Cango sells 2,000 bitcoins to repay loans: mining companies' deleveraging continues to intensify market pressure

In the first quarter of 2026, Bitcoin mining is undergoing a profound balance sheet restructuring. Since the beginning of the year, several leading publicly traded mining companies have been selling their Bitcoin reserves at a scale and pace far exceeding previous years. On April 8, 2026, U.S. stock-listed Bitcoin miner Cango released its March operational update, disclosing that it sold 2,000 Bitcoins that month, with the proceeds used to repay Bitcoin-backed loans. This operation reduced Cango’s Bitcoin holdings to 1,025.69 coins, with an outstanding mortgage balance of $30.6 million. As of April 9, 2026, according to Gate data, the spot price of Bitcoin was $70,949.60, with a 24-hour trading volume of $13.3k, a market cap of $1.33 trillion, and a market share of 55.27%. Cango’s reduction is not an isolated event but a milestone in the collective deleveraging wave among mining companies. This article will analyze the structural drivers behind this event, examine industry data’s deeper implications, and explore possible evolution paths under multiple scenarios.

A Continuation of Strategic Deleveraging

On April 8, 2026, Cango Inc. (NYSE: CANG) published its March operational update, revealing key data: the company mined 27.98 BTC that month and completed a strategic sale of 2,000 BTC, with all proceeds used to repay Bitcoin-backed loans. As of March 31, the total outstanding Bitcoin-backed debt was $30.6 million, and Bitcoin reserves decreased to 1,025.69 coins.

From the timeline, this marks Cango’s second major sell-off in 2026. In February, the company sold 4,451 BTC, realizing about $305 million, also used to repay long-term related-party debt and support AI transformation. The two sales—totaling 6,451 BTC—effectively cleared most of its previously accumulated Bitcoin reserves within two months.

Cango explicitly states in its operational update that this deleveraging, combined with recent capital injections—including $65 million in equity from leadership and $10 million in convertible bonds from DL Holdings—significantly strengthened its balance sheet and laid a financial foundation for its strategic shift toward energy and AI infrastructure.

Notably, Cango’s total mining costs in 2025 reached $97,272 per coin, with a net loss of $452.8 million for the year. However, March data shows the company’s average cash cost per Bitcoin dropped to $68,215.83, down 19.3% from $84,552 in Q4 2025. This significant cost improvement, alongside large-scale reserve sales, reflects Cango’s precise balancing act between survival and transformation.

Collective Selling Wave Among Miners

Cango’s sell-off is not an isolated case but part of a broader collective selling wave among miners in Q1 2026. Key recent sell events include:

• December 2025: Riot Platforms sold 1,818 BTC, raising about $162 million.
• January 2026: Bitdeer liquidated all Bitcoin holdings, achieving zero position. Core Scientific sold approximately 1,900 BTC, realizing about $175 million.
• February 2026: Cango sold 4,451 BTC, about 60% of its holdings, raising roughly $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 transferred 500 BTC to institutional custody platforms, with a total transfer of 1,500 BTC over five days. On-chain data shows MARA-related addresses transferred out another 250 BTC.

In total, multiple listed miners sold over 19,000 BTC in Q1 2026. This scale far exceeds the miner sell-offs during the 2022 bear market and features a more concentrated, strategic pace. Unlike previous passive sales to cover operational costs, this round of selling is characterized by active deleveraging.

Cost Inversion and Asset Structure Reconfiguration

The Structural Gap Between Mining Costs and Market Prices

The core driver of this round of miner sales is the widening gap between mining costs and Bitcoin market prices. According to CoinShares’ Q1 2026 mining report, the weighted average cash cost to produce one Bitcoin by listed miners in Q4 2025 rose to approximately $79,995. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s price has been oscillating within the $68,000–$70,000 range, implying that each mined BTC results in roughly $19,000 in cash losses for miners.

A more detailed indicator—hash rate price—dropped to $28–$30 per PH/day in early March, hitting a post-halving low. At this level, most miners using older hardware need to keep electricity costs below $0.05 per kWh to maintain cash profitability. Globally, about 15–20% of miners are operating at or near breakeven.

This cost inversion stems from the Bitcoin halving in April 2024, which cut block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, directly compressing miners’ core revenue. Coupled with rising global energy prices, the capital expenditure from new ASIC miner generations, and increasing network difficulty, the overall mining costs have surged to historic highs.

Structural Shift: Selling Volumes Outpacing Production

Below is a comparison of recent sales volumes and production for major listed miners:

This comparison reveals a key structural change: the sale volumes of listed miners have far exceeded their quarterly new production. This indicates that miners are no longer merely selling newly mined Bitcoin to cover operational costs but are systematically offloading accumulated reserves. This behavior signifies a fundamental loosening of the “long-term hold” strategy under 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, down 19.3% from Q4 2025. Its cost optimization measures include phasing out inefficient hardware, adopting hash rate leasing in regions with high hosting fees, and migrating hash power to areas with more competitive electricity prices. As of March 31, Cango’s total operational hash rate was 37.01 EH/s, with 27.98 EH/s from self-mining and 9.02 EH/s from leasing.

Despite significant cost improvements, at Bitcoin prices around $70,000, cash profit margins remain thin. This explains why, even after cost optimization, Cango continues to sell large amounts of reserves—selling inventory is the most direct way to achieve rapid deleveraging.

