualification requirements. We have mined cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin and Ethereum, and we received other types of cryptocurrencies, including Dogecoin, as commissions of our mining pool operation. The likely status of these cryptocurrencies as securities could limit distributions, transfers, or other actions involving such cryptocurrencies, including mining, in the United States.

We have adopted risk-based policies and procedures to analyze whether the digital assets that we mine, hold and sell for our own account could be deemed to be a “security” under applicable laws. Our policies and procedures do not constitute a legal standard, but rather represent our management’s assessment, based on advice of our securities counsel, regarding the likelihood that a particular digital asset could be deemed a “security” under applicable laws. Regardless of our conclusions, we could be subject to legal or regulatory action in the event the SEC, a foreign regulatory authority, or a court were to determine that a digital asset currently held by us is a “security” under applicable laws. If the digital assets mined and held by us are deemed as securities, it could limit distributions, transfers, or other actions involving such digital assets, including mining, in the United States. For example, the distribution of cryptocurrencies to miners under our mining pool business could be deemed to involve an illegal offering or distribution of securities subject to U.S. federal or state law. In addition, miners on cryptocurrency networks could, under certain circumstances, be viewed as statutory underwriters or as “brokers” subject to regulation under the Exchange Act. This could require us or our customers to change, limit, or cease mining operations, register as broker-dealers and comply with applicable law, or be subject to penalties, including fines. In addition, we could be subject to judicial or administrative sanctions for failing to sell the digital asset or distribute block rewards in compliance with the registration requirements, or for acting as a broker, dealer, or national securities exchange without appropriate registration. Such an action could result in injunctions, cease and desist orders, as well as civil monetary penalties, fines, and disgorgement, criminal liability, and reputational harm.

Distributing digital assets in connection with our mining pool business involves risks, which could result in loss of customer assets, customer disputes and other liabilities, adversely impact our business, results of operations and/or financial condition.

In order to own, transfer and use a digital asset on its underlying blockchain network, a person must have a private and public key pair associated with a network address, commonly referred to as a “wallet.” Each wallet is associated with a unique “public key” and “private key” pair, each of which is a string of alphanumerical characters. In order for us to allocate block rewards to our mining pool customers, customers must provide us with the public key of the wallet that the digital assets are to be transferred to, and we would be required to authorize the transfer. We rely on the information provided by customers to distribute cryptocurrencies to them, and we do not have access to our customers’ private key. A number of errors can occur in the process of distributing digital assets to customers’ wallets, such as typos, mistakes, or the failure to include the information required by the blockchain network. For instance, a customer may incorrectly enter the desired recipient’s public key when withdrawing from the mining pool, which may result in the permanent and irretrievable loss of the customer’s digital assets. Such incidents could result in customer disputes, damage to our brand and reputation, legal claims against us, and financial liabilities, any of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and/or financial condition.

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The loss or destruction of private keys required to access any digital assets held by us may be irreversible. If we are unable to access our private keys or if we experience a hack or other data loss relating to our ability to access any digital assets, it could cause regulatory scrutiny, reputational harm, and other losses.

Cryptocurrencies are generally controllable only by the possessor of the unique private key relating to the digital wallet in which the digital assets are held. While blockchain protocols typically require public addresses to be published when used in a transaction, private keys must be safeguarded and kept private in order to prevent a third party from accessing the digital assets held in such a wallet. We will publish the public key relating to digital wallets in use when we verify the receipt of transfers and disseminate such information into the network, but we will need to safeguard the private keys relating to such digital wallets. We safeguard and keep private the private keys relating to our digital assets by primarily utilizing enterprise multi-signature storage solution provided by an established third-party digital asset financial services platform.

To the extent that any of the private keys relating to our wallets containing digital assets held by us is lost, destroyed, or otherwise compromised or unavailable, and no backup of the private key is accessible, we will be unable to access digital assets held in the related wallet. Furthermore, as currently our digital wallet is maintained by a third-party digital asset financial services platform, we cannot provide assurance that our wallet will not be hacked or compromised, or that any information leakage and data security breach of such platform will not compromise the security of our digital wallet. Digital assets and blockchain technologies have been, and may in the future be, subject to security breaches, hacking, or other malicious activities. Any loss of private keys relating to, or hack or other compromise of, digital wallets used to store our digital assets could subject us to significant financial losses, and we may be unable to distribute mining rewards to customers of our mining pool services, or adequately compensate our customers for damages caused by such security breach. As such, any loss of private keys due to a hack, employee or service provider misconduct or error, or other compromise by third parties could hurt our brand and reputation, result in significant losses, and adversely impact our business, results of operations and/or financial condition.

We may incur significant compliance costs if we are required to register as a money services business under the regulations promulgated by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network under the authority of the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act, or otherwise under U.S. state laws.

We are in the process of expanding our cryptocurrency operation into the United States, including completing the Ohio Mining Site. To the extent that our operations in United States cause us to be deemed a money services business under the regulations promulgated by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) under the authority of the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act, we may be required to comply with FinCEN regulations, including those that would mandate us to implement anti-money laundering programs, make certain reports to FinCEN and maintain certain records. To the extent that our operations cause us to be deemed a “money transmitter” or equivalent designation, under state law in any U.S. state in which we plan to operate, we may be required to seek a license or otherwise register with a state regulator and comply with state regulations that may include the implementation of anti-money laundering programs, maintenance of certain records and other operational requirements. Such additional federal or state regulatory obligations may cause us to incur extraordinary expenses, and may affect an investment in our securities in a materially adverse manner. Furthermore, we and our service providers may not be capable of complying with certain federal or state regulatory obligations applicable to money services businesses and money transmitters. If we are deemed to be subject to and determine not to comply with such additional regulatory and registration requirements, we may have to leave a particular U.S. state or the United States completely. Any such action would be expected to materially adversely affect our operations.

Because cryptocurrencies may be determined to be investment securities, we may inadvertently violate the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and we may incur substantial losses and become subject to such act as a result.

We believe that we are not engaged in the business of investing, reinvesting, or trading in securities, and we do not hold ourselves out as being engaged in those activities. However, under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), a company may be deemed an investment company under section 3(a)(1)(C) thereof if the value of its investment securities is more than 40% of its total assets (exclusive of government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Furthermore, as of the date of this annual report, we have disposed of our lottery-related business in China, and the lottery-related affiliated entities have been deconsolidated and their financial results will no longer be included in our consolidated financial statements for the third quarter of 2021 following the termination of the VIE structures.

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As a result of our investments and our cryptocurrency mining activities, including investments in which we do not have a controlling interest, and the disposal of our lottery-related business in China, the investment securities we hold could exceed 40% of our total assets, exclusive of cash items and, accordingly, we could determine that we have become an inadvertent investment company. The cryptocurrency we own, acquire or mine may be deemed an investment security by the SEC, although we do not believe any of the cryptocurrencies we own, acquire or mine are securities.

An inadvertent investment company can avoid being classified as an investment company if it can rely on one of the exclusions under the Investment Company Act. One such exclusion, Rule 3a-2 under the Investment Company Act, allows an inadvertent investment company a grace period of one year from the earlier of (a) the date on which an issuer owns securities and/or cash having a value exceeding 50% of the issuer’s total assets on either a consolidated or unconsolidated basis and (b) the date on which an issuer owns or proposes to acquire investment securities having a value exceeding 40% of the value of such issuer’s total assets (exclusive of government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. As of September 30, 2021, we do not believe we are an inadvertent investment company, however this issue has not been resolved by SEC rules or regulations. For us, any grace period would be unknown until further clarifications from or regulations by the SEC concerning cryptocurrency treatment. We may take actions to cause the investment securities held by us to be less than 40% of our total assets, which may include acquiring assets with our cash and cryptocurrency on hand or liquidating our investment securities or cryptocurrency or seeking a no-action letter from the SEC if we are unable to acquire sufficient assets or liquidate sufficient investment securities in a timely manner.

As the Rule 3a-2 exception is available to a company no more than once every three years, and assuming no other exclusion were available to us, we would have to keep within the 40% limit for at least three years after we cease being an inadvertent investment company. This may limit our ability to make certain investments or enter into joint ventures that could otherwise have a positive impact on our earnings. In any event, we do not intend to become an investment company engaged in the business of investing and trading securities.

Current and future legislation and the SEC rulemaking and other regulatory developments, including interpretations released by a regulatory authority, may impact the manner in which cryptocurrencies are treated for classification and clearing purposes. The SEC’s July 25, 2017 Report expressed its view that digital assets may be securities depending on the facts and circumstances. As of the date of this annual report, we are not aware of any rules that have been proposed to regulate cryptocurrencies as securities. We cannot be certain as to how future regulatory developments will impact the treatment of cryptocurrency under the applicable U.S. federal or state laws. Such additional registrations may result in extraordinary, non-recurring expenses, thereby materially and adversely impacting an investment in us. If we determine not to comply with such additional regulatory and registration requirements, we may seek to cease certain of our operations. Any such action may adversely affect an investment in us.

Classification as an investment company under the Investment Company Act requires registration with the SEC. If an investment company fails to register, it would have to stop doing almost all business, and its contracts would become voidable. Registration is time consuming and restrictive and would require a restructuring of our operations, and we would be very constrained in the kind of business we could do as a registered investment company. Furthermore, we would become subject to substantial regulation concerning management, operations, transactions with affiliated persons and portfolio composition, and would need to file reports under the Investment Company Act regime. The cost of such compliance would result in substantial additional expenses, and the failure to complete the required registration would have a materially adverse impact to conduct our operations. In addition, on May 21, 2021, the Financial Stability and Development Committee of the PRC State Council called for the need to resolutely control financial risks and crack down on cryptocurrency mining and trading activities. As advised by our PRC counsel, JunZeJun Law Offices, the PRC government may take the view that cryptocurrency mining and trading is a form of financial or investment activity, and in the event that we are classified as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may face additional regulatory scrutiny from the PRC government.

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We do not maintain insurance for our digital assets, which may expose us and our shareholders to the risk of loss of our digital assets, and there will be limited rights of legal recourse available to us to recover our losses.

We do not maintain insurance for the digital assets held by us. Banking institutions will not accept our digital assets, and they are therefore not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Therefore, we may suffer loss with respect to our digital assets which is not covered by insurance, and we may not be able to recover any of our carried value in these digital assets if they are lost or stolen or suffer significant and sustained reduction in conversion spot price. If we are not otherwise able to recover damages from a malicious actor in connection with these losses, our business, results of operations and share price may be adversely affected.

A material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting has been identified, and if we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results, meet our reporting obligations or prevent fraud.

We are required to assess the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. In addition, our independent registered public accounting firm has conducted an audit of our internal control over financial reporting. As defined in standards established by the United States Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or the PCAOB, a “material weakness” is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. In connection with the audit of our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified a material weakness as of December 31, 2021, in accordance with the standards established by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board of the United States, or PCAOB.

The material weakness that was identified relates to inadequate maintenance and implementation of controls over the accounting and valuation of certain aspects of business combinations and asset acquisition involving significant estimates.

Following the identification of this material weakness, our management commenced implementation of a remediation plan. For details, see “Item 15. Controls and Procedures — Remediation.” We have implemented and are continuing to implement a number of measures to address the material weakness identified. However, the implementation of these measures may not fully address the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. We will continue to update and implement these measures.

In documenting and testing our internal control procedures, in order to satisfy the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Section 404, we may identify other weaknesses and deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting. In addition, if we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting, as these standards are modified, supplemented or amended from time to time, we may not be able to conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404. If we fail to achieve and maintain an effective internal control environment, we could suffer material misstatements in our financial statements and fail to meet our reporting obligations, which would likely cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information. This could in turn limit our access to capital markets, harm our results of operations, and lead to a decline in the trading price of our ADSs.

Additionally, ineffective internal control over financial reporting could expose us to increased risk of fraud or misuse of corporate assets and subject us to potential delisting from the NYSE, regulatory investigations and civil or criminal sanctions. We may also be required to restate our financial statements from prior periods.

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Risks Related to Doing Business in China

Recent regulatory developments in China may subject us to additional regulatory review and disclosure requirements, expose us to government interference, or otherwise restrict or completely hinder our ability to offer securities and raise capitals outside China, all of which could materially and adversely affect our business, and cause the value of our securities to significantly decline or become worthless. 

As our remaining operations in China primarily involve the provision of administrative supports to our cryptocurrency mining business outside China, as well as internal information technology services to our operating entities and mining pools outside China, we may still be subject to PRC laws relating to, among others, data security and restrictions over foreign investments in value-added telecommunications services and other industry sectors set out in the Special Administrative Measures (Negative List) for the Access of Foreign Investment (2021 Edition). Specifically, we may be subject to PRC laws relating to the collection, use, sharing, retention, security, and transfer of confidential and private information, such as personal information and other data. These PRC laws apply not only to third-party transactions, but also to transfers of information between us and our wholly foreign-owned enterprises in China, and other parties with which we have commercial relations. These PRC laws and their interpretations and enforcement continue to develop and are subject to change, and the PRC government may adopt other rules and restrictions in the future.

The recent regulatory developments in China, in particular with respect to restrictions on China-based companies raising capital offshore, and the government-led cybersecurity reviews of certain companies with VIE structure, may lead to additional regulatory review in China over our financing and capital raising activities in the United States.

Pursuant to the PRC Cybersecurity Law, which was promulgated by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on November 7, 2016 and took effect on June 1, 2017, personal information and important data collected and generated by a critical information infrastructure operator in the course of its operations in China must be stored in China, and if a critical information infrastructure operator, as defined by “The Security Protection Regulations for Critical Information Infrastructure,” effective September 1, 2021, purchases internet products and services that affect or may affect national security, it should be subject to cybersecurity review by the CAC. The PRC Cybersecurity Law also establishes more stringent requirements applicable to operators of computer networks, especially to operators of networks which involve critical information infrastructure. The PRC Cybersecurity Law contains an overarching framework for regulating Internet security, protection of private and sensitive information, and safeguards for national cyberspace security and provisions for the continued government regulation of the Internet and content available in China. The PRC Cybersecurity Law emphasizes requirements for network products, services, operations and information security, as well as monitoring, early detection, emergency response and reporting. On January 4, 2022, the CAC announced the adoption of the Cybersecurity Review Measures, and effective February 15, 2022, online platforms and network providers possessing personal information of more than one individual million user must undergo a cybersecurity review by the CAC when they seek listing in foreign markets. Furthermore, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress passed the Personal Information Protection Law of the PRC (“PIPL”), which will become effective from November 1, 2021, and requires general network operators to obtain a personal information protection certification issued by recognized institutions in accordance with the CAC regulation before such information can be transferred out of China.

On July 30, 2021, in response to the recent regulatory developments in China and actions adopted by the PRC government, the Chairman of the SEC issued a statement requesting additional disclosures from offshore issuers with China-based operating companies before their registration statements will be declared effective, including detailed disclosure related to VIE structures and whether the VIE and the issuer, when applicable, received or were denied permission from the PRC authorities to list on U.S. exchanges and the risks that such approval could be denied or rescinded. On August 1, 2021, the CSRC stated in a statement that it had taken note of the new disclosure requirements announced by the SEC regarding the listings of PRC companies and the recent regulatory development in the PRC, and that the securities regulators in both countries should strengthen communications on regulating China-related issuers.

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Prior to the disposal of our lottery-related business in China in July 2021, we collected and processed personal, transactional and behavioral data. As of the date of this annual report, we have disposed of our lottery-related business and suspended the operations of our data centers in China, and have migrated our cryptocurrency mining business to international markets. Our remaining operations in China do not involve the processing of any significant amount of personal information. Our PRC legal counsel, JunZeJun Law Offices, has advised us that, in light of the recent changes in our corporate structure and business operations, in particular with respect to the facts that we do not operate online platforms that process personal information of more than one million individual users, and that we have ceased registering new mining pool customers from China and retired accounts of existing mining pool customers from China for our mining pool business, we should not be required to undergo the CAC review for any offering we or the selling shareholders may make under this annual report and any applicable annual report supplement. However, we cannot assure you that the PRC regulatory authorities will not take a contrary view or will not subsequently require us to undergo the approval procedures and subject us to penalties for non-compliance, or that if we are required to obtain such clearance, such clearance can be timely obtained, or at all. If we become subject to cybersecurity inspection and/or review by the CAC or other PRC authorities or are required by them to take any specific actions, it could cause suspension or termination of the future offering of our securities, including offerings under this registration statement and any accompanied annual report supplement, disruptions to our operations, result in negative publicity regarding our company, and divert our managerial and financial resources. We may also be subject to significant fines or other penalties, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Any actions by the PRC government to exert more oversight and control over offerings that are conducted overseas and/or foreign investment in companies having operations in China, such as us, could significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to offer or continue to offer securities to investors, and cause the value of our securities to significantly decline or become worthless.

Our efforts to adjust our corporate structure and business operations, including the termination of our previous VIE structures and the exit of our mining pool business from China, may not be completed in a liability-free manner, and we may still be subject to cybersecurity review by the CAC, or deemed to be in violation of PRC laws regulating our industry and operations.

In light of the recent statements by the Chinese government indicating its intention exert more oversight and control over overseas offerings of China-based companies, the CAC review for certain data processing operators in China, and restrictions imposed by the PRC government relating to cryptocurrency mining business, we have adjusted, and may continue to adjust our business operations in the future, to comply with PRC laws regulating our industry and our business operations. However, such efforts may not be completed in a liability-free manner or at all.

Due to restrictions over foreign investment in lottery and IDC services, we previously maintained VIE structure with respect to our lottery-related business in China and certain of our data processing services in connection with our cryptocurrency mining business previously conducted in China. As of the date of this annual report, we have terminated all of our VIE structures with our lottery-related affiliated entities and Zhejiang Keying. Since June 2021, we have also suspended the operations of data centers in China. The lottery-related affiliated entities have been deconsolidated and their financial results have no longer been included in our consolidated financial statements in the third quarter of 2021 since the termination of the VIE structures. The lottery-related affiliated entities contributed US$1.1 million and US$0.4 million in 2020 and the three months ended March 31, 2021, accounting for 31.6% and 13.6 % of our total revenue for the periods, respectively. In addition, the lottery-related entities incurred a net loss of US$9.3 million and US$0.8 million for 2020 and the three months ended March 31, 2021, respectively. As of March 31, 2021, total assets held by the lottery-related affiliated entities represented US$14.3 million, or 7.2%, of our total assets, and net debt held by the lottery-related affiliated entities was US$35.0 million. In October 2021, in light of change in regulatory environment in China, we began to cause our mining pool subsidiary, BTC.com to exit the China market, cease registering new mining pool customers from China and retire the accounts of existing mining pool customers in China in an orderly manner.

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We cannot assure you that the disposal of the lottery-related affiliated entities and unwinding of the related VIE structures in China, or the discontinuation of our mining pool operation in China, will not give rise to dispute or liability, or that such disposal, unwinding and discontinuation of operations will not adversely affect our overall results of operations and financial condition. In February 2022, the then subsidiaries of Zhejiang Keying deregistered their the respective IDC licenses, and Zhejiang Keying completed the transfer of equity interests of its then subsidiaries to Loto Shenzhen. In the same month, we completed the formal SAIC registration of the disposal of the subsidiaries under the former variable interest entity structure. During the process of disposing of the lottery-related affiliated entities and the unwinding of the related VIE structures in China, including the VIE structure of Zhejiang Keying, and after such process is completed, we cannot guarantee that we will not continue to be subject to PRC regulatory inspection and/or review relating to cybersecurity, especially when there remains significant uncertainty as to the scope and manner of the regulatory enforcement. If we become subject to regulatory inspection and/or review by the CAC or other PRC authorities, or are required by them to take any specific actions, it could cause suspension or termination of the future offering of our securities, disruptions to our operations, result in negative publicity regarding our company, and divert our managerial and financial resources. The discontinuation of operations of BTC.com in China and in particular, the retirement of accounts of existing mining pool customers in China, may give rise to user complaints or dispute claims against us, which could divert a significant amount of managerial attention and other resources from our business and operations, and require us to incur significant expenses. We may also be subject to fines or other penalties, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our ADSs could still be delisted from a U.S. exchange and prohibited from being traded over-the-counter in the United States under the HFCA Act if the PCAOB determines in the future that it is unable to fully inspect or investigate our auditor which has a presence in China, and the delisting and cease of trading our ADSs, or the threat of their being delisted or prohibited from being traded, may materially and adversely affect the value of your investment.

The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act was enacted on December 18, 2020. The HFCA Act states if the SEC determines that we have filed audit reports issued by a registered public accounting firm that has not been subject to inspection by the PCAOB for three consecutive years beginning in 2021, the SEC shall prohibit our shares or ADSs from being traded on a national securities exchange or in the over the counter trading market in the United States.

Our financial statements contained in the annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2021 have been audited by MaloneBailey, LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm that is headquartered in the United States with offices in Beijing and Shenzhen. MaloneBailey, LLP is a firm registered with the PCAOB, and is required by the laws of the U.S. to undergo regular inspections by the PCAOB to assess its compliance with the laws of the U.S. and professional standards. MaloneBailey, LLP has been subject to PCAOB inspections, and is not among the PCAOB-registered public accounting firms headquartered in the PRC or Hong Kong that are subject to PCAOB’s determination on December 16, 2021 of having been unable to inspect or investigate completely.

However, our audit work was carried out by MaloneBailey, LLP with the collaboration of its China-based offices. According to Article 177 of the PRC Securities Law (last amended in March 2020), no overseas securities regulator is allowed to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities in China. Accordingly, without the consent of the competent PRC securities regulators and relevant authorities, no organization or individual may provide the documents and materials relating to securities business activities to overseas parties. Therefore, the audit working papers of our financial statements may not be fully inspected by the PCAOB without the approval of the PRC authorities. Our ADSs could still be delisted and prohibited from being traded over-the-counter under the HFCA Act determines in the future that it is unable to fully inspect or investigate our auditor which has a presence in China.

On March 24, 2021, the SEC adopted interim final rules relating to the implementation of certain disclosure and documentation requirements of the HFCA Act. On June 22, 2021, the U.S. Senate passed a bill which, if passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and signed into law, would reduce the number of consecutive non-inspection years required for triggering the prohibitions under the HFCA Act from three years to two. On September 22, 2021, the PCAOB adopted a final rule implementing the HFCA Act, which provides a framework for the PCAOB to determine, as contemplated under the HFCA Act, whether the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms located in a foreign jurisdiction because of a position taken by one or more authorities in that jurisdiction. On December 2, 2021, the SEC adopted amendments to finalize the implementation of disclosure and documentation measures, which require us to identify, in our annual report on Form 20-F, (1) the auditors that provided opinions to the financial statements presented in the annual report, (2) the location where the auditors’ report was issued, and (3) the PCAOB ID number of the audit firm or branch that performed the audit work. If the SEC determines that we have three consecutive non-inspection years, the SEC will issue stop order to prohibit the trading of our ADSs on any U.S. stock exchange or over-the-counter market.

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The PCAOB's inability to conduct inspections in China or Hong Kong prevents it from fully evaluating the audits and quality control procedures of our independent registered public accounting firm. As a result, we and our investors are deprived of the benefits of such PCAOB inspections. The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors with presence in China makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our independent registered public accounting firm's audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of China that are subject to the PCAOB inspections, which could cause investors and potential investors in our securities to lose confidence in our audit procedures and reported financial information and the quality of our financial statements. If we fail to meet the new listing standards before the deadline specified thereunder due to factors beyond our control, we could face possible delisting from the NYSE, cessation of trading in over the counter market, deregistration from the SEC and/or other risks, which may materially and adversely affect, or effectively terminate, our ADSs trading in the United States.

The PRC government has significant and arbitrary influence over companies with China-based operations by enforcing existing rules and regulation, adopting new ones, or changing relevant industrial policies in a manner that may materially increase our compliance cost, abruptly change relevant industry landscape, or cause significant changes to, or otherwise intervene or influence, our remaining operations in China at any time, which could result in material and adverse changes in our operations and cause the value of our securities to significantly decline or become worthless.

We currently maintain operations in China primarily for the provision of administrative supports to our cryptocurrency mining business outside China, as well as the provision of internal information technology services to our operating entities and mining pools outside China. The PRC government has significant and arbitrary influence over China-based operations of any company by allocating resources, providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies, or imposing industry-wide policies on certain industries. The PRC government may also amend or enforce existing rules and regulation, or adopt ones, which could materially increase our compliance cost, abruptly change the relevant industry landscape, or cause significant changes to, or otherwise intervene or influence, our remaining operations in China at any time. In addition, the PRC regulatory system is based in part on government policies and internal guidance, some of which are not published on a timely basis or at all, and some of which may even have a retroactive effect. We may not be aware of all non-compliance incidents at all time, and may face regulatory investigation, fines and other penalties as a result. As a result of the changes in the industrial policies of the PRC government, including the amendment to and/or enforcement of the related laws and regulations, companies with China-based operations, including us, and the industries in which we operate, face significant compliance and operational risks and uncertainties. For example, on July 24, 2021, Chinese state media, including Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television, announced a broad set of reforms targeting private education companies providing after-school tutoring services and prohibiting foreign investments in institutions providing such after-school tutoring services. As a result, the market value of certain U.S. listed companies with China-based operations in the affected sectors declined substantially. On August 30, 2021, the PRC government imposed restrictions over the provision of online gaming services to minors, aiming at curbing excessive indulgence in online gaming and protecting minors’ mental and physical health, which could adversely affect the development of the online gaming industry in China. The PRC government has also imposed severe restrictions over the operations of cryptocurrency business, which changed the entire industry landscape in China. See “—It may be or become illegal to acquire, own, hold, sell or use cryptocurrencies, participate in the blockchain, or transfer or utilize similar cryptocurrency assets in China or international markets where we operate due to adverse changes in the regulatory and policy environment in these jurisdictions.” In addition, the National Development and Reform Commission of China may classify cryptocurrency mining operations as an industry to be eliminated. We have adopted a development strategy to focus on expansion of our blockchain and cryptocurrency mining operations in international markets, and have adjusted our business operations in China, including the termination of the operations of our data centers in China. As of the date of this annual report, we are not aware of any similar regulations that may be adopted to significantly curtail our remaining non-revenue generating operations in China. However, if such other adverse regulations or policies are adopted in China, our remaining operations in China will be materially and adversely affected, and we may have to cease our administrative supports and internal information technology services from China to our international cryptocurrency mining business, and relocate our offices and certain assets to international markets outside China, which may significantly disrupt our international operations and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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PRC regulation of loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds of this offering to make loans or additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries.

We are an offshore holding company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, with limited operations in China. To the extent necessary, we may make loans to our PRC subsidiaries subject to the approval, registration, and filing with governmental authorities and limitation of amount, or we may make additional capital contributions to our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China. Any loans to our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China, which are treated as foreign-invested enterprises under PRC law, are subject to foreign exchange loan registrations with the National Development and Reform Commission, or the NDRC, and SAFE or its local branches. In addition, a foreign invested enterprise shall use its capital pursuant to the principle of authenticity and self-use within its business scope. The capital of a foreign invested enterprise shall not be used for the following purposes: (1) direct or indirect use for payment beyond the business scope of the enterprises or the payment prohibited by relevant laws and regulations; (2) direct or indirect use for investment in securities or investments other than banks’ principal-secured products unless otherwise provided by relevant laws and regulations; (3) the granting of loans to non-affiliated enterprises, except where it is expressly permitted in the business license; and (4) the payment of the expenses related to the purchase of real estate that is not for self-use (except for the foreign-invested real estate enterprises).

In light of the various requirements imposed by PRC regulations on loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies, we cannot assure you that we will be able to complete the necessary government registrations or obtain the necessary government approvals or filings on a timely basis, if at all, with respect to future loans by us to our PRC subsidiaries or with respect to future capital contributions by us to our PRC subsidiaries. If we fail to complete such registrations or obtain such approvals, our ability to use the proceeds from any offering of our securities under this registration statement and any accompanied annual report supplement, and capitalize or otherwise fund our PRC operations may be negatively affected.

We have changed our business model a few times during the last few years, which makes it difficult to evaluate our business.

In recent years, we have begun new lines of businesses and suspended or disposed of existing lines of businesses. Since announcing our entry into the cryptocurrency industry in December 2020, we have entered into definitive agreements to (i) purchase cryptocurrency mining machines, (ii) acquire a controlling stake in Loto Interactive Limited (HKEX: 08198), (iii) acquire the entire mining pool business of Bitdeer Technologies Holding Company operated under BTC.com, including the domain name BTC.com and the cryptocurrency wallet of BTC.com, (iv) acquire a 7-nanometer mining machine manufacturer to unfurl a comprehensive approach to cryptocurrency mining, and (v) jointly invest in the development of a cryptocurrency mining data center in Ohio with power capacity of 150 megawatts in aggregate.

