Key points

  • Canaan sold all 3,952 ETH it held and 54 BTC at average prices of about $2,400 and $79,000, respectively.
  • The sales generated approximately $13.9 million, of which $5.4 million funded the repurchase of about 13.6 million ADSs.
  • Canaan mined 44 BTC in August and ended the month with 1,868 BTC and no Ether on its balance sheet.

Bitcoin mining equipment maker Canaan sold its entire Ether position and part of its Bitcoin treasury in late August, converting digital assets into cash for a share repurchase program. The Nasdaq-listed company disclosed the transactions on September 14 alongside its monthly mining update, offering a concrete example of a crypto treasury being used to support its own equity.

Crypto sales finance the buyback

Canaan said it sold 3,952 ETH and 54 BTC at average prices of approximately $2,400 per Ether and $79,000 per Bitcoin. The transactions generated about $13.9 million in cash. It then deployed $5.4 million to repurchase roughly 13.6 million American Depositary Shares in late August, bringing total ADS repurchases since the start of 2026 to about 16.4 million.

Related reporting: Crypto Treasury Boom Turns Into Market Drag, Warns Columbia Professor

The company had authorized management in August to monetize part of its digital-asset holdings under a share repurchase program approved by its board in December 2025. Management presented the move as a capital-allocation decision, saying it believed Canaan's market value did not fully reflect the business. That is the company's assessment rather than an assurance that the repurchases will improve the share price or long-term returns.

Mining output continues to ease

Canaan mined 44 BTC during August, down from 46 BTC in July and 64 BTC in June, according to the company data compiled by The Block. The August figure marked a third consecutive monthly decline even as Canaan's non-joint-venture installed hashrate held at 10.05 exahashes per second. Its joint-venture installed hashrate reached 4.92 EH/s, while joint-venture operating hashrate was 4.11 EH/s at month-end.

The miner reported an average all-in electricity cost of $0.043 per kilowatt-hour for the month. It finished August with 1,868 BTC and no Ether on its balance sheet. Canaan therefore remains materially exposed to Bitcoin after eliminating its Ether position; the transaction changed the composition and size of the treasury rather than ending its digital-asset strategy.

Why the shift matters

For shareholders, the disclosure links three parts of Canaan's strategy: mining production, treasury management and equity repurchases. Selling crypto creates immediate liquidity without issuing new shares or relying entirely on external financing. At the same time, it reduces the assets available to benefit from any future increase in crypto prices and highlights the trade-off between maintaining a treasury and returning capital through buybacks.

The update also shows how differently public miners are allocating capital. Independent coverage noted that BitFuFu and CleanSpark reported higher August production after weaker July results, while Canaan's output continued to decline. Those comparisons are imperfect because the companies differ in fleet scale, hosting arrangements, power costs and whether reported capacity is owned, managed or operated through joint ventures.

Execution remains the test

Canaan said equipment had arrived for a Canadian project designed to recover heat from computing operations for use in a greenhouse, with installation under way before the winter heating season. That timeline and the project's eventual economics remain forward-looking. Investors will now be watching whether operating hashrate, production and cash generation improve enough to support both infrastructure plans and further capital returns without requiring additional treasury sales. Future monthly disclosures should show whether the August decline was temporary or reflected a more persistent gap between installed and productive capacity.

Sources

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