Nano Labs: Ambitious Binance Coin Bet Transforms Chip Maker Into Crypto Play

Summary NA is quickly shifting from being an ASIC designer to a crypto‑treasury vehicle. It now holds a sizeable amount of BTC and BNB. Note that NA’s Cuckoo 3.0 and FPU 3.0 chips deliver 83% better energy efficiency, yet hardware sales remained under $6 million in 2024. Web3 ambitions seemingly supersede NA’s previous chip strategic objectives. Management aims to own 5‑10% of the BNB supply and launch NBNB.io stablecoin. However, that requires billions beyond NA’s currently available resources. That implies aggressive financing, as evidenced by its recent $500 million notes. Still, there’s also upside potential for NA despite its risks. Hence, I lean towards a “Hold” as their bet on stablecoins, BTC, and BNB could pay off considerably. Nano Labs Ltd. ( NA ) is a hybrid technology-crypto company that develops ASIC hardware and blockchain infrastructure. NA also has a business segment that accumulates strategic digital assets (i.e., cryptocurrencies). They also developed high-throughput computing chips like the Cuckoo 3.0 and advanced architectures such as FPU 3.0. However, their recent push into the crypto space is noteworthy. Their formal adoption of Bitcoin as a reserve asset, acquisition of over 120,000 BNB tokens ( BNB-USD ), and planned launch of a licensed stablecoin platform in Hong Kong shift NA into more of a “crypto” play at this point. Still, I feel the stock is a bit too risky to warrant a bullish rating, which is why I settle on a “Hold” at these levels. Crypto Tech Nano Labs is technically a fabless integrated circuit (IC) design firm that develops computing and application-specific chips, as well as software solutions for its hardware. They were founded back in 2019, with an IPO in 2022 , and they’re currently headquartered in Hangzhou, China. Additionally, the company defines its value proposition through accumulating digital asset reserves, mainly Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ). Source: Nano Labs Ltd. Website. Retrieved July 22, 2025. Today, NA’s portfolio includes a range of semiconductor products, such as high-throughput computing (HTC) chips, part of the Cuckoo series, high-performance computing (HPC) chips, vision processing chips, and smart network interface cards (NICs). It’s worth mentioning that their Cuckoo series Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) compete with traditional GPUs. Additionally, the company offers integrated software solutions like firmware, control programs, tools for monitoring performance, and blockchain-specific systems to operate and enhance the hardware. In total, these technology packages are intended for enterprise and individual customers. NA’s Enterprise clients are typically mining farms, cloud computing providers, or AI infrastructure operators. Whereas individual customers often include smaller-scale users, such as independent crypto miners. Source: NBIO.io Website. Retrieved July 22, 2025. Having said that, NA launched in December 2024 an upgraded computing device with the Cuckoo 3.0 chip . It’s their latest-generation ASIC chip for HTC. However, it’s particularly useful for mining cryptocurrencies or other Web3 infrastructure workloads. This chip version offers better computing power and efficiency, with a single-core performance of 1.2 gigahashes per second (GH/s) and energy efficiency of 0.14 watts per megahash (W/MHash). To give you an idea, this actually represents an 83% improvement compared to the previous generation, which had more energy consumption and reached 0.79 W/MHash. Chip Differentiators And Crypto Strategy Moreover, NA’s Cuckoo chips are built for the V2 series. These chips are intended for home and small-scale miners that feature silent operation and high performance with low energy consumption. NA also released the floating-point unit ( FPU ) 3.0 architecture built as an ASIC and optimized for specific tasks like AI inference or blockchain processing. The key innovation is the integration of 3D-stacked DRAM for bandwidth increment (up to 24 TB/s) and reduced latency and power consumption. They achieved these efficiencies thanks to the shortening distances between memory and logic using a smart network-on-chip. Source: NA’s Annual Report. April 2025. Essentially, this gives NA’s chip better internal connections and overall improves its competitiveness in the ASIC market for crypto mining. Furthermore, NA’s latest earnings call mentioned they are officially establishing their Bitcoin value investment as a business unit. Their idea is to leverage the global trend of increased adoption of cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin. Currently, NA has a segment focused on holding, managing, and expanding its BTC assets. This formal status requires board-level oversight and controls integrated into public filings, as crypto is heavily regulated in China. As of recently, NA holds approximately 400 BTC , valued at around $40 million. On top of that, NA expanded its crypto holdings by buying 120,000 Binance (BNB) tokens. That amounts to a combined total (BTC and BNB) of approximately $160 million. Source: Seeking Alpha. But more interestingly, NA is not just investing in BNB. Instead, it seems this ecosystem is more of a strategic play for the company as a whole. NA’s management is keen on positioning itself as a major long-term holder and financial backer of the Binance ecosystem. Although in the long run they aim to control 5%–10% of BNB’s circulating supply, which should give them a material stake in that ecosystem. It’s also an extremely ambitious target since