Poolin Technology and two U.S. affiliates filed voluntary Chapter 11 petitions on July 22, 2026, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. The filing lists approximately $173.1 million in liabilities against $1 million to $10 million in estimated assets.
Key Takeaways
- Poolin filed a liquidating Chapter 11 petition listing approximately $173.1 million in liabilities against assets estimated at just $1 million to $10 million.
- The company lined up a $52 million stalking-horse bid from Thor CALAP LLC to buy its two West Texas mining sites.
- Roughly 11,700 Poolin Wallet customers hold IOUs worth $163.7 million, the largest single liability, and weighing the stalking-horse floor against that claim pool shows gross coverage of only about 32% before administrative costs are deducted.
- A three-month sale process reached 335 potential buyers and produced 28 non-disclosure agreements and 7 letters of intent before the stalking-horse bid emerged.
- Poolin had only $1.2 million in cash left and had stopped mining and hosting at both Texas sites since July 10, 2026, leaving the auction as the main recovery source for depositors.
What Happened?
Court filings show Poolin’s collapse reached a legal endpoint when Singapore-based Poolin Technology and its U.S. affiliates filed voluntary petitions in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. The filing lists, according to CoinGape’s review of the court record, approximately $173.1 million in liabilities against assets estimated in the $1 million to $10 million range.
The case is structured as a liquidating Chapter 11, not a reorganization. Poolin has already lined up a $52 million stalking horse bid from Thor CALAP LLC under Section 363 of the bankruptcy code, split into $15 million for the Pyote property and equipment and $37 million for the Tarbush power rights and equipment. That figure sets a floor for a court supervised auction, not a final price.
JUST IN: World’s former largest Bitcoin mining pool, Poolin, files for bankruptcy.
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) July 24, 2026
Poolin plans to sell two Texas mining sites after listing as little as $1M in assets but up to $500M in liabilities.
It owes roughly $173M, including $164M to customers after withdrawals were… pic.twitter.com/NlTEpdEvo7
From No. 1 Pool to Bankruptcy Court
Kevin Pan, Fa Zhu, and Tianzhao Li founded Poolin in China in 2017, and the pool climbed to the top of the Bitcoin mining rankings by September 2019, commanding a double digit share of global hashrate. The pool later added a wallet product offering USDT (Tether’s dollar-pegged stablecoin) borrowing and interest-bearing deposits, the product now driving most of the bankruptcy’s claims.
China’s 2021 mining ban pushed Poolin to relocate westward, and the company picked two West Texas sites, Pyote and Tarbush, expecting up to 600 MW of power capacity. Actual capacity landed at 100 MW, and cumulative Texas operating deficits reached approximately $45.9 million.
Poolin suspended withdrawals in September 2022 and issued IOUs to roughly 11,700 Poolin Wallet customers. Those IOUs now total $163.7 million in unsecured claims, which divides across the roughly 11,700 wallet customers to an average of about $13,990 owed per customer, a human-scale figure the filings do not state directly. A proposed $49 million acquisition by China Green Agriculture, announced in late 2023, never closed, leaving liquidation as the only remaining path.
The $52 Million Sale Process
A three month marketing process contacted more than 335 potential buyers, including AI operators, hyperscalers, REITs, and rival miners, generating 28 NDAs and 7 letters of intent before Thor CALAP’s bid became the stalking horse. The Tarbush power rights allocation prices the power infrastructure at roughly 2.5 times the Pyote hardware allocation. That split, not the buyer list alone, is the tell: the deal structure itself prices grid access above mining equipment, which is what an AI infrastructure buyer would pay for.
Poolin’s case follows Core Scientific’s 2022 Chapter 11, where creditors faced months of uncertainty and multiple roadblocks before a restructuring plan took shape. Poolin’s path is narrower.
With only $1.2 million in remaining cash and no active mining or hosting at either Texas site, the estate has little buffer beyond the auction proceeds. The $52 million stalking-horse bid functions as a floor, not a ceiling, and higher bids remain possible, particularly from non-mining operators.
CoinLaw’s Takeaway
This filing reads as the final chapter of a stalled recovery, not a new shock. Poolin’s approximately $173.1 million in liabilities traces back to a Texas power bet that never paid off: the sites were expected to deliver up to 600 MW of power capacity but reached only 100 MW. That shortfall outlived three separate fixes on the balance sheet: the failed China Green Agriculture deal, the 2022 withdrawal freeze, and now a court run auction.
The broader mining sector is absorbing pressures Poolin could not escape: energy prices that have climbed sharply, Bitcoin’s price volatility, and regulatory pressure intensifying across multiple jurisdictions. Those conditions reward operators with the lowest energy costs and the cleanest balance sheets over those that scaled aggressively during the bull run.
The interested buyer list is the more telling data point for the sector. AI operators and hyperscalers showing up alongside rival miners confirm that undersupplied electricity, not hashrate, is now the scarce asset in Texas mining real estate. Recovery for the 11,700 IOU holders will depend almost entirely on what the Texas power and mining assets fetch at auction, and administrative costs will be deducted before IOU holders receive any distributions.
