{"id":"1794018936559-money-segment","slug":"hut-8-wins-texas-data-center-auction","title":"Hut 8 Wins Texas Data Center Auction","summary":"Hut 8 did win the bankruptcy auction for Poolin's Pyote and Tarbush data center sites in Texas, and the bankruptcy court approved the sale on Oct. 2, 2026. But the approved deal is up to $180 million — $100 million at closing plus up to $80 million in contingent payments — and closing was scheduled for December 2026 as of Nov. 4, not a completed $140 million acquisition.","publishedAt":"2026-11-07T02:35:36.559Z","channel":{"id":"money","name":"Oncast Money","language":"en"},"show":"Money Tonight","verification":{"status":"verified","leadVerdict":"MISLEADING","notes":"MISLEADING: Hut 8 did win the bankruptcy auction for Poolin's Pyote and Tarbush data center sites in Texas, and the bankruptcy court approved the sale on Oct. 2, 2026. But the approved deal is up to $180 million — $100 million at closing plus up to $80 million in contingent payments — and closing was scheduled for December 2026 as of Nov. 4, not a completed $140 million acquisition.\nSource: [sec.gov](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1964789/000110465926122347/tm2628741d1ex99-1.htm), [theenergymag.com](https://www.theenergymag.com/news/2026-0 (https://x.com/augustcool/status/2116943527246708820)","claims":[{"verdict":"MISLEADING","summary":"Hut 8 did win the bankruptcy auction for Poolin's Pyote and Tarbush data center sites in Texas, and the bankruptcy court approved the sale on Oct. 2, 2026. But the approved deal is up to $180 million — $100 million at closing plus up to $80 million in contingent payments — and closing was scheduled for December 2026 as of Nov. 4, not a completed $140 million acquisition.","sourceName":"[sec.gov](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1964789/000110465926122347/tm2628741d1ex99-1.htm), [theenergymag.com](https://www.theenergymag.com/news/2026-0","sourceUrl":"https://x.com/augustcool/status/2116943527246708820","claim":"HUT 8 ACQUIRES TWO POOLIN DATA CENTER SITES FOR $140 MILLION IN BANKRUPTCY AUCTION • Hut 8 submitted winning $140 million bid. • Assets include Pyote and Tarbush facilities. • Acquired through bankruptcy auction proceedings. • Adds significant industrial energy capacity.","author":"Augustcool Research (@augustcool)"}]},"sources":[{"url":"https://x.com/augustcool/status/2116943527246708820","name":"[sec.gov](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1964789/000110465926122347/tm2628741d1ex99-1.htm), [theenergymag.com](https://www.theenergymag.com/news/2026-0","kind":"x","verdict":"MISLEADING","author":"Augustcool Research (@augustcool)"}],"url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1794018936559-money-segment-hut-8-wins-texas-data-center-auction","listenUrl":"https://oncast.fm/c/money","attribution":{"publisher":"Oncast","site":"https://oncast.fm","url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1794018936559-money-segment-hut-8-wins-texas-data-center-auction","cite":"Cite https://oncast.fm/story/1794018936559-money-segment-hut-8-wins-texas-data-center-auction and the original source links. Fact-check by Oncast (oncast.fm)."},"hostsSaid":[{"host":"Adam","text":"A crypto miner just won a bankruptcy auction for two Texas data centers, and the internet has the price wrong."},{"host":"Bill","text":"Wrong how? I saw a hundred and forty million."},{"host":"Adam","text":"Augustcool Research posted on X that Hut 8 completed that amount. It's not done. The court approved the sale on October 2, 2026, at up to one hundred eighty million dollars, and closing was scheduled for December."},{"host":"Bill","text":"So the post jumped the gun. But the move itself— Hut 8 buying real energy assets out of a failed bitcoin pool—that's the story."},{"host":"Adam","text":"It's a story, but a quarter of the purchase price is contingent. Calling it “acquired” is false."},{"host":"Bill","text":"Fine. They won the auction. Does that make it less important?"},{"host":"Adam","text":"It makes it less finished. Facts first; then we can argue about strategy."