Canaan Inc. saw its stock price increase over 26% in initial trading on Thursday after securing a large order consisting of 50,000 mining rigs.
Canaan stated that a US-based firm purchased the latest in their line of mining machines, the “Avalon A15 Pro,” which is an institutional-grade Bitcoin mining rig. The identity of the buyer remains undisclosed, though this transaction is noted as the company’s largest in over three years.
Nangeng Zhang, the CEO of the company, emphasized that this deal showcases both parties’ confidence in the sustained growth of Bitcoin mining and the need for advanced, efficient mining infrastructure.
The latest data from the Hashrate Index shows that the United States now represents 36% of the worldwide Bitcoin hashrate, indicating its dominance as the leading mining center globally.
Global hashrate index
Global hashrate index. Source: Hashrateindex.com
As this report was being prepared, Canaan’s stocks surged by 26.4% to $1.31 on NASDAQ, according to Yahoo Finance.
Interestingly, while the shares have climbed over 50% in the last six months, there remains a year-to-date drop of 40%.
The Current Scenario of Bitcoin Mining
Bitcoin mining engages computational resources to confirm transactions and contribute new blocks to the blockchain, which rewards miners with freshly minted Bitcoin, thereby securing the network.
This process not only involves introducing new currency into circulation but also becomes increasingly challenging, with the network adjusting difficulty approximately every two weeks or after every 2,016 blocks and reducing block rewards every four years.
In August 2025, mining difficulty peaked at a record 127.6 trillion, only to rise further to 134.7 trillion by September 5. Just recently, this difficulty level ascended to 150.84 trillion, marking a state where Bitcoin mining is currently tougher than ever.
The increasing challenge and rising costs have led some companies to exit the market. For instance, in June 2025, Bit Digital announced the cessation of its Bitcoin mining activities to transition towards a treasury strategy focused on Ethereum.
Sam Tabar, the firm’s CEO, opined that “the Bitcoin mining industry is going to be dead in two years,” asserting that “there’s no way the mining sector can endure another halving.”
Moreover, the mounting mining difficulty has resulted in greater control by large institutional miners, as highlighted by recent findings from The Miner Mag, which indicate that the leading four public miners—MARA, IREN, Cango, and CleanSpark—earned 19.07% of total block rewards in July.
Nevertheless, individual miners still manage to mine blocks from time to time. For example, on July 3, one solo miner successfully mined block 903,883, earning nearly $350,000 from the block reward alongside transaction fees for expedited confirmation.
A few weeks later, another single miner garnered rewards exceeding $373,000 based on Bitcoin’s price that day after mining block 907,283.
Magazine: Bitcoin vs. the quantum computer threat — Timeline and solutions (2025–2035)
