Hut 8 Wins Bid for Poolin Data Centers in Texas
The acquisition fits Hut 8’s shift from Bitcoin mining to AI infrastructure, with extra focus on power capacity and data centers in Texas.
Key Takeaways
- Hut 8 won the auction for two Poolin data centers in Texas with a $140 million bid, including cash and other consideration.
- The sale still needs approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court; a sale hearing is scheduled for September 29.
- Poolin filed for Chapter 11 in July and has an estimated $173.1 million in liabilities, mostly unsecured claims from Poolin Wallet users.
Hut 8 emerged from the court-run auction as the winning bidder for two data centers in Texas owned by bankrupt crypto miner Poolin. The $140 million (€123 million) bid consists of cash and other consideration and applies to the sites in Pyote and Tarbush. The deal still needs approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. A sale hearing is scheduled for September 29.
Bid Far Above Opening Offer
Hut 8's bid was nearly three times higher than the combined stalking-horse bids of $52 million (€45.6 million). Thor CALAP offered $15 million (€13.1 million) for the Pyote complex and $37 million (€32.4 million) for Tarbush. Other parties also joined in: DigiPower X bid $36.5 million (€32 million) for Pyote, while Pecos Industrial Development, on behalf of AI infrastructure company Fluidstack, bid $100.5 million (€88.1 million) for Tarbush.
That interest fits the strong demand for computing power and power capacity for AI. Hut 8 previously said it is steadily shifting its business away from bitcoin mining and toward AI infrastructure. In its second-quarter earnings report, the company said it had a development pipeline of about 8.7 gigawatts, roughly 300 megawatts more than in the previous quarter.
Poolin Is Left With Debt
Poolin and two U.S. subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 protection in July after mining and hosting operations at the Texas sites were scaled back. Court filings estimated the company's liabilities at about $173.1 million (€152 million). Of that, about $163.7 million (€143 million) came from unsecured claims by Poolin Wallet users after the company froze withdrawals in 2022.
More AI Capacity for Hut 8
For Hut 8, the acquisition fits into a broader buildout of data center capacity. The company previously said it had secured 949 MW of contracted AI infrastructure capacity, with an estimated contract value of $26.6 billion (€23.3 billion) across the River Bend and Beacon Point campuses. Earlier this month, Hut 8 also said Beacon Point received a conditional Base Load classification through ERCOT's Batch Zero process, allowing it to temporarily keep the requested amount of power while the grid operator finishes its review.
For European crypto readers, this deal shows how quickly former Bitcoin miners are moving toward AI infrastructure. That could matter for the broader crypto market, since companies with existing power contracts and data centers are increasingly being used for other forms of digital infrastructure. Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot summed up that market earlier: demand is strong and everyone wants capacity.
