What happened
Despite strong rebound momentum lifting the broader cryptocurrency market today, Bit Digital (BTBT -1.79%) stock is sinking. The cryptocurrency mining company's share price was down 8% as of 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday despite Bitcoin (BTC -0.88%) being up 3.6% today.
Bit Digital published a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday indicating that "selling shareholders" would potentially sell up to about 23.6 million ordinary shares to institutional investors. With a flood of shares potentially hitting the market, investors got nervous, and that wasn't the only potentially concerning point in the SEC filing.
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So what
Bit Digital's core business revolves around mining Bitcoin, so it's notable to see the stock take such a big hit on a day when the market-leading cryptocurrency is having big gains. The company has roughly 69.4 million shares outstanding, so the possible sale of up to 23.6 million shares in the near future is significant. The prospectus filing with the SEC also suggests that the company's share count could balloon in the next few years.
Bit Digital's filing said the company was not currently selling or issuing stock, but that it might generate more than $80 million in sales from the issuance of shares in conjunction with an exercise of warrants to purchase stock at $7.91 per share. These warrants will remain open for 3 1/2 years, giving the holders a lengthy window to determine whether or not to exercise them.
Now what
After accounting for the company's share price slide today, Bit Digital has a market capitalization of $274 million. Its stock currently trades around $3.94 per share, so an exercise price of $7.91 per share would suggest significant upside if the warrants were to be exercised. However, it's understandable that investors don't like the threat of dilution.