Many of our business lines are relatively new business models in an emerging and rapidly evolving market. This makes it difficult for you to evaluate our business, financial performance and prospects, and our historical growth rate may not be indicative of our future performance. We may not be able to realize our profit expectations when we began to offer any of these new lines of businesses. You should consider our prospects in light of the risks and uncertainties that fast-growing companies in a rapidly evolving market may encounter.

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The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Beginning in early 2020, there was an outbreak of a novel strain of coronavirus, later named COVID-19, in China. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. As part of intensified efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, governments around the world have asked residents to remain at home, to avoid public gatherings, and/or have issued shelter-in-place orders or imposed lockdowns, among other actions. COVID-19 has resulted in temporary closures of many corporate offices, retail stores, and manufacturing facilities and factories. Our business could be adversely impacted by the effects of COVID-19 or other pandemics or epidemics. The Company’s corporate headquarters and operations are currently located in Hong Kong, where any outbreak of contagious diseases and other adverse public health developments could be materially adverse on the Company’s business operations. The Company’s operations could be negatively affected if employees, users and third-party merchants are quarantined as a result of exposure to a contagious illness. COVID-19 could further adversely impact the Company’s operations in Hong Kong, the United States, and Kazakhstan and could have an adverse impact on the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition. In 2021, COVID-19 negatively impacted logistics relating to the Company’s construction of its mine site in Ohio and caused a delay in the construction schedule. This and similar issues may continue to be caused by COVID-19, its Omicron variant, as well as any other highly transmissible variants or strains of the virus, any of which could have an adverse impact on the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our results of operations could be also adversely affected to the extent that this pandemic harms the global economy in general. Any economic slowdown worldwide due to COVID-19 may result in a shortage of available credit and insufficient funds for future growth, and we may not be able to raise capital or obtain financing from banks or other financial institutions. If we were unable to obtain financing to meet our needs, our business, operations and prospects and our ability to maintain or increase our revenue may suffer materially. This, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our business, results of operations and financial condition will depend on ongoing and future developments, including new information concerning its global severity, new regulations and policies adopted and actions taken in response, all of which are highly uncertain and unpredictable.

Implementation of new lines of business may not yield desirable profits or improve our results of operations.

From time to time, we may implement new lines of business or offer new products and product enhancements as well as new services within our existing lines of business. There are substantial risks and uncertainties associated with these efforts, particularly when considering the market is not fully developed. In developing these new lines of business or services, we may invest significant time and resources. Initial timetables for the introduction and development of these lines of business and services may not be achieved and profitability targets may not prove feasible. External factors, such as compliance with regulations, competition and shifting market preferences, may also impact the successful implementation of these new lines business or services. Our personnel and technology systems may fail to adapt to the changes in these new lines of business or we may fail to effectively integrate new services into our existing operations. In addition, we may be unable to compete effectively due to the different competitive landscape in the new areas of business. Furthermore, these lines of business could have a significant impact on the effectiveness of our internal control system. Failure to successfully manage these risks in the development and implementation of these lines of business and services could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The success of our business depends on our ability to maintain and enhance our reputation and brand.

We have developed our reputation and established a leading position by providing our users with what we believe are superior and trustworthy services. We have conducted, and may continue to conduct, various marketing and brand promotion activities. We cannot assure you, however, that these activities will be successful and achieve the brand promotion and activity enhancement goals we expected. In addition, any negative publicity in relation to our services or products, regardless of its veracity, could harm our brand image and, in turn, have adverse effects on our user loyalty and stickiness, or result in a reduction in the number of our users. For example, we are aware of certain complaints against our websites on a number of online forums with regard to purchase order processing and prize collections. Even though the allegations made in such complaints were not factually proven or the amounts in issue were diminutive, such complaints can nonetheless have a detrimental effect on our reputation. If we fail to maintain and enhance our reputation and brand, or if we incur excessive expenses in our efforts to do so, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

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We depend on the technology and advanced information system, which may fail or be subject to disruption.

We are dependent on our IT systems for handling purchase orders, and the efficiency and reliability of our systems are in turn dependent on the functionality and stability of the underlying technical infrastructure. The functionality of the servers used by us and the related hardware and software infrastructure are of considerable significance to our business, our reputation and our ability to attract business partners and users. Our IT systems may be damaged or interrupted by increases in usage, human errors, unauthorized access, destruction of hardware, power cuts not covered by backup facilities, system crashes, software problems, virus attacks, natural hazards or disasters, or similar disruptions or disruptive events. Furthermore, our current IT systems may be unable to support a significant increase in online traffic or an increased number of users, whether as a result of organic or inorganic growth of the business. We have in place business continuity procedures, disaster recovery systems and security measures to protect against network or technical failures or disruptions. Despite such procedures, failures in computer processing and weakness in the existing software and hardware cannot be entirely prevented or eliminated. Any failure of our IT system and infrastructure could lead to significant costs and disruptions that could reduce our revenues, harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our operations.

In addition, we rely on bandwidth providers, communications carriers, data centers and other third parties for key aspects of the process in providing services to our users. Any failure or interruption in the services and products provided by these third parties could limit our ability to operate certain of our businesses, which could in turn have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

We are exposed to contractual claims by third parties arising from regulatory actions, which could damage our reputation and results of operations.

We have entered into various service, online payment and advertisement agreements with a number of third parties. Many of these agreements contain warranties, indemnities and termination provisions in which we have made representations and warranties to the counterparties as to the legitimacy of our operations and our compliance with relevant laws and regulations. If a claim or regulatory action is brought against our counterparties alleging that our historical business conduct breached such provisions on which our counterparties have relied, whether as a result of judicial proceedings or a change of law or otherwise, we may face material claims or regulatory actions and may owe damages to the relevant third parties. We may also remain liable for any outstanding fees payable to the counterparty of an agreement which has been terminated.

Future strategic acquisitions may have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation and results of operations.

We may acquire additional assets, products, technologies or businesses that are complementary to our existing business if we are presented with appropriate opportunities. Future acquisitions and subsequent integration of newly acquired assets and businesses into our own would require significant attention from our management and could result in a diversion of resources from our existing business, which in turn could have an adverse effect on our business operations. Acquired assets or businesses may not generate the financial results we expect. In addition, acquisitions could result in the use of substantial amounts of cash, potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, the occurrence of significant goodwill impairment charges, amortization expenses for other intangible assets and exposure to potential unknown liabilities of the acquired business. Moreover, the cost of identifying and consummating acquisitions may be significant.

We may fail to detect fraudulent activities of our users or employees.

Online transactions may be subject to sophisticated schemes or collusion to defraud or other illegal activities, and there is a risk that our platform may be used for those purposes either by our users or our employees. While we intended to continue our efforts to protect our business and our users from such illegal activities, including a user identity verifying system and pre-payment procedures to protect against fictitious transactions, the controls and procedures we have implemented may not be effective in all cases. Failure to protect our operations and our users from fraudulent activity either by other users or our employees could result in reputational damage to us and could materially and adversely affect our results of operations.

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Failure to adequately protect user account information could have a material adverse effect on us.

We process our users’ personal data (including name, address, age, bank details and transaction history) as part of our business and therefore must comply with data protection laws in China. Data protection laws restrict our ability to collect and use personal information relating to our users and potential users. Notwithstanding our IT and data security and other systems, we may not be effective in detecting any intrusion or other security breaches, or safeguarding against sabotage, hackers, viruses and cybercrime. We are exposed to the risk that personal data could be wrongfully accessed and/or used, whether by employees, users or other third parties, or otherwise lost or disclosed or processed in breach of data protection laws. If we or any of the third-party service providers whom we rely on fail to transmit user information and payment details online in a secure manner or if any such theft or loss of personal user data were to otherwise occur, it could subject us to liabilities under the data protection laws or result in the loss of the goodwill of our users.

We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE Listed Company Manual.

As of the date of this annual report, Mr. Man San Vincent Law, our founder and executive director, owns 55.3% of the voting power of our company. As long as Mr. Law owns at least 50% of the voting power of our company, we will be a “controlled company” as defined under the NYSE Listed Company Manual. For so long as we remain a controlled company under that definition, we are permitted to elect to rely on certain exemptions from corporate governance rules, including an exemption from the rule that a majority of our board of directors must be independent directors, although we have no current intention to rely on the controlled company exemption. As a result, you may not have the same protection afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to these corporate governance requirements.

We have no insurance coverage against business interruptions.

We do not have any business interruption insurance. We have no insurance for the cryptocurrency mining machines in our internet data centers. Any business disruption or natural disaster that affects our data centers and mining machines could result in us incurring substantial costs, including costs to repair our data centers or acquire new mining machines, and a diversion of our resources away from our business, which would have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

We might not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property rights.

We believe our trademarks, software, technology know-how and other intellectual property provide competitive advantages to us, which are important to our achievements to date and our future success. We have invested significant resources to develop our brand name and domain name, “BTC.com”, which is an important asset to us. We cannot assure you that steps taken to protect our intellectual property rights will be sufficient to prevent infringement of our intellectual property rights. If we fail to adequately protect our intellectual property rights, including our rights in our trademarks and know-how, it could have a material adverse effect on our operations.

The validity, enforceability and scope of protection available under intellectual property laws with respect to the Internet industry in China are uncertain and evolving. Implementation and enforcement of PRC intellectual property-related laws have historically been deficient and ineffective. Accordingly, protection of intellectual property rights in China may not be as effective as in the United States or other western countries. Furthermore, policing unauthorized use of proprietary technology is difficult and expensive, and we may need to resort to litigation to enforce or defend our copyrights or other intellectual property rights or to determine the enforceability, scope and validity of our proprietary rights or those of others. Such litigation and any adverse determination thereof could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention away from our business.

We rely on our senior management and key employees.

Our success is dependent upon the expertise and continued service of our senior management and other key personnel. Most of our senior management team members have 20 years of experience in information technology or Internet-related industries. They are crucial to our smooth operation and continued innovation. In addition, we rely on a limited number of specialized staff members in certain areas of our IT operations where we do not receive support from external service providers. Furthermore, our ability to expand our operations to accommodate our anticipated growth will also depend on our ability to attract and retain additional personnel such as qualified risk managers, finance, management, marketing, technical and other personnel. Competition for these employees is intense due to the limited number of qualified personnel. It may be difficult for us to manage our business and meet our objectives if we fail to attract and retain such personnel and our results of operations or financial condition may be adversely affected.

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We are dependent on external service providers with respect to payment and settlement processing, and the provision of faulty services by these providers could lead to financial loss and damage to our reputation.

We are dependent on cooperation with external service providers with specialist knowledge and technology for processing orders. This includes, among other things, data and voice communication, procurement, installation, further development, maintenance and servicing of hardware and software, server housing and payment processing. It is possible that one or more of the external service providers do not perform the services, or that they do not perform them in a timely and accurate manner. It is therefore possible that, due to failures or omissions by the external service providers that we have engaged, we will not be in a position to perform our own services faultlessly or on time. This could lead to revenue losses, liability for damage, and substantial damage to our reputation.

Our quarterly revenues and operating results may fluctuate, which makes our results of operations difficult to predict and may cause our quarterly results of operations to fall short of expectations.

Our quarterly revenues and operating results have fluctuated in the past and may continue to fluctuate depending upon a number of factors, many of which are out of our control. For these reasons, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful, and you should not rely on our past results as an indication of our future performance. Our quarterly and annual revenues and costs and expenses as a percentage of our revenues may be significantly different from our historical or projected rates. Our operating results in future quarters may fall below expectations. Any of these events could cause the price of our ADSs to fall. Other factors that may affect our financial results include, among others:

The ability of U.S. authorities to bring actions for violations of U.S. securities law and regulations against us, our directors, executive officers or the expert named in this annual report may be limited and therefore you may not be afforded the same protection as provided to investors in U.S. domestic companies.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, or the Commission or the SEC, U.S. Department of Justice, or the DOJ, and other authorities often have substantial difficulties in bringing and enforcing actions against non-U.S. companies such as us, and non-U.S. persons, such as our directors and executive officers in China. Due to jurisdictional limitations, matters of comity and various other factors, the SEC, DOJ and other U.S. authorities may be limited in their ability to pursue bad actors, including in instances of fraud, in emerging markets such as China. Most of our operations are conducted, and most of our assets are located, outside China; however, some of our directors and executive officers reside within China. There are significant legal and other obstacles for U.S. authorities to obtain information needed for investigations or litigation against us or our directors, executive officers or other gatekeepers in case we or any of these individuals engage in fraud or other wrongdoing. In addition, local authorities in China may be constrained in their ability to assist U.S. authorities and overseas investors more generally. As a result, if we have any material disclosure violation or if our directors, executive officers or other gatekeepers commit any fraud or other financial misconduct, the U.S. authorities may not be able to conduct effective investigations or bring and enforce actions against us, our directors, executive officers or other gatekeepers. Therefore, you may not be able to enjoy the same protection provided by various U.S. authorities as it is provided to investors in U.S. domestic companies.

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Our grant of employee share options, restricted shares or other share-based compensation and any future grants could have an adverse effect on our net income.

U.S. GAAP prescribes how we account for share-based compensation and may have an adverse impact on our results of operations or the price of our ADSs. U.S. GAAP requires us to recognize share-based compensation as compensation expense in the consolidated statement of comprehensive income generally based on the fair value of equity awards on the date of the grant, with compensation expense recognized over the period in which the recipient is required to provide service in exchange for the equity award. The expenses associated with share-based compensation may reduce the attractiveness of issuing share options or restricted shares under our equity incentive plan. However, if we do not grant share options or restricted shares, or reduce the number of share options or restricted shares we grant, we may not be able to attract and retain key personnel. If we grant more share options or restricted shares to attract and retain key personnel, the expenses associated with share-based compensation may adversely affect our net income.

We could be adversely affected by political tensions between the United States and China.

Political tensions between the United States and China have escalated in recent years due to, among other things, the trade war between the two countries since 2018, the COVID-19 outbreak, the PRC National People’s Congress’ passage of Hong Kong national security legislation, the imposition of U.S. sanctions on certain Chinese officials from China’s central government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region by the U.S. government, and the imposition of sanctions on certain individuals from the U.S. by the Chinese government, various executive orders issued by former U.S. President Donald J. Trump, such as the one issued in August 2020 that prohibits certain transactions with ByteDance Ltd., Tencent Holdings Ltd. and the respective subsidiaries of such companies, the executive order issued in November 2020 that prohibits U.S. persons from transacting publicly traded securities of certain “Communist Chinese military companies” named in such executive order, as well as the executive order issued in January 2021 that prohibits such transactions as are identified by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce with certain “Chinese connected software applications,” including Alipay and WeChat Pay, as well as the Measures for Blocking Improper Extraterritorial Application of Foreign Laws and Measures promulgated by China’s Ministry of Commerce, or MOFCOM, on January 9, 2021, which will apply to Chinese individuals or entities that are purportedly barred or restricted by a foreign country’s law from dealing with nationals or entities of a third country. Rising political tensions between China and the U.S. could reduce levels of trades, investments, technological exchanges and other economic activities between the two major economies, which would have a material adverse effect on global economic conditions and the stability of global financial markets. The measures taken by the U.S. and Chinese governments may have the effect of restricting our ability to transact or otherwise do business with entities within or outside of China and may cause investors to lose confidence in Chinese companies and counterparties, including us. If we were unable to conduct our business as it is currently conducted as a result of such regulatory changes, our business, results of operations and financial condition would be materially and adversely affected.

Furthermore, there have been recent media reports on deliberations within the U.S. government regarding potentially limiting or restricting China-based companies from accessing U.S. capital markets, and delisting China-based companies from U.S. national securities exchanges. In January 2021, after reversing its own delisting decision, the NYSE ultimately resolved to delist China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom in compliance with the executive order issued in November 2020, after receiving additional guidance from the U.S. Department of Treasury and its Office of Foreign Assets Control. These delistings have introduced greater confusion and uncertainty about the status and prospects of Chinese companies listed on the U.S. stock exchanges. If any further such deliberations were to materialize, the resulting legislation may have a material and adverse impact on the stock performance of China-based issuers listed in the United States such as us, and we cannot assure you that we will always be able to maintain the listing of our ADSs on a national stock exchange in the U.S., such as the NYSE or the Nasdaq Stock Market, or that you will always be allowed to trade our shares or ADSs.

Our mining operating costs outpace our mining revenues, which could seriously harm our business or increase our losses.

Our mining operations are costly and our expenses may increase in the future. This expense increase may not be offset by a corresponding increase in revenue. Our expenses may be greater than we anticipate, and our investments to make our business more efficient may not succeed and may outpace monetization efforts. Increases in our costs without a corresponding increase in our revenue would increase our losses and could seriously harm our business and financial performance.

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We have an evolving business model which is subject to various uncertainties.

Since announcing our entry into the cryptocurrency industry in December 2020, we have entered into definitive agreements to (i) purchase cryptocurrency mining machines, (ii) acquire a controlling stake in Loto Interactive Limited (HKEX: 08198), (iii) acquire the entire mining pool business of Bitdeer Technologies Holding Company operated under BTC.com, including the domain name BTC.com and the cryptocurrency wallet of BTC.com, (iv) acquire a 7-nanometer mining machine manufacturer, to unfurl a comprehensive approach to cryptocurrency mining, and (v) jointly invest in the development of a cryptocurrency mining data center in Ohio with power capacity of 150 megawatts in aggregate. As cryptocurrency assets and blockchain technologies become more widely available, we expect the services and products associated with them to evolve. In order to stay current with the industry, our business model may need to continue to evolve as well. From time to time, we may modify aspects of our business model relating to our strategy. There can be no assurance that these or any other modifications will be successful or will not result in harm to our business. We may not be able to manage growth effectively, which could damage our reputation, limit our growth and negatively affect our operating results. Further, we cannot provide any assurance that we will successfully identify all emerging trends and growth opportunities in this business sector and we may lose out on those opportunities. Such circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations.

We may acquire other businesses, form joint ventures or acquire other companies or businesses that could negatively affect our operating results, dilute our shareholders’ ownership, increase our debt or cause us to incur significant expense; notwithstanding the foregoing, our growth may depend on our success in uncovering and completing such transactions.

We have been and will continue to actively consider strategic opportunities, particularly in the field of blockchain and cryptocurrency; however, there can be no assurance that acquisitions of businesses, assets and/or entering into strategic alliances or joint ventures will be successful. We may not be able to find suitable partners or acquisition candidates and may not be able to complete such transactions on favorable terms, if at all. If we make any acquisitions, we may not be able to integrate these acquisitions successfully into the existing business and could assume unknown or contingent liabilities. Furthermore, most potential partners and acquisition candidates in the field of blockchain and cryptocurrency have a short operating history and an evolving business model, which heighten the risks to us and may reduce the likelihood that any such partnership or acquisition will be successful.

Any future acquisitions also could result in the issuance of ordinary shares, incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities or future write-offs of intangible assets or goodwill, any of which could have a negative impact on our cash flows, financial condition and results of operations. Integration of an acquired company may also disrupt ongoing operations and require management resources that otherwise would be focused on developing and expanding our existing business. We may experience losses related to potential investments in other companies, which could harm our financial condition and results of operations. Further, we may not realize the anticipated benefits of any acquisition, strategic alliance or joint venture if such investments do not materialize.

To finance any acquisitions or joint ventures, we may choose to issue shares of ordinary shares, preferred shares or a combination of debt and equity as consideration, which could significantly dilute the ownership of our existing shareholders or provide rights to such preferred shareholders in priority over holders of our ordinary shares. Additional funds may not be available on terms that are favorable to us, or at all. If the price of our ADSs is low or volatile, we may not be able to acquire other companies or fund a joint venture project using ordinary shares as consideration.

We may not be able to compete with other companies, some of whom have greater resources and experience.

We may not be able to compete successfully against present or future competitors. We do not have the resources to compete with larger providers of similar services at this time. The cryptocurrency industry has attracted various high-profile and well-established operators, some of which have substantially greater liquidity and financial resources than we do. With the limited resources we have available, we may experience great difficulties in expanding and improving our network of computers to remain competitive. Competition from existing and future competitors could result in our inability to secure acquisitions and partnerships that we may need to expand our business in the future. This competition from other entities with greater resources, experience and reputations may result in our failure to maintain or expand our business, as we may never be able to successfully execute our business plan. If we are unable to expand and remain competitive, our business could be negatively affected which would have an adverse effect on the trading price of our ADSs, which would harm investors in our company.

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Because cryptocurrencies may be determined to be investment securities, we may inadvertently violate the Investment Company Act and incur large losses as a result and potentially be required to register as an investment company or terminate operations and we may incur third party liabilities.

We believe that we are not engaged in the business of investing, reinvesting, or trading in securities, and we do not hold ourselves out as being engaged in those activities. However, under the Investment Company Act a company may be deemed an investment company under section 3(a)(1)(C) thereof if the value of its investment securities is more than 40% of its total assets (exclusive of government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis.

As a result of our investments and our mining activities, including investments in which we do not have a controlling interest, the investment securities we hold could exceed 40% of our total assets, exclusive of cash items and, accordingly, we could determine that we have become an inadvertent investment company. The cryptocurrency we own, acquire or mine may be deemed an investment security by the SEC, although we do not believe any of the cryptocurrencies we own, acquire or mine are securities. An inadvertent investment company can avoid being classified as an investment company if it can rely on one of the exclusions under the Investment Company Act. One such exclusion, Rule 3a-2 under the Investment Company Act, allows an inadvertent investment company a grace period of one year from the earlier of (a) the date on which an issuer owns securities and/or cash having a value exceeding 50% of the issuer’s total assets on either a consolidated or unconsolidated basis and (b) the date on which an issuer owns or proposes to acquire investment securities having a value exceeding 40% of the value of such issuer’s total assets (exclusive of government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. As of December 31, 2020, we do not believe we are an inadvertent investment company, however this issue has not been resolved by SEC rules or regulations. For us, any grace period would be unknown until these issues are resolved or the SEC issues rules and regulations concerning cryptocurrency treatment. We may take actions to cause the investment securities held by us to be less than 40% of our total assets, which may include acquiring assets with our cash and cryptocurrency on hand or liquidating our investment securities or cryptocurrency or seeking a no-action letter from the SEC if we are unable to acquire sufficient assets or liquidate sufficient investment securities in a timely manner.

As the Rule 3a-2 exception is available to a company no more than once every three years, and assuming no other exclusion were available to us, we would have to keep within the 40% limit for at least three years after we cease being an inadvertent investment company. This may limit our ability to make certain investments or enter into joint ventures that could otherwise have a positive impact on our earnings. In any event, we do not intend to become an investment company engaged in the business of investing and trading securities.

Classification as an investment company under the Investment Company Act requires registration with the SEC. If an investment company fails to register, it would have to stop doing almost all business, and its contracts would become voidable. Registration is time consuming and restrictive and would require a restructuring of our operations, and we would be very constrained in the kind of business we could do as a registered investment company. Further, we would become subject to substantial regulation concerning management, operations, transactions with affiliated persons and portfolio composition, and would need to file reports under the Investment Company Act regime. The cost of such compliance would result in the Company incurring substantial additional expenses, and the failure to register if required would have a materially adverse impact to conduct our operations.

If regulatory changes or interpretations require the regulation of bitcoins under the Securities Act and Investment Company Act by the SEC, we may be required to register and comply with such regulations. To the extent that we decide to continue operations, the required registrations and regulatory compliance steps may result in extraordinary, non-recurring expenses to us. We may also decide to cease certain operations. Any disruption of our operations in response to the changed regulatory circumstances may be at a time that is disadvantageous to investors. This would likely have a material adverse effect on us and investors may lose their investment.

Current and future legislation and the SEC rulemaking and other regulatory developments, including interpretations released by a regulatory authority, may impact the manner in which bitcoins are treated for classification and clearing purposes. The SEC’s July 25, 2017 Report expressed its view that digital assets may be securities depending on the facts and circumstances. As of the date of this annual report, we are not aware of any rules that have been proposed to regulate bitcoins as securities. We cannot be certain as to how future regulatory developments will impact the treatment of bitcoins under the law. Such additional registrations may result in extraordinary, non-recurring expenses, thereby materially and adversely impacting an investment in us. If we determine not to comply with such additional regulatory and registration requirements, we may seek to cease certain of our operations. Any such action may adversely affect an investment in us.

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To the extent that digital assets including ether, bitcoins and other digital assets we may own are deemed by the SEC to fall within the definition of a security, we may be required to register and comply with additional regulation under the Investment Company Act, including additional periodic reporting and disclosure standards and requirements and the registration of our Company as an investment company. If we determine not to comply with such additional regulatory and registration requirements, we may seek to cease all or certain parts of our operations. Any such action would likely adversely affect an investment in us and investors may suffer a complete loss of their investment.

Cryptocurrency-Related Risks

Regulatory changes or actions may alter the nature of an investment in us or restrict the use of cryptocurrencies in a manner that adversely affects our business, prospects or operations.

As cryptocurrencies have grown in both popularity and market size, governments around the world have reacted differently to cryptocurrencies; certain governments have deemed them illegal, and others have allowed their use and trade without restriction, while in some jurisdictions, such as in the U.S., subject to extensive, and in some cases overlapping, unclear and evolving regulatory requirements. Ongoing and future regulatory actions may impact our ability to continue to operate, and such actions could affect our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations.

The development and acceptance of cryptographic and algorithmic protocols governing the issuance of and transactions in cryptocurrencies is subject to a variety of factors that are difficult to evaluate.

The use of cryptocurrencies to, among other things, buy and sell goods and services and complete transactions, is part of a new and rapidly evolving industry that employs cryptocurrency assets based upon a computer-generated mathematical and/or cryptographic protocol. Large-scale acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment has not, and may never, occur. The growth of this industry in general, and the use of cryptocurrencies in particular, is subject to a high degree of uncertainty, and the slowing or stopping of the development or acceptance of developing protocols may occur unpredictably. The factors include, but are not limited to:

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The outcome of these factors could have negative effects on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our business strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations as well as potentially negative effect on the value of any bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies we mine or otherwise acquire or hold for our own account, which would harm investors in our securities.

Banks and financial institutions may not provide banking services, or may cut off services, to businesses that engage in cryptocurrency-related activities or that accept cryptocurrencies as payment, including financial institutions of investors in our securities.

A number of companies that engage in bitcoin and/or other cryptocurrency-related activities have been unable to find banks or financial institutions that are willing to provide them with bank accounts and other services. Similarly, a number of companies and individuals or businesses associated with cryptocurrencies may have had and may continue to have their existing bank accounts closed or services discontinued with financial institutions in response to government action, particularly in China, where regulatory response to cryptocurrencies has been to exclude their use for ordinary consumer transactions within China. We also may be unable to obtain or maintain these services for our business. The difficulty that many businesses that provide bitcoin and/or derivatives on other cryptocurrency-related activities have and may continue to have in finding banks and financial institutions willing to provide them services may be decreasing the usefulness of cryptocurrencies as a payment system and harming public perception of cryptocurrencies, and could decrease their usefulness and harm their public perception in the future. 

The usefulness of cryptocurrencies as a payment system and the public perception of cryptocurrencies could be damaged if banks or financial institutions were to close the accounts of businesses engaging in bitcoin and/or other cryptocurrency-related activities. This could occur as a result of compliance risk, cost, government regulation or public pressure. The risk applies to securities firms, clearance and settlement firms, national stock and derivatives on commodities exchanges, the over-the-counter market, and the Depository Trust Company, which, if any of such entities adopts or implements similar policies, rules or regulations, could negatively affect our relationships with financial institutions and impede our ability to convert cryptocurrencies to fiat currencies. Such factors could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations and harm investors.

We may face risks of Internet disruptions, which could have an adverse effect on the price of cryptocurrencies.

A disruption of the Internet may affect the use of cryptocurrencies and subsequently the value of our securities. Generally, cryptocurrencies and our business of mining cryptocurrencies is dependent upon the Internet. A significant disruption in Internet connectivity could disrupt a currency’s network operations until the disruption is resolved and have an adverse effect on the price of cryptocurrencies and our ability to mine cryptocurrencies.

The digital asset exchanges on which digital assets trade are relatively new and, in most cases, largely unregulated and may therefore be more exposed to fraud and failure than established, regulated exchanges for other products. To the extent that the digital asset exchanges representing a substantial portion of the volume in digital asset trading are involved in fraud or experience security failures or other operational issues, such digital asset exchanges’ failures may result in a reduction in the price of some or all digital assets and can adversely affect an investment in us.

