Bitcoin Group Delays ASX Listing, Claims Australia’s Prime Minister Is Not A Shareholder

Bitcoin Group has delayed its Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listing due to issues with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) over indications that Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is a shareholder and misstatements about the company’s profitability, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The company, a bitcoin miner, has postponed its listing date to Dec. 11, 2015.

The company said it retracts any suggestion that Turnbull personally invested in its IPO.

Turnbull Demonstrated Placing A Bid

Bitcoin Group reported in a release dated Oct. 9 that it made history in the lead-up to its IPO with the Prime Minister placing an ASX bid for company shares using an app designed to democratize capital raising for Australian investors. Turnbull unveiled the app, called OnMarket, to a media audience in Sydney by placing a bid for Bitcoin Group shares in the account of Ben Bucknell, OnMarket CEO.

Bitcoin Group also corrected statements made in September in Fairfax Media about its upcoming float that referred to projected revenue forecasts.

A four-page supplementary prospectus outlines how Bitcoin Group will use money from investors through a Cayman Island entity through a Bnk to the Future Limited crowd-funding program, The Sydney Morning Herald noted. Bitcoin Group also gave notice that it has a related-party investor in the IPO – the father of the company CEO Sam Lee.

Lee said the company appreciates the continued dialogue that ASIC has expressed so that issues can be addressed.
Bitcoin Group is seeking to raise $20 million from the IPO.

ASIC Issues Two Stop Orders

The ASIC has issued two stop orders since Bitcoin Group first applied for a listing in June.

Had Bitcoin Group’s listing gone live on Nov. 11 as planned, it would have been the first cryptocurrency company to be publicly listed via the IPO process, according to Finance Magnates.

Bitcoin Group advised investors to disregard revenue projections reported in the press and profitability information stated on WeChat, a China-based messaging service, Finance Magnates further noted.

The closing date for the IPO has moved from Oct. 30 to Nov. 20, while the dispatch of holding statements moved from Nov. 6 to Dec. 6, and quotation of shares on the ASX moved from Nov. 11 to Dec. 11.

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