Canaan Shares Plunge as CEO Says Middle East Conflict Is Clouding Outlook for Bitcoin Miners

In brief

• Canaan’s revenue dropped 68% quarter-over-quarter to $62.7 million, triggering a widening net loss of $88.7 million.
• To secure "survivability," the firm reduced total quarterly operating expenses to $31.4 million, while trimming staffing costs.
• Amid volatile crypto prices, CEO Nangeng Zhang is steering Canaan toward high-performance computing and AI infrastructure.

Canaan shares plunged on Tuesday after the Bitcoin miner and hardware maker reported its second straight quarterly loss, tightening its belt as turbulent energy prices clouded the company’s outlook amid a shift toward computing infrastructure.

The Singapore-based firm, which manufactures Bitcoin mining equipment, disclosed a first-quarter net loss of $88.7 million. The performance marked widening losses from the previous three-month period, in which Canaan posted an $85 million net loss.

The company’s stock price fell more than 13% to $0.418 after Tuesday’s opening bell, according to Yahoo Finance. The move thrust shares back toward an all-time low of $0.38 notched last month.

Canaan faced a challenging quarter as mining Bitcoin became less profitable amid the digital asset’s price slide, CEO Nangeng Zhang said during the company’s earnings call. He noted that the business was also affected by a new factor: conflict flaring between the U.S. and Iran.

“Uncertainties related to the Middle East situation, energy prices, global liquidity and the policies continue to keep the industry in a cautious environment,” he said. “For us, a company going through a transition period, this kind of environment created a lot of pressure.”

Although Canaan derives a majority of its revenue from mining Bitcoin and selling hardware, the company has begun prioritizing a shift toward computing infrastructure, mirroring competitors—such as IREN, Hive Digital Technologies, and Keel Infrastructure—that have capitalized on the AI boom by meeting tech firms’ growing power needs.

The firm disclosed $62.7 million in revenue, contracting 68% from $196.3 million quarter-over-quarter. A majority of sales came from Canaan’s product arm, which generated $42.9 million, as the company said it completed final deliveries under a major U.S. order.

Zhang said that the company moved to strengthen its “survivability” during the quarter, which coincided with a $2.1 million sequential decrease in staffing costs. Overall, the company’s operating expenses declined to $31.4 million from $38.2 million.

Canaan said that it mined 257 Bitcoin in the three months ended March 31, a performance affected by weather-related energy curtailments in North America. Meanwhile, the company's treasury grew to 1,807 Bitcoin and 3,951 Ethereum, with a combined value of $146 million.

During the quarter, Canaan acquired a 49% interest in Cipher Mining’s ABC Projects in West Texas, expanding the company’s access to American power infrastructure. Zhang said the move was tied to Canaan’s exploration of opportunities associated with AI and high-performance computing, providing the firm with “strategic flexibilities.”