The media reported that Bitmain holds more than one million BCH. What is Bitmain thinking about holding shares in the bear market?

CNN reported that according to leaked Bitmain pre-IPO investor documents, as of March 31, Bitmain China held more than 1 million Bitcoin Cash (BCH) on its balance sheet, worth nearly $600 million at current prices. These BCHs accounted for more than 5% of the 17.3 million BCHs currently in circulation and more than 12.5% ​​of the 8.4 million BCH trading volume since the hard fork in August 2017.

Data from the BCH "Rich List" shows that the number of BCH currently held by Bitmain is between 664,000 and 1.33 million.

While increasing its holdings of BCH, Bitmain appears to be methodically liquidating its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings. At the end of March, Bitmain had about 22,000 Bitcoins, down from more than 71,500 in December 2016. While this does not mean that Bitmain is selling BTC in exchange for BCH, it is selling Bitcoin and then paying for the acquisition of BCH in other ways (such as mining and ASIC sales). But these data show that Bitmain does hold a lot of BCH and is still hoarding BCH to support BCH in the current market downturn.

The cryptocurrency market is facing a cold winter this year. The price of BCH has fallen sharply compared to both the US dollar and BTC. Since January 1, the exchange rate of BCH to BTC has dropped by about 50%, from 0.18 to around 0.09. Considering the current situation of the cryptocurrency market, it is unlikely that Bitmain will liquidate its BCH assets now.

(Image source: CoinMarketCap)

Earlier, Odaily Planet Daily reported that Bitmain is preparing for a listing and may launch an IPO of up to $19 billion in September this year. It is reported that Bitmain's market value may reach nearly $50 billion by then, which may become one of the largest IPO projects in history. Another report said that Bitmain expects to achieve more than $10 billion in revenue in 2018.

If the current bear market does not turn around before the company files for listing, the holding of BCH may affect Bitmain’s profit figures, which may cause some potential investors to remain on the sidelines.