Poolin Technology Pte. Ltd., the Singapore-based company that once operated the world's largest bitcoin mining pool, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy alongside its two U.S. affiliates, Lonestar Dream Inc. and Lonestar Taproot LLC. The filing, submitted to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey on July 22, lists estimated liabilities between $100 million and $500 million.
The collapse brings a formal end to a years-long decline that began with a liquidity crisis in September 2022 and culminated in the company's effective disappearance from the bitcoin mining landscape.
From Dominance to Insolvency
At its peak in 2019, Poolin controlled approximately 18-20% of Bitcoin's global hashrate, according to Glassnode data. More bitcoin was mined through Poolin's infrastructure than through any other single pool on earth during that period. The company was a symbol of the mining industry's institutional maturity — a professionally operated pool with a global user base.
The decline began in late 2022, when users started reporting withdrawal delays on Poolin's Telegram channels. Co-founder Kevin Pan acknowledged in a WeChat post that the company was "facing liquidity problems" while insisting that user funds were safe. Within weeks, Poolin Wallet suspended withdrawals entirely.
Rather than returning funds, Poolin issued approximately $163.7 million in IOU tokens to around 11,700 customers — a stopgap measure that bought time but did not resolve the underlying insolvency. Those IOU tokens remain outstanding.
The Texas Gambit
Pan's strategy for recovery centered on a mining expansion in West Texas, where Poolin had secured sites for large-scale bitcoin mining operations. The plan was to generate revenue from mining operations sufficient to make creditors whole.
The strategy failed. Grid connection approvals were delayed, the 2022-2023 bitcoin bear market compressed margins, and by the time the infrastructure could have been operational, Poolin's competitive position had deteriorated beyond recovery. Poolin's share of global hashrate has been effectively zero for several years.
The Thor CALAP Bid
The only meaningful recovery currently available to creditors comes from a $52 million bid by Thor CALAP LLC for Poolin's two West Texas mining sites. These sites represent the bulk of the company's remaining tangible assets.
If the sale proceeds, creditors owed approximately $173 million would recover a fraction of their claims. The bankruptcy process will determine how those proceeds are distributed among the various creditor classes, with secured creditors and operational creditors taking priority over the unsecured IOU holders.
Industry Implications
Poolin's collapse illustrates the risks inherent in mining pool custodianship. Unlike self-custodial mining arrangements, where miners receive block rewards directly to their own wallets, pool mining requires users to trust the operator to distribute earnings faithfully. When a pool operator encounters financial difficulty, user funds can become trapped.
The bankruptcy also underscores the broader challenges facing the bitcoin mining industry in 2026. Energy costs have risen, hashprice — the revenue per unit of computing power — has compressed, and the AI pivot that some miners have used to supplement revenue requires capital investment that distressed operators cannot easily access.
For Poolin's 11,700 creditors, the Chapter 11 process offers the structured legal framework for recovery that was absent when withdrawals were frozen four years ago. But the mathematical reality is stark: $173 million in debts against $52 million in assets means most creditors will recover less than thirty cents on the dollar, assuming the sale closes at the listed price and no senior claims consume the proceeds first.
Poolin did not respond to requests for comment.