Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin miner Canaan has authorised the sale of part of its Bitcoin and Ethereum reserves to help finance a share repurchase programme worth up to $30m.
The company said management could convert some of its digital-asset treasury into cash and use the proceeds to buy back American depositary shares (ADSs) or Class A ordinary shares. The purchases will be made under an existing authorisation covering the 12 months from 12 December 2025, according to an announcement issued on 4 August.
Canaan has not said how much cryptocurrency it plans to sell or when transactions might take place. It has also made no commitment to use the full amount remaining under the buyback programme.
Any further purchases will depend on the company’s share price, market conditions, working-capital needs and approval from its board. The transactions could be carried out on the open market, through block trades or in privately negotiated deals.
As of 19 May, Canaan had spent about $2m buying back 2.8 million ADSs. That left a nominal $28m available under the authorisation at that point, although the company has not confirmed whether additional purchases were made before its latest announcement.
Canaan held 1,915 BTC and 3,952 ETH at the end of June. Based on market prices on 3 August, the company valued the combined cryptocurrency portfolio at about $130m.
Its Bitcoin holdings grew by 49 BTC in June after operating costs and Bitcoin received as payment for sales of mining machines were taken into account. Canaan mined 64 BTC during the month.
Chairman and chief executive Nangeng Zhang said the company’s mining operations offered an ongoing source of Bitcoin that could be deployed as capital.
Canaan said its shares were trading below the combined value of its cryptocurrency holdings, cash and cash equivalents reported at the end of March. That comparison does not include the company’s liabilities or restrictions that apply to parts of its digital-asset reserves.
At the end of March, Canaan reported $43.5m in cash. It also said 905 BTC had been pledged as security against term loans, while a further 100 BTC had been placed in a fixed-term product.
The buyback decision comes after improvements in the efficiency of Canaan’s North American mining operations, although a significant amount of its installed capacity remained unused.
In May, fleet efficiency across Canaan’s North American non-joint venture operations reached 17.9 joules per terahash. That represented an 11% improvement from the previous year and was about 4% better than the 18.7 J/TH recorded in March and April.
Despite those gains, operating activity remained below the company’s available capacity. At the end of May, Canaan had 10.05 exahashes per second of installed non-joint venture capacity, but only 6.47 EH/s was operating after a hosting agreement expired.
Non-joint venture operating hashrate fell further to 3.36 EH/s in June. Joint venture operations, however, recovered to 4.09 EH/s after disruption caused by wildfires at facilities in West Texas.
Canaan’s ADSs were trading at about $0.19 on 6 August, well below Nasdaq’s minimum bid-price requirement of $1. Each ADS represents 15 Class A ordinary shares.
Nasdaq has given the company an additional 180 days, until 11 January 2027, to regain compliance. Canaan must record a closing bid price of at least $1 for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days.
The company has not directly connected its share repurchase plans with the Nasdaq listing issue. However, buying back shares could reduce the number in circulation and provide support for the price, while selling cryptocurrency would reduce the reserves available for mining operations, debt commitments and working capital.
