Asian Investors Step In as Bitmain Finds New Buyers

Hong Kong firms DL Holdings and IBS acquired over 1.7 EH/s of Bitmain Antminer S21 rigs, as U.S. institutions slow down. Will Asia drive the next phase of Bitcoin mining growth?

Hong Kong firms absorb Antminer inventory

With U.S. institutions cutting back on new mining capacity, Bitmain has found fresh buyers in Asia. Two Hong Kong-listed companies — DL Holdings and International Business Settlement Holdings (IBS) — signed agreements to purchase nearly 1.7 EH/s of Antminer S21 rigs, signaling a shift in demand.

DL Holdings, a $700 million wealth manager, agreed to buy 2,200 Antminer S21XP Hydro units, totaling 1.04 EH/s. The machines are already racked in the U.S. and expected to be hosted at Bitmain facilities. The purchase price of $21.5 per TH/s mirrors earlier bulk deals by Cipher and IREN. However, when those orders were placed, hashprice hovered around $60/PH/s, compared to just above $50/PH/s today despite Bitcoin’s rally to $118,000.

IBS diversifies into supercomputing

In September, IBS — an $800 million property developer branching into digital infrastructure — acquired 1,863 Antminer S21 Hydro units, adding 660 PH/s for $10.88 million ($16/TH/s). The deal is backed by a Bitcoin pledge and includes managed hosting in the U.S. and Paraguay. Assuming ~$0.075/kWh hosting rates, IBS rigs remain profitable only if hashprice stays above $27/PH/s. The static payback is about 700 days, projecting to September 2027 — just months before the next halving.

Can Asia fill the gap?

Together, these deals highlight a trend: as U.S. institutional miners retreat, Asian investors are wiring capital and pledging Bitcoin to absorb Bitmain’s ready-to-deploy fleets. The challenge is whether they can break even before the 2028 halving reshapes mining economics once again.