The Asian online gambling operator 500.com announced a deal with Blockchain Alliance Technologies Holding Company. According to the deal, 500.com will be in control of the entire mining pool business of BTHC, which operates as BTC.com. The deal also involves the transfer of the BTC.com domain and crypto wallet.
500.com will issue more than 44m Class A shares which represent around 10% of its outstanding shares to Blockchain Alliance. In exchange the gambling operator will receive all shares in Blockchain Alliance Technologies Ltd held by Blockchain Alliance. Moreover, there is a potential top-up payment of 5% of 500.com’s outstanding shares. It will happen if BTC.com reports a net operating profit of at least $20m in 2021.
500.com is a Chinese online gambling operator. The company had been one of the only 2 Chinese firms approved to participate in that country’s ‘pilot project’ of online lottery sales. After years of financial problems, 500.com turned to crypto.
They are expanding into cryptocurrency mining since the beginning of the year. Earlier in 2021 they made another deal for $14.4m for buying Bitcoin mining machines. Later on, 500.com paid $13.5m to boost its stake in Hong Kong-based Loto Interactive from 33.7% to 54.2%.
The deal between 500.com and BTHC includes:
the transfer to the Company of the entire mining pool business of Bitdeer Technologies Holding Company (“BitDeer”) operated under BTC.com, including the domain name BTC.com and the cryptocurrency wallet of BTC.com (collectively, the “BTC.com Pool Businesses”)
500.com is publicly traded on the NYSE with a market cap of around $1 billion. After the announcement, its share price rocketed up.
