Bitcoin Miner Cango Sells $305M in BTC to Fund Strategic Pivot Into AI Computing

Bitcoin Miner Cango Dumps $305 Million in BTC to Fuel AI Pivot - Decrypt

Shares are down around nearly 3% on the day, and 62% over the last six months. Publicly traded Bitcoin miner Cango (CANG) parted ways with 4,451 BTC this weekend, raising approximately $305 million as it aims to fuel its expansion into providing compute power for the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The firm used all of the proceeds to repay a portion of a Bitcoin-collateralized loan. "The company is executing a strategic pivot by utilizing its globally accessed, grid-connected infrastructure to provide distributed compute capacity for the AI industry," Cango said in a statement. In addition to the sale, the firm also announced Jack Jin, formerly of video conferencing software firm Zoom, as its new CTO to help build out its AI business line. Shares in the Dallas-based mining firm are down nearly 3% following the news, recently changing hands below $0.95. Shares have fallen 62% in the last six months. While other publicly traded Bitcoin miners, like Bitfarms, have signaled a complete departure from mining, Cango intends to continue using resources to mine Bitcoin alongside its growing AI compute business. "Cango remains committed to its mining operations, with a continued focus on enhancing mining economics and seeking an optimal balance between hashrate scale and operational efficiency," the firm's announcement reads. "The company will be guided by a disciplined framework for asset allocation in pursuit of long-term value creation." The firm, which says it operates over 40 sites across four distinct geographic regions, mined nearly 500 BTC in January, according to its most recent monthly production update. It also sold 550 BTC or about $39 million worth of BTC during the month, leaving it with 7,474.6 BTC or about $528 million worth at the close of January. At the time of the sale, Cango CEO Paul Yu telegraphed that the firm would be offloading more Bitcoin in the future. "Starting this month, we will selectively sell a portion of newly mined Bitcoin to support the expansion of our inference platform and other near-term growth initiatives," said Yu in a statement. "This tactical flexibility will allow us to seize new business opportunities and manage our liquidity with greater agility." A representative for the firm did not immediately respond to Decrypt's request for comment. Bitcoin is down around 0.2% in the last 24 hours, recently changing hands at $70,727. The top crypto asset is down nearly 10% in the last week and is 44% off its October all-time high of $126,080, though it has partially recovered since dipping to nearly $60,000 last week.

Bitcoin miner Cango sells $305M BTC to cut leverage and fund AI pivot

Bitcoin miner Cango has sold 4,451 Bitcoin on the open market, generating net proceeds of about $305 million it says were used to partially repay a Bitcoin‑collateralized loan and to strengthen its balance sheet. The company said Monday that the transaction, approved by its board after a review of "current market conditions," is intended to reduce financial leverage and provide additional capacity to fund its planned expansion into artificial intelligence (AI) and high‑performance computing (HPC) infrastructure. Cango said that the "strategic pivot" meant utilizing its "globally accessed, grid-connected infrastructure" to provide distributed compute capacity for the AI industry, and that the initiative would be implemented through a phased roadmap. The sale follows a disposal of 550.3 BTC, with Cango selling more Bitcoin (BTC) than it produced in January to support its near‑term growth initiatives after extreme cold and blizzards reduced uptime during the month. According to the company's Feb. 3 update, Cango's Bitcoin reserves stood at 7,474.6 BTC at the end of that month, down from 7,528.3 BTC at the end of December 2025, before the additional 4,451 BTC transaction further reduced its holdings. Cango's decision reflects a broader shift among Bitcoin miners as they look to diversify revenue streams by supplying power and data center capacity to AI and HPC customers. Other large mining‑linked groups are signing long‑term contracts to supply GPU‑based cloud capacity for artificial intelligence and HPC using power and data center infrastructure that was originally built for Bitcoin mining. Bitcoin miner Iren, for example, agreed a five‑year, $9.7 billion deal with Microsoft in November 2025 to provide AI computing power from its Texas campus, committing hundreds of megawatts of capacity to contracted GPU hosting while continuing to operate one of the industry's largest Bitcoin mining fleets. These developments are taking place as post‑halving economics tighten across the sector in 2025. Cointelegraph Research data shows hashprice falling to multi‑year lows and network difficulty at record highs, as heavily compressed margins saw many miners operating close to breakeven at prevailing prices and cost levels.

Cango Secures Big Cash Infusion In Accelerated Pivot To AI-Distributed Computing - Cango (NYSE:CANG)

Image Credit: Bamboo Works The company said that two of its directors will purchase an additional $65 million worth of its stock, a week after it sold more than half of its bitcoin holdings Key Takeaways: Cango announced that two of its directors have agreed buy $65 million worth of its stock to help finance its accelerating move into distributed computing The company has been lowering its bitcoin mining activity amid a rapid decline in prices for the cryptocurrency Cango largely abandoned its original business as a Chinese car trader over a year ago, and initially moved aggressively into bitcoin mining. In a campaign to diversify its business, the company announced plans last year for another move into high-performance distributed computing. It has now begun to accelerate that move, including the establishment of a new, U.S.-based company headed by an industry veteran who is already building up a team in the state of Texas, according to an announcement last week. Now, the company is further shoring up its finances with the latest fundraising from its non-executive Chairman Jin Xin, as well as board member Chang-Wei Chiu, who is chief investment officer of Antalpha Ventures, a Singaporean firm tied to Enduring Wealth Capital Ltd., Cango's largest shareholder. At the same time, Cango announced the closing of a previously announced $10.5 million share sale that will boost Enduring Wealth Capital's stake in the company to 4.71% from a previous 2.81%. But more importantly, the purchase involving Class B shares with super voting rights will give Enduring Wealth Capital 49.7% of Cango's voting rights, just shy of a 50% majority and assuring its ability to control the company. "The company intends to use the proceeds from the Class B investment and the proposed Class A investments to support its expansion into AI and computing infrastructure, while further strengthening its balance sheet," Cango said. Stock volatility Even before the bitcoin volatility, Cango previously announced plans to complement its mining operation, with a current 50 EH/s of capacity, with the development of a related high-performance computing (HPC) business for AI users. Both bitcoin mining and HPC require very high levels of computing power and, consequently, are huge power consumers. Cango plans to leverage its growing expertise in managing such complex operations at its mining facilities to offer similar services to other customers with similar needs. The biggest emerging group in that area is the growing number of companies using AI. In its announcement last week, Cango outlined a three-stage plan to accelerate its move into high-performance computing, starting with a hybrid approach utilizing its leased space in mining centers on four continents as well as a facility it purchased in the U.S. state of Georgia. The company plans to deploy AI computing nodes across its more than 40 globally accessed sites to provide inference computing capacity to small and medium-sized businesses. Over the medium term, Cango plans to develop and deploy a proprietary software platform to manage and integrate its distributed computing capacity. And over the long term, it plans to scale up its model to become a "mature global AI infrastructure platform." Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga's reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.