BTC Security

Poolin's Collapse: How Bitcoin's Mining Giant Destroyed $173M in Customer Funds

2026-07-25

Poolin Technology filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 22 July 2026 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. The Singapore-based company, founded in Beijing in 2017 by Zhibiao "Kevin" Pan, Fa Zhu and Tianzhao Li—all ex-Bitmain engineers—once controlled nearly a fifth of Bitcoin's global hashrate. Now it's ash.

The collapse wasn't sudden. Four years earlier, in September 2022, Poolin froze withdrawals for Poolin Wallet and Pool Account users, blaming "liquidity issues" tied to that year's crypto crash. A reasonable problem, temporarily. Instead of fixing it, they issued unsecured IOUs to Poolin Wallet customers. A temporary crisis became permanent losses.

The damage: staggering. Chief Restructuring Officer Michael DuFrayne put the prepetition obligations at roughly $173.1 million. Of that, $163.7 million consists of unsecured IOUs issued to customers when withdrawals got switched off. Some 11,700 retail users held frozen IOUs worth more than $100 each. Each one waiting for nothing.

There's no fairy tale ending here. The bankruptcy filing allows Poolin to operate under court supervision while it liquidates what's left. Mining and hosting operations at both Texas locations stopped 10 July. No operating business to salvage. No restructuring path. Just a shutdown.

The Texas units had already bled cash—roughly $45.9 million in losses since opening, plus another $8.8 million from fire-sales between fiscal 2023 and 2025. Then they tried to sell the assets.

Thor CALAP LLC placed a stalking-horse bid of $52 million for Poolin's two West Texas mining sites: $15 million for Pyote, $37 million for Tarbush. Poolin spent months marketing these facilities. Contacted more than 335 potential buyers—Bitcoin miners, AI companies, private equity firms, real estate investors. Generated 28 confidentiality agreements, seven letters of intent, three indications of interest. That $52 million bid was the best they got.

It's not enough. The $52 million covers physical mining infrastructure only. Doesn't touch the frozen wallet balances. Falls short of what users are actually owed. Poolin ranked first globally in 2019. Now it sits 17th by hashrate with 0.2% market share. That's the arc.

This is the pattern crypto keeps repeating. Mining pool. Successful. Then—oh, let's offer customers returns. Let's build a yield-bearing product. Poolin Wallet. Interest-bearing accounts. No adequate risk management, obviously. Never is. It always destroys shareholder value and empties customer wallets. Always.

The 11,700 IOU holders now wait for the auction to close, hoping competing bidders materialise. Unlikely. The pre-bankruptcy marketing process generated minimal interest. They contacted 335 potential buyers and got one serious bid. The math is clear.

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