Cango Sells 2,000 Bitcoins to Repay Loans: Mining Companies’ Deleveraging Continues to Intensify Market Pressure

In the first quarter of 2026, the Bitcoin mining industry is undergoing a profound restructuring of its balance sheets. Since the beginning of the year, several leading publicly traded mining companies have successively sold off their Bitcoin reserves, with both the scale and pace of these sales far exceeding those of previous years. On April 8, 2026, US-listed Bitcoin mining company Cango released its March operations update, revealing that it sold 2,000 Bitcoins that month, with the proceeds used to repay Bitcoin-collateralized loans. This move reduced Cango’s Bitcoin holdings to 1,025.69 BTC, with an outstanding collateralized loan balance of $30.6 million. As of April 9, 2026, according to Gate market data, the spot price of Bitcoin stood at $70,949.6, with a 24-hour trading volume of $731,940,000, a market capitalization of $1.33 trillion, and a market dominance of 55.27%. Cango’s reduction is not an isolated incident; rather, it marks a significant milestone in a broader wave of industry-wide deleveraging among mining companies. This article will start with the facts of the event, analyze the underlying structural drivers, examine the deeper implications of industry data, and explore possible evolutionary paths under multiple scenarios.

A Strategic Deleveraging in Progress

On April 8, 2026, Cango Inc. (NYSE: CANG) released its March operations update, disclosing the following key figures: the company mined 27.98 BTC that month and completed a strategic sale of 2,000 Bitcoins, with all proceeds used to repay BTC-collateralized loans. As of March 31, the company’s outstanding Bitcoin-collateralized loan balance was $30.6 million, and its Bitcoin reserves had dropped to 1,025.69 BTC.

Looking at the timeline, this marks Cango’s second large-scale reduction in 2026. In February, the company sold 4,451 Bitcoins, raising approximately $305 million, also used to pay off long-term related-party debt and support its AI transformation. The two reductions total 6,451 BTC, meaning Cango has effectively liquidated most of its previously accumulated Bitcoin reserves within two months.

Cango explicitly stated in its operations update that this round of deleveraging, combined with recent capital infusions—including $65 million in equity contributions from the leadership team and $10 million in convertible bonds from DL Holdings—has significantly strengthened its balance sheet and provided a financial foundation for its strategic shift toward energy and AI infrastructure.

It’s noteworthy that Cango’s total mining cost in 2025 reached as high as $97,272 per BTC, resulting in a net loss of $452.8 million for the year. However, March operations data show the company’s average cash cost per Bitcoin had dropped to $68,215.83, a 19.3% decrease from $84,552 in Q4 2025. This significant cost improvement, coupled with large-scale asset sales, reflects Cango’s precise balancing act between survival and transformation.

The Wave of Collective Miner Sell-Offs

Cango’s reduction is not unique but rather a microcosm of the collective sell-off wave among mining companies in the first quarter of 2026. Here are the key recent reduction milestones for major publicly traded miners:

• December 2025: Riot Platforms sold 1,818 BTC, raising about $162 million.
• January 2026: Bitdeer liquidated its entire Bitcoin inventory, bringing its holdings to zero. Core Scientific sold approximately 1,900 BTC, raising about $175 million.
• February 2026: Cango sold 4,451 BTC, about 60% of its holdings, raising approximately $305 million.
• March 2026: MARA Holdings sold a total of 15,133 BTC between March 4 and 25, raising about $1.1 billion. Cango sold 2,000 BTC.
• Early April 2026: Riot Platforms transferred 500 BTC to an institutional custody platform, moving a total of 1,500 BTC in five days, continuing its inventory reduction. On-chain monitoring showed MARA-linked addresses transferred another 250 BTC.

In total, publicly traded mining companies sold over 19,000 BTC in the first quarter of 2026. This volume far exceeds the sell-offs seen during the 2022 bear market, and the pace is more concentrated and strategic. Unlike previous cycles, where miners sold passively to cover operating costs, this round of sales is characterized by a clear, proactive deleveraging strategy.