},{"host":"Bill","text":"Alright, strategy then. Poolin was one of the biggest bitcoin mining pool operators. It went Chapter 11, and its Texas sites are on the block."},{"host":"Adam","text":"Pyote and Tarbush. Both industrial scale, with serious grid connections. That's the part worth talking about."},{"host":"Bill","text":"Exactly. Texas has cheap power and a grid that pays big users to shut down when demand spikes. Miners are turning into energy operators."},{"host":"Adam","text":"They're not quite power companies. They own the data center shells and the right to draw power. The electrons still belong to the grid."},{"host":"Bill","text":"In this market, the right to draw power is the asset. AI data centers are fighting for the same connections."},{"host":"Adam","text":"That's what justifies the up-to-one-eighty price. If Hut 8 can keep hashing or lease capacity to AI tenants, that could make it worth the price."},{"host":"Bill","text":"So you do like it."},{"host":"Adam","text":"I like the auction math. I don't like people pretending it's closed. The SEC filing says one hundred million at closing plus up to eighty million in contingent payments."},{"host":"Bill","text":"Okay, the tweet was sloppy. But the trend is real: miners are buying bankrupt rivals' infrastructure on the cheap."},{"host":"Adam","text":"The trend is real, but “on the cheap” is doing a lot of work. We don't know the earnout triggers. Could be tied to energy output, could be tied to bitcoin price."},{"host":"Bill","text":"If bitcoin price runs, that contingent payment gets triggered. If it doesn't, they still have the sites."},{"host":"Adam","text":"They have the sites if they close. Until December, they have a winning bid and a court order."},{"host":"Bill","text":"I'll take the court order. You can wait for the wire transfer."},{"host":"Adam","text":"Somebody has to. That's why I read the filing, not the tweet."},{"host":"Bill","text":"And yet you let me read the tweet. Thank you for that."},{"host":"Adam","text":"You're welcome. Here's another bankruptcy filing, much smaller, but worth a look."},{"host":"Bill","text":"Small how?"},{"host":"Adam","text":"An account on X called RK Consultants posted a Chapter 11 summary for First American Settlements in Nevada. Assets under fifty thousand, liabilities up to half a million."},{"host":"Bill","text":"That's a tiny company. Why are we talking about it?"},{"host":"Adam","text":"Because it's in structured settlement factoring. That's the business of buying people's future payments for a lump sum."},{"host":"Bill","text":"I know what it is. But half a million in liabilities isn't a systemic event."},{"host":"Adam","text":"It's not systemic. But for someone who sold future payments to this company, a bankruptcy can put those payments in limbo."},{"host":"Bill","text":"Or they already got their lump sum and the creditors are chasing the company, not the person. You're making it sound scarier than it is."},{"host":"Adam","text":"I'm saying the risk is there. The filing itself is unverified—no independent court docket yet—so we're careful."},{"host":"Bill","text":"Good, because a Nevada filing with one to forty-nine creditors is a neighborhood story, not a market story."},{"host":"Adam","text":"No argument. But it's the kind of small bankruptcy that shows up when cash gets tight in specialty finance."},{"host":"Bill","text":"Fine. Let the bankruptcy lawyers read that one. I'm still stuck on Hut 8 and whether miners buying data centers is the next consolidation wave."},{"host":"Adam","text":"That's the real question. If it closes, it sets a template: miner with capital buys bankrupt pool's power assets, then rents them to AI or keeps hashing."},{"host":"Bill","text":"And the ones who overpaid will find out when the contingent payments come due."},{"host":"Adam","text":"Which is why the distinction between “won auction” and “owns assets” isn't pedantry."},{"host":"Bill","text":"It's the difference between a story and a contract. I get it."},{"host":"Adam","text":"Good. Then we agree on the only thing that matters."},{"host":"Bill","text":"That we're both going to read the next filing before tweeting."},{"host":"Adam","text":"Speak for yourself. I already do."}]}