Interwoven Narratives and Market Divergence

Regarding the collective miner sell-off, market commentary presents three main narratives, each emphasizing different but interconnected aspects.

Cost-Driven Passive Liquidation

The first view sees miner sales as a passive survival response to cost inversion. Mining at a loss of about $19,000 per Bitcoin means ongoing operations consume cash. Miners must either shut down to cut losses or sell reserves to sustain operations. Leading miners like MARA and Riot have chosen the latter. This narrative considers the sell-offs as normal during a cyclical bear market—miner capitulation has historically signaled market bottoms, as seen in 2018 and 2022.

Strategic Shift Toward AI Infrastructure

The second perspective argues that this round of sell-offs differs fundamentally from previous cycles: the proceeds from Bitcoin sales are not solely used to cover mining costs but are being reallocated into AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure. CoinShares reports that listed miners have signed over $70 billion in AI and HPC contracts, with some companies’ AI revenue potentially reaching 70% of total income by year-end. Bloomberg analysts note that, unlike past sales for cost coverage, this cycle’s proceeds are being redirected into AI.

Rational Asset-Liability Management

The third view focuses on debt management. MARA sold 15,133 BTC to repurchase approximately $1 billion of convertible bonds at about a 9% discount, reducing its convertible debt by roughly 30%. Cango sold BTC to repay Bitcoin-backed loans. These actions are typical asset-liability management strategies—reducing high-cost or risky liabilities in a high-interest environment is a rational financial decision.

These three narratives are not mutually exclusive but highlight different facets of the same phenomenon: the sell-offs carry survival (cost), strategic (AI transition), and financial (deleveraging) motives simultaneously.

Scrutinizing Narrative Authenticity: Dissection and Verification

Is the claim that each mined Bitcoin incurs a $19,000 loss exaggerated?

CoinShares’ reported weighted average cash cost of $79,995 per Bitcoin is based on the listed miner group. However, individual miner costs vary widely. Cango’s March cash cost was $68,215.83. At Bitcoin’s current price of $70,000, Cango is close to breakeven, not losing $19,000 per coin. Therefore, the “average $19,000 loss per Bitcoin” applies to the entire listed miner group, not to every individual miner. Actual profitability depends on each miner’s specific costs and efficiency.

Does miner selling indicate a loss of confidence in BTC?

Despite selling 15,133 BTC, MARA’s remaining holdings are still worth billions. Riot still holds 15,680 BTC after reducing some. Cango, though significantly reduced, still retains 1,025.69 BTC. These facts suggest miners are not abandoning Bitcoin but are rebalancing their asset structures—shifting from “full Bitcoin bet” to “diversified assets,” using Bitcoin as a liquidity tool to support broader business transformation.

Is AI transformation genuine or just narrative packaging?

The $70 billion in signed AI/HPC contracts are not just on paper. Core Scientific’s AI hosting revenue accounts for 39% of total income; TeraWulf’s is 27%; and CoreWeave and Core Scientific have signed a 12-year, $10.2 billion expansion agreement. These data points indicate that AI transformation is not merely marketing hype but a real business restructuring supported by actual cash flows. However, transitioning from traditional mining to AI infrastructure involves technical barriers, customer acquisition costs, and capital intensity, with success varying across companies. Careful monitoring is required.

Industry Impact Analysis: From Hash Rate Shifts to Supply-Demand Dynamics

Deep Industry Impacts

The collective sell-off and AI shift are reshaping Bitcoin mining’s fundamental landscape. Network hash rate has declined from about 1,160 EH/s to roughly 920 EH/s. In Q1 2026, total network hash rate dropped by about 4%, a rare occurrence. This reduction eases competition among remaining miners (difficulty adjustment will lower difficulty) but also raises questions about long-term network security costs.

More profoundly, the industry’s positioning is being reconstructed. Miners with AI contracts are now valued at roughly twice that of pure mining companies. Valuation logic is shifting from “hash rate size” to “diversified monetization of energy assets.” Miners are evolving from “Bitcoin producers” to “energy infrastructure operators who happen to mine.”

Market Transmission in Multiple Dimensions

On the supply side, miners’ collective sell-offs increase Bitcoin’s circulating supply. CryptoQuant data shows that by March-end, Bitcoin’s apparent demand turned negative by 63,000 coins, indicating weakening overall buying momentum. Miner sales are a significant short-term supply pressure source.

However, the market exhibits notable structural divergence: some miners and institutions are reducing holdings under operational stress, while a few large players continue accumulating. Strategy bought 44,377 BTC in March alone, accounting for 94% of total purchases by listed companies; Japanese-listed Metaplanet increased holdings by 5,075 BTC in Q1, reaching 40,177 BTC. This concentration suggests that Bitcoin demand persists but is increasingly concentrated among financially stronger participants.

Conclusion

Cango’s sale of 2,000 BTC to repay loans is a micro event and a macro signal. It reveals two structural shifts in Bitcoin mining: first, halving-induced cost pressures make traditional “hold-to-accumulate” strategies unsustainable; second, the rise of AI infrastructure offers miners an alternative path outside Bitcoin price cycles. Miners’ identities are shifting from “Bitcoin producers” to “energy and computing infrastructure operators.” For market participants, understanding this structural transformation—beyond short-term price fluctuations—is key to assessing the long-term value of the mining sector.