Cost Inversion and Balance Sheet Restructuring

The Structural Gap Between Mining Costs and Market Price

The main driver behind this wave of miner sell-offs is the widening gap between mining costs and the market price of Bitcoin. According to CoinShares’ Q1 2026 mining report, the weighted average cash cost to produce one Bitcoin among listed miners rose to about $79,995 in Q4 2025. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin price has largely fluctuated between $68,000 and $70,000, meaning miners theoretically face a cash loss of about $19,000 for every BTC mined.

A more granular metric—hashprice—dropped to a post-halving historical low of $28–$30 per PH/s per day in early March. At this level, most miners using previous-generation hardware must keep electricity costs below $0.05 per kWh just to break even. Roughly 15% to 20% of mining rigs worldwide are operating at the edge of profitability.

This cost inversion can be traced back to the April 2024 Bitcoin halving, which cut block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, directly squeezing miners’ core revenue. Combined with rising global energy prices, capital expenditure pressures from new ASIC hardware, and continually increasing network difficulty, the overall cost of mining has repeatedly hit record highs.

Public Miners’ Sales Far Exceed Production: A Structural Shift

Below is a comparison of recent sales and production volumes among major publicly traded miners:

This comparison reveals a key structural change: public miners are now selling far more than their newly mined coins in a given period. This means they are no longer just selling new production to cover operating costs—they are systematically liquidating previously accumulated inventory. This shift signals a fundamental loosening of the "long-term hold" strategy in the face of cost pressures and strategic transformation needs.

Cango’s Cost Optimization Path

In March, Cango reduced its average cash cost per Bitcoin to $68,215.83, a 19.3% decrease from Q4 2025. Cost optimization measures included retiring inefficient mining rigs, adopting a hashpower leasing model in high-custody-fee regions, and relocating hashpower to areas with more competitive electricity rates. As of March 31, Cango’s total operating hashpower was 37.01 EH/s, with 27.98 EH/s self-mined and 9.02 EH/s leased.

Despite these significant cost improvements, cash profit margins remain thin with Bitcoin prices hovering around $70,000. This explains why, even as costs improve, Cango continues to sell off reserves on a large scale—liquidating inventory is the most direct way to rapidly deleverage.

Diverging Market Narratives: Three Interwoven Themes

The collective miner sell-off has sparked three mainstream market narratives, each with a different focus, yet all intertwined.

Forced Liquidation Under Cost Pressure

The first view holds that miner sell-offs are fundamentally a passive survival response to cost inversion. With a loss of about $19,000 per coin mined, continuing operations means burning through cash. Miners must either shut down to cut losses or sell reserves to stay afloat. Leading miners like MARA and Riot have chosen the latter. This narrative frames the sell-off as a normal bear market phenomenon—miner capitulation has historically signaled market bottoms, as seen in 2018 and 2022.

Strategic Shift Toward AI Infrastructure

The second perspective argues that this sell-off is fundamentally different from previous cycles: proceeds from Bitcoin sales are not just covering mining costs, but are being reallocated to AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure. CoinShares reports that listed miners have signed over $70 billion in AI and HPC contracts, and by the end of 2026, some miners could see up to 70% of their revenue from AI. Bloomberg analysis notes that, unlike in the past, funds raised from these sales are being strategically redirected to the AI sector.

Rational Balance Sheet Management

The third narrative focuses on debt management. MARA sold 15,133 BTC to buy back about $1 billion in convertible bonds at a roughly 9% discount, reducing its outstanding convertible debt by about 30%. Cango sold BTC to repay Bitcoin-collateralized loans. From a capital management perspective, these are classic balance sheet optimization moves—prioritizing the reduction of high-cost or high-risk liabilities in a high-interest-rate environment is a rational financial decision.

These three narratives are not mutually exclusive; rather, they each highlight different facets of the same phenomenon: the sell-offs reflect a combination of survival pressure (costs), strategic upgrades (AI transformation), and financial optimization (deleveraging).

