Intchains Group - Earnings Call - Q4 2024
February 27, 2025
Transcript
Operator (participant)
Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to Intchains' fourth quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. Joining us today is Mr. Chaowei Yan, Chief Financial Officer of Intchains, and Ms. Minty Wang, Investor Relations Director. Mr. Yan will provide an overview of the company's performance and the details of the company's financial results. After that, we'll conduct a question-and-answer session to take your questions. I would now like to hand the call over to Minty Wang, Head of Investor Relations at Intchains Group Limited. Please go ahead.
Minty Wang (Head of Investor Relations)
Thank you, Operator. Good day, everyone. I'm Minty. Welcome to the Intchains Group Limited's Fourth Quarter 2024 earnings call. For today's call, Mr. Chaowei Yan, CFO of Intchains Group Limited, will provide a comprehensive overview of the company's performance and financial results for the quarter. Before we proceed, I would like to remind everyone that today's discussion will include forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, and are based on the company's current expectations and projections regarding future events that may impact its financial condition, operating results, and strategic direction. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances or changes in its expectations, except as may be required by law.
Although the company believes that the expectations expressed in its forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and the company cautions investors that actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. Investors should review the other factors that may affect its future results in the company's registration statements and other filings with the SEC. We will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please also refer to the reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to the comparable GAAP measures in the earnings press release. The presentation and the webcast replay of this conference call will be available on the Intchains website at ir.intchains.com. Now, let me turn the call to our CFO, Mr. Chaowei Yan. Please go ahead.
Chaowei Yan (CFO)
Thank you, Minty, and everyone, for joining the Intchains Group earnings conference call for the fourth quarter of 2024. On today's call, I will provide an overview of our operational and financial performance. After that, we will conduct a Q&A session to take your questions. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the cryptocurrency market rebounded strongly. Ethereum and Dogecoin led this resurgence, and we benefited from the renewed optimism following the U.S. presidential election, which spurred expectations for a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment. This positive environment translated into robust operational performance for our company. In the fourth quarter, we achieved a revenue of $10.2 million, a remarkable 109% increase year over year. It is important to note that due to our production cycle, some orders placed in Q4 will be recognized as revenue in 2025.
In addition to our strong revenue performance, our non-GAAP adjusted net income rose by 54% to $2 million. Our strategic focus on accumulating Ethereum also paid off, as our holdings of Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies increased by 37% quarter on quarter to a total number of 5,702 units. Looking ahead, we are optimistic about our upcoming product initiative. In February 2025, we launched our Aleo Series mining product, a move we expect to be a significant performance driver in the first half of this year. We have also introduced a new hardware wallet, expanding our payment application ecosystem built on last year's Virtual Pay. Moreover, we remain committed to upgrading our Dogecoin Series mining machines to capture additional market share while steadfastly pursuing our long-term Ethereum traverse strategy. For those less familiar with our business, let me briefly outline our core operations. We operate in three key segments.
Firstly, under the Goldshell brand, we produce mining products for promising altcoins such as Kaspa, Alephium, Dogecoin, and Aleo. Secondly, we reinvest our profits by accumulating Ethereum, which ups the performance structure. Last but not the least, we are actively exploring innovative Web3 applications to drive long-term growth. Our differentiated growth strategy focuses on the blue ocean altcoin mining sector. As one of the pioneers of home mining products and a committed long-term holder of Ethereum, we have established a unique position in the capital market. Looking forward, the industry is poised to experience several catalysts this year, ranging from progress in Bitcoin reserve legislation in various U.S. states to the approval of additional crypto ETFs, emerging new technologies and applications, and anticipated upgrades to Ethereum. In February, we made a significant stride by launching our Aleo miners.
These machines, designed to tap into the promising world of zero-knowledge proof, are already generating between 40-50 Aleo tokens per day, with an attractive return for miners. We will also continue to enhance our Dogecoin mining products to maintain our leadership in this area. We see several short-term catalysts for Dogecoin, including live broadcasts from the U.S. Doge Department and the potential approval of ETFs. We have also expanded our product suite with the launch of the Goldshell Wallet, featuring air-gapped technology that allows payment without an internet connection, an important step in advancing our Web3 application. Looking ahead to the first half of 2025, our operational pillars will be built around our Doge and Aleo Series mining machines.
While some orders from Q4 2025 will recognize the revenue deferred to Q1 2025 due to the production cycle limitations, we are confident that the strong profitability and the order demand for our Aleo Box Series and Doge Series products will contribute positively to our gross margins. Now, I will provide a brief financial overview of our Fourth Quarter of 2024. In the Fourth Quarter, the cryptocurrency industry witnessed a global regulation turning point following the conclusion of the U.S. presidential election in November. This market was filled with optimistic expectations for a more relaxed regulatory environment for the crypto industry in the future. Turning to our financial performance, Q4 saw our revenue reach $10.2 million, representing a 109% year-over-year increase.
