Hashrate to Has-Been: Poolin's $173M Mining Pool Party Hits Chapter 11 ⛏️

Singapore-based Bitcoin mining pool Poolin Technology Pte. Ltd. and two of its U.S. affiliates, Lonestar Dream Inc. and Lonestar Taproot LLC, filed voluntary Chapter 11 petitions on July 22, 2026, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. Poolin's filing lists approximately $173.1 million in liabilities against assets estimated in the $1–10 million range, with 10,001 to 25,000 creditors. The case's largest single liability stems from roughly 11,700 wallet holders owed $163.7 million in frozen IOU tokens, according to a court declaration from Chief Restructuring Officer Michael DuFrayne.

Founded in Beijing in 2017 by Zhibiao "Kevin" Pan, Fa Zhu and Tianzhao Li, all veterans of mining-hardware maker Bitmain, Poolin climbed to the top of the Bitcoin mining pool rankings by September 2019, commanding roughly 18–20% of global hashrate at its peak. It now ranks as the 17th largest mining pool operator by hashrate, with a 0.2% market share, according to Hashrate Index. The trouble began in September 2022, when Poolin froze withdrawals for Poolin Wallet and Pool Account users. Co-founder Kevin Pan acknowledged in a WeChat post at the time that the company was "facing liquidity problems" while insisting user funds were safe. Rather than make customers whole, Poolin issued IOU tokens as placeholders for real Bitcoin, and those debts have never been repaid.

After China's 2021 mining ban, Poolin pivoted operations westward, selecting two West Texas sites at Pyote and Tarbush with plans for up to 600 MW of power capacity. Reality fell short at roughly 100 MW, and the Texas mining and hosting operations, run through Lonestar Dream, shut down entirely on July 10, with the company stating it does not intend to resume. Those Texas units had already piled up roughly $45.9 million in losses since opening, plus another $8.8 million from selling equipment at discounted prices between fiscal 2023 and 2025.

To repay what it can, Poolin is auctioning its two West Texas sites. Thor CALAP LLC has placed a $52 million stalking-horse bid, covering only the physical mining infrastructure and falling well short of what wallet users are owed. The proposed sale would be subject to a court-supervised auction with a bid deadline of Sept. 8, and breaks down as $37 million for the Tarbush assets, including assumed liabilities, and $15 million for the Pyote site, including power rights, equipment and all other assets tied to the mining facilities. Recovery for the 11,700 IOU holders now depends largely on what the Texas auction brings in, more than three years after their withdrawals were first frozen.

Poolin is part of a broader wave of Bitcoin miners turning to restructuring or pivoting to AI infrastructure as electricity costs rise. In February, NFN8 Group and two of its affiliates filed for Chapter 11 in the Western District of Texas. In November 2025, Bitfarms initiated a complete wind-down of its Bitcoin mining operations to pivot to AI and high-performance computing data centers. Hut 8 recently announced a 15-year, $9.8 billion lease for its AI data center campus, while IREN disclosed $2.8 billion in cloud services contracts with AI developers. Earlier in July, MARA Holdings announced plans to acquire a Texas site with up to 2 gigawatts of capacity to expand its AI and digital infrastructure business, and Bernstein said deals with third-party providers such as Bitcoin miners will be necessary for AI companies seeking to address the computing power limits of AI data centers.