Examining the Narratives: Dissecting and Validating the Claims

Is the $19,000 Loss per Coin Exaggerated?

The $79,995 weighted average cash cost cited in the CoinShares report covers the group of publicly listed miners, but cost structures vary widely. Cango’s March cash cost had already dropped to $68,215.83. With Bitcoin at $70,000, Cango is actually close to breakeven, not losing $19,000 per coin. So, "the industry loses $19,000 per coin mined" should be understood as an average for public miners, not a universal conclusion. The actual profitability of individual miners depends on their specific cost and efficiency levels.

Does Miner Selling Signal a Loss of Confidence in BTC?

Even after selling 15,133 BTC, MARA still holds several billion dollars’ worth of Bitcoin. After its reduction, Riot still holds 15,680 BTC. While Cango has significantly reduced its holdings, it still retains 1,025.69 BTC. These facts show that miners are not abandoning Bitcoin entirely; rather, they are rebalancing their asset structures—from "all-in on Bitcoin" to "diversified asset allocation," using Bitcoin as a liquidity tool to support broader business transformation.

Is the AI Shift Real or Just a Narrative?

The $70 billion in AI/HPC contracts are not just on paper. Core Scientific’s AI hosting revenue now accounts for 39% of its total revenue, TeraWulf for 27%, and CoreWeave has signed a 12-year, $10.2 billion expansion deal with Core Scientific. These figures indicate that the AI shift is not just narrative marketing—it is a business model restructuring supported by real cash flows. However, transitioning from traditional mining to AI infrastructure involves technical barriers, customer acquisition costs, and heavy capital investment. The success rate will vary by company, and the process warrants careful monitoring.

Industry Impact Analysis: From Hashpower Shifts to Supply-Demand Dynamics

Far-Reaching Impacts on Mining

The collective miner sell-off and AI transformation are fundamentally reshaping the Bitcoin mining landscape. Network hashpower has dropped from a peak of about 1,160 EH/s to around 920 EH/s. In Q1 2026, total network hashpower fell by a rare 4%. This decline eases competitive pressure for remaining miners (as the difficulty adjustment will lower mining difficulty), but it also raises questions about the long-term costs of network security.

A deeper shift is occurring in industry positioning. Miners with AI contracts are trading at valuation premiums double those of pure-play mining companies. The valuation logic has shifted from "hashpower scale" to "the diversified monetization potential of power assets." Miners are evolving from "Bitcoin producers" to "energy infrastructure operators who happen to mine Bitcoin."

Multi-Dimensional Market Transmission

On the supply side, collective miner sell-offs have increased the circulating supply of Bitcoin. CryptoQuant data shows that as of the end of March, apparent Bitcoin demand had fallen to negative 63,000 BTC, indicating waning overall market buying momentum. Miner selling has become a key source of short-term supply pressure.

However, the market shows clear structural divergence: on one side, miners and some companies are reducing holdings due to operational pressures; on the other, a handful of institutions continue to accumulate. In March alone, Strategy purchased 44,377 BTC, accounting for 94% of all listed company purchases; Japanese public company Metaplanet increased its holdings by 5,075 BTC in Q1, bringing its total to 40,177 BTC. This concentration trend suggests that Bitcoin demand has not disappeared—it is being consolidated among stronger capital players.

Conclusion

Cango’s sale of 2,000 Bitcoins to repay collateralized loans is both a micro-level event and a macro signal. It highlights two structural shifts facing the Bitcoin mining industry: on one hand, post-halving cost pressures have made the traditional "hold at all costs" strategy unsustainable; on the other, the rise of AI infrastructure offers miners an alternative path less tied to Bitcoin’s price cycles. Miners are evolving from pure "Bitcoin producers" to "energy and computing infrastructure operators." For market participants, understanding this structural transformation—rather than focusing solely on short-term price fluctuations—is crucial for assessing the long-term value of the mining sector.