BNB’s market cap is approximately $106.7 billion , so just 5% of that value would be equivalent to roughly $5.3 billion. Valuation And Risk Analysis Now, from a valuation perspective, NA trades at a $139.2 million market cap, so it remains a relatively small company nonetheless. Their recent annual report shows that their balance sheet holds $4.5 million in cash and $33.8 million in cryptocurrencies (by year-end 2024). NA also reported almost $27.0 million in financial debt (aside from other regular operating liabilities), suggesting it’s relatively indebted already. And in June 2025, they announced a whopping $500 million note deal to continue financing future crypto purchases. Source: Binance. A more recent update shows their crypto holdings amount to approximately $160.0 million as of July 2025. And I do have to give them credit for their latest BNB buy, since their price average is around $672.45, and BNB is trading at about $767.04 already. So, this strategy has worked out for NA so far, but we’ll have to wait and see if, in the long run, this pays off. It’s also worth mentioning that NA is partnering with Orbiter Finance to launch a stablecoin called NBNB.io . They’re aiming for a potential Q4 2025 release, and NA is applying for licenses in Hong Kong to issue these fiat-referenced stablecoins related to the Hong Kong dollar ((HKD)) and offshore Chinese Yuan (RMB). Additionally, NA intends to build a technical infrastructure for stablecoins compatible with the BTS and BNB chains. With stablecoins as core Web3 infrastructure, NA aims to integrate them into cross-chain products, including NBNB.io , via their partner Orbiter Finance. Source: NBIO.io Website. Retrieved July 22, 2025. It’s true that these moves can potentially add a new revenue stream to the chip design and crypto reserves businesses. However, I remain skeptical about their actual competitive prospects with their new stablecoin project. After all, USDT and USDC are well-entrenched and mass-adopted stablecoins in crypto. Those stablecoin alternatives are also regulated, and you can even bet on USDC adoption through Circle Internet Group ( CRCL ). So, in that sense, I’m not as optimistic about this stablecoin strategic direction that NA’s management is now focusing on. Yet, this stablecoin bet also seems similar to their incredibly ambitious aim of controlling 5%–10% of BNB’s circulating supply. It sounds great on paper, but in practice, it’s extremely difficult to achieve. After all, 5%-10% of BNB would amount to several billions of dollars in capital investments, which NA simply doesn’t have at this point. Ostensibly, they’ll finance their purchases with debt (or more stock issuance), but I’m not even sure they can access such a huge amount of loans. NA remains a relatively small microcap for all intents and purposes, so I doubt lenders will simply loan those amounts to an otherwise unprofitable company . Likewise, their near-term revenue prospects seem unremarkable as well. In fact, in 2024, they only generated about $5.6 million in total revenues. Source: Seeking Alpha. Nonetheless, it does show that NA is quickly becoming a leveraged bet in crypto, particularly in BTC and BNB. So, I anticipate the stock will become increasingly volatile as NA’s leverage factor increases with its crypto holdings. On the bull case, BNB and BTC both rally, and NA benefits greatly from such unrealized gains. But the flip side is equally true, and the downside could be substantial and swift since crypto is already notably volatile. If you add to that volatility leverage (like NA is doing), then it’s clear that new investors are taking a substantial risk with the stock. I also estimate they burned through $24.5 million in 2024 . Note that I got that figure by simply adding their cash flows from operations and CAPEX during that period (excluding cryptocurrency purchases). In contrast, we know they had just about $4.5 million in cash (year-end 2024) and about $160 million in cryptocurrencies (July 2025). So, if we combine those figures, it suggests a cash runway of around 6.7 years, which would seem extremely healthy. However, we know they don’t intend to sell their crypto holdings, meaning that their actual runway is probably much shorter. Source: Seeking Alpha. If anything, management wants to continue investing in BTC and BNB. Thus, it’s clear to me that NA will likely keep on piling on more debt or issuing more stock to finance its operations and cryptocurrency purchases. And all of this paints a picture that seems somewhat reckless to me, which is why I can’t give them a bullish rating. I also believe their high-risk, high-reward strategy could pay off massively if BTC and BNB rally and if their stablecoin is a success. That’s why I feel a “Hold” rating at these levels seems fair. Conclusion: Sidelines For Now Overall, I get the impression that NA’s ambitions are extremely high and maybe a bit unrealistic. They want to control a sizeable stake in the huge BNB ecosystem while also launching a stablecoin contender against USDT or USDC, which are well-entrenched alternatives. These two initiatives could definitely pay off significantly, but I remain skeptical since NA’s financial resources are clearly a very limiting factor. So far, NA has resorted to taking on debt and issuing shares to finance these goals, but this does increase its risk factor proportionally. Hence, I think NA is now a very high-risk, high-reward play in crypto rather than a straight-up miner. In my view, I believe this is simply too speculative to warrant a bullish rating, which is why I lean towards a “Hold” for now.

Source: Seeking Alpha