Chia Network Makes Progress Toward an IPO, CEO Says

Chia Network (XCH), which uses a novel consensus mechanism for running its blockchain, has made progress toward getting its stock trading through an initial public offering, its CEO said Thursday.

The company confidentially filed an amended S-1 form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at the end of March, after the regulators sent a comment letter to the company, CEO Gene Hoffman said at a conference hosted by law firm Brown Rudnick in Manhattan. However, there is still no firm timeline for the IPO since the company wants to wait for the right market conditions, he later told CoinDesk.

Chia revealed in April 2023 that it wanted to go public, though its IPO plans took a detour because of financial distress at Credit Suisse, its underwriter. That led to Chia laying off a third of its staff in October.

Chia was founded by Bram Cohen, who invented the BitTorrent peer-to-peer filesharing technology. Unlike Bitcoin, which uses proof-of-work to run its blockchain, and Ethereum, which uses proof-of-stake, Chia uses proof-of-space and proof-of-time, which, in short, involves the allocation of computer storage on machines around the world.

Hoffman said Chia is planning to roll out a bridge for Circle's USDC stablecoin in the coming months, as well as additional infrastructure projects.