Bitcoin mining pool operator Poolin Technology and two affiliated companies have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New Jersey, with court records placing Poolin’s estimated liabilities between $100 million and $500 million.
Verita Global’s case information page shows that Poolin Technology PTE. LTD., Lonestar Taproot LLC and Lonestar Dream, Inc. filed voluntary petitions on July 22 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. The three cases are being jointly administered under Poolin’s lead case, 26-18325, before Judge Eamonn J. O’Hagan.
Poolin’s filing lists estimated assets of between $1 million and $10 million and liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million. The petition estimates that the company has between 10,001 and 25,000 creditors and states that funds are expected to be available for distribution to unsecured creditors.
Court records give Lonestar Taproot case number 26-18326 and Lonestar Dream case number 26-18327. All three companies remain debtors in possession while the Chapter 11 process moves forward under the jointly administered case.
The debtors told the court that they entered Chapter 11 to carry out an orderly sale process intended to preserve value for creditors and other interested parties. Michael DuFrayne, the companies’ chief restructuring officer, said in a first-day declaration that the process would use Chapter 11 to pursue sales of the debtors’ assets.
On Aug. 17, the bankruptcy court approved bidding procedures covering substantially all of the debtors’ assets and authorized Poolin and its affiliates to designate a stalking horse bidder. The order also set procedures for an auction, the treatment of certain contracts and leases, and a hearing on the proposed sale.
Under the sale timetable, qualified bids are due Sept. 8, while an auction is scheduled for Sept. 10 if competing qualified bids are received. A court hearing on the proposed asset sale is scheduled for Sept. 18 at 11 a.m. ET before Judge O’Hagan in Trenton.
The bidding process covers assets held across Poolin and its two U.S. affiliates. Lonestar Dream had substantially completed the wind-down of operations at its mining sites by the bankruptcy filing, according to DuFrayne’s declaration, after discontinuing services for customer Elektron Energy and beginning the removal of Elektron equipment from the facilities.
A limited workforce was kept in place to protect the mining sites and equipment, support the asset sale and administer the bankruptcy proceedings. Lonestar Taproot, meanwhile, owns equipment and other property linked to the mining facilities, including power-related assets, buildings, improvements and substation infrastructure, according to the filing.
Lonestar Taproot previously operated as a partnership involving Lonestar Dream and mining hardware maker Bitmain between March 2022 and December 2023. Court filings state that Bitmain contributed about $34.4 million and received roughly $24.1 million when it withdrew after the partnership recorded significant losses.
Poolin’s creditors are scheduled to meet on Aug. 28 at 9 a.m. ET through a remote Section 341 meeting. The date remains upcoming and has not yet taken place, according to the amended Chapter 11 notice filed on Aug. 5.
Creditors seeking to file proofs of claim can send originally executed forms to the Poolin Claims Processing Center operated by KCC dba Verita Global in El Segundo, California. The case page states that claims may be submitted through U.S. mail or another hand-delivery system, while fax and other electronic delivery methods are not accepted.
A general deadline for filing proofs of claim had not yet been established in the amended bankruptcy notice.
Archer & Greiner, P.C. is representing the debtors in the proceedings. Stephen M. Packman, Alexander J. Andrews, Doug Leney and Natasha Songonuga are listed among the attorneys handling the cases, while the court has also approved the retention of DuFrayne LLC as crisis manager and Michael DuFrayne as chief restructuring officer.
The bankruptcy court has also authorized Verita Global to serve as administrative adviser. Additional restructuring professionals include Oon & Bazul LLC as Singapore restructuring and insolvency counsel and McCarn, Weir & Sherwood P.C. for oil, gas and mineral matters.
Poolin’s financial problems became public several years before the Chapter 11 filing. In September 2022, crypto.news reported that Poolin suspended withdrawals from PoolinWallet after the company faced liquidity problems and a rise in withdrawal requests.
The company subsequently said it would issue six IOU tokens representing users’ BTC, ETH, USDT, LTC, ZEC and DOGE balances at a 1:1 ratio. Poolin said at the time that it was considering several ways to address the liquidity shortage, including seeking new investment, pursuing debt-to-equity transactions and selling assets.
Another report from September 2022 said Poolin had stopped withdrawals, flash trades and internal transfers through PoolinWallet while leaving routine mining operations and direct mining-pool payouts unaffected. The company also suspended certain swap services as it tried to preserve liquidity.
Financial pressure has remained a problem across parts of the Bitcoin mining industry in 2026. A July analysis found that public miners sold Bitcoin at a record pace during the first quarter, with more than 32,000 BTC sold as hashprice fell to post-halving lows.
The same report placed hashprice in the high-$20 range per petahash per day by mid-2026, below the roughly $35 level cited as the breakeven point for older mining machines.
Bankruptcy proceedings have also continued to surface elsewhere in the crypto infrastructure sector. In May, Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin Depot filed for Chapter 11 after taking its crypto ATM network offline, with the company citing regulatory pressure and financial losses as it moved toward a shutdown.
Poolin’s bankruptcy docket has continued to develop since its July petition. On Aug. 17, the court entered the order approving the bidding procedures for substantially all of the debtors’ assets, allowing the companies to proceed toward the September bid deadline, possible auction, and sale hearing.