The digital asset exchanges on which the digital assets trade are new and, in most cases, largely unregulated. Furthermore, many digital asset exchanges (including several of the most prominent USD denominated digital asset exchanges) do not provide the public with significant information regarding their ownership structure, management teams, corporate practices or regulatory compliance. As a result, the marketplace may lose confidence in, or may experience problems relating to, digital asset exchanges, including prominent exchanges handling a significant portion of the volume of digital asset trading.

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For example, over the past four years, a number of bitcoin exchanges have been closed due to fraud, failure or security breaches. In many of these instances, the customers of such bitcoin exchanges were not compensated or made whole for the partial or complete losses of their account balances in such bitcoin exchanges. While smaller bitcoin exchanges are less likely to have the infrastructure and capitalization that make larger bitcoin exchanges more stable, larger bitcoin exchanges are more likely to be appealing targets for hackers and “malware” (i.e., software used or programmed by attackers to disrupt computer operation, gather sensitive information or gain access to private computer systems). Further, the collapse of the largest bitcoin exchange in 2014 suggests that the failure of one component of the overall bitcoin ecosystem can have consequences for both users of a bitcoin exchange and the bitcoin industry as a whole.

A lack of stability in the digital asset exchange market and the closure or temporary shutdown of digital asset exchanges due to fraud, business failure, hackers or malware, or government-mandated regulation may reduce confidence in the digital asset networks and result in greater volatility in digital asset values. These potential consequences of a digital asset exchange’s failure could adversely affect an investment in us.

The impact of geopolitical and economic events on the supply and demand for cryptocurrencies is uncertain.

Geopolitical crises may motivate large-scale purchases of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which could increase the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rapidly. This may increase the likelihood of a subsequent price decrease as crisis-driven purchasing behavior dissipates, adversely affecting the value of our inventory following such downward adjustment. Such risks are similar to the risks of purchasing commodities in general uncertain times, such as the risk of purchasing, holding or selling gold. Alternatively, as an emerging asset class with limited acceptance as a payment system or commodity, global crises and general economic downturn may discourage investment in cryptocurrencies as investors focus their investment on less volatile asset classes as a means of hedging their investment risk.

As an alternative to fiat currencies that are backed by central governments, cryptocurrencies, which are relatively new, are subject to supply and demand forces. How such supply and demand will be impacted by geopolitical events is largely uncertain but could be harmful to us and investors in our ADSs. Political or economic crises may motivate large-scale acquisitions or sales of cryptocurrencies either globally or locally. Such events could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations and potentially the value of any bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies we mine or otherwise acquire or hold for our own account.

Acceptance and/or widespread use of cryptocurrency is uncertain.

Currently, there is a relatively limited use of any cryptocurrency in the retail and commercial marketplace, thus contributing to price volatility that could adversely affect an investment in our securities. Banks and other established financial institutions may refuse to process funds for cryptocurrency transactions, process wire transfers to or from cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency-related companies or service providers, or maintain accounts for persons or entities transacting in cryptocurrency. Conversely, a significant portion of cryptocurrency demand is generated by investors seeking a long-term store of value or speculators seeking to profit from the short- or long-term holding of the asset. Price volatility undermines any cryptocurrency’s role as a medium of exchange, as retailers are much less likely to accept it as a form of payment. Market capitalization for a cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange and payment method may always be low.

The relative lack of acceptance of cryptocurrencies in the retail and commercial marketplace, or a reduction of such use, limits the ability of end users to use them to pay for goods and services. Such lack of acceptance or decline in acceptances could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations and potentially the value of bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies we mine or otherwise acquire or hold for our own account.

Transactional fees may decrease demand for bitcoin and prevent expansion.

As the number of bitcoins currency rewards awarded for solving a block in a blockchain decreases, the incentive for mining machines to continue to contribute to the bitcoin network may transition from a set reward to transaction fees. 

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In order to incentivize mining machines to continue to contribute to the bitcoin network, the bitcoin network may either formally or informally transition from a set reward to transaction fees earned upon solving a block. This transition could be accomplished by mining machines independently electing to record in the blocks they solve only those transactions that include payment of a transaction fee. If transaction fees paid for bitcoin transactions become too high, the marketplace may be reluctant to accept bitcoin as a means of payment and existing users may be motivated to switch from bitcoin to another cryptocurrency or to fiat currency. Either the requirement from mining machines of higher transaction fees in exchange for recording transactions in a blockchain or a software upgrade that automatically charges fees for all transactions may decrease demand for bitcoin and prevent the expansion of the bitcoin network to retail merchants and commercial businesses, resulting in a reduction in the price of bitcoin that could adversely impact an investment in our securities. Decreased use and demand for bitcoin may adversely affect its value and result in a reduction in the price of bitcoin and the value of our ADSs.

The decentralized nature of cryptocurrency systems may lead to slow or inadequate responses to crises, which may negatively affect our business.

The decentralized nature of the governance of cryptocurrency systems may lead to ineffective decision making that slows development or prevents a network from overcoming emergent obstacles. Governance of many cryptocurrency systems is by voluntary consensus and open competition with no clear leadership structure or authority. To the extent lack of clarity in corporate governance of cryptocurrency systems leads to ineffective decision making that slows development and growth of such cryptocurrencies, the value of our ADSs may be adversely affected.

It may be illegal now, or in the future, to mine for, acquire, own, hold, sell or use bitcoin, ether, or other cryptocurrencies, participate in blockchains or utilize similar cryptocurrency assets in one or more countries, the ruling of which would adversely affect us.

Although currently cryptocurrencies generally are not regulated or are lightly regulated in most countries, one or more countries such as China and Russia, which have taken harsh regulatory action in recent months, may take regulatory actions in the future that could severely restrict the right to mine for, acquire, own, hold, sell or use these cryptocurrency assets or to exchange for fiat currency. In many nations, particularly in China and Russia, it is illegal to accept payment in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for consumer transactions and banking institutions are barred from accepting deposits of cryptocurrencies. Such restrictions may adversely affect us as the large-scale use of cryptocurrencies as a means of exchange is presently confined to certain regions globally. In addition, mining for bitcoin, ether, or other cryptocurrencies may become restricted or prohibited in locations where we operate. Such circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations and potentially the value of any bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies we mine or otherwise acquire or hold for our own account, and harm investors.

There is a lack of liquid markets, and possible manipulation of blockchain/cryptocurrency-based assets.

Cryptocurrencies that are represented and trade on a ledger-based platform may not necessarily benefit from viable trading markets. Stock exchanges have listing requirements and vet issuers; requiring them to be subjected to rigorous listing standards and rules, and monitor investors transacting on such platform for fraud and other improprieties. These conditions may not necessarily be replicated on a distributed ledger platform, depending on the platform’s controls and other policies. The laxer a distributed ledger platform is about vetting issuers of cryptocurrency assets or users that transact on the platform, the higher the potential risk for fraud or the manipulation of the ledger due to a control event. These factors may decrease liquidity or volume or may otherwise increase volatility of investment securities or other assets trading on a ledger-based system, which may adversely affect us. Such circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations and potentially the value of any bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies we mine or otherwise acquire or hold for our own account, and harm investors.

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Our operations, investment strategies and profitability may be adversely affected by competition from other methods of investing in cryptocurrencies.

We compete with other users and/or companies that are mining cryptocurrencies and other potential financial vehicles, including securities backed by or linked to cryptocurrencies through entities similar to us. Market and financial conditions, and other conditions beyond our control, may make it more attractive to invest in other financial vehicles, or to invest in cryptocurrencies directly, which could limit the market for our shares and reduce their liquidity. The emergence of other financial vehicles and exchange-traded funds have been scrutinized by regulators and such scrutiny and the negative impressions or conclusions resulting from such scrutiny could be applicable to us and impact our ability to successfully pursue our new strategy or operate at all, or to establish or maintain a public market for our securities. Such circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations and potentially the value of any bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies we mine or otherwise acquire or hold for our own account, and harm investors.

The development and acceptance of competing blockchain platforms or technologies may cause consumers to use alternative distributed ledgers or other alternatives.

The development and acceptance of competing blockchain platforms or technologies may cause consumers to use alternative distributed ledgers or an alternative to distributed ledgers altogether. Our business utilizes presently existent digital ledgers and blockchains and we could face difficulty adapting to emergent digital ledgers, blockchains, or alternatives thereto. This may adversely affect us and our exposure to various blockchain technologies and prevent us from realizing the anticipated profits from our investments. Such circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations and potentially the value of any bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies we mine or otherwise acquire or hold for our own account, and harm investors.

Our cryptocurrencies may be subject to loss, theft or restriction on access.

There is a risk that some or all of our cryptocurrencies could be lost or stolen. Cryptocurrencies are stored in cryptocurrency sites commonly referred to as “wallets” by holders of cryptocurrencies which may be accessed to exchange a holder’s cryptocurrency assets. Access to our cryptocurrency assets could also be restricted by cybercrime (such as a denial of service attack) against a service at which we maintain a hosted hot wallet. A hot wallet refers to any cryptocurrency wallet that is connected to the Internet. Generally, hot wallets are easier to set up and access then wallets in cold storage, but they are also more susceptible to hackers and other technical vulnerabilities. Cold storage refers to any cryptocurrency wallet that is not connected to the Internet. Cold storage is generally more secure than hot storage, but is not ideal for quick or regular transactions and we may experience lag time in our ability to respond to market fluctuations in the price of our cryptocurrency assets. We currently hold all of our cryptocurrencies in hot wallets and are exploring the use of cold storage. However, the risk of loss of our cryptocurrency assets cannot be wholly eliminated even if cold storage is used.

Hackers or malicious actors may launch attacks to steal, compromise or secure cryptocurrencies, such as by attacking the cryptocurrency network source code, exchange mining machines, third-party platforms, cold and hot storage locations or software, or by other means. We may be in control and possession of one of the more substantial holdings of cryptocurrency. As we increase in size, we may become a more appealing target of hackers, malware, cyber-attacks or other security threats. Any of these events may adversely affect our operations and, consequently, our investments and profitability. The loss or destruction of a private key required to access our digital wallets may be irreversible and we may be denied access for all time to our cryptocurrency holdings or the holdings of others held in those compromised wallets. Our loss of access to our private keys or our experience of a data loss relating to our digital wallets could adversely affect our investments and assets.

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Cryptocurrencies are controllable only by the possessor of both the unique public and private keys relating to the local or online digital wallet in which they are held, which wallet’s public key or address is reflected in the network’s public blockchain. We will publish the public key relating to digital wallets in use when we verify the receipt of transfers and disseminate such information into the network, but we will need to safeguard the private keys relating to such digital wallets. To the extent such private keys are lost, destroyed or otherwise compromised, we will be unable to access our cryptocurrency rewards and such private keys may not be capable of being restored by any network. Any loss of private keys relating to digital wallets used to store our cryptocurrencies could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations and potentially the value of any bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies we mine or otherwise acquire or hold for our own account.

Risks due to hacking or adverse software event.

There can be no assurances that any processes to manage wallets that are associated with our cryptocurrency holdings that we have adopted or will adopt in the future are or will be secure or effective, and we would suffer significant and immediate adverse effects if we suffered a loss of our cryptocurrency due to an adverse software or cybersecurity event. Human error and the constantly evolving state of cybercrime and hacking techniques may render present security protocols and procedures ineffective in ways which we cannot predict. If our security procedures and protocols are ineffectual and our cryptocurrency assets are compromised by cybercriminals, we may not have adequate recourse to recover our losses stemming from such compromise and we may lose much of the accumulated value of our cryptocurrency mining activities. This would have a negative impact on our business and operations.

Incorrect or fraudulent cryptocurrency transactions may be irreversible.

Cryptocurrency transactions are irrevocable and stolen or incorrectly transferred cryptocurrencies may be irretrievable. As a result, any incorrectly executed or fraudulent cryptocurrency transactions could adversely affect our investments and assets.

Cryptocurrency transactions are not, from an administrative perspective, reversible without the consent and active participation of the recipient of the cryptocurrencies from the transaction. In theory, cryptocurrency transactions may be reversible with the control or consent of a majority of processing power on the network, however, we do not now, nor is it feasible that we could in the future, possess sufficient processing power to effect this reversal. Once a transaction has been verified and recorded in a block that is added to a blockchain, an incorrect transfer of a cryptocurrency or a theft thereof generally will not be reversible and we may not have sufficient recourse to recover our losses from any such transfer or theft. It is possible that, through computer or human error, or through theft or criminal action, our cryptocurrency rewards could be transferred in incorrect amounts or to unauthorized third parties, or to uncontrolled accounts. Further, according to the SEC, at this time, there is no specifically enumerated U.S. or foreign governmental, regulatory, investigative or prosecutorial authority or mechanism through which to bring an action or complaint regarding missing or stolen cryptocurrency. We would be, therefore, reliant on existing private investigative entities to investigate any potential loss of our cryptocurrency assets. Such third-party service providers rely on data analysis and compliance of ISPs with traditional court orders to reveal information such as the IP addresses of any attackers who may have target us. To the extent that we are unable to recover our losses from such action, error or theft, such events could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations of and potentially the value of any bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies we mine or otherwise acquire or hold for our own account.

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Our interactions with a blockchain may expose us to SDN or blocked persons or cause us to violate provisions of law that did not contemplate distribute ledger technology.

The Office of Financial Assets Control of the U.S. Department of Treasury requires us to comply with its sanction program and not conduct business with persons named on its specially designated nationals (“SDN”) list. However, because of the pseudonymous nature of blockchain transactions we may inadvertently and without our knowledge engage in transactions with persons named on OFAC’s SDN list. Our Company’s policy prohibits any transactions with such SDN individuals, but we may not be adequately capable of determining the ultimate identity of the individual with whom we transact with respect to selling cryptocurrency assets. Moreover, federal law prohibits any U.S. person from knowingly or unknowingly possessing any visual depiction commonly known as child pornography. Recent media reports have suggested that persons have imbedded such depictions on one or more blockchains. Because our business requires us to download and retain one or more blockchains to effectuate our ongoing business, it is possible that such digital ledgers contain prohibited depictions without our knowledge or consent. To the extent government enforcement authorities literally enforce these and other laws and regulations that are impacted by decentralized distributed ledger technology, we may be subject to investigation, administrative or court proceedings, and civil or criminal monetary fines and penalties, all of which could harm our reputation and affect the value of our ADSs.

Cryptocurrencies face significant scaling obstacles that can lead to high fees or slow transaction settlement times.

Cryptocurrencies face significant scaling obstacles that can lead to high fees or slow transaction settlement times, and attempts to increase the volume of transactions may not be effective. Scaling cryptocurrencies is essential to the widespread acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, which widespread acceptance is necessary to the continued growth and development of our business. Many cryptocurrency networks face significant scaling challenges. For example, cryptocurrencies are limited with respect to how many transactions can occur per second. Participants in the cryptocurrency ecosystem debate potential approaches to increasing the average number of transactions per second that the network can handle and have implemented mechanisms or are researching ways to increase scale, such as increasing the allowable sizes of blocks, and therefore the number of transactions per block, and sharding (a horizontal partition of data in a database or search engine), which would not require every single transaction to be included in every single mining machine’s or validator’s block. However, there is no guarantee that any of the mechanisms in place or being explored for increasing the scale of settlement of cryptocurrency transactions will be effective, or how long they will take to become effective, which could adversely affect an investment in our securities.

The price of cryptocurrencies may be affected by the sale of such cryptocurrencies by other vehicles investing in cryptocurrencies or tracking cryptocurrency markets.

The global market for cryptocurrency is characterized by supply constraints that differ from those present in the markets for commodities or other assets such as gold and silver. The mathematical protocols under which certain cryptocurrencies are mined permit the creation of a limited, predetermined amount of currency, while others have no limit established on total supply. To the extent that other vehicles investing in cryptocurrencies or tracking cryptocurrency markets form and come to represent a significant proportion of the demand for cryptocurrencies, large redemptions of the securities of those vehicles and the subsequent sale of cryptocurrencies by such vehicles could negatively affect cryptocurrency prices and therefore affect the value of the cryptocurrency inventory we hold. Such events could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations and potentially the value of any bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies we mine or otherwise acquire or hold for our own account.

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Because there has been limited precedent set for financial accounting of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency assets, the determination that we have made for how to account for cryptocurrency assets transactions may be subject to change.

Because there has been limited precedent set for the financial accounting of cryptocurrencies and related revenue recognition and no official guidance has yet been provided by the Financial Accounting Standards Board or the SEC, it is unclear how companies may in the future be required to account for cryptocurrency transactions and assets and related revenue recognition. A change in regulatory or financial accounting standards could result in the necessity to change our accounting methods and restate our financial statements. Such a restatement could adversely affect the accounting for our newly mined cryptocurrency rewards and more generally negatively impact our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operation. Such circumstances would have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations as well as and potentially the value of any cryptocurrencies we hold or expects to acquire for our own account and harm investors.

Cryptocurrency assets and transactions may be subject to further taxation in the future.

In recent years, the rise of cryptocurrency prices and transaction volume has attracted the attention of tax authorities. As the laws governing cryptocurrencies are still evolving, the tax treatment of cryptocurrencies in various jurisdictions are subject to change. While some countries intend to or have imposed taxation on cryptocurrency assets and transactions, other tax authorities are silent. As there is considerable uncertainty over the taxation of cryptocurrencies, we cannot guarantee that the cryptocurrency assets and transactions denominated in cryptocurrencies will not be subject to further taxation in the future, including but not limited to additional taxes and increased tax rate. These events could reduce the economic return of cryptocurrency and increase the holding costs of cryptocurrency assets, which could materially and adversely affect the businesses and financial performances of our blockchain customers engaging in cryptocurrency mining businesses, and in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Cryptocurrency Mining-Related Risks

There are risks related to technological obsolescence, the vulnerability of the global supply chain for cryptocurrency hardware disruption, and difficulty in obtaining new hardware which may have a negative effect on our business.

Our mining operations can only be successful and ultimately profitable if the costs, including hardware and electricity costs, associated with mining cryptocurrencies are lower than the price of a bitcoin. As our mining facility operates, our mining machines experience ordinary wear and tear, and may also face more significant malfunctions caused by a number of extraneous factors beyond our control. As of the date of this annual report, most of our mining machines were previously owned and were purchased by us on a second hand basis. These second-hand mining machines may cost more to repair, maintain and operate, and will likely have a shorter useful life, than new mining machines. If our mining machines cannot be maintained and operated efficiently, our aggregate hash rate and actual bitcoin production rate will decrease. We may need to incur additional costs in order to restore our aggregate hash rate and actual bitcoin production rate to prior levels. The degradation of our mining machines will require us to, over time, replace those mining machines which are no longer functional. Additionally, as the technology evolves, we may be required to acquire newer models of mining machines to remain competitive in the market. The cost of acquiring new mining machines is unpredictable and could be extremely high. We may need to obtain mining machines and other hardware from third parties at premium prices, to the extent they are available. Additionally, in order to keep pace with technological advances and competition from other mining companies, we may need to acquire new mining machines which will eventually need to be repaired or replaced along with other equipment from time to time to stay competitive. This upgrading process requires substantial capital investment, and we may face challenges in doing so on a timely and cost-effective basis. Any inability to maintain or upgrade our mining machines and other hardware on a cost-effective basis could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Furthermore, there are a limited number of suppliers of quality, high performance mining machines. The prices for such mining machines are often closely linked and similarly volatile to the price of bitcoin. Currently there is a shortage of quality, high performance mining machines due to recent increases in the price of bitcoin. This combination of factors makes quality, high performance mining machines expensive and difficult to acquire. Suppliers are often unwilling to commit to long-term contracts with fixed pricing terms due to the volatility and significant fluctuations in the price of bitcoin. In addition, any shortage of chips, processors and ASICs can result in a shortage in the mining machines they power. Such events could have a material adverse effect on our ability to pursue our new strategy, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and the value of our ADSs.

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Our operations are dependent upon the mining machines we use, which are susceptible to failure.

The performance and reliability of our mining machines and our technology is critical to our reputation and our operations. If there is any issue with mining machines we use, our operations could be affected. Any system error or failure may significantly delay response times or even cause our system to fail. Any disruption in our ability to continue mining could result in lower yields and harm our reputation and business. Any exploitable weakness, flaw, or error common to our mining machines could affect all our mining operations, if a defect other flaw is exploited, all or a part of our mining operations could go offline simultaneously. Any interruption, delay or system failure could result in financial losses, a decrease in the trading price of our ADSs and damage to our reputation.

The primary cryptocurrency for which we mine, bitcoin, is subject to halving; the cryptocurrency reward for successfully uncovering a block will halve several times in the future and their value may not adjust to compensate us for the reduction in the rewards we receive from our mining efforts.

Halving is a process designed to control the overall supply and reduce the risk of inflation in cryptocurrencies using a Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm. At a predetermined block, the mining reward is cut in half, hence the term “halving.” For bitcoin, the reward was initially set at 50 bitcoin currency rewards per block and this was cut in half to 25 in November 28, 2012 at block 210,000, to 12.5 on July 9, 2016 at block 420,000 and again to 6.25 on May 11, 2020 at block 630,000. This halving process will reoccur until the total amount of bitcoin currency rewards issued reaches 21 million, which is expected around 2140. While bitcoin prices have had a history of price fluctuations around the halving of its cryptocurrency reward, there is no guarantee that the price change will be favorable or would compensate for the reduction in mining reward. If a corresponding and proportionate increase in the trading price of bitcoin does not follow these anticipated halving events, the revenue we earn from our mining operations would see a corresponding decrease, which would have a material adverse effect on our business and operations. 

Our future success will depend in large part upon the value of bitcoin; the value of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies may be subject to pricing risk and has historically been subject to wide swings.

Our operating results will depend in large part upon the value of bitcoin because it’s the primary cryptocurrency we currently mine. Specifically, our revenues from our bitcoin mining operations are based upon two factors: (1) the number of bitcoin rewards we successfully mine and (2) the value of bitcoin. In addition, our operating results are directly impacted by changes in the value of bitcoin, because under the value measurement model, both realized and unrealized changes will be reflected in our statement of operations (i.e., we will be marking bitcoin to fair value each quarter). This means that our operating results will be subject to swings based upon increases or decreases in the value of bitcoin. Furthermore, our new strategy initially focuses almost entirely on bitcoin (as opposed to other cryptocurrencies). Further, our current application-specific integrated circuit, or ASIC, machines (which we refer to as “mining machines”) are principally utilized for mining bitcoin and bitcoin cash and cannot mine other cryptocurrencies, such as ether, that are not mined utilizing the “SHA-256 algorithm.” If other cryptocurrencies were to achieve acceptance at the expense of bitcoin or bitcoin cash causing the value of bitcoin or bitcoin cash to decline, or if bitcoin were to switch its proof of work algorithm from SHA-256 to another algorithm for which our mining machines are not specialized, or the value of bitcoin or bitcoin cash were to decline for other reasons, particularly if such decline were significant or over an extended period of time, our operating results would be adversely affected, and there could be a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations, and harm investors.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency market prices, which have historically been volatile and are impacted by a variety of factors (including those discussed below), are determined primarily using data from various exchanges, over-the-counter markets and derivative platforms. Furthermore, such prices may be subject to factors such as those that impact commodities, more so than business activities, which could be subjected to additional influence from fraudulent or illegitimate actors, real or perceived scarcity, and political, economic, regulatory or other conditions. Pricing may be the result of, and may continue to result in, speculation regarding future appreciation in the value of cryptocurrencies, or our share price, inflating and making their market prices more volatile or creating “bubble” type risks for both bitcoin and our ADSs.

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Currently, there is relatively small use of digital assets in the retail and commercial marketplace in comparison to relatively large use by speculators, thus contributing to price volatility that could adversely affect an investment in us.

As relatively new products and technologies, digital assets and the blockchain networks on which they exist have only recently become widely accepted as a means of payment for goods and services by many major retail and commercial outlets and use of digital assets by consumers to pay such retail and commercial outlets remains limited. Conversely, a significant portion of demand for digital assets is generated by speculators and investors seeking to profit from the short- or long-term holding of such digital assets. A lack of expansion of digital assets into retail and commercial markets, or a contraction of such use, may result in increased volatility or a reduction in the price of all or any digital asset, either of which could adversely impact an investment in us.

We may not be able to realize the benefits of forks.

To the extent that a significant majority of users and mining machines on a cryptocurrency network install software that changes the cryptocurrency network or properties of a cryptocurrency, including the irreversibility of transactions and limitations on the mining of new cryptocurrency, the cryptocurrency network would be subject to new protocols and software. However, if less than a significant majority of users and mining machines on the cryptocurrency network consent to the proposed modification, and the modification is not compatible with the software prior to its modification, the consequence would be what is known as a “fork” of the network, with one prong running the pre-modified software and the other running the modified software. The effect of such a fork would be the existence of two versions of the cryptocurrency running in parallel, yet lacking interchangeability and necessitating exchange-type transaction to convert currencies between the two forks. Additionally, it may be unclear following a fork which fork represents the original asset and which is the new asset. Different metrics adopted by industry participants to determine which is the original asset include: referring to the wishes of the core developers of a cryptocurrency, blockchains with the greatest amount of hashing power contributed by mining machines or validators; or blockchains with the longest chain. A fork in the network of a particular cryptocurrency could adversely affect an investment in our securities or our ability to operate.

We may not be able to realize the economic benefit of a fork, either immediately or ever, which could adversely affect an investment in our securities. If we hold a cryptocurrency at the time of a hard fork into two cryptocurrencies, industry standards would dictate that we would be expected to hold an equivalent amount of the old and new assets following the fork. However, we may not be able, or it may not be practical, to secure or realize the economic benefit of the new asset for various reasons. For instance, we may determine that there is no safe or practical way to custody the new asset, that trying to do so may pose an unacceptable risk to our holdings in the old asset, or that the costs of taking possession and/or maintaining ownership of the new cryptocurrency exceed the benefits of owning the new cryptocurrency. Additionally, laws, regulation or other factors may prevent us from benefitting from the new asset even if there is a safe and practical way to custody and secure the new asset.

There is a possibility of cryptocurrency mining algorithms transitioning to proof of stake validation and other mining related risks, which could make us less competitive and ultimately adversely affect our business and the value of our ADSs.

Proof of stake is an alternative method in validating cryptocurrency transactions. Should the algorithm shift from a proof of work validation method to a proof of stake method, mining would require less energy and may render any company that maintains advantages in the current climate (for example, from lower priced electricity, processing, real estate, or hosting) less competitive. We, as a result of our efforts to optimize and improve the efficiency of our cryptocurrency mining operations, may be exposed to the risk in the future of losing the benefit of our capital investments and the competitive advantage we hope to gain form this as a result, and may be negatively impacted if a switch to proof of stake validation were to occur. This may additionally have an impact on other various investments of ours. Such events could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations and potentially the value of any bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies we mine or otherwise acquire or hold for our own account.

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To the extent that the profit margins of bitcoin mining operations are not high, operators of bitcoin mining operations are more likely to immediately sell bitcoin rewards earned by mining in the market, thereby constraining growth of the price of bitcoin that could adversely impact us, and similar actions could affect other cryptocurrencies.

Over the past two years, bitcoin mining operations have evolved from individual users mining with computer processors, graphics processing units and first-generation ASIC servers. Currently, new processing power is predominantly added by incorporated and unincorporated “professionalized” mining operations. Professionalized mining operations may use proprietary hardware or sophisticated ASIC machines acquired from ASIC manufacturers. They require the investment of significant capital for the acquisition of this hardware, the leasing of operating space (often in data centers or warehousing facilities), incurring of electricity costs and the employment of technicians to operate the mining farms. As a result, professionalized mining operations are of a greater scale than prior mining machines and have more defined and regular expenses and liabilities. These regular expenses and liabilities require professionalized mining operations to maintain profit margins on the sale of bitcoin. To the extent the price of bitcoin declines and such profit margin is constrained, professionalized mining machines are incentivized to more immediately sell bitcoin earned from mining operations, whereas it is believed that individual mining machines in past years were more likely to hold newly mined bitcoin for more extended periods. The immediate selling of newly mined bitcoin greatly increases the trading volume of bitcoin, creating downward pressure on the market price of bitcoin rewards.

