Cango Dumps 2,000 BTC to Escape Loan Prison While Fellow Miners Join the Panic Sell

Bitcoin miner Cango liquidated 2,000 BTC in March 2026 like a degen cashing out at the top of a pump—except the only thing waiting on the other side was a pile of outstanding Bitcoin-backed loans. The fire sale left them clutching 1,025.69 BTC in treasury and a cool $30.6 million in remaining loan obligations. Not exactly living the dream, but hey, at least they're not getting liquidated by the protocol.

The firm practically threw itself a parade over this "deleveraging success," patting themselves on the back while also announcing a $65 million equity injection from company insiders and a $10 million convertible bond from DL Holdings. "Collectively, these measures provide a solid financial foundation to navigate market volatility and support the Company's planned transition into energy and AI infrastructure," the press release read. Nothing says "we're fine" like pivoting to AI infrastructure while drowning in debt.

On the cost side, Cango brought its average cash cost per coin down to $68,215 in March—a 19.3% drop from Q4 2025's $84,552. They also decommissioned their inefficient miners and shifted to hashrate leasing in regions with high hosting fees. Basically, they figured out that running a mining operation is expensive, so now they're just renting someone else's hash instead. Smart, if a bit embarrassing.

Cango isn't alone in the selling department. Riot Platforms unloaded 3,778 BTC in Q1 2026 for roughly $289.5 million—more than 2.5 times their quarterly production. The company ended the quarter holding 15,680 BTC, down 18% from its 2025 close. For those keeping track at home, that's selling almost two and a half times what you produced in three months. Nothing says "bullish on Bitcoin" like shipping way more coins to buyers than you actually dug up.

MARA went even harder, selling 15,133 BTC for approximately $1.1 billion in March. The firm directed the proceeds to retire over $1 billion in face value convertible debt. That's not deleveraging—that's a full-blown escape pod launch. Million-dollar convertible debt gone, Bitcoin treasury significantly lighter, but hey, no more margin calls. Priorities.

On-chain tracker Lookonchain flagged additional transfers by both miners in early April, suggesting the selling has continued into Q2. For those wondering whether the panic has subsided, the blockchain says no. The Bitcoin is still walking out the door, and the blockchain never lies—unlike miner PR teams.

Miners are selling into an environment where AI is increasingly competing for data center rack space. This shift is likely pushing Bitcoin mining towards more intermittent and cheaper power sources over the long term. Meanwhile, AI companies are out here offering datacenter landlords something better than a bunch of noisy ASICs eating megawatts: actual profit margins that don't depend on hash rate lotteries.

CoinShares estimates listed miners could derive as much as 70% of their revenue from AI by the end of 2026, up from roughly 30% at present. In other words, in less than two years, the average Bitcoin miner might make more money renting servers to AI companies than from actually mining Bitcoin. The dream of HODLing hashrate is slowly being replaced by the reality of becoming a landlord for GPUs.