Canaan Inc. (Nasdaq: CAN) shipped the world’s first ASIC Bitcoin miners in 2013 under the Avalon brand. Thirteen years later, the economics of the business it helped create have become unforgiving for everyone running older hardware.
The company released its unaudited April 2026 Bitcoin mining update this week. Self-mining operations produced 90 BTC during the month. Combined with 3 BTC received as customer payments, and after accounting for operating costs, Canaan’s cryptocurrency holdings reached a record 1,826 BTC and 3,952 ETH by month-end.
The headline treasury number reflects deliberate accumulation strategy. The operational numbers underneath it tell the more interesting story.
Where Canaan Sits on the Efficiency Curve
Post-halving Bitcoin mining in 2026 is fundamentally a cost-per-terahash competition. Industrial-scale miners with sub-$0.08/kWh power and hardware rated under 20 J/TH are running margins of 20 to 50% at current hashprice. Operators above $0.10/kWh on older hardware are generally losing money.
Canaan’s average all-in power cost in April was $0.044/kWh. That rate sits well below the industry’s marginal profitability threshold and gives the company meaningful cushion against difficulty increases. Its North American fleet is running at 18.7 J/TH, comfortably inside the competitive efficiency band. The non-North American fleet at 29.3 J/TH is older and less competitive, but the overall non-JV fleet efficiency has improved from 27.4 J/TH to 23.6 J/TH since April 2025, a 13.9% improvement in one year.
Month-end installed hashrate reached 10.97 EH/s, up 34.6% year-over-year. Operating hashrate was 6.86 EH/s, up 10.6%. The gap between installed and operating capacity reflects machines that are installed but not yet fully energized across Canaan’s 13 active projects in five countries. The joint venture operations in West Texas added approximately 4.82 EH/s of installed hashrate and 120 MW of power capacity on top of those figures.
The Tether Collaboration
The most forward-looking item in the update is the follow-on order from Tether for high-density mining hash board modules. The collaboration, which began as a proof-of-concept project in 2025 with Swiss R&D firm ACME Swisstech, produced custom modules for next-generation immersion-cooled mining systems. The follow-on order is headed to a Tether-affiliated facility in South America.
Immersion cooling matters because it extends hardware lifespan, enables higher clock speeds, and reduces the thermal degradation that shortens ASIC operating life. The shift toward modular, partner-driven architectures where infrastructure operators design optimized systems around custom compute building blocks is a genuine structural evolution in the industry. Canaan’s Tether relationship puts it inside that trend rather than supplying commodity hardware to it.
The Compressed Margin Context
CEO Nangeng Zhang described April as “a constructive reset” with “compressed margins.” That framing is accurate across the industry. Bitcoin’s price peaked above $122,000 in mid-2025 before correcting toward $80,000 by late 2025. The hashprice, which reflects daily revenue per unit of hashrate, fell from approximately $55 per petahash per second in Q3 2025 toward a structural low near $35 PH/s. Margins compressed for everyone.
The operators who survive those compressions are the ones with the lowest power costs, the most efficient fleets, and diversified revenue streams. Canaan’s $0.044/kWh power rate and improving fleet efficiency profile position it among the former. Its ASIC manufacturing business and the Tether hardware collaboration provide the latter.
The data in this release is unaudited. Cryptocurrency holdings are subject to Bitcoin and Ethereum price volatility, which can materially affect the reported value of treasury assets in fiat terms.
Sources
- Canaan Inc.
- Spark: Bitcoin Mining Economics in 2026
- Simple Mining: Is Bitcoin Mining Still Profitable in 2026
- CoinTelegraph: Bitcoin Mining 2026 AI Pivot and Consolidation
- Coin Bureau: Is Bitcoin Mining Still Profitable in 2026
- AMINA Bank: Post-Halving Bitcoin Miners Landscape
Editorial Disclosure
This article is based on a press release issued by Canaan Inc. and expanded with independent market data. Canaan Inc. (Nasdaq: CAN) is a publicly traded company. This article does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Bitcoin production figures, treasury holdings, and operational metrics are unaudited and subject to change. Cryptocurrency assets including Bitcoin and Ethereum carry significant volatility, regulatory, and concentration risk. They are not insured by any government deposit protection scheme. Mining profitability is subject to Bitcoin price fluctuations, network difficulty adjustments, energy costs, and regulatory developments. Market prices cited reflect the date of publication and may differ from current prices. The information provided on this website is for informational and educational purposes only. Our content is derived strictly from verified online sources to ensure accuracy and objectivity. This analysis does not constitute financial, investment, or professional advice. Readers are encouraged to consult with qualified professionals before making decisions based on this information. For more information, please see our full DISCLAIMER.