While this strong performance reflects the rebound in market sentiment, please note that some Q4 orders will be recognized as revenue in 2025 due to the production cycle limits. Our non-GAAP adjusted net income increased by 54% to $2 million, a significant turnaround from the previous period. Despite a slight dip in the gross margin in Q4, attributed to a higher proportion of lower-margin Dogecoin miner sales compared to Q3's higher-margin Alpheum and Kaspa products, we have made a substantial investment in R&D for new projects slated for 2025. We expect a lighter expense pressure in the first half of 2025, which should further support our profitability in this year. Moreover, the gain on fair value of cryptocurrency for the fourth quarter was about $4 million. It also significantly contributed to the company's net income growth in Q4.
The gain was primarily due to an approximately 31.5% increase in the price of Ethereum and an approximately 37.4% increase in the number of Ethereum. For the full year 2024, we also achieved significant growth across key financial metrics. In 2024, our revenue was largely driven by the sales of mining products across the Dogecoin, Alpheum, and Kaspa lines. This performance not only underscores our deep industry insights but also validates our investment approach in the altcoin sector. On the operational level, we experienced a rebound in revenue, gross margin, and non-GAAP adjusted net income compared to 2023, reinforcing our confidence that we remain in the middle of the bull cycle. At the year-end, our total assets stood at approximately $149 million. Our crypto assets were valued at around $24.7 million, representing 16.6% of total assets, with Ethereum holdings comprised about 13.2%.
Combined cash, cash equivalent, short-term investment, and cryptocurrencies totaled around $96 million, or roughly 64% of our total assets. This robust balance sheet underpins our future growth initiatives and reinforces our ongoing Ethereum transverse strategy. Looking forward, we anticipate Q1 2025 revenue of approximately $100 million-$120 million in R&D, with the first half of 2025 revenue projected to reach around $200 million-$250 million R&D, driven largely by new product sales and a continued market momentum. Thank you for your attention. We look forward to updating you on our progress as we continue to drive growth across the crypto cycle.
Minty Wang (Head of Investor Relations)
Thank you, Minty Wang. At this point, I would like to open the floor for questions. You're welcome to ask questions in Chinese or English. We'll provide English translation when necessary for convenience purposes only. In case of any discrepancy, please refer to our management statements in the original language. Now, operator, we may start the Q&A session. Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question at this time, please press *11 and wait for your name to be announced. One moment for the first question. First question comes from the line of Mark Palmer from The Benchmark Company. Please go ahead.
Mark Palmer (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Yes, hello. Thank you very much for taking my question. I definitely appreciate the extent to which the crypto markets have rebounded, particularly in the fourth quarter, and we saw demand for Dogecoin increase nicely. Can you talk a little bit about what your expectations are with regard to Dogecoin for 2025 and what you are seeing in terms of demand for Dogecoin mining rigs at this point?
Chaowei Yan (CFO)
Thank you, Mark. Yeah, we are always a Dogecoin, we are always a pioneer of the Dogecoin mining machine. From the second half of 2024, we're seriously considering the future or the potential, market potential of the Dogecoin. We believe that the Dogecoin mining market, the potential of the Dogecoin mining market, is in the future decade to have a possibility to surpass the Bitcoin mining market. We decided to have a deep, to have a serious R&D input on this Dogecoin mining market. Firstly, for the 2024 perspective, our plan is that firstly, we expect to reduce the cost or, yeah, reduce the cost of existing mining machines and then improve the mining efficiency. Further, we will diversify our mining hardware for mining the Dogecoin. Please just keep patient.
Yeah, we will have a more competitive Dogecoin mining product launching into the market this year. Thank you.
Minty Wang (Head of Investor Relations)
To be specific, some of the revenue will be recognized in the first quarter of this year. Also, according to our order book, the demand of the Dogecoin machine is still very strong.
Chaowei Yan (CFO)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because firstly, we underestimated the Dogecoin price surge after the Trump election. We did not prepare enough Dogecoin mining rigs. You can see on our balance sheet that our contract liability increased significantly. This contract liability will reflect, will turn into revenue in this Q1. Thank you.
Mark Palmer (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Very good. Can I also ask a question about your move into Aleo mining, which is the first time that the company has gone into the zero-knowledge proof space? Can you talk about what you are expecting in terms of demand for Aleo mining equipment in the coming months?
