Cango to Terminate ADR Program, Expanding Access to U.S. Institutional Investors

（原标题：Cango to Terminate ADR Program, Expanding Access to U.S. Institutional Investors）

Cango’s termination of its ADR program signals a fundamental reconfiguration of its capital-market strategy. On October 15 2025, the company announced it will terminate its American Depositary Receipt (ADR) program and pursue a direct listing of its Class A ordinary shares on the NYSE. The move is far more than a technical filing update — it reflects a strategic evolution of Cango’s financing architecture following its full transition from auto finance to cryptocurrency mining. After divesting its domestic auto-finance business in May 2025 for US$351.9 million, Cango’s business model has shifted decisively from fintech to compute-power operations, requiring a capital structure that mirrors U.S. mining-sector valuation logic and investor composition.

The direct listing simplifies Cango’s market structure and strengthens its linkage to U.S. mining benchmarks. Unlike ADRs that rely on cross-border custody involving depositary banks, clearing intermediaries, and incremental fees, direct trading of ordinary shares allows Cango’s equity performance to correlate more directly with U.S. mining indices such as BITK. This opens a pathway for potential inclusion in specialized mining ETFs, enhancing liquidity and price discovery. The simplified structure aligns Cango’s share behavior with U.S. peers such as Marathon Digital (MARA), Riot Platforms (RIOT), and Core Scientific (CORZ), while eliminating the frictional layers that previously separated it from mainstream institutional capital.

Removing structural barriers to institutional participation is the most material outcome of this change. According to Russell Index inclusion rules, roughly 62 % of U.S. long-only funds — including Vanguard and BlackRock — restrict holdings of non-directly-listed securities. ADRs are commonly treated as restricted assets due to cross-border audit and regulatory discrepancies. By moving to a direct listing, Cango broadens its accessible investor base and improves eligibility for passive and benchmark-tracking inflows. With a market capitalization of US$808 million, the incremental investable pool of about US$90 million roughly equals the Russell 2000 passive-funding gap. A relevant precedent is BitDeer, whose institutional ownership rose from 12 % to 27 % within three months of its U.S. board migration.

Operational resilience in September reinforces the company’s mining efficiency advantage. During the month, Bitcoin’s network hash rate climbed 8.3 % MoM to 520 EH/s and mining difficulty increased 7.1 %, yet Cango’s production fell only 7.1 % (from 663.7 to 616.6 BTC), outperforming the industry’s ~12 % average decline. Its 44.85 EH/s operational capacity delivered an 89.7 % utilization rate, nearly matching Marathon’s 91 %. At an average Bitcoin price of US$67,000, Cango’s 5,810 BTC holdings are valued at US$3.89 billion, or 4.8× its current market cap, confirming crypto assets as the firm’s principal value anchor.

Valuation remains attractive, with clear potential for a structural re-rating. Cango’s shares trade at roughly US$4.37 per ADS, implying a US$796 million market capitalization. We forecast revenues of US$609 million (2025E) and US$850 million (2026E), corresponding to P/S multiples of 1.6× and 1.2×, versus peer averages of 6.9× and 4.8×. The termination of the ADR structure and the direct NYSE listing should help narrow this valuation gap as the company’s liquidity, visibility, and investor participation converge toward U.S. mining peers.