(Yicai Global) July 17 -- Bitmain Technologies will file for an initial public offering in Hong Kong next month after the leading Chinese bitcoin miner wraps up a funding round that will value it at USD15 billion.

The Beijing-based company aims to raise USD1 billion in the latest fundraising, social media-based news outlet Lei News reported yesterday. It is expected to list by the end of this year, the report said.

Hangzhou-based rival Canaan Information Technologies submitted an IPO application to the Hong Kong bourse on May 15 and is set to become the first blockchain company to list in the special administrative region.

Bitmain, which mainly produces chips for bitcoin mining, closed a Series-B funding round earlier this month. Led by Sequoia Capital, and with US tech hedge fund Coatue and Singapore's state-run emerging market fund EDBI partaking, it valued the firm at about USD12 billion, financial news provider Caixin reported.

Formed in 2013, Bitmain tops the list in this field with a market share of over 50 percent by sales volume, computing power and pool capacity. Canaan Information claims about 20 percent of the market.

Bitmain's sales hit USD2.3 billion last year, making it China's second-largest integrated circuit design company after HiSilicon Technologies, a unit of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies.

Editor: Ben Armour