Cipher Digital (formerly Cipher Mining) reported disappointing fourth-quarter 2025 results and announced a strategic pivot away from Bitcoin mining toward high-performance computing (HPC) data centers. The company's shares fell approximately 5% in premarket trading following the news. Cipher reported Q4 revenue of $60 million, significantly missing analyst estimates of $84.4 million. Adjusted earnings per share came in at a loss of $0.14, wider than the forecasted loss of $0.06, resulting in an adjusted net loss of $55 million for the quarter.
Management highlighted 2025 as a transformative year, securing 600 megawatts of contracted capacity for its new HPC focus. This includes a major 15-year, 300-megawatt lease with Amazon Web Services and a 10-year, 300 MW lease with Fluidstack and Google. To finance construction at its Barber Lake and Black Pearl data center projects, Cipher raised $3.73 billion through three senior secured bond offerings.
As part of its transition, Cipher divested its 49% stakes in three Bitcoin mining joint ventures for about $40 million. This stake was acquired by Canaan Inc., a major Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer. The deal gives Canaan a 49% interest in the ABC Projects (Alborz LLC, Bear LLC, and Chief Mountain LLC), which provide 120 megawatts of power capacity and approximately 4.4 exahashes per second of operating hashrate. WindHQ retains the remaining 51% controlling stake.
Consideration for the deal totaled about $39.75 million. Canaan issued 806,439,900 Class A ordinary shares to Cipher (equivalent to 53,762,660 American Depositary Shares priced at $0.7394 per ADS), subject to a six-month lock-up period. Canaan also purchased 6,840 mining rigs from Cipher that were originally sold in July 2025 and operated at the Black Pearl site—a facility now being converted for AI and HPC use.
Canaan's Chairman and CEO, Nangeng Zhang, described the acquisition as a "disciplined expansion" of its North American footprint, aligning proprietary hardware with low-cost Texas power. Despite Canaan posting strong Q4 revenue of $196 million (up 121% year-over-year), its Nasdaq-listed shares fell 5.71%, reflecting broader pressure on Bitcoin mining equities.