The extent to which the value of bitcoin mined by a professionalized mining operation exceeds the allocable capital and operating costs determines the profit margin of such operation. A professionalized mining operation may be more likely to sell a higher percentage of its newly mined bitcoin rapidly if it is operating at a low profit margin and it may partially or completely cease operations if its profit margin is negative. In a low profit margin environment, a higher percentage could be sold more rapidly, thereby potentially depressing bitcoin prices. Lower bitcoin prices could result in further tightening of profit margins for professionalized mining operations creating a network effect that may further reduce the price of bitcoin until mining operations with higher operating costs become unprofitable forcing them to reduce mining power or cease mining operations temporarily. 

The foregoing risks associated with bitcoin could be equally applicable to other cryptocurrencies, whether existing now or introduced in the future. Such circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations and potentially the value of bitcoin and any other cryptocurrencies we mine or otherwise acquire or hold for our own account, and harm investors.

If a malicious actor or botnet obtains control of more than 50% of the processing power on a cryptocurrency network, such actor or botnet could manipulate blockchains to adversely affect us, which would adversely affect an investment in us or our ability to operate.

If a malicious actor or botnet (a volunteer or hacked collection of computers controlled by networked software coordinating the actions of the computers) obtains a majority of the processing power dedicated to mining a cryptocurrency, it may be able to alter blockchains on which transactions of cryptocurrency reside and rely by constructing fraudulent blocks or preventing certain transactions from completing in a timely manner, or at all. The malicious actor or botnet could control, exclude or modify the ordering of transactions, though it could not generate new units or transactions using such control. The malicious actor could “double-spend” its own cryptocurrency (i.e., spend the same bitcoin in more than one transaction) and prevent the confirmation of other users’ transactions for as long as it maintained control. To the extent that such malicious actor or botnet does not yield its control of the processing power on the network or the cryptocurrency community does not reject the fraudulent blocks as malicious, reversing any changes made to blockchains may not be possible. The foregoing description is not the only means by which the entirety of blockchains or cryptocurrencies may be compromised but is only an example.

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Although there are no known reports of malicious activity or control of blockchains achieved through controlling over 50% of the processing power on the network, it is believed that certain mining pools may have exceeded the 50% threshold in bitcoin. The possible crossing of the 50% threshold indicates a greater risk that a single mining pool could exert authority over the validation of bitcoin transactions. To the extent that the bitcoin ecosystem, and the administrators of mining pools, do not act to ensure greater decentralization of bitcoin mining processing power, the feasibility of a malicious actor obtaining control of the processing power will increase because the botnet or malicious actor could compromise more than 50% mining pool and thereby gain control of blockchain, whereas if the blockchain remains decentralized it is inherently more difficult for the botnet of malicious actor to aggregate enough processing power to gain control of the blockchain, may adversely affect an investment in our ADSs. Such lack of controls and responses to such circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations and potentially the value of any bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies we mine or otherwise acquire or hold for our own account, and harm investors.

Cryptocurrencies, including those maintained by or for us, may be exposed to cybersecurity threats and hacks.

As with any computer code generally, flaws in cryptocurrency codes may be exposed by malicious actors. Several errors and defects have been found previously, including those that disabled some functionality for users and exposed users’ information. Exploitations of flaws in the source code that allow malicious actors to take or create money have previously occurred. Despite our efforts and processes to prevent breaches, our devices, as well as our mining machines, computer systems and those of third parties that we use in our operations, are vulnerable to cyber security risks, including cyber-attacks such as viruses and worms, phishing attacks, denial-of-service attacks, physical or electronic break-ins, employee theft or misuse, and similar disruptions from unauthorized tampering with our mining machines and computer systems or those of third parties that we use in our operations. Such events could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations and potentially the value of any bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies we mine or otherwise acquire or hold for our own account.

We are subject to risks associated with our need for significant electrical power. Government regulators may potentially restrict the ability of electricity suppliers to provide electricity to mining operations, such as ours.

The operation of a bitcoin or other cryptocurrency mine can require massive amounts of electrical power. Further, our mining operations can only be successful and ultimately profitable if the costs, including electrical power costs, associated with mining a bitcoin are lower than the price of a bitcoin. Our electrical power costs could rise dramatically due to price increases. Any increases in our electrical power costs would reduce the profit margin of our mining operations. As a result, any mine we establish can only be successful if we can obtain sufficient electrical power for that mine on a cost-effective basis, and our establishment of new mines requires us to find locations where that is the case. There may be significant competition for suitable mine locations, and government regulators may potentially restrict the ability of electricity suppliers to provide electricity to mining operations in times of electricity shortage, or may otherwise potentially restrict or prohibit the provision or electricity to mining operations. Additionally, our mining machines, aggregate hash rate, and actual bitcoin production rate could be materially and adversely affected by a power outage. Given the power requirement, it would not be feasible to run mining machines on back-up power generators in the event of a government restriction on electricity or a power outage. If we are unable to receive adequate power supply and are forced to reduce our operations due to the availability or cost of electrical power, our business would experience materially negative impacts.

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If the award of cryptocurrency rewards, for us primarily bitcoin for solving blocks and transaction fees are not sufficiently high, we may not have an adequate incentive to continue mining and may cease mining operations, which will likely lead to our failure to achieve profitability.

As the number of cryptocurrency rewards awarded for solving a block in a blockchain decreases, our ability to achieve profitability worsens. Decreased use and demand for bitcoin rewards may adversely affect our incentive to expend processing power to solve blocks. If the award of bitcoin rewards for solving blocks and transaction fees are not sufficiently high, we may not have an adequate incentive to continue mining and may cease our mining operations. For instance, the current fixed reward for solving a new block on the bitcoin blockchain is 6.25 bitcoin currency rewards per block, which decreased from 12.5 bitcoin in May 2020. It is estimated that it will halve again in 2024. This reduction may result in a reduction in the aggregate hash rate of the bitcoin network as the incentive for mining machines decreases. Mining machines ceasing operations would reduce the collective processing power on the network, which would adversely affect the confirmation process for transactions (i.e., temporarily decreasing the speed at which blocks are added to a blockchain until the next scheduled adjustment in difficulty for block solutions) and make cryptocurrency networks more vulnerable to a malicious actor or botnet obtaining control in excess of 50 percent of the processing power active on a blockchain, potentially permitting such actor or botnet to manipulate a blockchain in a manner that adversely affects our activities. A reduction in confidence in the confirmation process or processing power of the network could result and be irreversible. Such events could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue to pursue our new strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations and potentially the value of any bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies we mine or otherwise acquire or hold for our own account.

We may not adequately respond to price fluctuations and rapidly changing technology, which may negatively affect our business.

Competitive conditions within the cryptocurrency industry require that we use sophisticated technology in the operation of our business. The industry for blockchain technology is characterized by rapid technological changes, new product introductions, enhancements and evolving industry standards. New technologies, techniques or products could emerge that might offer better performance than the software and other technologies we currently utilize, and we may have to manage transitions to these new technologies to remain competitive. We may not be successful, generally or relative to our competitors in the cryptocurrency industry, in timely implementing new technology into our systems, or doing so in a cost-effective manner. During the course of implementing any such new technology into our operations, we may experience system interruptions and failures during such implementation. Furthermore, there can be no assurances that we will recognize, in a timely manner or at all, the benefits that we may expect as a result of our implementing new technology into our operations. As a result, our business and operations may suffer, and there may be adverse effects on the price of our ADSs.

If we are unable to successfully renew our leases for our mining farms on acceptable terms or otherwise relocate to a replacement facility, our operations may be disrupted, and our business results may suffer.

We have leased land use rights for our mining farms in Ohio for a term of five years, which expires in September 2026. Our mining farms at the site operate and rely on high-tension electrical equipment owned by the lessor. There can be no assurance that the lessor will permit us to renew or that we will be able to negotiate terms acceptable to both our management team and the lessor. If we are unable to successfully negotiate an extension of this existing lease, we may be forced to relocate our farms to other sites.

If we are forced to relocate our mining operations, including our mining farm in Ohio, we may not be successful in identifying adequate replacement facilities to house our miners.  Even if we do identify such facilities, we may not be successful in leasing those facilities at rates that are economically viable to support our miner hosting activities. Relocating our mining farms will require us to incur costs to transition to new facilities including, but not limited to, transportation expenses and insurance, downtime while we are unable to mine, legal fees to negotiate the new lease, de-installation at our current farms and, ultimately, installation at any new facility we identify. These costs may be substantial, and we cannot guarantee that we will be successful in transitioning our miners to new facilities. If we are required to move our mining operations, our mining machines could be damaged in the course of transportation to and re-installation at their new locations; if negotiations to renew our existing leases result in unfavorable terms for our miner hosting operations, our business may suffer and the results of our operations may be adversely affected.

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We may fail to obtain or renew or may experience material delays in obtaining requisite approvals, licenses and permits, which could negatively impact our miner hosting business.

We require various approvals, licenses and permits to conduct our miner hosting business. We cannot assure you that we will not encounter significant problems in obtaining new or renewing existing approvals, licenses and permits, or that we will continue to satisfy the conditions to which such approvals, licenses and permits granted. If previously obtained approvals, licenses and permits are revoked and/or if we fail to obtain and/or maintain the necessary approvals, licenses and permits required to conduct our miner hosting business, we may be required to suspend or terminate our miner hosting business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

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Our auditor, like other independent registered public accounting firms operating in China, is not permitted to be subject to inspection by Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and as such, investors may be deprived of the benefits of such inspection. In addition, the adoption of any rules, legislations or other efforts to increase U.S. regulatory access to audit information could cause uncertainty, and we could be delisted if we were unable to meet any PCAOB inspection requirement in time.

Our independent registered public accounting firm that issues the audit report included in our annual report filed with the SEC, as auditors of companies that are traded publicly in the U.S. and a firm registered with the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or the PCAOB, is required by the laws of the U.S. to undergo regular inspections by the PCAOB to assess its compliance with the laws of the U.S. and professional standards. According to Article 177 of the PRC Securities Law (last amended in March 2020), no overseas securities regulator is allowed to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within the territory of the PRC. Accordingly, without the consent of the competent PRC securities regulators and relevant authorities, no organization or individual may provide the documents and materials relating to securities business activities to overseas parties. As a result, audit workpapers may not be inspected by the PCAOB without the approval of the PRC authorities. On May 24, 2013, PCAOB announced that it had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding on Enforcement Cooperation with the CSRC and the Ministry of Finance, which establishes a cooperative framework between the parties for the production and exchange of audit documents relevant to investigations in the United States and China. PCAOB continues to be in discussions with the CSRC and the Ministry of Finance to permit joint inspections in the PRC of audit firms that are registered with PCAOB and audit Chinese companies that trade on U.S. exchanges. On December 7, 2018, the SEC and the PCAOB issued a joint statement highlighting continued challenges faced by the U.S. regulators in their oversight of financial statement audits of U.S.-listed companies with significant operations in China. The joint statement reflects the U.S. regulators’ heightened interest in this issue. In a statement issued on December 9, 2019, the SEC reiterated concerns over the inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of the audit firm work papers with respect to U.S.-listed companies that have operations in China, and emphasized the importance of audit quality in emerging markets, such as China. On April 21, 2020, the SEC and the PCAOB issued a new joint statement, reminding the investors that in investing in companies that are based in or have substantial operations in many emerging markets, including China, there is substantially greater risk that disclosures will be incomplete or misleading, and there is also a greater risk of fraud. In the event of investor harm, there is substantially less ability to bring and enforce SEC, DOJ and other U.S. regulatory actions, in comparison to U.S. domestic companies, and the joint statement reinforced past SEC and PCAOB statements on matters including the difficulty to inspect audit work papers in China and its potential harm to investors. However, it remains unclear what further actions the SEC and PCAOB will take to address the concerns. On June 4, 2020, the U.S. President issued a memorandum ordering the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, or the PWG, to submit a report to the President within 60 days of the memorandum that includes recommendations for actions that can be taken by the executive branch and by the SEC or PCAOB on Chinese companies listed on the U.S. stock exchanges and their audit firms, in an effort to protect investors in the U.S. On August 6, 2020, the PWG released a report recommending that the SEC take steps to implement the five recommendations outlined in the report. In particular, to address companies from jurisdictions that do not provide the PCAOB with sufficient access to fulfill its statutory mandate, or NCJs, the PWG recommends enhanced listing standards on U.S. stock exchanges. This would require, as a condition to initial and continued exchange listing, PCAOB access to work papers of the principal audit firm for the audit of the listed company. Companies unable to satisfy this standard as a result of governmental restrictions on access to audit work papers and practices in NCJs may satisfy this standard by providing a co-audit from an audit firm with comparable resources and experience where the PCAOB determines it has sufficient access to audit work papers and practices to conduct an appropriate inspection of the co-audit firm. There is currently no legal process under which such a co-audit may be performed in China. The report permits the new listing standards to provide for a transition period until January 1, 2022 for listed companies, but would apply immediately to new listings once the necessary rulemakings and/or standard-setting are effective. The measures in the report are expected to be subject to the standard SEC rulemaking process before becoming effective. On August 10, 2020, the SEC announced that SEC Chairman had directed the SEC staff to prepare proposals in response to the report, and that the SEC was soliciting public comments and information with respect to these proposals. If we fail to meet the new listing standards before the deadline specified thereunder due to factors beyond our control, we could face possible de-listing from the NYSE, deregistration from the SEC and/or other risks, which may materially and adversely affect, or effectively terminate, our ADS trading in the United States.

Inspections of other firms that the PCAOB has conducted outside China have identified deficiencies in those firms’ audit procedures and quality control procedures, which may be addressed as part of the inspection process to improve future audit quality. The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors in China makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our auditor’s audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of China that are subject to PCAOB inspections. Investors may lose confidence in our reported financial information and procedures and the quality of our consolidated financial statements.

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As part of a continued regulatory focus in the United States on access to audit and other information currently protected by national law, in particular China’s, in December 2020, the United States enacted the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or the HFCA Act, which includes requirements for the SEC to identify issuers whose audit reports are prepared by auditors that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate because of restrictions imposed by non-U.S. authorities in the auditor’s local jurisdiction. The HFCA Act also requires public companies on this SEC list to certify that they are not owned or controlled by a foreign government and make certain additional disclosures on foreign ownership and control of such issuers in their SEC filings. On March 24, 2021, the SEC announced the adoption of interim final amendments to implement the foregoing certification and disclosure requirements and that it is seeking public comment on the requirements. Furthermore, the HFCA Act amends the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to require the SEC to prohibit securities of any U.S. listed companies from being traded on any of the U.S. national securities exchanges, such as NYSE and Nasdaq Stock Market, or in the U.S. “over-the-counter” markets, if the auditor of the U.S. listed companies’ financial statements is not subject to PCAOB inspections for three consecutive “non-inspection” years after the law becomes effective. The SEC has not yet identified a list of issuers whose auditors are not subject to PCAOB inspections. Enactment of the HFCA Act and other efforts to increase the U.S. regulatory access to audit information could cause investor uncertainty for affected issuers, including us, and the market price of the ADSs could be adversely affected. We cannot assure you that we will not be identified by the SEC as an issuer whose audit report is prepared by auditors that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate. We cannot assure you that, once we have a “non-inspection” year, we will be able to take remedial measures in a timely manner, and as a result, and we cannot assure you that we will always be able to maintain the listing of our ADSs on a national stock exchange in the U.S., such as the NYSE or the Nasdaq Stock Market, or that you will always be allowed to trade our shares or ADSs.

Risks Related to Our ADSs

The trading price of our ADSs may be volatile, which could result in substantial losses to investors.

The trading price of our ADSs may be volatile and could fluctuate widely in response to factors relating to our business as well as external factors beyond our control. Factors such as variations in our financial results, announcements of new business initiatives by us or by our competitors, recruitment or departure of key personnel, changes in the estimates of our financial results or changes in the recommendations of any securities analysts electing to follow our securities or the securities of our competitors could cause the market price for our ADSs to change substantially. At the same time, securities markets may from time to time experience significant price and volume fluctuations that are not related to the operating performance of particular companies. For example, in late 2008 and early 2009, the securities markets in the United States, China and other jurisdictions experienced the largest decline in share prices since September 2001. These market fluctuations may also have a material adverse effect on the market price of our ordinary shares.

In addition, the performance and fluctuation of the market prices of other companies with business operations located mainly in China that have listed their securities in the United States may affect the volatility in the price of and trading volumes for our ADSs. In recent years, some of PRC companies having listing their securities on U.S. stock markets have experienced significant volatility, including significant price declines in connection with their initial public offerings. The trading performances of these PRC companies’ securities at the time of or after their offerings may affect the overall investor sentiment towards PRC companies listed in the United States and consequently may impact the trading performance of our ADSs. These broad market and industry factors may significantly affect the market price and volatility of our ADSs, regardless of our actual operating performance. Any of these factors may result in large and sudden changes in the trading volume and price for our ADSs.

The price at which the ADSs are traded may decline below the offering price, meaning that you may experience a decrease in the value of your ADSs regardless of our operating performance or prospects. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, shareholders have often instituted securities class action litigation against that company. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could divert the attention of senior management, and, if adversely determined, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

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Future sales or perceived sales of our ADSs or ordinary shares by existing shareholders could cause our ADSs price to decline.

If our existing shareholders sell, indicate an intention to sell, or are perceived to intend to sell, substantial amounts of our ordinary shares in the public market after the 90-day contractual lock-up period and the lapse of other legal restrictions on resale discussed in this annual report, the trading price of our ADSs could decline. All ADSs sold in our initial public offering are freely tradable, without restriction, in the public market. The representatives of the underwriters may, in their sole discretion, permit any party subject to lock-up agreements to sell shares prior to the expiration of the lock-up agreements. After the lock-up agreements pertaining to our initial public offering expire (90 days or more from the date of this annual report), all of our outstanding shares will be eligible for sale in the public market, but they will be subject to volume limitations and other restrictions under Rule 144 under the Securities Act. In addition, ordinary shares subject to outstanding options under our share incentive plan will become eligible for sale in the public market to the extent permitted by the provisions of various vesting agreements, the lock-up agreements and Rules 144 and 701 under the Securities Act. If these additional shares are sold, or if it is perceived that they will be sold in the public market, the trading price of our ordinary shares could decline.

Future issuance of share options or restricted shares may have a diluting effect on existing and future shareholders.

The grant and exercise of share options or restricted shares to be issued in the future will likely result in a dilution of the value of our ordinary shares for all shareholders. We have established a 2021 Share Incentive Plan under which we are able to issue shares up to 12% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares from time to time. For more details, see “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—B. Compensation—Share Incentive Plans.” We may in the future issue additional share options and other share-based awards under the plan, which may dilute the interest of the existing and future shareholders. Moreover, we may seek authorization to increase the number of shares subject to our 2021 Share Incentive Plan, or sell additional securities and/or rights to purchase such securities at any time in the future. Dilution of the value of the ordinary shares will likely result from such sales, which in turn could adversely affect the market price of our ordinary shares and ADSs.

We may become a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, which could result in adverse United States tax consequences to United States investors.

Based on our financial statements and the composition of our income and assets and the valuation of our assets, we do not believe that we were a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for United States federal income tax purposes for 2021, although there can be no assurances in this regard. Additionally, it is possible that we may be a PFIC in 2022 or future taxable years. The determination of whether or not we are a PFIC is made on an annual basis and will depend on the composition of our income and assets and the valuation of our assets from time to time. Moreover, the application of the PFIC rules to digital assets and cloud computing (and transactions related thereto) is subject to significant uncertainty. Among other things, the United States Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has issued very limited guidance on the treatment of income from activities such as those conducted by our mining pool business.  We expect the activities of the mining pool business to be treated as generating active income, rather than passive income, and accordingly, we do not expect to be a PFIC. However, the IRS or a court may disagree with our determinations, including the treatment of our mining pool business as generating active income, the manner in which we determine the value of our assets and the percentage of our assets that are passive assets under the PFIC rules. For any taxable year we will be classified as a PFIC for United States federal income tax purposes if either (i) 75% or more of our gross income in that taxable year is passive income or (ii) the average percentage of our assets (which includes cash) by value in that taxable year which produce or are held for the production of passive income is at least 50%. The calculation of the value of our assets will be based, in part, on the quarterly market value of our ADSs, which is subject to change. Therefore, a decrease in the price of our ADSs may result in our becoming a PFIC.

If we are a PFIC for any taxable year during which you hold our ADSs or ordinary shares, such characterization could result in adverse United States federal income tax consequences to you if you are a United States Holder, as defined under “Item 10. Additional Information—E. Taxation—United States Federal Income Taxation.” For example, if we are or become a PFIC, you may become subject to increased tax liabilities under United States federal income tax laws and regulations, and will become subject to burdensome reporting requirements. See “Item 10. Additional Information—E. Taxation—United States Federal Income Taxation—Passive Foreign Investment Company.” We cannot assure you that we will not be a PFIC for 2022 or any future taxable year.

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You may not be able to participate in rights offerings and may experience dilution of your holdings in relation to any such offerings.

We may, from time to time, distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire securities. Under the deposit agreement, the depositary will not distribute rights to holders of ADSs unless the distribution and sale of rights and the securities to which these rights relate are either exempt from registration under the Securities Act with respect to all holders of ADSs, or are registered under the provisions of the Securities Act. The depositary may, but is not required to, attempt to sell these undistributed rights to third parties, and may allow the rights to lapse. We may be unable to establish an exemption from registration under the Securities Act, and we are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to these rights or underlying securities or to endeavor to have a registration statement declared effective. Accordingly, holders of ADSs may be unable to participate in our rights offerings and may experience dilution of their holdings as a result.

In addition, the depositary of our ADSs has agreed to pay to you the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on our ordinary shares or other deposited securities after deducting its fees and expenses. You will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of ordinary shares your ADSs represent. However, the depositary may, at its discretion, decide that it is inequitable or impractical to make a distribution available to any holders of ADSs. For example, the depositary may determine that it is not practicable to distribute certain property through the mail, or that the value of certain distributions may be less than the cost of mailing them. In these cases, the depositary may decide not to distribute such property and you will not receive such distribution.

Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents may discourage a third party from acquiring us, which could limit our shareholders’ opportunities to sell their shares at a premium.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association include provisions that could limit the ability of others to acquire control of us, modify our structure or cause us to engage in change-of-control transactions. For example, our board of directors has the authority, without further action by our shareholders, to issue preferred shares in one or more series and to fix the powers and rights of these shares, including dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption and liquidation preferences, any or all of which may be greater than the rights associated with our ordinary shares. Preferred shares could thus be issued quickly with terms calculated to delay or prevent a change in control or make removal of management more difficult. In addition, if our board of directors issues preferred shares, the market price of our ADSs may fall and the voting and other rights of the holders of our ordinary shares may be adversely affected. These provisions could have the effect of depriving our shareholders of an opportunity to sell their shares at a premium over prevailing market prices by discouraging third parties from seeking to obtain control of us in a tender offer or similar transaction.

We are a Cayman Islands company and, because judicial precedent regarding the rights of shareholders is more limited under Cayman Islands law than under U.S. law, you may have less protection of your shareholder rights than you would under U.S. law.

Our corporate affairs are governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Cayman Islands Companies Law and the common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by noncontrolling shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, which has persuasive, but not binding, authority on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under Cayman Islands law are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws than the United States and provides significantly less protection to investors. In addition, some U.S. states, such as Delaware, have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law than the Cayman Islands.

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There is no statutory recognition in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, although a judgment obtained in the United States will be recognized and enforced in the courts of the Cayman Islands at common law, without any re-examination of the merits of the underlying dispute, by an action commenced on the foreign judgment debt in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, provided such judgment (a) is given by a foreign court of competent jurisdiction; (b) imposes on the judgment debtor a liability to pay a liquidated sum for which the judgment has been given; (c) is final; (d) is not in respect of taxes, a fine or a penalty; and (e) was not obtained in a manner and is not of a kind the enforcement of which is contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands.

You will have limited ability to bring an action against us or against our directors and officers, or to enforce a judgment against us or them, based on United States or other foreign laws, because we are incorporated in the Cayman Islands, because we conduct our operations in China and most of our directors and officers reside outside the United States and therefore you may not be able to enjoy the protection of such laws in an effective manner.

We are incorporated in the Cayman Islands and conduct our operations exclusively in China. All of our assets are located outside the United States. Most of our directors and officers reside outside the United States and a substantial portion of the assets of those persons are located outside of the United States. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for you to bring an action against us or against these individuals in the Cayman Islands or in China in the event that you believe that your rights have been infringed under the applicable securities laws or otherwise. Even if you are successful in bringing an action of this kind, the laws of the Cayman Islands and of China may render you unable to enforce a judgment against our assets or the assets of our directors and officers. In addition, there is uncertainty as to whether the courts of the Cayman Islands or the PRC would recognize or enforce judgments of U.S. courts against us or such persons predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state, and it is uncertain whether such Cayman Islands or PRC courts would be competent to hear original actions brought in the Cayman Islands or the PRC against us or such persons predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state. Therefore, recognition and enforcement in China of judgments of a court in any of these jurisdictions may be difficult or impossible. In addition, you may not be able to bring original actions in China based on the U.S. or other foreign laws against us, our directors, executive officers or the expert named in this annual report either. As a result, shareholder claims that are common in the U.S., including class action securities law and fraud claims, are difficult or impossible to pursue as a matter of law and practicality in China.

Shareholders of Cayman Islands exempted companies such as ourselves have no general rights under Cayman Islands law to inspect corporate records and accounts or to obtain copies of lists of shareholders of these companies. Our directors have discretion under our amended and restated articles of association to determine whether or not, and under what conditions, our corporate records may be inspected by our shareholders, but are not obliged to make them available to our shareholders. This may make it more difficult for you to obtain the information needed to establish any facts necessary for a shareholder motion or to solicit proxies from other shareholders in connection with a proxy contest.

As a result of all of the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a U.S. company. Therefore, you may not be able to effectively enjoy the protection offered by the U.S. laws and regulations that intend to protect public investors.

Your ability to protect your rights as shareholders through the U.S. federal courts may be limited because we are incorporated under Cayman Islands law.

Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a derivative action in a federal court of the United States. As a result, your ability to protect your interests if you are harmed in a manner that would otherwise enable you to sue in a United States federal court may be limited to direct shareholder lawsuits.

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The voting rights of holders of ADSs are limited in several significant ways by the terms of the deposit agreement.

Holders of our ADSs may only exercise their voting rights with respect to the underlying ordinary shares in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Upon receipt of voting instructions from a holder of ADSs in the manner set forth in the deposit agreement, the depositary will endeavor to vote the underlying ordinary shares in accordance with these instructions. Under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and Cayman Islands law, the minimum notice period required for convening a general meeting is five days. When a general meeting is convened, you may not receive sufficient notice of a shareholders’ meeting to permit you to withdraw your ordinary shares to allow you to cast your vote with respect to any specific matter at the meeting. In addition, the depositary and its agents may not be able to send voting instructions to you or carry out your voting instructions in a timely manner. We will make all reasonable efforts to cause the depositary to extend voting rights to you in a timely manner, but we cannot assure you that you will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that you can instruct the depositary to vote your shares. Furthermore, the depositary and its agents will not be responsible for any failure to carry out any instructions to vote, for the manner in which any vote is cast or for the effect of any such vote. As a result, you may not be able to exercise your right to vote and you may lack recourse if your ordinary shares are not voted as you requested.

The depositary of our ADSs, except in limited circumstances, grants to us a discretionary proxy to vote the ordinary shares underlying your ADSs if you do not vote at shareholders’ meetings, which could adversely affect your interests and the ability of our shareholders as a group to influence the management of our company.

Under the deposit agreement for the ADSs, the depositary gives us a discretionary proxy to vote our ordinary shares underlying your ADSs at shareholders’ meetings if you do not vote, unless:

The effect of this discretionary proxy is that you cannot prevent our ordinary shares underlying your ADSs from being voted, absent the situations described above, and it may make it more difficult for holders of ADSs to influence the management of our company. Holders of our ordinary shares are not subject to this discretionary proxy.

You may not receive distributions on our ordinary shares or any value for them if it is unlawful or impractical for us to make them available to you.

The depositary of our ADSs has agreed to pay you the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian for our ADSs receives on our ordinary shares or other deposited securities after deducting its fees and expenses. You will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of our ordinary shares your ADSs represent. However, the depositary is not responsible if it is unlawful or impractical to make a distribution available to any holders of ADSs. For example, it would be unlawful to make a distribution to a holder of ADSs if it consists of securities that require registration under the Securities Act but that are not properly registered or distributed pursuant to an applicable exemption from registration. The depositary is not responsible for making a distribution available to any holders of ADSs if any government approval or registration is required for such distribution. We have no obligation to take any other action to permit the distribution of our ADSs, ordinary shares, rights or anything else to holders of our ADSs. This means that you may not receive the distributions we make on our ordinary shares or any value for them if it is unlawful or impractical for us to make them available to you. These restrictions may have a material adverse effect on the value of your ADSs.

