Bitmain was the sole investor in the Series A round, which follows an angel round investment from Lanqi Venture Capital Investment last November. Based in Shenzhen, BitKan offers Bitcoin data and pricing services, and recently launched an over-the-counter (OTC) Bitcoin trading service.
The company said in statements that the investment and the new trading feature represent a formal change in the company’s business strategy, one that positions it more as a competitor to existing peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading services.
In addition to manufacturing mining hardware, Bitmain also operates Antpool, the world’s largest Bitcoin mining pool at press time with 28% of the network’s hashrate.
The investment finds Bitmain becoming willing to invest its funds in the wider Bitcoin ecosystem, following its participation in a March funding round for smart contract platform Rootstock and its February investment in Israeli payments service Simplex.
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