Poolin, a Singapore-based Bitcoin mining pool, has filed for bankruptcy and is auctioning off its remaining mining sites in Texas. The move is an attempt to repay roughly 11,700 users who have been holding IOUs since the pool froze withdrawals in 2022.
The 2022 freeze that never ended
Back in September 2022, Poolin paused all withdrawals, citing liquidity issues as crypto prices cratered. The freeze was supposed to be temporary. It wasn't. The pool never fully reopened withdrawals, and users have been stuck with credits on the platform ever since. Despite efforts to restructure and sell assets, Poolin couldn't climb out of the hole. The bankruptcy filing this week makes it official: the company is done.
What the Texas auction means
Poolin's last operational mining sites are in Texas, part of a wave of Bitcoin miners that set up there during the boom. Those sites are now up for auction. The proceeds will go toward paying back the 11,700 users who still have claims. No one's saying how much the sites will fetch, but for Poolin, they're the only significant asset left. The auction is expected to conclude by the end of next month.
What users can expect
The math is bleak. With 11,700 claimants and only a handful of Texas mining sites to sell, most users will likely recover only a fraction of what they're owed. Poolin hasn't disclosed the total value of outstanding IOUs, but given the scale of the freeze, it's probably in the tens of millions of dollars. The bankruptcy court will oversee distribution once the auction closes. For now, users can only wait.
The case is a reminder that 2022's crypto winter still has victims. Some companies survived. Others, like Poolin, just kept bleeding until there was nothing left to save.
