Intchains Group Limited Q3 2025 Earnings Call - Strategy Pivot Towards Altcoin Mining and ETH Staking Amid Volatile Market

Conference Operator: Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference over to Alice Zhang with the Equity Group. You may begin.

Alice Zhang, Investor Relations, Equity Group: Thank you, Operator. Good evening to everyone. Welcome to Intchains Group Limited Third Quarter 2025 earnings conference call. Please be advised that the discussions on today’s call 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. Although the company believes that the expectations expressed in these 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 other factors that may affect its future results in the company’s registration statement and other filings with the SEC.

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 required by law. Please note that in today’s call, 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 webcast replay of this conference call will be available on the Intchains website at www.ir.intchains.com. It is my pleasure to introduce Intchains Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Charles Yan, who will provide an overview of third quarter and nine months’ 2025 financial results, recent operational achievements, and the company’s long-term growth strategies before opening the floor for questions. Charles, please go ahead.

Charles Yan, Chief Financial Officer, Intchains Group Limited: Thank you, Alice, and welcome everyone. Intchains engages in the design and development of altcoin mining machines, ETH accumulation, and yield-generating strategies, as well as Web3 application development. Among our three main business pillars, cryptocurrency mining machines are the primary revenue contributor, currently accounting for the entirety of our total net revenue. As we have previously discussed, our quarterly performance is heavily influenced by cyclical volatility, a common dynamic within our industry. Our Q3 revenue was impacted by these factors. We had lower sales of mining machines as our flagship Aleo Miner series project, which peaked in Q1 2025, has transitioned into a stable stage as market demand has gradually leveled off following the initial surge. Thus, revenue for Q3 2025 decreased to RMB 9.1 million, and we recorded a loss for operations of RMB 41.8 million due to softer demand for our products in the period.

Our business operates in a dynamic market environment characterized by the natural volatility of the cryptocurrency and mining machine industry. The fast-paced landscape presents both challenges and opportunities, and our strength lies in our ability to adapt swiftly, innovate continuously, and capture emerging trends ahead of the competition. We differentiate ourselves by maintaining agility and technological leadership through careful market evaluation, committed R&D investment, rapid response to industry changes, and the continuous introduction and upgrading of altcoin mining projects. We stay ahead of evolving trends. This allows us to deliver next-generation high-performance mining machines that empower our community to participate early in the development and mining of emerging altcoin ecosystems. Thus, similar to the performance trends of our peer group, our results are better measured on a year-to-date basis.

We believe this provides a clearer reflection of Intchains’ growth and overall business execution, as crypto projects do not follow a fixed seasonal pattern and allows for meaningful quarter-over-quarter comparisons. That said, I would like to summarize our nine months 2025 performance as compared to nine months of 2024 by focusing on key metrics. Our nine months 2025 revenues of RMB 184.7 million, or $25.9 million, decreased by 11% due to the cyclical fluctuations in the market and the softer demand for our products in this period. Nine months 2024 cost of revenue was RMB 108.2 million, or $15.2 million, and an increase of 42.9% impacted by impairment charges recorded against excess mining machines inventory for certain altcoin mining machines during the period. Nine months 2025 total operating expenses were RMB 97.6 million, or $13.7 million, increased by 6%, primarily as a result of higher GNN and sale expenses.

Nine months’ 2025 loss from operations was RMB 21 million, or $3 million, compared to income from operations of RMB 39.8 million. Our nine months’ 2025 interest income was RMB 8.6 million, or $1.2 million, decreased from nine months’ 2024, mainly due to the cash used to acquire ETH-based cryptocurrencies. For the nine months’ period, we recorded a substantial gain in fair value of cryptocurrencies of about RMB 79.3 million, or $11 million, primarily a result of increased ETH holding by 3,117 units since the beginning of the year and an approximate increase of 21.4% in ETH price during the period. As a result, our net income for nine months’ 2025 was RMB 78.7 million, or $11 million, compared to RMB 38.7 million in nine months’ 2024. Our balance sheet remained clean and strong.

