Cango’s Bitcoin Mining Pullback Drove 30% Drop in Realized Hashrate

Cango (NYSE: CANG)’s first-quarter results showed a sharp reduction in effective bitcoin mining capacity, making the company an outlier among public miners that have recently cut hashrate mainly because of the bitcoin-to-AI retrofit.

The company mined 1,266 bitcoin in the quarter, implying a realized average hashrate of about 31.28 EH/s, according to TheEnergyMag’s estimate. That was down from an estimated 44.37 EH/s in the fourth quarter of 2025, a decline of about 30%. Cango reported quarter-end total hashrate of 37.01 EH/s, including 27.98 EH/s of self-mining capacity and 9.02 EH/s of leased hashrate capacity.

The first-quarter update underscores a split emerging among listed bitcoin miners. While many are reducing mining exposure as they repurpose power and sites for AI or high-performance computing, Cango’s drop in realized hashrate appears to have been driven more directly by mining-margin pressure and power-cost discipline.

Its strategy is now centered on keeping higher-efficiency machines online, exiting or restructuring uneconomic sites, reducing bitcoin-backed leverage and testing whether existing infrastructure can support a second business line in AI compute.

Cango said first-quarter revenue fell about 43% from the prior quarter, primarily because it proactively reduced operating hashrate, phased out older S19-series miners and shifted some capacity into leased-hashrate arrangements.

Management said on the earnings call that it is not setting a hard hashrate target and is instead focusing on margin and cash-flow metrics. The company is continuing to retire older S19 machines at higher-cost sites while selectively deploying more efficient S21 miners. Some higher-cost sites have also been moved into revenue-sharing arrangements where mined bitcoin goes to the site owner, which then shares mining revenue with Cango while bearing power, maintenance and operating costs.

That structure is meant to prevent Cango from mining at a loss at sites where power costs are too high. Management described the leasing model as temporary and said the company may enter new contracts or move machines to alternative sites when existing hosting contracts expire.

Cango’s reported cash cost to mine bitcoin, excluding depreciation, fell 9% to $76,928 per coin, according to management. Executives said the improvement reflected an ongoing fleet upgrade that began in March, when the company started selling older S19 miners and selectively replacing them with S21-series machines. As of the end of May, S19s still made up roughly 80% of Cango’s self-mining hashrate, versus about 20% from S21s, underscoring that the company’s efficiency push remains in progress.

Cango also used the quarter to deleverage. Long-term debt fell to $30.6 million from $557.6 million at year-end 2025, while bitcoin collateral receivables fell to $68.2 million from $663 million. It sold 2,000 BTC of its holdings to repay related-party (Antalpha) loans.

The company reported a net loss from continuing operations of $261.1 million, driven largely by non-cash charges tied to lower bitcoin prices. These included a $151.8 million loss from changes in the fair value of receivables for bitcoin collateral, a $49 million impairment loss on mining machines and a $20.3 million loss on disposal of mining machines.

Cango is also pushing ahead with its AI infrastructure plan through EcoHash, a platform intended to use its power-access and high-density computing experience for modular compute deployments. Management said its Georgia site has 50 megawatts of grid-connected capacity with a power contract running through 2029, and that construction and renovation are close to completion. The company expects AI-related revenue to start in the second half of 2026, though it has not set a specific revenue target.