Core Scientific
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Core Scientific was one of the largest publicly traded cryptocurrency mining companies in the United States, based in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2017, it operated large-scale bitcoin mining data centers, processing bitcoin transactions and mining new tokens with powerful computers competing on a global network. After rapid growth in 2020 and 2021, it went public at a $4.3 billion valuation in July 2021. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on December 21, 2022, continued mining through restructuring, and emerged from Chapter 11 in January 2024 with fresh equity and relisted on Nasdaq.
02 / Core Scientific FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Core Scientific's bankruptcy was the product of the 2022 crypto winter colliding with leverage. Bitcoin fell more than 60% that year while energy costs soared and the global bitcoin hash rate rose, making mining far less profitable. To stay operational during the extended bear market, the company sold 9,618 BTC in April 2022. Its SEC filing also cited the bankruptcy of crypto lender Celsius, one of its biggest customers, which wiped out $7 million in debt owed to Core Scientific. By filing, it had suffered a net loss of $434.8 million in the three months ending September 30, 2022, held just $4 million in liquidity, and its valuation had collapsed from $4.3 billion to $78 million.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Bankruptcy
SEC Form 8-K (21 Dec 2022): Core Scientific and affiliates filed voluntary bankruptcy restructuring petitions in Bankr. S.D. Tex., Case No. 22-90341. Company PR EX-99.1 same day: "voluntarily Files for Reorganization under bankruptcy restructuring." Reuters 21 Dec 2022: "filed for bankruptcy restructuring bankruptcy protection." CLASSIFY per task: bankruptcy restructuring filing is a valid 03 failure ending even though the company later emerged (Jan 2024).
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Raised $1.2 billion in total at a $4.3 billion valuation.
- 02
On December 21, 2022 the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; it emerged from restructuring and relisted on Nasdaq in January 2024.
- 03
Its court filings disclosed a net loss of $434.8 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2022.