Poolin, the Singapore-based company that was once the world’s largest bitcoin mining pool, has filed for bankruptcy owing around $173m to creditors and is now seeking to sell off its remaining US mining assets.
Court documents show that Poolin, which in 2019 controlled between 18% and 20% of the global Bitcoin hashrate, collapsed after a severe liquidity crunch in 2022 that left thousands of customers unable to access their funds.
Around 11,700 users were affected when Poolin froze assets worth $163.7m during that crisis, according to filings. Those customers now form the bulk of the group of creditors hoping to recoup part of their holdings through the bankruptcy process.
The clearest potential recovery so far is a proposed $52m offer from Thor CALAP LLC, which has bid for Poolin’s mining sites in West Texas. Court papers describe this as the only significant source of value currently available to creditors.
If approved, the sale of the West Texas facilities would cover only a fraction of the estimated $173m in total claims, underscoring the scale of the shortfall facing Poolin’s users and other lenders.
Poolin’s rise and fall
Founded as a major bitcoin mining pool operator, Poolin built its position in the industry by aggregating computing power from miners across the world and directing it at the Bitcoin network in return for a share of block rewards.
By 2019, that strategy had made it the dominant player in global bitcoin mining, with an 18–20% share of worldwide hashrate – a key measure of the computational power securing the Bitcoin network.
However, the company’s fortunes reversed in 2022 amid tightening liquidity conditions in the wider crypto market. As prices and funding sources came under pressure across the sector, Poolin was unable to meet withdrawal requests from customers, leading to the freezing of funds.
The locked balances, totalling $163.7m for about 11,700 customers, became central to Poolin’s financial difficulties and are now a core component of the creditor claims in the bankruptcy case.
Limited options for creditors
The bankruptcy filings outline a capital structure in which the West Texas mining operations stand out as Poolin’s most valuable remaining assets. The $52m bid from Thor CALAP LLC is currently the only substantial recovery prospect identified for those owed money.
No other significant offers or asset packages have yet emerged in the case, leaving creditors dependent on the outcome of this proposed transaction and any smaller realisations from remaining holdings.
While the broader crypto market has seen trading patterns shift since June, including changes in user fund allocations and spot market shares at major exchanges such as Binance, those developments have not altered Poolin’s immediate situation.
Instead, the company’s collapse highlights the risks faced by mining pools and their customers in periods of market stress, when liquidity mismatches and falling asset values can rapidly expose weaknesses in business models tied to volatile crypto prices.
The bankruptcy process will now determine how Poolin’s remaining assets, led by the West Texas sites, are distributed among creditors – with current indications suggesting that recoveries will likely cover only a modest portion of the $173m outstanding.