As of September 30, 2025, our cash position, which consisted of cash and cash equivalents, deposits, and government securities listed in long-term investment and short-term investment, was $66.5 million. We had current assets of $93.2 million, total assets of $160.6 million, and total liability of just $5.6 million. I would now like to discuss recent developments as part of our long-term growth strategies before opening the floor for the questions. For 2026 and beyond, our growth is centered on the development and sale of Gold Shield mining machines and our ETH accumulation and staking activities. Our ability to identify and execute new altcoin projects and to introduce new and competitive altcoin mining machines is built upon a continuous commitment to investing R&D. Year to end, Intchains has invested approximately $9 million in R&D, underscoring our dedication to driving technological advancement and sustaining long-term growth.

We view R&D not merely as a cost, but as a core strategic pillar that enhances our competitiveness and responsiveness to evolving market dynamics. Through these efforts, we have successfully launched several key initiatives, which include the launch of new products and the implementation of continuous upgrades across our existing product line to enhance efficiency, performance, and the user experience. Specifically, in February, we launched the Aleo Miner series, which demonstrated our capability to deliver high-performance solutions tailored to the emerging blockchain ecosystem. In March, we launched the Gold Shield Byte, a dual mining machine that allows for the replacement of mining cards according to the market condition. In September 2025, we launched our first XTM mining series, which comprises an XT box mining machine and an XT card designed for our dual miner Gold Shield Byte.

The introduction of our new XTM miner series marks another milestone in our product roadmap, reinforcing our position at the forefront of the altcoin mining hardware industry and reflecting our ability to anticipate and meet the evolving needs of global miners. We expect the XTM miners to account for a meaningful revenue contribution in Q4 2025. In addition, we also added an AL card designed to mine Alpha to the Byte Algorithm Card portfolio, enabling Byte miners to seamlessly switch between mining of six cryptocurrencies in total. In December 2025, we expect to receive our test chips of our new Dogecoin mining machine and are planning for the launch of this new mining machine in the first half of 2026.

We are optimistic that upon commercial launch, this new product will become a top-tier Dogecoin mining machine, further growing the market share of our Gold Shield brand and contributing to our top-line growth for fiscal year 2026. Moving on to our ETH strategy. As of September 30, 2025, we had 9,919 ETH-based cryptocurrencies valued at approximately $37 million. While dollar-cost averaging remains our long-term ETH acquisition strategy, we paused to purchase our ETH during Q3 due to a tactical funding allocation in response to the current market environment, and currently, we do not plan to resume purchase activities in Q4. That said, we believe in the forward-looking asset appreciation potential of ETH and are actively exploring ways to enhance our ETH strategy to further unlock the value potential of our ETH position.

In July, we announced a partnership with FalconX, aiming to enhance ETH acquisition efficiently and explore potential return enhancements through a structured ETH yield strategy. The cooperation focuses on two key aspects: optimizing ETH acquisition utilizing FalconX’s customized derivative-based trading strategies and pursuing yield generation through a combination of lending and derivative-based strategies, with annualized yield reaching as high as 10%. As part of this strategy during Q3, we initiated staking a portion of our ETH treasury holding, about 1,000 units of ETH, or approximately 11.3% of our total ETH holding with FalconX, with the goal of diversifying our ETH staking initiatives. In addition to our existing cooperation with FalconX to generate ETH return, we announced earlier today the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire a proof-of-stake technology platform.

This transaction marks a significant step forward in expanding our blockchain infrastructure capability and strengthening our presence in the broader staking ecosystem. Through this acquisition, we are incorporating staking operations for four prominent blockchains. It’s Ethereum, Avalanche, Manta, and Conflux, which will further enhance our ability to provide diversified, high-quality staking services and support the continued growth of our digital asset operations. This acquisition positions us well to serve both individual and institutional crypto industries by creating ecosystem synergies through production-ready staking operations. By accelerating business expansion and leveraging established relationships with decentralized projects, we aim to explore new collaboration opportunities and further strengthen our position within the blockchain infrastructure ecosystem. We believe these business initiatives currently underway should drive tangible revenue growth and bottom-line improvements in 2026.

