Poolin Files Chapter 11—$52M Floor Bid Set for Its Texas Mining Sites
Once bitcoin's largest mining pool, Poolin filed Chapter 11 in New Jersey owing $173.1M—a $52M stalking-horse bid sets the floor for its West Texas sites.
In Brief
- Poolin, once the world’s largest bitcoin mining pool with up to 20% of global hashrate, filed Chapter 11 in New Jersey with liabilities between $100 million and $500 million
- Roughly $163.7 million of its $173.1 million in prepetition debt is unsecured IOUs owed to about 11,700 Poolin Wallet users frozen since September 2022
- Thor CALAP LLC’s $52 million stalking-horse bid sets the floor for Poolin’s two West Texas sites, with an auction bid deadline of September 8
Poolin Technology, the Singapore-based company that once ran the world’s largest bitcoin mining pool, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey, with a $52 million stalking-horse bid setting the floor for its West Texas operations, The Block reported Friday.
The filing, made July 22 and covering US affiliates Lonestar Dream Inc. and Lonestar Taproot LLC, lists between 10,001 and 25,000 creditors, assets of $1 million to $10 million, and liabilities of $100 million to $500 million. Poolin’s Texas mining and hosting operations ceased activity on July 10, per The Block.
The debt is dominated by ghosts of the last bear market. “In a declaration accompanying the filing, Chief Restructuring Officer Michael DuFrayne placed the debtors’ prepetition obligations at approximately $173.1 million. Roughly $163.7 million of that amount consists of unsecured IOUs issued to Poolin Wallet customers following the company’s suspension of withdrawals during the 2022 cryptocurrency market downturn,” The Block wrote. About 11,700 retail users still hold those frozen IOUs.
From top of the bitcoin mining world to the courthouse
Founded in China in 2017 by Zhibiao “Kevin” Pan, Fa Zhu, and Tianzhao Li, Poolin was regarded as the world’s largest mining pool by September 2019, commanding 18-20% of global hashrate that year according to Glassnode data cited by CoinDesk. Today its share is negligible—about 0.2% per Hashrate Index figures cited by Cointelegraph.
The collapse traces to leverage: Poolin borrowed roughly $213 million against crypto collateral then valued at about $355.8 million, and the 2022 crash triggered liquidations. When withdrawals froze in September 2022, co-founder Kevin Pan acknowledged in a WeChat post that the company was “facing liquidity problems” while insisting user funds were safe, per CoinDesk. Pan owns 100% of the equity in both the Singapore parent and Lonestar Dream.
The Lonestar entities have lost about $45.9 million cumulatively since formation. A three-month marketing campaign reached more than 335 potential buyers, produced 28 NDAs and seven letters of intent before Thor CALAP LLC’s $52 million bid—$15 million for the Pyote property and $37 million for the Tarbush site—emerged as the floor. The court-supervised auction has a September 8 bid deadline, per Cointelegraph.
Bitcoin mining’s consolidation grinds on
Poolin joins a lengthening casualty list: Cointelegraph notes NFN8 Group filed Chapter 11 in February, and Bitfarms began winding down mining operations in late 2025 to pivot toward AI. The survivors are chasing the same trade—Hut 8 signed a $9.8 billion, 15-year AI lease that Frontierbeat covered in its report on the AI compute stocks rebound, and IREN’s AI cloud contracts topped $4 billion.
That is what makes the Texas assets attractive despite the parent’s insolvency: power rights and energized land near cheap West Texas electricity are exactly what AI data center developers are hunting. The assets may be sold separately if that maximizes value, according to the filing.
The Singapore parent retains roughly $1.2 million in a New Jersey bank account, an office lease, and an intercompany claim. For the 11,700 wallet customers holding four-year-old IOUs, the auction outcome will determine how much of that $163.7 million ever comes back.
FAQ
Why did Poolin file for bankruptcy?
Its 2022 leverage blowup—roughly $213 million borrowed against $355.8 million in crypto—froze customer withdrawals, leaving about $163.7 million in unsecured IOUs that the company never worked off; the Chapter 11 filing now seeks to sell its Texas assets under court supervision.
What happens to Poolin’s Texas mining sites?
Thor CALAP LLC’s $52 million stalking-horse bid ($15 million for Pyote, $37 million for Tarbush) sets the auction floor, with bids due September 8 and assets potentially sold separately.
How big was Poolin at its peak?
It was regarded as the world’s largest bitcoin mining pool by September 2019, with 18-20% of global hashrate per Glassnode data—today its share is roughly 0.2%.
