Former Bitcoin mining pool giant is seeking to sell two Texas sites for at least $52 million after filing for bankruptcy.
Poolin, previously among the world’s biggest Bitcoin mining pool companies, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings with debts of almost $173 million dollars, mostly owing to customers whose crypto funds have been blocked since 2022.
The Singapore-based company and its U.S. affiliates, Lonestar Dream and Lonestar Taproot, filed voluntary petitions Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey, according to a regulatory filing.
Poolin listed between 10,001 and 25,000 creditors and estimated its liabilities at between $100 million and $500 million.
According to a court declaration reviewed by TheEnergyMag, out of total debt of Poolin, around $163 million is made up of unsecured promissory notes issued to the wallet customers after crypto withdrawals were blocked in 2022.
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Wallet Debt Dwarfs Sale Price
The bankruptcy aims to dispose of the remaining mining assets that Poolin has in the U.S. Thor CALAP, one of the possible purchasers, has shown interest in buying Poolin’s Pyote location for $15 million and its Tarbush location for $37 million worth of power rights and equipment.
The combined $52 million bid sets the minimum price for an auction and equals only about 30% of Poolin’s stated obligations before legal fees and other bankruptcy costs. Higher offers could still emerge.
Poolin produced 28 non-disclosure agreements and seven preliminary offers, while Poolin said demand for power infrastructure could lift the sites’ value. Still, its Texas units have lost about $45.9 million since they were formed.
Founded in China in 2017, Poolin briefly became the world’s largest Bitcoin mining pool by real-time computing power in 2019. But China’s 2021 mining ban pushed it toward Texas, while the following year’s market crash exposed a liquidity hole in its wallet business.
Poolin borrowed about $213 million from Antalpha against crypto collateral then worth $355.8 million, using the money for mining equipment. Antalpha later liquidated the collateral, while thousands of customers were left holding Poolin’s IOU tokens.
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