Miner offloads $305m $BTC amid network difficulty decline.
Publicly traded Bitcoin miner Cango Inc. (CANG) offloaded 4,451 BTC for approximately $305 million in USDT over the weekend of February 7–8, 2026. The sale occurred during a period of extreme stress for the mining industry, marked by a 14% drop in network difficulty—the largest decline since 2021—as falling prices and rising energy costs forced many operators to shut down capacity.
Strategic Pivot and Debt Repayment
Cango's board approved the liquidation to strengthen the company’s balance sheet amid a market slump where Bitcoin prices dipped to around $60,000.
Debt Reduction: The entire $305 million in proceeds was used to partially repay a Bitcoin-collateralized loan, significantly reducing the firm's financial leverage.
AI Infrastructure Shift: The company is transitioning its grid-connected infrastructure to provide distributed compute capacity for the Artificial Intelligence (AI) industry.
New Leadership: To support this shift, Cango appointed Jack Jin, formerly of Zoom, as its new Chief Technology Officer.
Network Conditions and Mining Stress
The Bitcoin network underwent a massive difficulty adjustment on February 8, 2026, falling from over 141.6 trillion to approximately 125.86 trillion. This retarget was triggered by a sharp decline in hashrate as miners curtailed operations due to:
Profitability Crisis: The Puell Multiple, a measure of miner revenue, fell to 0.61, levels historically associated with "miner capitulation".
External Factors: Severe winter storms in the U.S. led to widespread power price spikes and voluntary mining shutoffs.
Energy Competition: High-performance computing and AI data centers are increasingly outbidding crypto operators for electricity.
Despite Cango's massive sale, market analysts note that aggregate miner flows to exchanges have remained relatively steady, suggesting this was a strategic "point event" rather than a signal of widespread forced liquidations across the entire sector.
