Poolin, once the largest bitcoin mining pool globally, has filed for Chapter 11 protection in the United States as it seeks to sell two West Texas mining sites and shut down the business rather than reorganize it.

The Singapore-based company filed on July 22 alongside two affiliates. Court documents describe a sale process centered on the Pyote and Tarbush facilities and show a business still carrying large obligations tied mainly to customers affected by the suspension of withdrawals at Poolin Wallet in 2022.

Bankruptcy filing and liabilities

The petition says the debtors have between 10,001 and 25,000 creditors, assets of $1 million to $10 million, and liabilities of $100 million to $500 million. A declaration filed with the case places prepetition obligations at about $173.1 million.

Most of that amount consists of unsecured IOUs issued to Poolin Wallet customers after withdrawals were frozen. The filing indicates those IOUs total roughly $163.7 million, reflecting claims tied to customers who were left waiting after the platform halted access to funds.

Asset sale, not reorganization

The Chapter 11 cases are intended to support a court-supervised sale under Section 363, not to preserve Poolin as an operating mining business. According to the filing, Lonestar Dream has already stopped mining and hosting operations at both Pyote and Tarbush, with only a limited team remaining on site to secure the properties.

Thor CALAP LLC has been identified as the stalking-horse bidder. Its proposed offer sets a floor price of $52 million in total, split between $15 million for Pyote’s real estate, power rights and equipment, and $37 million for Tarbush’s rights and equipment. Any transaction remains subject to higher bids and court approval.

The sale effort was marketed broadly before the filing. Court papers say more than 335 potential buyers were contacted, resulting in 28 non-disclosure agreements and seven letters of intent.

How Poolin got here

Poolin was founded in China in 2017 and by September 2019 had become the world’s largest crypto mining pool. The company later expanded into lending through Poolin Wallet, which allowed users to borrow USDT against crypto collateral.

After China banned bitcoin mining in 2021 and crypto prices declined in 2022, Poolin transferred wallet collateral to Antalpha Technologies and borrowed about $213 million against crypto said to be worth roughly $355.8 million. The funds were used for the Texas buildout, equipment purchases and customer withdrawals.

Withdrawals from Poolin Wallet were suspended in September 2022, and about 11,700 customers received IOU tokens. In November that year, Antalpha liquidated the underlying collateral when the debt was about $260 million and the assets backing it were valued at around $265 million.

Texas expansion fell short

The Texas mining push also ran into operational problems. Poolin had expected to receive as much as 600 megawatts of power from Texas-New Mexico Power, but according to the filing only obtained 100 megawatts. The shortfall reportedly led the company to over-order mining machines, which were later sold at a loss of about $8.8 million between 2023 and 2025.

A separate attempt to sell the Texas business for $49 million to China Green Agriculture, announced in 2023, did not close. The debtors now say the current auction process may still produce some recovery for unsecured creditors, including Poolin Wallet customers whose funds have been frozen for nearly four years.

Source: www.blockhead.co