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You may be subject to limitations on the transfer of your ADSs.

Your ADSs, represented by ADRs, are transferable on the books of the depositary. However, the depositary may close its books at any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. The depositary may close its books from time to time for a number of reasons, including in connection with corporate events such as a rights offering, during which time the depositary needs to maintain an exact number of ADS holders on its books for a specified period. The depositary may also close its books in emergencies, and on weekends and public holidays. The depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of our ADSs generally when our books or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we think or the depositary thinks it is necessary or advisable to do so in connection with the performance of its duty under the deposit agreement, including due to any requirement of law or any government or governmental body, or under any provision of the deposit agreement.

We incurred, and will continue to incur increased costs as a result of being a public company.

As a public company, we have incurred significant accounting, legal and other expenses that we did not incur when we were a private company, including additional costs associated with our public company reporting obligations. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the SEC, and NYSE, impose various requirements on the corporate governance practices of public companies.

We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some corporate activities more time-consuming and costly. Since we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” we expect to incur significant expenses and devote substantial management effort toward ensuring compliance with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the other rules and regulations of the SEC. For example, as a result of becoming a public company, we need to increase the number of independent directors and adopt policies regarding internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures. Operating as a public company will make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. It may also be more difficult for us to find qualified persons to serve on our board of directors or as executive officers. We are currently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to these rules and regulations, and we cannot predict or estimate with any degree of certainty the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.

In the past, shareholders of a public company often brought securities class action suits against the Company following periods of instability in the market price of that company’s securities. On February 27, 2015, a purported stockholder class action lawsuit was brought against the Company consisting of purchasers of our ADSs during the period between November 22, 2013 and February 25, 2015. On January 15, 2020, a purported class action complaint was brought against the Company consisting of purchasers of our ADSs during the period between April 27, 2018 and December 31, 2019. For further details on this class action lawsuit, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Legal and Administrative Proceedings.” When we are involved in a class action suit, it could divert a significant amount of our management’s attention and other resources from our business and operations, which could harm our results of operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit. Any such class action suit, whether or not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

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In June 2017, we acquired a 40.65% equity interest in Loto Interactive Limited, or Loto Interactive, a company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (Stock Code: 8198), for a total consideration of approximately HK$322.2 million (US$41.3 million). Our equity stake decreased to 40.48% at the end of 2019 due to exercise of share options granted to directors and employees of Loto Interactive and was further diluted to 33.74% in October 2020 due to private placement of Loto Interactive. We  owned a 54.2% equity interest in Loto Interactive after completion of the subscription on March 31, 2021 and after the completion of the general offering, we currently own a 59.79% equity interest in Loto Linteractive. And Loto Interactive became a subsidiary of our company since March 31, 2021. Loto Interactive and its subsidiaries are principally engaged in the provision of data analysis and storage services and the money lending business in Hong Kong.

We are committed to becoming a leading cryptocurrency mining enterprise. Since announcing our entry into the cryptocurrency industry in December 2020, we have entered into definitive agreements to (i) purchase cryptocurrency mining machines, (ii) acquire a controlling stake in Loto Interactive Limited (HKEX: 08198), (iii) acquire the entire mining pool business of Bitdeer Technologies Holding Company operated under BTC.com, including the domain name BTC.com and the cryptocurrency wallet of BTC.com, (iv) acquire a mining machine manufacturer, to unfurl a comprehensive approach to cryptocurrency mining, and (v) jointly invest in the development of a cryptocurrency mining data center in Ohio with power capacity of 150 megawatts in aggregate.

In January 2021, we announced that we entered into a definitive purchase agreement with certain sellers, pursuant to which we expect to issue approximately US$14.4 million worth of its Class A ordinary shares as consideration to acquire bitcoin mining machines owned by the sellers. We expect to issue 11,882,860 newly-issued Class A ordinary shares valued at US$1.21 per share, corresponding to US$12.10 per ADS (based on the ratio of ten ordinary shares per ADS), the closing trading price of our ADSs on January 8, 2021, the last trading day prior to the date of the agreement, for a total consideration of approximately US$14.4 million to acquire bitcoin mining machines owned by the sellers including such models as the S17, T17, M20s and S9. On March 15, 2021, we have announced the completion of the acquisition of bitcoin mining machines. From which transaction, we also acquired the 100% equity interest in Star Light Inc. through Fine Brand Limited, and its wholly owned subsidiaries of Skill Espot Limited and Chongqing Yusheng Information Technology Limited. As the date of this annual report, part of these mining machines are deployed and in operation in Kazakhstan and the U.S., with an aggregate theoretical hash rate capacity of 825.5 PH/s. To increase the cost efficiency of its mining business, the Company sold some low-end mining machines with a total theoretical hash rate capacity of 610.7 PH/s.

In February and August 2021, we announced that we entered into several purchase agreements for bitcoin mining machines for a total consideration of US$18.1 million. As the date of this annual report, these mining machines are deployed and in operation in the U.S., with an aggregate theoretical hash rate capacity of 532.8 PH/s.

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In February 2021, we also announced that we entered into a share exchange agreement with Blockchain Alliance Technologies Holding Company (“Blockchain Alliance”), a Cayman Islands company and a “Non-U.S. Person” as defined in Regulation S of the Securities Act, pursuant to which we agreed to issue an aggregate of 44,353,435 Class A ordinary shares of our company to Blockchain Alliance at the first closing, which shares represent approximately 10% of our outstanding shares as of January 31, 2021, in exchange for the entire outstanding share capital of Alliance International Technologies Limited (formerly named “Blockchain Alliance Technologies Limited”) held by Blockchain Alliance after the reorganization. The first closing of the transactions contemplated by the share exchange agreement is subject to certain closing conditions, which include, among others, the transfer to the Company of the entire mining pool business of Bitdeer Technologies Holding Company operated under BTC.com, including the domain name BTC.com and the cryptocurrency wallet of BTC.com (collectively, the “BTC.com Pool Businesses”). We and Blockchain Alliance also agreed that, if the BTC.com Pool Businesses record net operating profit in the twelve-month period from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, we shall issue additional Class A Ordinary Shares to Blockchain Alliance at par value. Assuming such net operating profit is no less than US$20 million, a maximum of 22,176,718 additional Class A ordinary shares shall be issuable, which additional Class A ordinary shares represent approximately 5% of the Company’s outstanding shares as of January 31, 2021. If the BTC.com Pool Businesses record net operating loss in the twelve-month period from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, we shall be entitled to repurchase certain Class A ordinary shares held by Blockchain Alliance at par value. Assuming such net operating loss is no less than US$10 million, a maximum of 4,435,344 Class A ordinary shares shall be subject to such repurchase arrangement, which Class A ordinary shares represent approximately 1% of our outstanding shares as of January 31, 2021. The BTC.com Pool Businesses offer a one-stop mining experience for users. Users can search and browse real-time blockchain information through BTC.com and manage their cryptocurrency mining business through the BTC.com Pool website or app. In addition, users can save the cryptocurrencies that they have mined in the BTC.com cryptocurrency wallet. BTC.com Pool is a multi-currency integrated mining pool established in 2016 that has a hash rate of around 17 EH/s and supports various cryptocurrencies, including BTC, BCH, ETH and LTC. Blockchain Alliance has agreed to subject the Class A ordinary shares that it receives in the abovementioned transactions to agreed lock-up periods in accordance with the share exchange agreement. BitDeer was the parent company of Blockchain Alliance. BitDeer’s biggest beneficially owner is Mr. Wu Jihan, BitDeer’s chairman.

In February 2021, we also announced that we entered into a definitive agreement to purchase 2,000 new ETH mining machines for a total consideration of RMB195 million (approximately US$30.2 million). As of the date of this annual report, these ETH mining machines are all deployed and in operation in Hong Kong with an aggregate theoretical hash rate capacity of 4,800 GH/s.

In March 2021, we also announced that a majority of our board of directors resolved to change our (i) English name to “BIT Mining Limited”, or the English Name Change, subject to shareholder approval being received for the English Name Change, (ii) Chinese business name to “比特矿业,” and (iii) ticker symbol to “BTCM.” Pursuant to our Second Amended and Restated Articles of Association, the English Name Change needs to be adopted by a Special Resolution at a general meeting of shareholders. For the purpose of seeking such shareholder approval, a majority of the board also resolved to call an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to consider the English Name Change. On March 19, 2021, we announced that we would hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on April 8, 2021 to consider and, if thought fit, pass the following resolutions: (i) as a special resolution that the English name of the Company be changed to “BIT Mining Limited”; and (ii) as an ordinary resolution that the authorized share capital of the Company be increased to US$100,000 divided into 1,600,000,000 Class A Ordinary Shares of a nominal or par value of US$0.00005 each and 400,000,000 Class B Ordinary Shares of a nominal or par value of US$0.00005 each, by the creation of 900,000,000 Class A Ordinary Shares of a nominal or par value of US$0.00005 each and 100,000,000 Class B Ordinary Shares of a nominal or par value of US$0.00005 each. On the same date, the Company also announced its decision to relocate its headquarters from Shenzhen to Singapore. On April 12, 2021, the Company announced that at an extraordinary general meeting, held on April 8, 2021, the Company’s shareholders passed a special resolution to change the English name of the Company to “BIT Mining Limited” effective as of April 8, 2021.

In April 2021, we also announced that we had entered into a share exchange agreement (“Share Exchange Agreement”) with shareholders (the “Selling Shareholders”) of Bee Computing (HK) Limited (“Bee Computing”). Pursuant to the Share Exchange Agreement, the Company expects to issue an aggregate of 45,825,530 of its Class A ordinary shares valued at US$2.182 per share, corresponding to US$21.82 per ADS (based on the ratio of ten ordinary shares per ADS), representing a consideration of US$100 million in aggregate, to the Selling Shareholders and research and development team members, in exchange for the total issued share capital of Bee Computing. The 45,825,530 Class A ordinary shares represent approximately 8.18% of the Company’s total outstanding share capital as of March 31, 2021. The price of US$21.82 per ADS is based on the volume weighted average price of the twenty trading days prior to the date of the Share Exchange Agreement. This transaction is subject to the completion of certain conditions precedent to the closing of the transaction, including Bee Computing’s satisfactory completion of certain reorganization steps and other required closing conditions. There can be no assurance that the closing conditions will be satisfied, or that the proposed transaction will be consummated.

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Pursuant the Share Exchange Agreement, the Company shall, subject to customary conditions, issue at the first closing an aggregate of 16,038,930, or US$35 million worth, of its Class A ordinary shares to the Selling Shareholders. Subject to satisfaction of the following milestones, the Company shall issue at the subsequent closing an aggregate of 29,786,600, or US$65 million worth, of its Class A ordinary shares to Selling Shareholders and research and development team members:

The Company’s Class A ordinary shares issued pursuant to the Share Exchange Agreement shall be subject to an agreed lock-up period.Bee Computing was established in 2018 and specializes in the development and manufacture of cryptocurrency mining chips and mining machines for different cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, and LRC. Bee Computing has invested more than US$35 million in research and development since its inception. In 2019, Bee Computing launched a bitcoin mining machine incorporating 7-nanometer ASICs co-developed with MediaTek Inc., the largest IC design company in Asia, manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s leading third-party foundry, and tested and packaged by ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd., the world’s largest semiconductor testing company, who is also a major investor of Bee Computing. As of the date of this annual report, the transaction is still in progress.

In July 2021, the Company completed a private placement of 100,000,000 Class A ordinary shares and warrants to purchase up to an additional 100,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, at a purchase price of US$5.00 per ten Class A ordinary shares, with one warrant included in the price of each Class A ordinary share, in a private, unregistered transaction to certain investors. The private placement resulted in gross proceeds to the Company of US$50.0 million before the deduction of placement agent fees and expenses and offering expenses payable by the Company. The warrants have a term of three years, are exercisable six months following their issuance date and have an exercise price of US$6.81 per ten Class A ordinary shares. Ten Class A ordinary shares can be converted into one ADS of the Company if certain conditions are satisfied. In connection with the private placement, the Company and its investors entered into a registration rights agreement, which is included as an exhibit to this annual report.

See “Item 4. Information on the Company—C. Organizational Structure” for a diagram illustrating our corporate structure as of the date of this annual report.

Our company was incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands on April 20, 2007 under the name Fine Success Limited, which was changed to 500wan.com on May 9, 2011, changed to 500.com on October 8, 2013 and further changed to the current name BIT Mining Limited on April 9, 2021.

On November 22, 2013, our ADSs began trading on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “WBAI.” We issued and sold a total of 6,653,900 ADSs, representing 66,539,000 Class A ordinary shares, at an initial offering price of $13.00 per ADS.

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In December 2020, we announced that we entered into a definitive share subscription agreement with Good Luck Information Technology Co., Limited, or Good Luck Information, a company incorporated in Hong Kong, for the issuance and sale of newly issued Class A ordinary shares of our company. Pursuant to the agreement, Good Luck Information will purchase 85,572,963 newly issued Class A ordinary shares for a total purchase price of approximately US$23 million. The per share purchase price of US$0.269 is the closing trading price of the Company's ADSs on December 18, 2020, the last trading day immediately preceding the date of the purchase agreement, as adjusted by a 1-to-10 ADS to ordinary shares ratio. In January 2021, we announced our determination that 50% of the subscription price, or approximately US$11.5 million, shall be settled by U.S. dollars, with the remaining 50% of the subscription price, or approximately US$11.5 million, being settled by bitcoin. The applicable bitcoin to U.S. dollars exchange rate was US$32,326.29 to one bitcoin, being the average of the closing trading prices for bitcoin published by Coinmarketcap for each of the 31 days ended January 20, 2021. On February 23, 2021, we announced the closing of the private placement transaction pursuant to our definitive share subscription agreement with Good Luck Information. We received 356.04342 bitcoins and US$11.5 million in cash from Good Luck Information, and we issued 85,572,963 newly issued Class A ordinary shares to Good Luck Information. Good Luck Information has agreed to subject all the shares it or its affiliate will acquire in the transaction to a contractual lock-up restriction for 180 days after the closing. Good luck Information is controlled by Mr. Man San Vincent Law, a founder of our company. Upon closing, Good Luck Information holds 16.6% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares.

In just three months, the Company has completed a radical transformation of its business to become a cryptocurrency mining enterprise. By diversifying the Company's revenue streams, it has largely expanded its potential, business longevity, and ultimately the value proposition to its shareholders.

These achievements would not have been possible without the assistance of the Company’s original founder, Mr. Man San Vincent Law. After the completion of the abovementioned transactions, the Company’s currently shareholding structure is relatively dispersed. In light of this, the Company has been exploring possible ways permitted under applicable laws and the Company’s articles of association to ensure the stability of the Company’s corporate governance and long-term development of its businesses. As a result, the Company's Board of Directors has appointed Mr. Man San Vincent Law as its Executive Director, effective as of April 5, 2021, and authorized the Company to issue 65,000 Class A preference shares (the “Preference Shares”) at US$1.0 per share, for a total consideration of US$65,000, to Good Luck Capital Limited (“Good Luck”), a company wholly-owned by Mr. Law. Following the issuance of the Preference Shares, Mr. Man San Vincent Law’s aggregate voting power increased from approximately 17.66% to approximately 60.28% (based on the Company’s total outstanding share capital as of March 31, 2021 and assuming issuance of all shares under the Share Exchange Agreement). The following is a summary of the key terms associated with the Preference Shares.

We received the consideration of US$65,000 and issued 65,000 Class A preference shares to Good Luck on April 7, 2021.Mr. Man San Vincent Law is a major founder of the Company. He has served as a Senior Adviser of Loto Interactive Limited from 2017 to 2021. From 2001 to 2015, Mr. Law served as the Company’s chief executive officer and was chairman of the board of directors from 2001 to 2017. In 2001 Mr. Law founded E-Sun Network Co., Ltd. and became one of the pioneers in opening China's online lottery service market, committed to developing innovative online products and solutions. Mr. Law received a bachelor's degree from Wuhan University in 1990 and an administrative master's degree in business administration from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in 2009.

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Consistent with a special resolution passed by the Company’s shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting held on April 8, 2021, our ADSs began trading under the Company’s new English name “BIT Mining Limited,” and its new ticker symbol “BTCM,” effective at the opening of trading on April 20, 2021.

On June 18, 2021, we completed a cash offer to acquire all the shares in issuance of Loto Interactive other than those already owned or agreed to be acquired by us, and a cash offer for the cancellation of all options of Loto Interactive. Upon the closing of such cash offers, we acquired a total of 30,642,534 shares and a total of 6,800,000 options, which will be cancelled, and our ownership in Loto Interactive increased to 59.79%.

On June 19, 2021, Ganzi Changhe received notice from State Grid Sichuan Ganzi Electric Power Co., Ltd. (the “Local Power Supplier”), informing Ganzi Changhe that its power supply would be suspended, effectively on the same day. Ganzi Changhe and our other data centers in Sichuan have suspended their operations since June 21, 2021. Our operations in Sichuan, including Ganzi Changhe, generated revenue of approximately US$11.4 million, representing approximately 2.6% of our total revenues for the second quarter of 2021. As of the date of this annual report, we have ceased all operations relating to data centers and cryptocurrency mining in China.

On July 12, 2021, we entered into a securities purchase agreement with certain investors to raise US$50 million to acquire additional mining machines, build new data centers in international markets, expand infrastructure, and improve working capital position. The private placement transaction was closed on July 16, 2021.

On July 23, 2021, we terminated the contractual arrangements with the lottery-related affiliated entities and Zhejiang Keying. The lottery-related affiliated entities have been deconsolidated and their financial results have no longer been included in our consolidated financial statements for the third quarter of 2021 since the termination of the related VIE structures. In February 2022, the then subsidiaries of Zhejiang Keying deregistered their respective IDC licenses, and Zhejiang Keying completed the transfer of equity interests of its then subsidiaries to Loto Shenzhen. In the same month, we completed the formal SAIC registration of the disposal of the subsidiaries under the former variable interest entity structure. Accordingly, as of the date of this annual report, we do not maintain any VIE structure in China.

On September 22, 2021, we entered into the Ohio Mining Site Agreement with Viking Data Centers to jointly invest in the development of the Ohio Mining Site. In October 2021, we increased our investment in the Ohio Mining Site and brought its total planned power capacity up to 150 megawatts. As we intend to devote more resources to the Ohio Mining Site and improve its operational efficiency, we have terminated our Texas cryptocurrency mining data center cooperation with Dory Creek, LLC, with whom we entered into an investment term sheet in May 2021. In order to increase the cost efficiency of our mining business, we disposed of certain old model mining machines with a total hash rate capacity of 610.7 PH/s. As of the date of this annual report, 50 megawatts have been completed and in operation.

On October 14, 2021, we announced that our mining pool subsidiary, BTC.com, would completely exit the China market, cease registering new users from China and start to retire accounts of existing mining pool customers from China. We completed the acquisition of the entire mining pool business of Bitdeer Technologies Holding Company operated under BTC.com, including the domain name BTC.com and the cryptocurrency wallet of BTC.com, on April 15, 2021. Due to BTC.com’s discontinuation of service to mining pool customers in China, we saw a decrease of approximately 14% in hash rate for the three months ended December 31, 2021. We are working on solutions with our existing mining pool customers in China, such as migrating such mining pool customers’ mining machines to overseas markets, so that they may access our services in a compliant manner.

COVID-19 Relief and Late Filing

On April 29, 2020, the Company filed a Current Report on Form 6-K, or the COVID-19 Relief 6-K, in compliance with and reliance upon the SEC’s Order under Section 36 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, granting Exemptions from Specified Provisions of the Exchange Act and certain Rules thereunder (Release No. 34-88318), dated March 4, 2020, or the Relief Order.

The Company opted to rely on the Relief Order to delay the filing of its Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, or the 2019 Annual Report, due to circumstances related to COVID-19. Absent the Relief Order, the 2019 Annual Report was due to be filed by April 30, 2020.

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The Company was unable to file the 2019 Annual Report on a timely basis as a result of, among other things, travel restrictions, quarantines and staffing issues due to circumstances related to COVID-19. The Company’s headquarters were formerly located in Shenzhen, China. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, the PRC government introduced temporary travel restrictions and mandatory quarantines aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19 within China. While some of these restrictions and quarantines were relaxed in certain areas, the Company took pro-active measures to help protect its employees by implementing self-quarantine measures of at least 14 days for employees that traveled from other regions within China before they were allowed to report to the Company’s offices.

As of April 29, 2020, the date of the COVID-19 Relief 6-K, Friedman LLP, the Company’s former independent registered public accounting firm, had not completed its audit of the Company’s financial statements and audit of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019, due to the impact of COVID-19.

On December 31, 2019, the Company announced that its board of directors had formed a Special Investigation Committee, or the SIC, to internally investigate alleged illegal money transfers and the role played by consultants following the arrest of one consultant (also a former director of the Company’s subsidiary in Japan) and two former consultants by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office. On January 16, 2020, the Company announced that the SIC had retained King & Wood Mallesons LLP as its legal advisor to assist with its internal investigation. As of April 29, 2020, the date of the COVID-19 Relief 6-K, the internal investigation being conducted by King & Wood Mallesons LLP was still in progress.

As a result of the foregoing, the Company was unable to timely file its 2019 Annual Report by April 30, 2020. The Company supplemented its 2019 Annual Report with an additional risk factor relating to COVID-19.

The Company filed a Form 12b-25 with the SEC on June 15, 2020 for late filing of its 2019 Annual Report. Absent the Form 12b-25, the 2019 Annual Report was due to be filed by June 15, 2020, pursuant to the COVID-19 Relief 6-K dated April 29, 2020. As of June 15, 2020, the date of the Form 12b-25 filing, the internal investigation being conducted by King & Wood Mallesons LLP was still in progress. Accordingly, the Company was then unable to conclude what impact it may have on the Company’s financial statements and internal control over financial reporting. In addition, Friedman LLP, the Company’s former independent registered public accounting firm, had not completed its audit of the Company’s financial statements and audit of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019, due to the impact of COVID-19 and because the abovementioned internal investigation was still in progress.

As of July 1, 2020, the Company was delinquent in filing its 2019 Annual Report with the SEC. Pursuant to the Form 12b-25 filing dated June 15, 2020, the 2019 Annual Report was due to be filed by June 30, 2020. On July 1, 2020, the Company received an expected notice from NYSE Regulation stating that the Company is not in compliance with the NYSE’s continued listing requirements under the timely filing criteria pursuant to Section 802.01E of the NYSE Listed Company Manual as a result of the Company’s failure to timely file the 2019 Annual Report with the SEC. As required by the notice, (a) a representative of the Company contacted the NYSE on July 1, 2020 to discuss the status of the 2019 Annual Report, and (b) the Company issued a press release dated July 7, 2020, disclosing the status of the 2019 Annual Report, noting the delay and the reason for the delay, as mentioned above. The anticipated filing date of the 2019 Annual Report was not then known. NYSE Regulation notified the Company that the NYSE would closely monitor the status of the Company’s late filing and related public disclosures for up to a six-month period from the due date of the 2019 Annual Report, or December 31, 2020, and that the Company would need to timely file its 2019 Annual Report and any subsequent delayed filings by December 31, 2020.

On September 23, 2020, Friedman LLP resigned as the Company’s auditor. The Company appointed MaloneBailey, LLP on September 27, 2020 to conduct an audit of the Company’s consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 and effectiveness of its internal control as of December 31, 2019, and to re-audit the Company’s consolidated financial statements for each of the fiscal years ended December 31, 2017 and 2018. The Company announced the resignation of Friedman LLP and the appointment of MaloneBailey, LLP in a press release dated September 28, 2020. See “Item 16F. Change in Registrant’s Certifying Accountant.”

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On October 7, 2020, the Company announced that the SIC of the Company’s Board completed its internal investigation. King & Wood Mallesons LLP presented its investigation review to SIC on October 7, 2020. Based on the findings and analyses in the review by King & Wood Mallesons LLP, the SIC concluded that it did not find a sufficient basis to establish a violation of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 in connection with the Company’s prior activities in Japan. The SIC also reviewed the Company’s compliance policies, procedures and internal controls in light of the suggestions from King & Wood Mallesons LLP. The Company updated such policies, procedures and internal controls based on recommendations from the SIC, and will continue to enhance its internal controls as appropriate.

Once the abovementioned internal investigation was completed, the Company’s financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 were finalized, the re-audit of the Company’s consolidated financial statements for each of the fiscal years ended December 31, 2017 and 2018 was completed, and both the Company and MaloneBailey, LLP have completed their assessment of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019, the Company filed its 2019 Annual Report on December 11, 2020.

On December 15, 2020, the Company received a notice from NYSE Regulation, dated December 14, 2020, acknowledging the Company’s filing of its 2019 Annual Report, and confirming that effective December 15, 2020, the Company would be removed from the NYSE’s late filers’ list.

Principal Offices

Our principal executive offices are located at Units 813 & 815, Level 8, Core F, Cyberport 3, 100 Cyberport Road, Hong Kong. Our telephone number at this address is +(852) 5987 5938 and our fax number is +(852) 2360 9738. Our registered office in the Cayman Islands is at PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman, KY1-1104, Cayman Islands. Our websites are https://www.btcm.group. Our agent for service of process in the United States was previously Law Debenture Corporate Services Inc. located at 801 2nd Avenue, Suite 403, New York, New York 10017, U.S.A. We appointed Cogency Global Inc., located at 122 East 42nd Street, 18th Floor, New York, New York 10168, U.S.A., as our successor agent for service of process in the United States, effective as of and after April 9, 2021.

Overview

We intend to become a leading cryptocurrency mining enterprise.  We began our transformation from a China-based lottery company into an international cryptocurrency mining company since December 2020 through the acquisition of (1) certain cryptocurrency mining machines, (2) a controlling stake in Loto Interactive Limited (HKEX: 08198) (“Loto Interactive”), and (3) the entire mining pool business of Bitdeer Technologies Holding Company operated under BTC.com, including the domain name BTC.com and the cryptocurrency wallet of BTC.com.

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BIT Mining Limited, our ultimate Cayman Islands holding company, holding certain of our digital assets in connection with our cryptocurrency mining business and  indirectly holding the equity interest in our subsidiaries in China and other countries and regions. We voluntarily suspended our online sports lottery sales services in April 2015. We have previously conducted our lottery-related business in China through a series of contractual arrangements, also commonly known as the variable interest entity, or VIE structure, with several PRC-incorporated companies (i.e., Shenzhen Youlanguang Science and Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen E-Sun Network Co., Ltd., and Shenzhen Guangtiandi Science and Technology Co., Ltd.) (collectively, the “lottery-related affiliated entities”), and their respective registered shareholders. Between March 31 and July 23, 2021, we also consolidated the financial results of a PRC-incorporated company (i.e., Zhejiang Keying Huancai Information Technology Co., Ltd.) (“Zhejiang Keying”), which is primarily engaged in the provision of data analysis and storage services in connection with our now suspended cryptocurrency mining operations in China, through a similar VIE structure with Loto Interactive Information Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (“Loto Shenzhen”), which became an indirect majority-owned subsidiary following the completion of our acquisition of a controlling stake in Loto Interactive on March 31, 2021. On July 23, 2021, we terminated the contractual arrangements with the lottery-related affiliated entities and Zhejiang Keying. The lottery-related affiliated entities have been deconsolidated and their financial results have no longer been included in our consolidated financial statements for the third quarter of 2021 since the termination of the related VIE structures. In February 2022, the then subsidiaries of Zhejiang Keying deregistered their respective IDC licenses, and Zhejiang Keying completed the transfer of equity interests of its then subsidiaries to Loto Shenzhen. In the same month, we completed the formal SAIC registration of the disposal of the subsidiaries under the former variable interest entity structure. Accordingly, as of the date of this annual report, we do not maintain any VIE structure in China.

We operate cryptocurrency mining machines for the sole purpose of mining cryptocurrencies (primarily bitcoin and ethereum). Our mining machines are operating with the primary intent of accumulating bitcoin which we may sell for fiat currency from time to time depending on market conditions and management’s determination of our cash flow needs.

As of the date of this annual report, the theoretical maximum total hash rate capacity of our Bitcoin mining machines is approximately 825.5 PH/s. We have deployed bitcoin mining machines with a total hash rate capacity of 292.7 PH/s, of which 139.1 PH/s have been deployed in data centers and the remainder have been fine-tuned and are waiting to be deployed in Kazakhstan, and with a total hash rate capacity of 532.8 PH/s, of which 353.1 PH/s have been deployed in data centers and the remainder have been fine-tuned and are waiting to be deployed in the U.S., respectively. For the year ended December 31, 2021, we produced 400 Bitcoins from our Bitcoin cryptocurrency mining operations, and recognized revenue of approximately US$20.3 million. As of the date of this annual report, we have produced 575 Bitcoin in aggregate.

