- Long Blockchain said Friday it won't purchase bitcoin mining computers after all, something it planned to do in January.
- The company's market cap is below the minimum required for continued listing on Nasdaq's exchange.
Long Blockchain, the New-York company that back in December changed its name from Long Island Iced Tea to avoid being kicked off Nasdaq’s stock exchange, is backpedaling on its previous plans to purchase 1,000 bitcoin mining machines.
Shares of the company gained about 2% at market open Friday, but it was not enough to return the company’s market cap to $35 million — the minimum required for continued listing on Nasdaq, according to the exchange operator's website.
Long Blockchain originally announced on January 5 that it would sell $8.4 million worth of stock to finance its purchase of 1,000 S9 bitcoin mining rigs, which retail online for $2,725 apiece. It said a week later it would not raise any more money, but would still purchase the machines.
“While we continue to believe in the value of mining equipment to the blockchain ecosystem, the purchase of these machines - which was negotiated as a no-risk option to the Company - was just one of the multiple strategic avenues we have been considering," Shamyl Malik, head of the company’s ‘Blockchain Strategy Committee,’ said in a press release. "We will continue to evaluate the purchase of mining equipment for Bitcoin and other digital currencies as part of our larger blockchain initiative, which includes among other potential transactions the proposed merger with Stater."
Long Blockchain says it still plans to go through with its proposed merger with Britain’s Stater Blockchain, a "technology company focused on developing and deploying globally scalable blockchain technology solutions in the financial market," according to its website.
It’s not clear when Long Blockchain expects the merger to be complete. The company has not responded to multiple requests for comment from Business Insider.
Shares of Long Blockchain are currently trading at $3.11 with a market cap of $28 million — barely above the levels which caused it to receive a written warning from Nasdaq in October.