With the addition of the new staking operations, we are further broadening and strengthening our service and product portfolio, solidifying our presence in next-generation blockchain infrastructure. As our blockchain ecosystem continues to expand, we are confident that Intchains is well-positioned to capture sustainable growth opportunities and enhance its role as a versatile player in this innovative and emerging sector. With that, operator, let’s open it up for questions. Thank you. Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, simply press the star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press the star one again. With that, our first question comes from Mark Palmer with The Benchmark Company. Please go ahead. Yes. Hello and good evening. Thanks for taking my question.

With regard to the Dogecoin launch in 2026, which is a big part of the company’s growth strategy for next year, how should we think about the timing of that launch and then the timing of the rollout throughout the year? Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for the question, Mark. Yes. Our 2026 growth will be driven by the new product launch, especially Dogecoin is a key factor of our key contribution of our 2026. Currently, our schedule is that we expect to receive the test chip within 2025. With that, we will know the power efficiency of our Dogecoin mining machine. Then we will deeply assess and develop the new mining machine. Currently, our plan is that the mining machine will be launched in the first half of 2026, and it will contribute revenue in the second half of 2026. Thank you. Thank you.

Now, one follow-up question. With the announcement of the acquisition of the staking platform from EchoLink, assuming that that deal closes as expected, how are you thinking about the role that staking would play within your platform? And to what extent would this be a platform you’d be using for your own staking versus what you would be able to do with third-party customers? Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for the question. Yeah. Regarding the proof-of-stake platform acquisition, the transaction has not yet been closed, and we are still in the process of completing the required closing procedures. That said, we have already begun the preliminary work, mainly around the security assessments and the infrastructure validation and the total integration plan, to ensure that once the deal closes, we can move quickly and in a disciplined manner.

After the transaction is formally completed, we will provide a more detailed update to investors, yeah, including our operational roadmap and the collaboration with third parties and the strategic goals we aim to achieve within the platform. Currently, what is confirmed is that our Ethereum, our near 9,000 Ethereum units, will be staked in this platform to generate ETH. Thank you. Thanks very much. Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Matthew Galenko with the Maxim Group. Please go ahead. Hi. Thanks for taking my question. Maybe firstly, if you could answer this now, and maybe you’ll have to wait until after the deal closes. Do you have any expectations on how you’ll market the staking platform to customers? Do you think that would be branded under Goldshell or under its existing brand? Yeah. Yeah.

We will use this new platform under our own brand. Now, currently, we have not decided if we use Intchains or Gold Shield or a totally new brand to run this operation. We think we will choose a better way, the best way to run the business. As I just mentioned before, after the transaction is formally completed, we will provide a more detailed update to investors, including our roadmap. Yeah. Thank you. Got it. Thank you. As a follow-up, can you provide any help for QR&D? Do you expect to be investing in the December quarter, or is the number you reported in the third quarter a relatively good one to use for fourth quarter, or should it be more like second quarter? Some kind of outlook for how we should be thinking about R&D for the balance of the year? Yeah.

In the Q3, we have a new product launch. Our XTM miner is launched in Q4, and R&D expense mainly occurred in Q3. In Q4, currently, we did not expect some new chip to taper out in this quarter. We think Q4 R&D expense will decrease. Yes. In the next year, 2026, we have some way to decrease the total R&D expenses. Once we have some updates, we will update you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Once again, if you would like to ask a question, simply press the star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. Again, if you would like to ask a question, please press the star one again. I’m showing no further questions at this time. I would like to turn it back to Charles Yan for closing remarks. Yeah. Thank you, everyone, to joining us.

We are always open to a dialogue with investors. Please feel free to reach out to us or our investor relations firm, the Equity Group, for any additional questions. We look forward to speaking with you again on our next quarterly call. Thank you. Thank you. This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.