As of the date of this annual report, the theoretical maximum total hash rate capacity of our Ethereum mining machines is approximately 4,800.0 GH/s, of which 4,699.2 GH/s have been deployed. For the year ended December 31, 2021, we produced 4,743 Ethereum from our Ethereum cryptocurrency mining operations, and recognized revenue of approximately US$19.0 million. As of the date of this annual report, we have produced 10,504 Ethereum in aggregate.

We measure our mining performance based on the overall hash rate being produced by our mining machines. The above information regarding approximate maximum hashing rates are estimates only and the actual outputs of the mine are subject to changes based in part on the difficulty rates associated with the bitcoin network, as well as other conditions that impact our mining output.

We operate mining machines that perform blockchain computations measured in “hash rate” or “hashes per second.” A “hash” is the blockchain computation run by mining machines. Accordingly, a mining machine’s “hash rate” refers to the rate at which it can solve such blockchain computations. The original equipment used for mining bitcoin utilized the Central Processing Unit (CPU) of a computer to mine various forms of cryptocurrency. Due to performance limitations, CPU mining was rapidly replaced by the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), which offers significant performance advantages over CPUs. General purpose chipsets like CPUs and GPUs have since been replaced in the mining industry by Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) chips. These ASIC chips are designed specifically to maximize the rate of hashing operations.

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In terms of our data center business, in September 2021 we entered into a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement and certain other auxiliary agreements (the “Ohio Mining Site Agreements”) with Viking Data Centers, LLC (“Viking Data Centers”) to acquire a 51% equity interest in a cryptocurrency mining data center in Ohio (the “Ohio Mining Site”) with power capacity of up to 85 megawatts. In October 2021, we increased our investment in the Ohio Mining Site and brought its total planned power capacity up to 150 megawatts. Upon the successful execution of the increased investment, the Company’s equity interest in the Ohio Mining Site increased to 55%, and Viking Data Centers held the remaining 45%. As of the date of this annual report, 50 megawatts have been completed and in operation. The data center in Hong Kong, with a maximum capacity of approximately 1.4 megawatts, has been operational and mining ETH since October 2021. The Company has terminated its data center construction plan in Kazakhstan, which was announced in May 2021, due to the unstable local power supply. The Company’s Bitcoin mining machines which were deployed in third-party data centers in Kazakhstan, remain in operation and have not been impacted.

On October 14, 2021, the Company announced that its mining pool subsidiary, BTC.com, would completely exit the China market, cease registering new users from China and start to retire accounts of existing users from China. The Company has been working on solutions with its existing users in China, such as migrating users’ mining machines to overseas markets so that they have access to our services in a compliant manner.

Our Business

We are primarily engaged in cryptocurrency mining for our own account, data center operation to host cryptocurrency mining activities, and cryptocurrency mining pool services. We have adopted the development strategy to focus on the expansion of our blockchain and cryptocurrency mining operations in international markets outside the PRC. As of the date of this annual report, we no longer have any revenue-generating operation in the PRC.

Cryptocurrency Mining Business

We currently operate cryptocurrency mining machines for the sole purpose of mining cryptocurrencies (primarily Bitcoin and Ethereum), which we may sell for fiat currency for our own account from time to time depending on market condition and management's determination of our cash flow needs. As of the date of this annual report, we have completed the migration of all of our Bitcoin mining machines primarily to the United States and, to a lesser extent, Kazakhstan. As of the date of this annual report, (1) the theoretical maximum total hash rate capacity of our Ethereum mining machines, all of which are located outside of the PRC, is 4,800.0 GH/s, and Ethereum mining machines with capacity of 4,699.2 GH/s have been deployed; and (2) the theoretical maximum total hash rate capacity of our Bitcoin mining machines, all of which are located outside of the PRC, is approximately 825.5 PH/s, and Bitcoin mining machines with capacity of 492.2 PH/s have been deployed. None of our Ethereum mining machines is located in Kazakhstan. In order to increase the cost efficiency of our mining business, we disposed of certain old model mining machines with a total hash rate capacity of 610.7 PH/s.

We currently have Bitcoin mining machines with a theoretical maximum total hash rate capacity of 532.8 PH/s in the United States, of which 353.1 PH/s have been operating in data centers and the remainder have been tuned and are ready for deployment. In Kazakhstan, we have Bitcoin mining machines with a theoretical maximum total hash rate capacity of 292.7 PH/s, of which 139.1 PH/s have been operating and the remainder have been tuned and are ready for deployment.

Data Center Services

We operate data centers which provide rack space, utility, and cloud services such as virtual services, virtual storage and data backup services to third-party cryptocurrency mining companies. Our data centers also host a number of our own cryptocurrency mining machines. We typically charge our customers a monthly service fee, which factors into, among others, the number of machines hosted in our facilities, utility costs and other associated expenses in connection with the operations of our data centers. The service fees for our data center services are settled in fiat currency.

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We used to conduct our data center business in China through Loto Interactive and its subsidiaries. After suspending the operations of two data centers in Sichuan province, China, we have migrated our data center operation overseas and are currently in the process of investing in or constructing cryptocurrency mining data centers in overseas jurisdictions outside of China. In September 2021, we entered into a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement and certain other auxiliary agreements (the “Ohio Mining Site Agreements”) with Viking Data Centers, LLC (“Viking Data Centers”) to jointly invest in the development of a cryptocurrency mining data center in Ohio (the “Ohio Mining Site”) with power capacity of up to 85 megawatts. In October 2021, we increased our investment in the Ohio Mining Site and brought its total planned power capacity up to 150 megawatts. We currently expect to complete the Ohio Mining Site in May 2022. As of the date of this annual report, 50 megawatts has been completed and in operation in the Ohio Mining Site. We have also been growing our operations in Hong Kong. Our data center in Hong Kong with a maximum processing capacity of approximately 1.4 megawatts, has commenced operations since October 2021. We expect our international operations to contribute most of our revenues going forward. For the risks and uncertainties relating to our international operation development and expansion, and the regulatory and policy environment affecting our blockchain and cryptocurrency mining business and our remaining operations in China, see “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Business and Industry — It may be or become illegal to acquire, own, hold, sell or use cryptocurrencies, participate in the blockchain, or transfer or utilize similar cryptocurrency assets in China or international markets where we operate due to adverse changes in the regulatory and policy environment in these jurisdictions.”

Mining Pool Services

We operate our cryptocurrency mining pool business through BTC.com, a leading multi-currency comprehensive service mining pool that supports mining activities for primarily bitcoin and ethereum, among other cryptocurrencies on a proof-of-work (POW) computing basis. We enable effective collaboration among the providers of computing power, or pool participants, to mine cryptocurrencies in the blockchain network, by coordinating the computing power of pool participants and identifying new block rewards. We collect all mining rewards which are stored in a secured digital wallet maintained by an established third-party digital asset financial services platform, and then assign mining rewards, net of pool operator fees that represent a small percentage of mining rewards, to pool participants in proportion to the hash rate contributed by each of them to a given successful mining transaction. The mining rewards include block rewards and transaction verification fees related to the transactions included in the block, depending on the sharing mechanism designated for the type of cryptocurrency mined in such transaction. All mining rewards are settled on a daily basis through distributions to the pool participants’ respective digital wallets, in the respective cryptocurrencies mined in each transaction under the mining pool policies. If the pool participants are unable to meet the minimum reward thresholds, trigger security alerts, fail to provide us with the necessary public key to their wallets, or otherwise breach our mining pool policies, their mining rewards will be withheld until such issues are resolved.

Each pool participants must create a user account with us, which contains information such as sub-accounts, types of cryptocurrency intended to mine, server information of such pool participant’s mining machines, and addresses of its own digital wallet(s). The sub-account is unique to each pool participant, and we determine the ownership of mining machines in our mining pool based on the sub-account associated with the specific machine. After mining machines are connected to and included in our mining pool, pool participants can view the real-time hash rate allocation and income generated from their mining machines.

We do not provide custody services in connection with our mining pool services, nor do we maintain a custody arrangement with our customers. Before allocating mining rewards to pool participants based on their respective contribution of computing power, digital assets mined by pool participants, together with cryptocurrencies mined by ourselves, are store in a secured digital wallet maintained by an established third-party digital asset financial services platform, which utilizes enterprise multi-signature storage solution to safeguard and monitor the transfer of digital assets. Such enterprise multi-signature storage solution requires multiple keys maintained by separate accounts and different authorized individuals to approve each transaction. We have also subscribed for custody services supported by hardware and software infrastructure, as well as security controls over key generation, storage, management and transaction signature on such third-party digital asset financial services platform.

Since October 2021, due to regulatory changes in the PRC, we have ceased registering new mining pool customers from China and retired accounts of existing mining pool customers from China. For the year ended December 31, 2021, our mining pool business generated a significant majority of our total revenue.

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Our Digital Assets

We hold for our own account digital assets mined through our cryptocurrency mining operation, which consist primarily of Bitcoin and Ethereum. We also acquire other types of cryptocurrencies, such as Dogecoin, as commissions from our mining pool operation. As of the date of this annual report, we hold Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin, which are the only digital assets individually accounts for more than 1.0% of our total assets as of December 31, 2021. These three specific digital assets in the aggregate account for less than 10.8% of our total assets as of December 31, 2021. As of the date of this annual report, the other digital assets that we hold collectively represent less than 2.0% of our total assets as of December 31, 2021, with no single digital asset (excluding Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin) individually representing more than 1.0% of our total assets as of December 31, 2021. As of the date of this annual report, we hold 329 Bitcoins, 3,208 Ethereum and 53.0 million Dogecoin.

Our digital assets are held through BIT Mining Limited, our ultimate Cayman Islands holding company, as well as our consolidated subsidiaries in Hong Kong. As of the date of this annual report, our digital assets have an aggregate carrying value of approximately US$36.3 million, calculated based on the quoted price of the respective cryptocurrencies on the date of receipt, with impairment provided. As we settle mining rewards with pool participants on a daily basis, the value of the to-be-distributed mining rewards is recorded as accounts payable for accounting purposes. As of the date of this annual report, we record US$43.4 million in accounts payable in connection with our mining pool business.

Our cryptocurrency business focuses on mining cryptocurrencies for our own account, operating data centers to host our and customers’ mining machines, and providing mining pool services to customers. We do not facilitate the trading of, or investing in, cryptocurrencies, although we may sell digital assets mined by us for fiat currency for our own account from time to time. We intend to mine cryptocurrencies that are generally not deemed as “securities.” The SEC and its staff have taken the position that certain digital assets fall within the definition of a “security” under the U.S. federal securities laws. Public statements by senior officials at the SEC indicate that the SEC does not intend to take the position that Bitcoin or Ethereum, in their current form, are securities. However, such statements are not official policy statements by the SEC and reflect only the speakers’ views, which are not binding on the SEC or any other agency or court, and cannot be generalized to any other digital asset, such as Dogecoin. In accordance with a framework for analyzing whether a given digital assets is a security, published by the SEC’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology in April 2019, we would need to determine whether each of the digital assets acquired and held by us is an “investment contract,” as well as other instruments such as stocks, bonds, and transferable shares.

We intend to consult counsel prior to attempting to mine any cryptocurrency other than those that are generally not considered as “securities,” such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, in order to avoid inadvertently dealing in a cryptocurrency which may be deemed a security. We anticipate that, should we consider mining a cryptocurrency other than those that are generally not considered as “securities,” we will seek the advice of securities counsel, and the process will include research, review and analysis of the current federal securities laws and regulations regarding digital assets, including judicial interpretations and administrative guidance. However, the processes employed for determining whether particular digital assets are securities within the meaning of U.S. federal securities laws are risk-based assessments and are not a legal standard or binding on the SEC or other regulators. See “Risk Factors— Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—A particular digital asset’s status as a “security” in any relevant jurisdiction is subject to a high degree of uncertainty, and if we are unable to properly characterize a digital asset, we may be subject to regulatory scrutiny, investigations, fines, and other penalties, which may adversely affect our business, results of operations and/or financial condition.” We recognize that whether a digital asset is a security is a complex and evolving legal issue. For that reason, we have no plan in the foreseeable future to mine anything other than cryptocurrencies that are generally not considered as “securities.” However, if our compliance procedures and legal reviews prove to be incorrect, we may be subject to prohibitive SEC penalties and/or private lawsuit defense costs and adverse rulings.

Legal and Administrative Proceedings

On September 12, 2016, we entered into a settlement agreement with certain plaintiffs who brought a stockholder class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, shareholders’ litigation in February 2015. In 2016, we paid US$1.5 million for the settlement, and the remaining US$1.0 million was covered by the insurance company.

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In connection with our acquisition of a 93% equity interest in TMG in 2017, we entered into a shareholders’ agreement with Helmet Limited, or Helmet, which owns the remaining 7% equity interest (post-acquisition) in TMG. Pursuant to this shareholders’ agreement, if Thomas Biro resigns from his employment with TMG, or his employment is terminated for whatever reason, Helmet has the right to request that we, on one occasion, purchase all or some of the TMG shares then held by Helmet. This right is exercisable within one year from the aforementioned resignation. However, such right is not exercisable if Mr. Biro resigns before December 31, 2018. When the notice to exercise such right is delivered, we and Helmet shall, within 30 business days, establish a fair market value as the purchase price for the TMG shares subject to sale. If both parties fail to reach an agreement during such period, the fair market value of those TMG shares will be decided by an independent valuation expert appointed by both parties. If the parties are not able to decide on an independent valuation expert, such expert shall be appointed in accordance with the dispute resolution provisions under the shareholders’ agreement.

In early 2019, we received a redemption notice from Helmet, requesting us to purchase the 7% equity interest in TMG held by Helmet at a redemption price of EUR3,745,000. We and Helmet failed to reach an agreement as to the purchase price for the TMG shares within 30 business days of the notice. Helmet has referred the dispute to arbitration by a local court in Malta, and we have engaged attorneys to represent us in the arbitration. The worst-case scenario is that we ultimately may be required to purchase the TMG shares held by Helmet at the redemption price of EUR3,745,000. Accordingly, after receiving the redemption notice we adjusted the carrying amount of the 7% redeemable noncontrolling interest to equal to the redemption amount of EUR3,745,000 as of December 31, 2018. On April 10, 2020, we reached a settlement agreement to purchase the 7% equity interest in TMG held by Helmet at a final redemption price of EUR1,900,000. We fully paid this final redemption price on April 20, 2020. We adjusted the carrying amount of the 7% redeemable noncontrolling interest to equal to the final redemption amount of EUR1,900,000 as of December 31, 2019. Other than this adjustment as reflected and disclosed in our consolidated financial statements for 2018 and 2019, we do not expect to incur other liabilities in connection with the aforementioned arbitration.

Our board of directors formed a Special Investigation Committee, or SIC, and retained King & Wood Mallesons LLP as legal advisor to assist the internal investigation into the role played by the Company’s former external consultants in alleged illegal money transfers following their arrest by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office. The SIC was composed of Mr. Shengwu Wu, chairman of the board, Dr. Honghui Deng and Ms. Wong, Angel Yan Ki, each an independent director. On October 7, 2020, the Company announced that the SIC of the Company’s Board completed its internal investigation. KWM presented its investigation review to SIC on October 7, 2020. Based on the findings and analyses in KWM’s review, the SIC concluded that it did not find a sufficient basis to establish a violation of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 in connection with the Company’s prior activities in Japan. The SIC also reviewed the Company’s compliance policies, procedures and internal controls in light of the suggestions from KWM. The Company updated such policies, procedures and internal controls based on recommendations from the SIC, and will continue to enhance its internal controls as appropriate.

On February 13, 2020, a securities class action lawsuit was filed against BIT Mining Limited and certain of our current and former officers (collectively, “Defendants”) by Yang Jun, a shareholder of the Company, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The complaint purports to assert claims on behalf of a class comprising purchasers of our ADSs during the proposed class period from April 27, 2018 to December 31, 2019. On March 26, 2020, the Court appointed Company shareholder Brian Xuan as the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. In June 2020, the lead plaintiff filed an amended complaint. In November 2020, the lead plaintiff filed a second amended complaint. The claims raised in the first amended complaint do not differ materially from those raised in the original complaint. The second amended complaint raises the same claims as the first amended complaint, but alleges additional facts in support of those claims. On December 21, 2020, the Company served its Motion to Dismiss the second amendment complaint (“Motion to Dismiss”). On January 20, 2021, lead plaintiff served its opposition to the Company’s Motion to Dismiss. On February 19, 2021, the Company filed all papers associated with its Motion to Dismiss, including the Company’s reply in further support of the Motion to Dismiss. The Group believe it has meritorious defenses to each of the claims in this lawsuit and is prepared to vigorously defend against its allegations. On August 13, 2021, a Report and Recommendation that the Motion to Dismiss was granted was issued. Plaintiffs filed objections to the Report and Recommendation on August 27, 2021 and the defendants responded on September 10, 2021. On September 20, 2021, the Court dismissed the case and the Clerk of the Court is directed to enter judgment consistent with this Order and close the case. As such, this case was now terminated.

On January 15, 2020, a securities class action lawsuit, making allegations virtually identical with the abovementioned lawsuit filed on February 13, 2020, was filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey by Fengjun Sun. On March 23, 2020, Fengjun Sun noticed his voluntary dismissal of this case, and on April 8, 2020, the clerk of the Court was ordered to close the case file. As such, this case was terminated.

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Other than as described above, we are not currently a party to, nor are we aware of, any legal proceeding, investigation or claim which, in the opinion of our management, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operation.

The approval or clearance from either the CSRC or the CAC for any offering we or the selling shareholders may make under this annual report and any applicable annual report supplement, and we do not intend to obtain the approval or clearance from either the CSRC or the CAC in connection with any such offering, since we do not believe, based on advice of our PRC counsel, JunZeJun Law Offices, that such approval or clearance is required under these circumstances or for the time being. We cannot assure you, however, that regulators in China will not take a contrary view or will not subsequently require us to undergo the approval or clearance procedures and subject us to penalties for non-compliance. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—Recent regulatory developments in China may subject us to additional regulatory review and disclosure requirements, expose us to government interference, or otherwise restrict or completely hinder our ability to offer securities and raise capitals outside China, all of which could materially and adversely affect our business, and cause the value of our securities to significantly decline or become worthless.”

Our financial statements contained in the annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2021 have been audited by MaloneBailey, LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm that is headquartered in the United States with offices in Beijing and Shenzhen. MaloneBailey, LLP is a firm registered with the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (the “PCAOB”), and is required by the laws of the U.S. to undergo regular inspections by the PCAOB to assess its compliance with the laws of the U.S. and professional standards. MaloneBailey, LLP has been subject to PCAOB inspections, and is not among the PCAOB-registered public accounting firms headquartered in the PRC or Hong Kong that are subject to PCAOB’s determination on December 16, 2021 of having been unable to inspect or investigate completely.

However, our audit work was carried out by MaloneBailey, LLP with the collaboration of its China-based offices. According to Article 177 of the PRC Securities Law (last amended in March 2020), no overseas securities regulator is allowed to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities in China. Accordingly, without the consent of the competent PRC securities regulators and relevant authorities, no organization or individual may provide the documents and materials relating to securities business activities to overseas parties. Therefore, the audit working papers of our financial statements may not be fully inspected by the PCAOB without the approval of the PRC authorities. Our ADSs could still be delisted from a U.S. exchange and prohibited from being traded over-the-counter in the United States under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (the “HFCA Act”) if the PCAOB determines in the future that it is unable to fully inspect or investigate our auditor which has a presence in China. The delisting or cessation of trading of our ADSs, or the threat of their being delisted or prohibited from being traded, may materially and adversely affect the value of your investment. Additionally, the inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections deprives our investors with the benefits of such inspections. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China— Our ADSs could still be delisted from a U.S. exchange and prohibited from being traded over-the-counter in the United States under the HFCA Act if the PCAOB determines in the future that it is unable to fully inspect or investigate our auditor which has a presence in China, and the delisting and cease of trading our ADSs, or the threat of their being delisted or prohibited from being traded, may materially and adversely affect the value of your investment.”

M&A Regulations and Overseas Listings

On August 8, 2006, six PRC regulatory authorities, including the CSRC, promulgated the Provisions on Merger and Acquisition of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, which were later amended on June 22, 2009, or the 2006 M&A Rules. Pursuant to the 2006 M&A Rules, an offshore special purpose vehicle, or SPV, refers to an overseas company controlled directly or indirectly by PRC domestic companies or individuals for purposes of overseas listing of equity interests in domestic companies (defined as enterprises in the PRC other than foreign-invested enterprises). If an SPV purchases, for the purpose of overseas listing, equity interests of any PRC company that are held by PRC companies or individuals controlling such SPV, then the overseas listing by the SPV must obtain the approval of the CSRC. The application of the 2006 M&A Rules remains unclear and there is currently no consensus among PRC law firms regarding the scope of CSRC’s jurisdiction. As of the date of this annual report, the CSRC has not issued any rules or written interpretation clarifying whether offerings like ours are subject to this new procedure.

Our then PRC counsel, Han Kun Law Offices, has advised us that the 2006 M&A Rules do not require us to obtain prior CSRC approval for the listing and trading of our ADSs on the NYSE, given that:

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The following diagram illustrates our company’s organizational structure, and the place of formation, ownership interest and affiliation of each of our principal subsidiaries and affiliated entities as of the date of this annual report.

Our principal executive offices are located at Units 813&815, Level 8, Core F, Cyberport 3, 100 Cyberport Road, Hong Kong and occupy a total of 1,371.6 square meters. We also have representative offices in USA and Shenzhen. We lease our premises from unrelated third parties. Each of the lessors for the leased premises either has a valid title to the property or has proper authorization from the title owner to sublease the property.

In September 2016, we entered into a lease agreement with Shenzhen Harbor Technology Development Co., Ltd., to lease offices of 9,659 square meters in Nanshan District, Shenzhen, with a total expenditure of RMB1.3 million (US$0.2 million) per month. We have gradually and partially terminated our leases with respect to certain amounts of office space, reducing our total leased office space from 9,659 square meters to 2,176 square meters between August 2020 and January 2021, with the 2,176 square-meter space incurring a total expenditure of US$20,000 per month. In January 2022, we entered into a lease agreement to lease offices of 384 square meters in New York with an expenditure of US$50,000 per month.

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BIT Mining Limited, our ultimate Cayman Islands holding company, holding certain of our digital assets in connection with our cryptocurrency mining business and  indirectly holding the equity interest in our subsidiaries in China and other countries and regions. We voluntarily suspended our online sports lottery sales services in April 2015. We have previously conducted our lottery-related business in China through a series of contractual arrangements, also commonly known as the variable interest entity, or VIE structure, with several PRC-incorporated companies (i.e., Shenzhen Youlanguang Science and Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen E-Sun Network Co., Ltd., and Shenzhen Guangtiandi Science and Technology Co., Ltd.) (collectively, the “lottery-related affiliated entities”), and their respective registered shareholders. Between March 31 and July 23, 2021, we also consolidated the financial results of a PRC-incorporated company (i.e., Zhejiang Keying Huancai Information Technology Co., Ltd.) (“Zhejiang Keying”), which is primarily engaged in the provision of data analysis and storage services in connection with our now suspended cryptocurrency mining operations in China, through a similar VIE structure with Loto Interactive Information Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (“Loto Shenzhen”), which became an indirect majority-owned subsidiary following the completion of our acquisition of a controlling stake in Loto Interactive on March 31, 2021. On July 23, 2021, we announced our decision to dispose of our VIE structures in China, and as of the date of this annual report, we have terminated all of our VIE structures with our lottery-related affiliated entities and Zhejiang Keying, and we have completed the transfer of equity interests of the subsidiaries of Zhejiang Keying to Loto Shenzhen where Zhejiang Keying did not hold material assets other than the equity interests of its subsidiaries. The lottery-related affiliated entities have been deconsolidated and their financial results will no longer be included in our consolidated financial statements for the third quarter of 2021 following the termination of the related VIE structures. Accordingly, as of the date of this annual report, we do not maintain any VIE structure in China. The results of operations and assets and liabilities for this VIE structure are excluded from the company’s continuing operations for the fiscal year 2021 (and for all prior periods of comparison) and presented as a discontinued operation in this report. See Note 4 – Discontinued Operations, of the consolidated financial statements for further details. For the risks and uncertainties relating to the termination of our previous VIE structures in China, see “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—Our efforts to adjust our corporate structure and business operations, including the termination of our previous VIE structures and the exit of our mining pool business from China, may not be completed in a liability-free manner, and we may still be subject to cybersecurity review by the CAC, or deemed to be in violation of PRC laws regulating our industry and operations.”

As of the date of this annual report, we have no PRC-sourced revenue, and our remaining operations in the PRC primarily involve the provision of administrative supports to our cryptocurrency mining business outside the PRC, as well as internal information technology services to our operating entities and mining pools outside the PRC. Based on advice of our PRC counsel, JunZeJun Law Offices, we believe we have obtained the business licenses and permits required for our remaining non-revenue generating operations in the PRC. In addition, certain subsidiaries of Zhejiang Keying have deregistered the internet data center (“IDC”) licenses that are no longer needed after the termination of the data center operations in the PRC. However, due to the complexity of the PRC regulatory regime over our industry, we cannot assure you that we have obtained all the permits or licenses required for conducting our remaining operations in the PRC or will be able to maintain our existing licenses or obtain any new licenses required under any new laws or regulations. We have received government approvals, permits and licenses required for our operations of data centers in Hong Kong and the United States. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain or renew such required approval, permits or licenses on commercially reasonable terms and in a timely manner or at all. See “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—Any failure to obtain or renew any required approvals, licenses, permits or certifications could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.”

Our revenues from continuing operations were US$5.2 million, US$2.2 million and US$1,328.9 million in 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively, representing a decrease of 58.0% from 2019 to 2020, and an increase of US$1,326.7 million from 2020 to 2021, respectively. The decrease in 2020 was mainly attributable to a decrease of US$3.0 million associated with TMG’s temporary suspension of its operations in Sweden during the period from January 2020 to September 2020. The Company acquired the mining pool business in April 2021, which contributed a significant increase of US$1,275.1 million to revenues.

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Net loss from continuing operations attributable to BIT Mining Limited were US$74.9 million in 2019, US$23.3 million in 2020 and US$51.8 million in 2021, representing a decrease of 68.8% from 2019 to 2020, and an increase of 122.0% from 2020 to 2021, respectively. Net loss from continuing operations attributable to BIT Mining Limited in 2019, 2020 and 2021 were adversely impacted by share-based compensation expenses of US$11.5 million, US$8.0 million and US$6.4 million, respectively. Net loss from continuing operations attributable to BIT Mining Limited in 2019 was adversely impacted by impairment provisions of US$26.9 million provided for acquired intangible assets, US$19.2 million provided for goodwill, US$1.9 million of loss from equity method investments and US$1.4 million provided for long-term investments. Net loss from continuing operations attributable to BIT Mining Limited in 2020 was adversely impacted by an impairment provision of US$4.8 million provided for long-term investment. And net loss from continuing operations attributable to BIT Mining Limited in 2021 was adversely impacted by an impairment provision of US$22.4 million provided for property and equipment and an impairment provision of US$31.8 million provided for cryptocurrencies which was partially offset by a net gain of US$6.7 million on disposal of cryptocurrencies.

Mining pool services, cryptocurrency mining and data center services accounted for nil, nil and 99.8% of the total revenues in 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively. Others mainly include online gaming services in Europe and beyond by TMG. The decrease in 2020 was mainly attributable to the temporary suspension of TMG’s operation in Sweden during the period from January 2020 to September 2020. The significant increase in 2021 was mainly attributable to the mining pool business that we have consolidated since April 2021.

The table below sets forth our operating expenses from continuing operations for the three years:

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Our operating expenses consist primarily of cost of revenue, sales and marketing expenses, general and administrative expenses and service development expenses.

