Chinese gaming stock doubles on crypto mining gambit

Shanghai-based gaming company The9 is seeking $34 million from investors to start mining cryptocurrency.

The9 chief Jun Zhu says the company wants to control up to 10% of the global hash rates for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Grin — which would make it one of the largest crypto mining projects in the world.

Two former directors at Canaan (which boasts being the first BTC chipset manufacturer on the NASDAQ) will help The9 build the infrastructure required to mine crypto at scale.

Founded in the late ’90s, The9 is a microcap stock perhaps best known for once owning the license to operate and sell World of Warcraft in China.

However, that deal ended back in 2009, but the company still operates titles like Planetside 2 and Ragnarok Online 2.

So, when news of its crypto pivot broke, The9’s share price nearly doubled to levels not seen since 2019, bringing its market cap close to $60 million.

The9 execs are likely relieved, considering the NASDAQ last year threatened to delist the stock for maintaining a market value below $35 million for 30 consecutive business days.