We asked Swan CEO about layoffs, withdrawal times, and the canceled IPO
A few months ago, Swan Bitcoin was climbing the ranks among the world’s largest Bitcoin companies. It passed $220 million in annualized revenue, planned to IPO on the Nasdaq, was mining 1.7% of the entire Bitcoin network (11.3 exahashes per second), and scheduled its third annual conference along with an additional events business. Not only that, on May 7, Swan confirmed rumors that had circulated since January that it had partnered with Tether for its Managed Mining business. As of January 12, the company had taken in approximately $25 million of a $30 million convertible note leading into its Series C financing. As Wall Street knows, by the time a company gets past a C or D round, an IPO is likely around the corner. However, a few days ago, Swan announced a massive round of layoffs, canceled its conference, and suspended its IPO plans. According to CEO Cory Klippsten, the IPO plan was shelved because Swan “didn’t carry forward with a big financing partner for our Managed Mining b...