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Cost of revenue

Our cost of revenue is directly related to the services we provide, and fluctuates in line with our revenues.Our cost of revenue primarily consists of: (i) mining rewards allocated to each providers of computing power (“pool participant”) in exchange for their computing power contributed to the mining pool; (ii) other direct costs related to providing the mining pool service such as server fees and labor for maintaining the mining pool service; (iii) direct production costs related to data center service for operation, leasing expense of servers hosing and other equipment used in providing online services and cryptocurrency mining business; (iv) depreciation of machinery and equipment related to cryptocurrency mining and data center services; (v) amortization fees, which consist primarily of amortization of intangible assets arising from business combination; (vi) lottery insurance expenses, which consist of insurance premiums charged by insurers for covering the first two categories of winnings in online gaming services for betting on the outcome of lotteries; (vii) platform fees, which consist of fees payable to online gaming software suppliers for providing various online casino games on TMG’s websites and apps; (viii) account handling expenses, which consist primarily of transaction fees charged by banks and third-party payment processors for cash transfers between our users’ accounts on our online platform including websites and mobile applications and their accounts with banks or third-party payment processors; (ix) server leasing and maintenance expenses, which consist primarily of leasing expense of servers and other equipment used in providing online services; and (x) regulatory and compliance fees, which consist of fees payable to regulatory bodies such as Gambling Commission, HM Revenue and Customs, Malta Gaming Authority and Certria EOOD.

Sales and marketing expenses

Our sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of: (i) promotional and marketing expenses, which primarily consist of expenses associated with various promotional events; (ii) salary and benefit expenses for sales and marketing employees; (iii) share-based compensation expenses; (iv) advertising expenses; and (v) commissions to third-party Internet companies, which are service fees we pay to third-party Internet companies for purchase orders placed on our websites by users redirected from their websites. The amount of such commissions paid to third-party Internet companies for each redirected order depends on an agreed-upon allocation ratio.

General and administrative expenses

Our general and administrative expenses consist primarily of: (i) share-based compensation expenses; (ii) salary and benefit expenses for our management and general administrative employees; (iii) third-party professional service fees, which consist primarily of professional service fees paid to third-party professionals; (iv) depreciation expenses mainly for improvement of leasehold; (v) office expenses, which consist primarily of office rental and other office administrative expenses; (vi) travel, communication and other business expenses, which consist primarily of expenses associated with business travels; and (vii) bad debt provisions of other receivables, which consist primarily of bad debt provision of other receivables aging more than three years.

Service development expenses

Our service development expenses consist primarily of salary and benefit expenses for our research and development employees, share-based compensation expenses and rental expenses.

Other Operating Income

Our other operating income consists primarily of technical services fees received from third parties and related parties.

Government Grant

In 2019 and 2020,  we recognized grants from the Shenzhen local government. We did not recognize grants from the Shenzhen local government in 2021.

Net Gain on Disposal of Cryptocurrencies

Net gain on disposal of cryptocurrencies was mainly due to increasing market prices for cryptocurrencies by using first-in-first-out (“FIFO”) to calculate the cost of disposition.

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Impairment of Cryptocurrencies

Impairment provided for cryptocurrency assets held in mining pool business, including cryptocurrencies payable to pool participants as a result of the price fluctuation of cryptocurrencies.

Changes in fair value of contingent considerations

Changes in fair value of contingent considerations was due to the re-measurement on the fair value of the contingent considerations related to the combination of BTC.com.

Impairment of Property and Equipment

Impairment of property and equipment was due to the closure and demolition of data centers in Sichuan, China.

Impairments of goodwill and acquired intangible assets

Impairments of goodwill and acquired intangible assets were related to the Company’s acquisition of TMG, which were triggered by TMG’s temporary suspension of its operations in Sweden during the period from January 2020 to September 2020.

Impairment of long-term investments

The impairment losses in 2020 were primarily related to our 40.65% (later changed to 40.48% in 2019, to 33.74% in 2020 and further to 59.79% in 2021) equity interest in Loto Interactive, which was acquired in June 2017. The impairment loss in 2019 was related to our equity investment in Topgame Global Limited, which was acquired in August 2015.

Gain from disposal of subsidiaries

In 2021 we recognized a disposition gain of US$0.2 million mainly in connection with consolidation of Loto Interactive Limited, which disposed its subsidiaries in 2021.

Taxation

Our group includes entities incorporated in various jurisdictions throughout the world including the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, the United States, Malta, Curacao, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Japan and the People’s Republic of China. Most of these entities are either holding companies or non-operating entities. As a result, they are either not subject to any taxes in their respective local jurisdictions or did not generate any income for tax purposes.

The applicable taxation for our main operating entities is as follows:

Cayman Islands

Under the current laws of the Cayman Islands, the Company is not subject to tax on income or capital gains. In addition, upon payments of dividends by the Company to its shareholders, no Cayman Islands withholding tax will be imposed.

USA

Summit Bend, Ohio I, Ohio II and Asgard are incorporated in Ohio and Delaware, USA. Under the current laws, profits tax in Ohio and Delaware, USA is generally assessed at the rate 21% of taxable income.

British Virgin Islands

Under the current laws of the British Virgin Islands, BVI is not subject to tax on income or capital gains.

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Malta

Under the current laws, profits tax in Malta is generally assessed at the rate of 35% of taxable income. When a dividend is paid or declared to the holding company, the paying entity is entitled to claim six-sevenths (6/7) of the profits tax paid as a refund, which may effectively reduce the income tax rate to 5%.

Curacao

Multi Pay N.V. is incorporated in Curacao. Under the current laws, profits tax in Curacao is generally assessed at the rate of 2% of taxable income.

Hong Kong

500wan HK, Sunstar Technology, Skill Esport and the Hong Kong subsidiaries of Loto Interactive are incorporated in Hong Kong, under the current laws, profits tax in Hong Kong is generally assessed at the rate of 8.25% of taxable income up to HKD2,000 and assessed at the rate of 16.5% of taxable income over HKD2,000.

People’s Republic of China

A new enterprise income tax law (the “EIT Law”) in the PRC was enacted and became effective on January 1, 2008. The EIT Law applies a uniform 25% enterprise income tax (“EIT”) rate to both foreign invested enterprises and domestic enterprises. The subsidiaries incorporated in PRC are subject to the EIT rate of 25% in 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively.

Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We are a public company in the United States subject to Sarbanes-Oxley. Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley and applicable rules and regulations thereunder require that we include a report of management on our internal control over financial reporting in this annual report.

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The year ended December 31, 2021 compared with the year ended December 31, 2020

Revenues

Our revenues increased from US$2.2 million in 2020 to US$1,328.9 million in 2021, primarily attributable to the mining pool business that we have consolidated since April 2021.

Revenues were mainly comprised of revenues from the mining pool business of US$1,275.1 million and the cryptocurrency mining business of US$39.4 million, which were new business started in 2021.

Operating cost and expenses

Our operating cost and expenses increased from US$19.4 million in 2020 to US$1,353.0 million in 2021. Our operating expenses consisted of the following:

Cost of revenue. Our cost of revenue increased from US$2.0 million in 2020 to US$1,323.4 million in 2021. The increase was primarily due to (i) an increase of US$1,279.5 million mining rewards allocated to each providers of pool participant in exchange for their computing power contributed to the mining pool; (ii) an increase of US$23.1 million direct production costs related to data center service for operation, leasing expense of servers hosing and other equipment used in providing online services and cryptocurrency mining business; (iii) an increase of US$13.6 million depreciation of machinery and equipment related to cryptocurrency mining and data center services; and (iv) increase of US$5.1 million amortization fees of intangible assets arising from business combination.

Sales and marketing expenses. Sales and marketing expenses decreased by 17.2% from US$1.1 million in 2020 to US$0.9 million in 2021. The decrease was mainly due to cost reduction measures implemented by management, a decrease in share-based compensation expenses associated with share options granted to our directors and employees from US$0.7 million in 2020 to nil in 2021.

General and administrative expenses. General and administrative expenses increased by 77.7% from US$14.3 million in 2020 to US$25.5 million in 2021. The increase was mainly due to business development, including:

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The increase in general and administrative expenses was partially offset by a decrease in share-based compensation expenses associated with share options granted to our directors and employees from US$5.9 million in 2020 to US$4.5 million in 2021, which was primarily related to restricted share units granted in 2020, which are expensed mainly in 2020, and a decrease in depreciation expenses from US$2.2 million in 2020 to US$0.8 million in 2021, which was primarily attributable to the termination of office lease in 2021.

Service development expenses. Service development expenses increased by 62.5% from US$1.9 million in 2020 to US$3.2 million in 2021. The increase was primarily due to: (i) an increase in salary and benefit expenses for employees from US$0.3 million in 2020 to US$2.2 million in 2021, primarily due to the consolidation of the mining pool business since April 2021; and (ii) a decrease in share-based compensation expenses associated with restricted share units granted to our service development employees from US$1.4 million in 2020 to US$0.3 million in 2021.

Other operating income

Other operating income decreased by 43.8% from US$0.5 million in 2020 to US$0.3 million in 2021.

Net Gain on Disposal of Cryptocurrencies

Net gain on disposal of cryptocurrencies was US$6.7 million in 2021, which was related to the increasing market prices for cryptocurrencies by using the accounting method of first-in-first-out (FIFO) to calculate the cost of disposition.

Impairment of Cryptocurrencies

Impairment of cryptocurrencies was US$31.8 million in 2021, which was related to the cryptocurrencies assets including the part of cryptocurrencies payable to pool participants related to mining pool business due to the decreasing market prices for cryptocurrencies assets.

Changes in fair value of contingent considerations

Changes in fair value of contingent considerations was US$13.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2021, due to the re-measurement on the fair value of the contingent considerations related to the combination of BTC.com.

Impairment of Property and Equipment

Impairment of property and equipment was US$22.4 million in 2021, mainly due to the closure and demolition of data centers in Sichuan, China.

Impairment of goodwill and acquired intangible assets

Impairment of goodwill was nil and impairment of acquired intangible assets was US$0.06 million in 2021, which was related to the computer software of Loto Interactive.

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Operating loss

As a result of the foregoing factors, we recorded operating loss from continuing operations of US$68.4 million in 2021, an increase of US$51.4 million compared with operating loss from continuing operations of US$17.0 million in 2020.

Impairment of long-term investments.

Impairment of long-term investments decreased by 100% from US$4.8 million in 2020 to nil in 2021. The impairment loss in 2020 was provided for our 40.65% (later changed to 40.48% in 2019, to 33.74% in October 2020, and further to 59.79% in June, 2021) equity interest in Loto Interactive, which was acquired in June 2017.

Loss before income taxes from continuing operations

Loss before income taxes from continuing operations was US$63.9 million in 2021, an increase of US$40.6 million compared with loss before income taxes from continuing operations of US$23.4 million in 2020.

Income tax benefit

We recorded income tax benefit of US$0.36 million in 2021, an increase of US$0.33 million compared with income tax benefit of US$0.03 million in 2020. Income tax benefit was primarily due to a reversal of uncertain tax liabilities and deferred tax liabilities.

Net loss from continuing operations

As a result of the foregoing factors, we recorded net loss from continuing operations of US$63.6 million in 2021, as compared to net loss from continuing operations of US$23.3 million in 2020.

Net loss from continuing operations attributable to BIT Mining Limited

We recorded net loss from continuing operations attributable to BIT Mining Limited of US$51.8 million in 2021, as compared to net loss from continuing operations attributable to BIT Mining Limited of US$23.3 million in 2020. We also recorded non-GAAP net loss from continuing operations attributable to BIT Mining Limited of US$21.3 million in 2021, as compared to non-GAAP net loss from continuing operations attributable to BIT Mining Limited of US$11.0 million in 2020.

The year ended December 31, 2020 compared with the year ended December 31, 2019

Revenues

Our revenues decreased by 58.0% from US$5.2 million in 2019 to US$2.2 million in 2020, primarily attributable to TMG’s temporary suspension of operation in Sweden during the period from January 2020 to September 2020.

Operating cost and expenses

Our operating cost and expenses decreased by 40.2% from US$32.5 million in 2019 to US$19.4 million in 2020. Our operating expenses consisted of the following:

Cost of revenue. Our cost of revenue decreased by 74.5% from US$7.9 million in 2019 to US$2.0 million in 2020. The decrease was primarily due to cost reduction measures implemented by management, including: (i) a decrease of US$3.9 million in depreciation and amortization, mainly associated with full impairment of intangible assets acquired for business combination of TMG, which was fully impaired at the end of 2019; (ii) a decrease of US$0.9 million in platform service fees of TMG associated with online casino platforms; and (iii) a decrease of US$0.7 million in business insurance costs of TMG associated with online lottery betting.

Sales and marketing expenses. Sales and marketing expenses decreased by 62.1% from US$3.0 million in 2019 to US$1.1 million in 2020. The decrease of US$1.4 million in promotional and marketing expenses was primarily due to a change in TMG’s marketing strategy.

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General and administrative expenses. General and administrative expenses decreased by 23.3% from US$18.7 million in 2019 to US$14.3 million in 2020. The decrease was mainly due to cost reduction measures implemented by management, including:

Service development expenses. Service development expenses decreased by 32.1% from US$2.9 million in 2019 to US$1.9 million in 2020. The decrease was primarily due to a decrease of US$0.6 million in share-based compensation expenses associated with restricted share units granted to our service development employees in 2020.

Other operating income

Other operating income increased from US$0.04 million in 2019 to US$0.5 million in 2020.

Impairment of goodwill and acquired intangible assets

Impairment of goodwill decreased from US$19.2 million in 2019 to nil in 2020, and impairment of acquired intangible assets decreased from US$26.9 million in 2019 to nil in 2020. The decrease was related to the Company’s acquisition of TMG, which were triggered by TMG’s temporary suspension of its operations in Sweden during the period from January 2020 to September 2020.

Operating loss

As a result of the foregoing factors, we recorded operating loss from continuing operations of US$17.0 million in 2020, a decrease of US$57.0 million compared with operating loss from continuing operations of US$74.0 million in 2019.

Impairment of long-term investments.

Impairment of long-term investments increased from US$1.4 million in 2019 to US$4.8 million in 2020. The impairment loss in 2019 was provided for our investment in Topgame Global Limited, which was acquired in August 2015. The impairment loss in 2020 was provided for our 40.65% (later changed to 40.48% in 2019, to 33.74% in 2020 and further to 59.79% in 2021) equity interest in Loto Interactive, which was acquired in June 2017.

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Loss before income taxes from continuing operations

Loss before income taxes from continuing operations was US$23.4 million in 2020, a decrease of US$52.5 million compared with loss before income taxes from continuing operations of US$75.9 million in 2019.

Income tax benefit

We recorded income tax benefit of US$0.03 million in 2020, a decrease of US$1.05 million compared with income tax benefit of US$1.08 million in 2019. Income tax benefit was primarily due to a reversal of uncertain tax liabilities and deferred tax liabilities.

Net loss from continuing operations

As a result of the foregoing factors, we recorded net loss from continuing operations of US$23.3 million in 2020, as compared to net loss from continuing operations of US$74.9 million in 2019.

Net loss from continuing operations attributable to BIT Mining Limited

We recorded net loss from continuing operations attributable to BIT Mining Limited of US$23.3 million in 2020, as compared to net loss from continuing operations attributable to BIT Mining Limited of US$74.9 million in 2019. We also recorded non-GAAP net loss from continuing operations attributable to BIT Mining Limited of US$11.0 million in 2020, as compared to non-GAAP net loss from continuing operations attributable to BIT Mining Limited of US$17.0 million in 2019.

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Net cash used in operating activities

Net cash used in operating activities in 2021 was US$34.3 million, which was primarily attributable to (i) net loss of US$72.5 million adjusted by subtracting US$6.4 million of share-based compensation; (ii) depreciation and amortization expenses of US$20.4 million; (iii) losses on disposal of property and equipment of US$9.8 million; (iv) impairment of cryptocurrencies of US$31.8 million; (v) impairment of property and equipment of US$22.4 million; (vi) changes in fair value of contingent considerations of US$13.9 million; (vii) net gain on disposal of cryptocurrencies of US$6.7 million  ; (viii) an increase in prepayments and other receivables of US$2.3 million; (ix) an increase in cryptocurrency assets of US$20.1 million;  (x) a decrease in accounts payable of US$7.7 million; (xi) a decrease of accrued expenses and other current liabilities of US$2.8 million; (xii) a decrease of accrued payroll and welfare payable of US$1.5 million; (xiii) gain on previously held equity interest of US$5.5 million; and (xiv) Amortization of right-of-use assets of US$1.2 million, which was partially offset by (i) a decrease in accounts receivables of US$1.7 million; and (ii) an increase in due to related party of US$1.3 million.

Net cash used in operating activities in 2020 was US$9.8 million, which was primarily attributable to (i) net loss of US$32.1 million adjusted by subtracting US$8.0 million of share-based compensation; (ii) depreciation and amortization expenses of US$6.6 million; (iii) impairment on long-term investments of US$4.8 million; (iv) bad debt provision of US$0.1 million; (v) loss from equity method investments of US$1.6 million; (vi) a decrease in prepayments and other receivables of US$0.9 million; (vii) a decrease in deposits and other non-current assets of US$0.6 million; (viii) an increase in accrued expenses and other current liabilities of US$2.0 million; (ix) an increase in accrued payroll and welfare payable of US$1.0 million; (x) losses on disposal of property and equipment of US$0.2 million; and (xi) amortization of right-of-use assets of US$1.1 million. Net cash used in operating activities in 2020 was partially offset by (i) a decrease in operating lease liabilities of US$2.2 million; (ii) a decrease in long-term payables of US$0.1 million; and (iii) a decrease in deferred tax liability and income tax liability of US$0.5 million.

Net cash used in operating activities in 2019 was US$22.3 million, which was primarily attributable to (i) net loss of US$94.9 million adjusted by subtracting US$11.5 million of share-based compensation; (ii) depreciation and amortization expenses of US$8.9 million; (iii) impairment on long-term investments of US$3.2 million; (iv) impairment of goodwill and acquired intangible assets of US$46.1 million; (v) bad debt provision of US$2.9 million; (vi) loss from equity method investments of US$1.5 million; (vii) a decrease in prepayments and other receivables of US$2.3 million; (viii) a decrease in other non-current assets of US$0.2 million; and (ix) amortization of right-of-use assets of US$2.5 million. Net cash used in operating activities in 2019 was partially offset by (i) a decrease in accrued expenses and other current liabilities of US$3.1 million; (ii) a decrease in operating lease liabilities of US$1.9 million; (iii) a decrease in long-term payables of US$0.2 million; (iv) a decrease in deferred tax liability and income tax liability of US$1.1 million, and (v) a decrease in accrued salary and benefit expenses for employees of US$0.4 million.

Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities

Net cash used in investing activities in 2021 was US$75.4 million, which was primarily attributable to (i) cash paid for acquisition of property and equipment of US$56.6 million; (ii) cash paid for disposal of subsidiaries and VIEs, net of cash received of US$1.4 million; (iii) cash paid for acquisition of long-term investments of US$1.0 million; (iv) cash paid for business combination, net of cash received of US$21.9 million; (v) cash paid for additional interest acquired for Loto Interactive of US$3.4 million; and (vii) loans provided to third-parties of US$8.0 million, which was partially offset by (i) cash received from disposal of cryptocurrency assets of US$10.8 million; and (ii) proceeds from disposal of property and equipment of US$5.7 million.

Net cash provided by investing activities in 2020 was US$3.3 million, which was primarily attributable to (i) cash received from return of time deposits of US$3.4 million; (ii) cash received from disposal of long-term investment of US$0.4 million; and (iii) repayment of loans provided to related and third-parties of US$1.9 million; which was partially offset by (i) cash paid for acquisition of redeemable non-controlling interest of US$2.1 million; and (ii) cash paid for acquisition of property and equipment of US$0.2 million.

Net cash provided by investing activities in 2019 was US$9.6 million, which was primarily attributable to (i) cash received from return of short-term investments of US$14.4 million; (ii) cash received from return of time deposits of US$19.7 million; and (iii) cash received from return of long-term investment of US$0.9 million; which was partially offset by (i) cash paid for time deposits of US$23.1 million; (ii) cash paid for loans provided to third parties of US$1.1 million; (iii) cash paid for loans provided to a related party of US$1.4 million; (iv) cash paid for acquisition of property and equipment of US$0.6  million; and (iv) repayment of loans provided to third-parties of US$0.8 million;

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Net cash provided by financing activities

Net cash provided by financing activities in 2021 was US$77.7 million which was primarily attributable to (i) proceeds from the exercise of share-based awards of US$2.5 million; (ii) proceeds from short-term borrowings of US$46.7 million; and (iii) proceeds from issuance of ordinary shares for private placement of US$56.1 million; which was offset by (i) repayment of short-term borrowings of US$27.7 million.

Net cash provided by financing activities in 2020 was US$0.004 million which was attributable to proceeds from the exercise of share-based awards.

Net cash provided by financing activities in 2019 was US$2.5 million which was attributable to proceeds from the exercise of share-based awards.

Capital Expenditures

We made capital expenditures, including for property and equipment and intangible assets, of US$0.5 million, US$0.2 million and US$56.6 million in 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively. In addition, our capital expenditures in 2019, 2020 and 2021 primarily consisted of purchases of additional information technology-related equipment and leasehold improvement of our new office. We expect that our capital expenditures will increase in the future due to the expansion of our cryptocurrency business.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

The Group has considered all recent accounting pronouncements and has concluded that there are no recent accounting pronouncements that may have a material impact on its Consolidated Financial Statements, based on current information.

Cash and Assets Transfers among us, our subsidiaries and the former VIEs

Cash can be transferred between our holding company in Cayman Islands and our subsidiaries in China and other regions and countries through intercompany fund advances and capital contributions.

As of the date of this prospectus, BIT Mining Limited has not distributed any earnings to its subsidiaries or the former VIEs. BIT Mining Limited currently does not have any plan to distribute earnings to our subsidiaries in the foreseeable future.

In 2019, 2020 and 2021, BIT Mining Limited transferred cash to our subsidiaries of RMB9.4 million, nil and RMB426.1 million, respectively, through intercompany fund advances and capital contributions. BIT Mining Limited transferred cash to the former VIEs of RMB56.8 million, RMB27.9 million and RMB8.8 million, respectively, through intercompany fund advances and long-term loan, which was interest free and without recourse. Our wholly-owned subsidiaries in China transferred cash to the former VIEs of RMB102.7 million, RMB10,000 and RMB2.8 million, respectively, through short-term loan, which was interest free and without recourse. Furthermore, in 2021 and up to the date of this prospectus, our subsidiaries in China transferred certain cryptocurrency mining assets and equipment to our overseas subsidiaries, which was a part of our business strategy to migrate our cryptocurrency mining business out of China.

In 2019, 2020 and 2021, the former VIEs transferred cash to our wholly-owned subsidiaries of RMB2.8 million, RMB8.3 million and RMB186.9 million, respectively, pursuant to our former contractual arrangements.

The aforementioned cash and assets transfers among our Cayman holding company, subsidiaries and the former VIEs were for business operation purposes. As of the date of this prospectus, a substantial majority of our assets and cash are located outside of China. We are not aware of any regulatory restrictions of transferring funds between our Cayman Islands holding company and subsidiaries in Hong Kong, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Malta, Cyprus, Curacao, Kazakhstan and the United States. We are subject to applicable PRC regulation of loans to or investment in subsidiaries in China. For details, see “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—PRC regulation of loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds of this offering to make loans or additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries.”

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We do not make, and do not expect to make, significant expenditures on research and development activities in the future.

Intellectual Property

We rely on a combination of trademark, copyright, patent and trade secret protection laws in the PRC and other jurisdictions, as well as confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property rights and our brands. As of the date of this annual report, our intellectual property rights and our brands are as follows : We have registered 2 trademarks with the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of the PRC, registered 1 trademarks with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. “BTC.com” are trademarks registered in the PRC, Singapore, respectively, which are owned by Beijing Guixinyanghang Technology Limited, and Hong Kong Sunstar Technology Co., Limited. We have also registered domain names including “www. connectbtc.com”, “BTC. com”, which are owned by Beijing Guixinyanghang Technology Limited, and Hong Kong Sunstar Technology Co., Limited. We own 34 software copyright registrations in PRC through E-Sun Sky Computer (Shenzhen) Co., Limited, and 1 authorized invention patent in PRC through Beijing Guixinyanghang Technology Limited.

Other than as disclosed elsewhere in this annual report, we are not aware of any trends, uncertainties, demands, commitments or events for the year 2020 that are reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on our revenues, income, profitability, liquidity or capital resources, or that caused the disclosed financial information to be not necessarily indicative of future operating results or financial conditions.

Business combination

We account for our business combinations using the acquisition method of accounting, which requires, among other things, allocation of the fair value of purchase consideration to the identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed at their estimated fair values on the acquisition date. Any residual purchase price is recorded as goodwill. When determining the fair value of the identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed, we make significant estimates and assumptions, especially with respect to the intangible assets acquired. These intangible assets do not have observable prices. Our estimates of fair value are based upon assumptions believed to be reasonable, but which are inherently uncertain and, as a result, actual results may differ from estimates.

We also estimate the fair value of estimated contingent consideration using Level 3 unobservable inputs at the acquisition date as part of the consideration transferred. Our estimates of fair value are based upon assumptions believed to be reasonable but which are uncertain and involve significant judgments by management. We reassess the fair value of contingent consideration quarterly until the contingency is resolved. Any changes in the fair value are recorded in operating expense in the consolidated statements of comprehensive loss.

See Note 2 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 18 of this Annual Report on Form 20-F for a summary of significant accounting policies and the effect on our financial statements.

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Ms. Wong, Yan Ki Angel has served as our independent director from November 22, 2015. Ms. Wong obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in international accounting from Xiamen University in July 1994, a postgraduate certificate in professional accounting from the City University of Hong Kong in November 2000 and a master degree of business administration from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (长江商学院) in PRC in October 2009. Ms. Wong has been admitted as fellow member of the Institute of Financial Accountants in the United Kingdom since October 2003, full member of the Society of Registered Financial Planners in Hong Kong since November 2003, full member of the Singapore Institute of Directors since October 2009, member of the Hong Kong Institute of Directors since November 2014, fellow member (FIPA, Australia) of the Institute of Public Accountants since April 2015, founding member of the Hong Kong Independent Non-Executive Director Association since October 2015 and fellow member of CPA Australia since May 2017.

Mr. Qiang Yuan has served as our chief financial officer since December 18, 2017. Prior to his appointment as a chief financial officer, Mr. Yuan has served in various positions within the Company since 2001. Mr. Yuan was a vice president in charge of financial matters for the Company from June 2014 to July 2016 and has served as a senior vice president since July 2016. Mr. Yuan received a bachelor’s degree in Financial Management from Zhongnan University of Finance and Economics.

Compensation of Directors and Executive Officers

In 2021, the aggregate cash compensation to all our directors and our executive officers was US$1.1 million. For share-based compensation, see “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—B. Compensation—Share Incentive Plans.” We did not have any amount accrued in 2021 for pension, retirement or other similar benefits to our directors and our executive officers.

Share Incentive Plans

2011 Share Incentive Plan

We have adopted our 2011 share incentive plan to attract and retain the best available personnel, provide additional incentives to our employees, directors and consultants, and promote the success of our business. The 2011 share incentive plan provides for the grant of options, restricted shares and other share-based awards, collectively referred to as “awards.” The board has authorized under the plan the issuance of up to 12% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares from time to time, on an as-exercised and fully diluted basis, upon exercise of awards granted under our 2011 share incentive plan.

The following table summarizes the share options granted to our employees under the 2011 share incentive plan that were outstanding as of the date of this annual report, respectively.

The following paragraphs describe the principal terms of our 2011 share incentive plan.

Plan Administration. Our compensation committee administers the 2011 share incentive plan. The committee or the full board of directors, as appropriate, will determine the participants to receive awards, the type and number of awards to be granted, and the terms and conditions of each award grant.

Option Agreements. Awards granted under our 2011 share incentive plan are evidenced by an option agreement that sets forth the terms, conditions and limitations for each grant, which may include the term of the award, the provisions applicable in the event that the grantee’s employment or service terminates, and our authority to unilaterally or bilaterally amend, modify, suspend, cancel or rescind the award.

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Transfer Restrictions. The right of a grantee in an award granted under our 2011 share incentive plan may not be transferred in any manner by the grantee other than by will or the laws of succession and, with limited exceptions, may be exercised during the lifetime of the grantee only by the grantee.

Option Exercise. The term of options granted under the 2011 share incentive plan may not exceed ten years from the date of grant. The consideration to be paid for our ordinary shares upon exercise of an option or purchase of ordinary shares underlying the option may include cash, check or other cash-equivalent, ordinary shares, consideration received by us in a cashless exercise, or any combination of the foregoing methods of payment.