Chaowei Yan (CFO)
Yeah. Thank you for your question. Firstly, we think that Aleo is a project, crypto project based on zero-knowledge proof technology, and it's a future trend. Our company has always been optimistic about the private computing field. Therefore, once the algorithm for Aleo project was finalized, we immediately began developing the specialized miner, the Aleo specialized miner. We use our consistent approach of quick time to market. Now we have the first mining machine in the total market. For the future plan, we believe that the Aleo mining, currently the Aleo mining machine are generating very attractive returns, and the product demand is quite good. Also for the future plan, it will depend on the market condition and also the Aleo project, Aleo project, their future development roadmap.
We will closely monitor the Aleo project development and make the decision of upgrade the mining machine, make the decision accordingly.
Minty Wang (Head of Investor Relations)
Yeah. Just as Chaowei stated, you can watch that we are the first professional Aleo asset provider around the world. For our Aleo series mining rigs, it will produce around 40-50 Aleos per day, which means that if you buy our Aleo products, you may get around $15-$20 per day, which makes this series of products a very attractive product for miners. Because this is a very attractive product for miners, for us, it generates a very strong demand. We think the sales of Aleo machines and the sales of the Doge series machines will be the main drivers of our revenue, at least in the first half of this year.
Mark Palmer (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Very good. Chaowei and Minty, thank you very much.
Chaowei Yan (CFO)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Thank you for the questions. Our next question comes from the line of Laura Lui from Premia Partners. Please go ahead.
Laura Lui (Partner & Co-CIO)
Thank you for the presentation. You mentioned about the performances for the first quarter. I would like to ask, under the pressure of the overall market in the first quarter, what's the company's current guidance based on the current market pressure? Did you make neutral or optimistic assumptions already about the development of the crypto market in the first half of the year and also the first quarter, please?
Chaowei Yan (CFO)
Yes. Currently, we think the overall crypto market is under pressure. Due to a series of events, including the concern over an economic recession, the Bybit hack, and the improper issuance of many meme coins, all these things are leading the market to decline, leading to a decline in risk appetite. However, we still believe that now is an interest rate cutting cycle. The crypto market remains in a bull cycle. The company is very confident of the crypto industry and will keep accumulating Ethereum and develop our new miners. For the quarter and for the fourth quarter, yes, our guidance for 2025 is taking the current market situation into our consideration. We believe we set a relatively conservative assumption for the Q1 revenue guidance. Thank you.
Laura Lui (Partner & Co-CIO)
Thank you very much. Now that you mentioned about the crypto market, can I also ask about the company's outlook for the crypto market this year?
Chaowei Yan (CFO)
Yes. I think, yeah.
Minty Wang (Head of Investor Relations)
Actually, Chaowei has just mentioned his outlook. He just stated that he believes that the global market is in the interest rate cutting channel. We think we are still on the way. Although the crypto market didn't perform very well in recent days, we think during the bull cycle, it's a very normal price adjustment. It's about the risk preference of the market. We think the crypto market has a very close relationship to the whole money liquidity of the whole world. We're still very optimistic about the performance of the whole market. Although the market seems not to have performed very well recently, we're still just as Eric Trump said that it's a good opportunity to buy the dip. We're still very confident. We're still very confident about this year's performance.
According to our order book, we still have a very strong demand on our Aleo series mining rigs and Dogecoin series mining rigs. According to us, it seems that some miners are well prepared for the rebound of the market. That is why we are still in our strategy of accumulating Ethereum and upgrade our Dogecoin series mining machines this year. Yeah.
Laura Lui (Partner & Co-CIO)
Great. Thank you, Chaowei and the team, for the market outlook. I do not have further questions from my side. Thank you.
Minty Wang (Head of Investor Relations)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Thank you for the questions. One moment for the next questions. Our next questions come from Kelvin Yu from Group Investment Management. Please.
Kelvin Yu (Group Chief Growth Officer)
Thank you for the presentation. The company just mentioned the market catalysts. What are the market catalysts for the company's own growth in 2025, please?
Chaowei Yan (CFO)
Thank you for your question. Firstly, for our company's catalysts, firstly is, of course, the Dogecoin and Litecoin ETF approval and the price of altcoins. If they have a good price performance, it will also increase our financial performance. The third one is the new initiative projects or new technology which applies in the crypto market. All these factors could potentially enhance our company's performance. Thank you.
Kelvin Yu (Group Chief Growth Officer)
That's great. Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Thank you for the questions. We have no further questions from the line. I would like to hand the call back to management for closing.
Minty Wang (Head of Investor Relations)
Okay. If there are no questions in the line, maybe we'll call it a day. Thank you for joining our conference. You can visit our website for further materials or email the IR team for further information. Thank you.
Operator (participant)
That does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.