Acceleration upon a Change of Control. If a change of control of our company occurs, (i) the compensation committee may determine that any outstanding unexercisable, unvested or lapsable awards shall automatically be deemed exercisable, vested and not subject to lapse immediately prior to the event triggering the change of control and (ii) the compensation committee may cancel such awards for fair value, provide for the issuance of substitute awards or provide that for a period of at least 15 days prior to the event triggering the change of control, such options shall be exercisable and that upon the occurrence of the change of control, such options shall terminate and be of no further force and effect.

Termination and Amendment. The 2011 share incentive plan expired in March 2021.

2021 Share Incentive Plan

We have adopted our 2021 share incentive plan to attract and retain the best available personnel, provide additional incentives to our employees, directors and consultants, and promote the success of our business. The 2021 share incentive plan provides for the grant of options, restricted shares and other share-based awards, collectively referred to as “awards.” The board has authorized under the plan the issuance of up to 12% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares from time to time, on an as-exercised and fully diluted basis, upon exercise of awards granted under our 2021 share incentive plan.

The following table summarizes the restricted shares granted to our employees under the 2021 share incentive plan that were outstanding as of the date of this annual report, respectively.

The following paragraphs describe the principal terms of our 2021 share incentive plan.

Plan Administration. Our compensation committee administers the 2021 share incentive plan. The committee or the full board of directors, as appropriate, will determine the participants to receive awards, the type and number of awards to be granted, and the terms and conditions of each award grant.

Option Agreements. Awards granted under our 2021 share incentive plan are evidenced by an option agreement that sets forth the terms, conditions and limitations for each grant, which may include the term of the award, the provisions applicable in the event that the grantee’s employment or service terminates, and our authority to unilaterally or bilaterally amend, modify, suspend, cancel or rescind the award.

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Transfer Restrictions. The right of a grantee in an award granted under our 2021 share incentive plan may not be transferred in any manner by the grantee other than by will or the laws of succession and, with limited exceptions, may be exercised during the lifetime of the grantee only by the grantee.

Option Exercise. The term of options granted under the 2021 share incentive plan may not exceed ten years from the date of grant. The consideration to be paid for our ordinary shares upon exercise of an option or purchase of ordinary shares underlying the option may include cash, check or other cash-equivalent, ordinary shares, consideration received by us in a cashless exercise, or any combination of the foregoing methods of payment.

Acceleration upon a Change of Control. If a change of control of our company occurs, (i) the compensation committee may determine that any outstanding unexercisable, unvested or lapsable awards shall automatically be deemed exercisable, vested and not subject to lapse immediately prior to the event triggering the change of control and (ii) the compensation committee may cancel such awards for fair value, provide for the issuance of substitute awards or provide that for a period of at least 15 days prior to the event triggering the change of control, such options shall be exercisable and that upon the occurrence of the change of control, such options shall terminate and be of no further force and effect.

Termination and Amendment. Unless terminated earlier, our 2021 share incentive plan will expire after ten years. Our board of directors has the authority to amend or terminate our share incentive plan, subject to shareholder approval, to the extent necessary to comply with applicable laws.

Committees of the Board of Directors

Board of Directors

We currently have five directors, including three independent directors, on our board of directors. Our board of directors consists of an audit committee, a compensation committee, a nominating and corporate governance committee and a strategy committee. Each committee’s members and functions are described below.

Audit Committee

Our audit committee consists of Wong, Yan Ki Angel, Honghui Deng and Qian Sun. Wong, Yan Ki Angel is the chairman of our audit committee. Wong, Yan Ki Angel satisfies the criteria of an audit committee financial expert as set forth under the applicable rules of the SEC. All three committee members satisfy the requirements for an “independent director” within the meaning of NYSE rules and will meet the criteria for independence set forth in Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act.

The audit committee oversees our accounting and financial reporting processes and the audits of our financial statements. Our audit committee is responsible for, among other things:

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Compensation Committee

Our compensation committee consists of Bo Yu, Man San Vincent Law, and Honghui Deng. Bo Yu is the chairman of our compensation committee. Honghui Deng satisfies the requirements for an “independent director” within the meaning of NYSE rules.

Our compensation committee is responsible for, among other things:

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Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee

Our nominating and corporate governance committee consists of Bo Yu, Man San Vincent Law and Qian Sun. Bo Yu is the chairman of our nominating and corporate governance committee. Our nominating and corporate governance committee assists the board of directors in selecting individuals qualified to become our directors and executive officers and in determining the composition of the board and its committees. The nominating and corporate governance committee will be responsible for, among other things:

Strategy Committee

Our strategic planning committee consists of Man San Vincent Law and Qian Sun. Man San Vincent Law is the chairman of our strategic planning committee. Our strategic planning committee assists the board of directors in designing the strategic plan of our business. Our strategic planning committee is responsible for, among other things:

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Terms of Directors and Executive Officers

We have five directors, three of whom are independent directors, on our board of directors. Any director on our board may be appointed or removed by way of an ordinary resolution of shareholders. Any vacancies on our board of directors or additions to the existing board of directors can be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of the remaining directors, provided that any candidate for the vacancy or addition must be nominated by our nominating and corporate governance committee. Each of our directors holds office until he or she is removed by an ordinary resolution of shareholders or by a resolution of the board.  

All of our executive officers are appointed by and serve at the discretion of our board of directors. Our executive officers are elected by and may be removed by a majority vote of our board of directors, provided that any candidate for an executive officer position must be nominated by our nominating and corporate governance committee.

Employment Agreements

We have entered into employment agreements with each of our executive officers. We may terminate an executive officer’s employment for cause, at any time, without notice or remuneration, for certain acts of the officer, including, but not limited to, a conviction or plea of guilty to a felony, willful misconduct to our detriment or a failure to perform agreed duties. We may also terminate an executive officer’s employment under certain conditions, including, but not limited to, incapacity or disability of the officer, by a one-month prior written notice or upon paying compensation of one-month salary to the officer. An executive officer may terminate his or her employment with us with or without cause, or by a one-month prior written notice. The benefits provided upon termination of employment is T+1 months’ salary of the employee (T represents years of working experience in the Company).

The remuneration package of our employees includes salary, bonus, stock options and other cash benefits. In accordance with applicable regulations in China, we participate in a pension contribution plan, a medical insurance plan, an unemployment insurance plan, a personal injury insurance plan, a maternity insurance plan and a housing reserve fund for the benefit of all of our employees.  We have not experienced any material labor disputes or disputes with the labor department of the PRC government since our inception.

The following table sets forth information as of the date of this annual report with respect to the beneficial ownership of our ordinary shares, by:

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Beneficial ownership is determined in accordance with the rules of the SEC and includes voting or investment power with respect to the securities. Except as indicated below, and subject to applicable laws, the persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all ordinary shares shown as beneficially owned by them. Percentage of beneficial ownership for each of the persons listed below is determined by dividing (i) the number of ordinary shares beneficially owned by such person, including ordinary shares such person has the right to acquire within 60 days after the date of this annual report by (ii) the total number of ordinary shares outstanding plus the number of ordinary shares such person has the right to acquire within 60 days after the date of this annual report. The total number of ordinary shares outstanding as of the date of this annual report is 710,078,070 Class A ordinary shares, 65,000 Class A preference shares and 99 Class B ordinary shares.

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The business address of our directors and executive officers is Units 813&815, Level 8, Core F, Cyberport 3, 100 Cyberport Road, Hong Kong.

*Less than 1% of our outstanding ordinary shares.

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As of the date of this annual report, we are not aware of any of our shareholders being affiliated with a registered broker-dealer or being in the business of underwriting securities.

As of the date of this annual report, a total of 54,991,624 ADSs representing 549,916,240 Class A ordinary shares were outstanding. Such ordinary shares were registered in the name of a nominee of Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, the depositary for the ADSs.  We have no further information as to ordinary shares or ADSs held, or beneficially owned, by U.S. persons.

Pease refer to “— B. Compensation—Compensation of Directors and Executive Officers — Share Incentive Plans” above for information regarding options, restricted shares and other share-based awards granted to our employees, directors and consultants.

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Reorganization and Private Placement

See “Item 4. Information on the Company—A. History and Development of the Company” and “Item 4. Information on the Company—C. Organizational Structure.”

Share Incentives

For a discussion of the share option plan we adopted in 2011 and 2021, see “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—Compensation of Directors and Executive Officers—Share Incentive Plans.”

Not applicable.

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ITEM 8.FINANCIAL INFORMATION

We have appended consolidated financial statements filed as part of this annual report.

Legal and Administrative Proceedings

Please refer to “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Legal and Administrative Proceedings.”

Dividend Policy

We currently intend to permanently reinvest all available funds and any future earnings to fund growth and expansion of our business and, therefore, we do not expect to pay any cash dividends on our ordinary shares, including those represented by ADSs, in the foreseeable future. We currently have no specific intention to issue share dividends in the future.  Any future determination to pay dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and may be based on a number of factors, including our future operations and earnings, capital requirements and surplus, general financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors that the board of directors may deem relevant. If we pay any dividends, we will pay our ADS holders to the same extent as holders of our ordinary shares, subject to the terms of the deposit agreement, including the fees and expenses payable thereunder. See “Description of American Depositary Shares” in our F-1 registration statement (File No. 333-191844), as amended, initially filed with the Commission on October 22, 2013. Cash dividends on our ordinary shares, if any, will be paid in U.S. dollars.

We have not experienced any significant changes since the date of our audited consolidated financial statements included in this annual report.

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Our ADSs, each representing ten of our Class A ordinary shares, have been trading on the NYSE since November 22, 2013. From November 22, 2013 to April 19, 2021, our ADSs traded on the NYSE under the Company’s former English name “500.com Limited” and its former ticker symbol “WBAI.” Consistent with a special resolution passed by the Company’s shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting held on April 8, 2021, our ADSs began trading under the Company’s new English name “BIT Mining Limited,” and its new ticker symbol “BTCM,” effective at the opening of trading on April 20, 2021.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

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On December 21, 2020, we entered into a definitive share subscription agreement with Good Luck Information Technology Co., Limited, Good Luck Information, a company incorporated in Hong Kong, for the issuance and sale of newly issued Class A ordinary shares of the Company. Good Luck Information agreed to purchase 85,572,963 newly issued Class A Shares for a total purchase price of approximately US$23 million, to be settled in U.S. dollars or in crypto-currencies, including bitcoin (BHC), to be determined by us within one month of the date of the share subscription agreement. Good Luck Information agreed to make full payment of the purchase price in currencies determined by the Company within one month of the Company’s determination. The per share purchase price of US$0.269 was the closing trading price of the Company’s ADSs on December 18, 2020, the last trading day immediately preceding the date of the purchase agreement, as adjusted by a 1-to-10 ADS to ordinary shares ratio. On January 21, 2021, we announced our determination that 50% of the subscription price, or US$11.5 million, would be settled by U.S. dollars, with the remaining 50% of the subscription price, or approximately US$11.5 million, to be settled by bitcoin. The bitcoin to U.S. dollars exchange rate was US$32,326.29 to one bitcoin, being the average of the closing trading prices for bitcoin published by Coinmarketcap for each of the 31 days ended January 20, 2021. On February 23, 2021, we announced the closing of the transaction, that we had received 356.04342 bitcoins and US$11.5 million in cash from Good Luck Information, and 85,572,963 Class A ordinary shares had been newly issued to Good Luck Information. Good Luck Information agreed to subject all the shares it or its affiliate receives in the transaction to a contractual lock-up restriction for 180 days after the closing, or until August 22, 2021.

In January 2021, we entered into a share subscription agreement, pursuant to which we conditionally agreed to subscribe for 169,354,839 shares of Loto Interactive, at a price of HK$0.62 per share for a total consideration of approximately HK$105 million (approximately US$13.5 million) in cash. On March 31, 2021, we completed the subscription of 54.2% of Loto Interactive’s shares, and Loto Interactive became our subsidiary. Concurrently with the completion of the share subscription of Loto Interactive, Loto Interactive completed its acquisition of the remaining equity interests in its indirectly held subsidiary, Ganzi Changhe Hydropower Consumption Service Co. Ltd (“Ganzi Changhe”), for a total consideration of approximately RMB88.2 million (approximately US$13.6 million) in cash. On June 18, 2021, we completed a cash offer to acquire all the shares in issuance of Loto Interactive other than those already owned or agreed to be acquired by us, and a cash offer for the cancellation of all options of Loto Interactive. Upon the closing of such cash offers, we acquired a total of 30,642,534 shares and a total of 6,800,000 options, which will be cancelled, and our ownership in Loto Interactive increased to 59.79%.

In February 2021, we also announced that we entered into a share exchange agreement with Blockchain Alliance Technologies Holding Company, a Cayman Islands company and a “Non-U.S. Person” as defined in Regulation S of the Securities Act, pursuant to which we agreed to issue an aggregate of 44,353,435 Class A ordinary shares of our company to Blockchain Alliance at the first closing, which shares represent approximately 10% of our outstanding shares as of January 31, 2021, in exchange for the entire outstanding share capital of Blockchain Alliance Technologies Limited held by Blockchain Alliance after the reorganization. The first closing of the transactions contemplated by the share exchange agreement is subject to certain closing conditions, which include, among others, the transfer to the Company of the entire mining pool business of Bitdeer Technologies Holding Company operated under BTC.com, including the domain name BTC.com and the cryptocurrency wallet of BTC.com (collectively, the “BTC.com Pool Businesses”). We and Blockchain Alliance also agreed that, if the BTC.com Pool Businesses record net operating profit in the twelve-month period from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, we shall issue additional Class A Ordinary Shares to Blockchain Alliance at par value. Assuming such net operating profit is no less than US$20 million, a maximum of 22,176,718 additional Class A ordinary shares shall be issuable, which additional Class A ordinary shares represent approximately 5% of the Company’s outstanding shares as of January 31, 2021. If the BTC.com Pool Businesses record net operating loss in the twelve-month period from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, we shall be entitled to repurchase certain Class A ordinary shares held by Blockchain Alliance at par value. Assuming such net operating loss is no less than US$10 million, a maximum of 4,435,344 Class A ordinary shares shall be subject to such repurchase arrangement, which Class A ordinary shares represent approximately 1% of our outstanding shares as of January 31, 2021. The BTC.com Pool Businesses offer a one-stop mining experience for users. Users can search and browse real-time blockchain information through BTC.com and manage their cryptocurrency mining business through the BTC.com Pool website or app. In addition, users can save the cryptocurrencies that they have mined in the BTC.com cryptocurrency wallet. BTC.com Pool is a multi-currency integrated mining pool established in 2016 that has a hash rate of around 17 EH/s and supports various cryptocurrencies, including BTC, BCH, ETH and LTC. Blockchain Alliance has agreed to subject the Class A ordinary shares that it receives in the abovementioned transactions to agreed lock-up periods in accordance with the share exchange agreement. BitDeer was the parent company of Blockchain Alliance. BitDeer’s biggest beneficially owner is Mr. Wu Jihan, BitDeer’s chairman.

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In September 2021 we entered into a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement and certain other auxiliary agreements (the “Ohio Mining Site Agreements”) with Viking Data Centers, LLC (“Viking Data Centers”) to acquire a 51% equity interest in a cryptocurrency mining data center in Ohio (the “Ohio Mining Site”) with power capacity of up to 85 megawatts. In October 2021, we increased our investment in the Ohio Mining Site and brought its total planned power capacity up to 150 megawatts. Upon the successful execution of the increased investment, the Company’s equity interest in the Ohio Mining Site increased to 55%, and Viking Data Centers held the remaining 45%.

As of December 31, 2021, we had not entered into any other material contracts, other than in the ordinary course of business and other than those described in “Item 4. Information on the Company” or elsewhere in this annual report.

None.

Cayman Islands Taxation

The Cayman Islands currently levy no taxes on individuals or corporations based upon profits, income, gains or appreciation, and there is no taxation in the nature of inheritance tax or estate duty. No Cayman Islands stamp duty will be payable unless an instrument is executed in, brought to, or produced before a court of the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands are not parties to any double tax treaties. There are no exchange control regulations or currency restrictions in the Cayman Islands.

United States Federal Income Taxation

The following discussion describes the material United States federal income tax consequences of the ownership of our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares as of the date hereof. The discussion is applicable only to United States Holders (as defined below) who hold ADSs or Class A ordinary shares as capital assets. As used herein, the term “United States Holder” means a beneficial owner of an ADS or Class A ordinary share that is for United States federal income tax purposes:

This discussion does not represent a detailed description of the United States federal income tax consequences applicable to you if you are subject to special treatment under the United States federal income tax laws, including if you are:

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The discussion below is based upon the provision of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), and regulations, rulings and judicial decisions thereunder as of the date hereof, and such authorities may be replaced, revoked or modified, perhaps retroactively, so as to result in United States federal income tax consequences different from those discussed below. In addition, this discussion is based, in part, upon representations made by the depositary to us and assumes that the deposit agreement, and all other related agreements, will be performed in accordance with their terms.

If a partnership (or other entity or arrangement treated as a partnership for United States federal income tax purposes) holds our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares, the tax treatment of a partner will generally depend upon the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. If you are a partner of a partnership holding our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares, you are urged to consult your tax advisors.

This discussion does not contain a detailed description of all the United States federal income tax consequences to you in light of your particular circumstances and does not address the Medicare tax on net investment income, United States federal estate and gift taxes, or the effects of any state, local or non-United States tax laws. If you are considering the purchase, ownership or disposition of our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares, you are urged to consult your own tax advisors concerning the United States federal income tax consequences to you in light of your particular situation as well as any consequences arising under other United States federal tax laws (such as estate and gift taxes) and the laws of any other taxing jurisdiction.

ADSs

If you hold ADSs, for United States federal income tax purposes, you generally will be treated as the owner of the underlying Class A ordinary shares that are represented by such ADSs. Accordingly, deposits or withdrawals of Class A ordinary shares for ADSs will not be subject to United States federal income tax.

Taxation of Dividends

Subject to the discussion under “—Passive Foreign Investment Company” below, the gross amount of distributions on the ADSs or Class A ordinary shares will be taxable as dividends, to the extent paid out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits, as determined under United States federal income tax principles. Such income will be includable in your gross income as ordinary income on the day actually or constructively received by you, in the case of the Class A ordinary shares, or by the depositary, in the case of ADSs. Such dividends will not be eligible for the dividends received deduction allowed to corporations under the Code. Subject to applicable limitations (including a minimum holding period requirement), dividends received by non-corporate United States investors from a qualified foreign corporation generally will be subject to reduced rates of taxation.

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A foreign corporation is treated as a qualified foreign corporation with respect to dividends received from that corporation on ordinary shares (or ADSs backed by such shares) that are readily tradable on an established securities market in the United States. United States Treasury Department guidance indicates that our ADSs, which are listed on the NYSE, are readily tradable on an established securities market in the United States. Thus, we believe that dividends we pay on our ADSs will meet the conditions required for the reduced tax rates. Since we do not expect that our  Class A ordinary shares will be listed on an established securities market in the United States, we do not believe that dividends that we pay on our Class A ordinary shares that are not represented by ADSs currently meet the conditions required for these reduced tax rates. There also can be no assurance that our ADSs will be considered readily tradable on an established securities market in the United States in later years. You are urged to consult your own tax advisors regarding the application of these rules given your particular circumstances.

In addition, notwithstanding the foregoing, non-corporate United States Holders will not be eligible for reduced rates of taxation on any dividends received from us if we are a PFIC in the taxable year in which such dividends are paid or in the preceding taxable year. See “—Passive Foreign Investment Company” below.

To the extent that the amount of any distribution exceeds our current and accumulated earnings and profits for a taxable year, as determined under United States federal income tax principles, the distribution will first be treated as a tax-free return of capital, causing a reduction in the adjusted basis of your ADSs or Class A ordinary shares (thereby increasing the amount of gain, or decreasing the amount of loss, to be recognized by you on a subsequent disposition of the ADSs or Class A ordinary shares), and the balance in excess of adjusted basis will be taxed as capital gain recognized on a sale or exchange. However, we do not expect to determine earnings and profits in accordance with United States federal income tax principles. Therefore, you should expect that a distribution will generally be reported as a dividend (as discussed above).

Passive Foreign Investment Company

Based on our financial statements and the composition of our income and assets and the valuation of our assets, we do not believe we were a PFIC for 2021 for United States federal income tax purposes, although there can be no assurances in this regard. Additionally, it is possible that we may be a PFIC in 2022 or future taxable years.  

In general, we will be a PFIC for any taxable year in which:

For this purpose, passive income generally includes dividends, interest, royalties and rents (other than royalties and rents derived in the active conduct of a trade or business and not derived from a related person). In addition, cash is generally treated as an asset that produces passive income. If we own at least 25% (by value) of the stock of another corporation, we will be treated, for purposes of the PFIC tests, as owning our proportionate share of the other corporation’s assets and receiving our proportionate share of the other corporation’s income.

Additionally, we expect the activities of our mining pool business to be treated as generating active income, rather than passive income, and accordingly, we do not expect to be a PFIC. If it were determined that the activities of our mining pool business generated passive income for United States federal income tax purposes, we would likely be treated as a PFIC. The application of the PFIC rules to digital assets and cloud computing (and transactions related thereto) is subject to significant uncertainty. Among other things, the IRS has issued very limited guidance on the treatment of income from activities such as those conducted by our mining pool business. Accordingly, the IRS or a court may disagree with our determinations, and it is possible that we could be treated as a PFIC in current and/or future taxable periods.

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The determination of whether we are a PFIC is made annually. Accordingly, it is possible that our PFIC status may change due to changes in our asset or income composition or the treatment of our mining pool business as an active business, as discussed above. The calculation of the value of our assets will also be based, in part, on the quarterly market value of our ADSs, which is subject to change. Therefore, a decrease in the price of our ADSs may result in our becoming a PFIC. If we are a PFIC for any taxable year during which you hold our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares, you will be subject to special tax rules discussed below. If we are a PFIC for any taxable year during which you hold our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares and you do not make a timely mark-to-market election (as described below), you will be subject to special tax rules with respect to any “excess distribution” received and any gain realized from a sale or other disposition, including a pledge, of ADSs or Class A ordinary shares. Distributions received in a taxable year that are greater than 125% of the average annual distributions received during the shorter of the three preceding taxable years or your holding period for the ADSs or Class A ordinary shares will be treated as excess distributions. Under these special tax rules:

In addition, non-corporate United States Holders will not be eligible for reduced rates of taxation on any dividends received from us if we are a PFIC in the taxable year in which such dividends are paid or in the preceding taxable year. You will generally be required to file IRS Form 8621 if you hold our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares in any year in which we are classified as a PFIC.

If we are a PFIC for any taxable year during which you hold our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares and any of our non-United States subsidiaries is also a PFIC, a United States Holder would be treated as owning a proportionate amount (by value) of the shares of the lower-tier PFIC for purposes of the application of these rules. You are urged to consult your tax advisors about the application of the PFIC rules to any of our subsidiaries.

In lieu of being subject to the rules discussed above regarding excess distributions and realized gains, you may make an election to include gain on the stock of a PFIC as ordinary income under a mark-to-market method, provided that such stock is regularly traded on a qualified exchange. Since our ADSs are listed on the NYSE, which constitutes a qualified exchange, under current law, the mark-to-market election will be available to holders of ADSs if the ADSs are “regularly traded” for purposes of the mark-to-market election (for which no assurance can be given). It should also be noted that only the ADSs and not the Class A ordinary shares are listed on the NYSE. Consequently, if you are a holder of Class A ordinary shares that are not represented by ADSs, you generally will not be eligible to make a mark-to-market election if we are or were to become a PFIC.

If you make an effective mark-to-market election, you will include in each year that we are a PFIC as ordinary income the excess of the fair market value of your ADSs at the end of the year over your adjusted tax basis in the ADSs. You will be entitled to deduct as an ordinary loss in each such year the excess of your adjusted tax basis in the ADSs over their fair market value at the end of the year, but only to the extent of the net amount previously included in income as a result of the mark-to-market election. If you make an effective mark-to-market election, any gain you recognize upon the sale or other disposition of your ADSs in a year that we are a PFIC will be treated as ordinary income and any loss will be treated as ordinary loss, but only to the extent of the net amount previously included in income as a result of the mark-to-market election.

Your adjusted tax basis in the ADSs will be increased by the amount of any income inclusion and decreased by the amount of any deductions under the mark-to-market rules. If you make a mark-to-market election, it will be effective for the taxable year for which the election is made and all subsequent taxable years unless the ADSs are no longer regularly traded on a qualified exchange or the IRS consents to the revocation of the election. You are urged to consult your tax advisor about the availability of the mark-to-market election, and whether making the election would be advisable in your particular circumstances.

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A U.S. investor in a PFIC generally can mitigate the consequences of the rules described above by electing to treat the PFIC as a “qualified electing fund” under Section 1295 of the Code. However, this option is not available to you because we do not intend to comply with the requirements necessary to permit you to make this election.  You are urged to consult your tax advisors concerning the uncertain application of the PFIC rules to us and the United States federal income tax consequences of holding ADSs or Class A ordinary shares if we are considered a PFIC in any taxable year.

Taxation of Capital Gains

For United States federal income tax purposes, you will recognize taxable gain or loss on any sale, exchange or other taxable disposition of ADSs or Class A ordinary shares in an amount equal to the difference between the amount realized for the ADSs or Class A ordinary shares and your tax basis in the ADSs or Class A ordinary shares. Subject to the discussion under “—Passive Foreign Investment Company” above, such gain or loss will generally be capital gain or loss. Capital gains of individuals derived with respect to capital assets held for more than one year are eligible for reduced rates of taxation. The deductibility of capital losses is subject to limitations. Any gain or loss recognized by you will generally be treated as United States source gain or loss.

Information Reporting and Backup Withholding

In general, information reporting will apply to dividends in respect of our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares and the proceeds from the sale, exchange or other disposition of our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares that are paid to you within the United States (and in certain cases, outside the United States), unless you are an exempt recipient. A backup withholding tax generally would apply to such payments if you fail to provide a taxpayer identification number or certification of exempt status or if you fail to report in full dividend and interest income.  Any amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules will be allowed as a refund or a credit against your United States federal income tax liability provided the required information is furnished to the IRS in a timely manner.

Certain United States Holders are required to report information relating to ADSs or Class A ordinary shares, subject to certain exceptions (including an exception for ADSs or Class A ordinary shares held in accounts maintained by certain financial institutions), by attaching a complete IRS Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets, with their tax return for each year in which they hold the ADSs or common shares.  You are urged to consult your own tax advisors regarding information reporting requirements relating to your ownership of the ADSs or Class A ordinary shares.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

We have filed this annual report, including exhibits, with the SEC. As allowed by the SEC, in Item 19 of this annual report, we incorporate by reference certain information we filed with the SEC. This means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to another document filed separately with the SEC. The information incorporated by reference is considered to be part of this annual report.

You may read and copy this annual report, including the exhibits incorporated by reference in this annual report, at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549 and at the SEC’s regional offices in New York, New York and Chicago, Illinois. You can also request copies of this annual report, including the exhibits incorporated by reference in this annual report, upon payment of a duplicating fee, by writing information on the operation of the SEC’s Public Reference Room.

The SEC also maintains a website at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy statements and other information regarding registrants that file electronically with the SEC. Our annual report and some of the other information submitted by us to the SEC may be accessed through this web site.

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As a foreign private issuer, we are exempt from the rules under the Exchange Act prescribing the furnishing and content of quarterly reports and proxy statements, and officers, directors and principal shareholders are exempt from the reporting and short swing profit recovery provisions contained in Section 16 of the Exchange Act.

Our financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

We will furnish our shareholders with annual reports, which will include a review of operations and annual audited consolidated financial statements prepared in conformity with U.S. GAAP.

Not Applicable.

​

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Not applicable

Not applicable

The depositary may charge each person to whom ADSs are issued, including, without limitation, issuances against deposits of shares, issuances in respect of share distributions, rights and other distributions, issuances pursuant to a stock dividend or stock split declared by us or issuances pursuant to a merger, exchange of securities or any other transaction or event affecting the ADSs or deposited securities, and each person surrendering ADSs for withdrawal of deposited securities or whose ADRs are cancelled or reduced for any other reason, US$5.00 for each 100 ADSs (or any portion thereof) issued, delivered, reduced, cancelled or surrendered, as the case may be. The depositary may sell (by public or private sale) sufficient securities and property received in respect of share distribution, rights and/or other distribution prior to such deposit to pay such charge.

The following additional charges shall be incurred by the ADR holders, by any party depositing or withdrawing shares or by any party surrendering ADSs or to whom ADSs are issued (including, without limitation, issuance pursuant to a stock dividend or stock split declared by us or an exchange of stock regarding the ADRs or the deposited securities or a distribution of ADSs), whichever is applicable: