- Core Scientific paid Block $67.9 million for Bitcoin mining chips, then booked a $41.9 million loss to terminate the contract.
- The data center operator shifted strategy to lease 529 megawatts to AMD, a deal it says could yield over $14 billion in revenue.
- Block has faced multiple setbacks including a $55 million CFPB penalty, an $80 million state fine, and layoffs of 4,000 employees.
Core Scientific paid Block at least $67.9 million for bitcoin mining chips starting in 2024, then booked a $41.9 million loss to cancel the remainder of the order, according to a new quarterly report. The data center operator made payments of $10 million in July 2024, $21.3 million in January 2025, and $36.6 million in January 2026 before reaching a termination and settlement agreement with Block and its mining hardware division Proto Global.
Core decided to wind down its mining obligations to complete a “strategic transition,” despite the hefty loss required. A day earlier, Core Scientific signed 15-year leases covering 529 megawatts, most of it directly to AMD, in a deal that could produce more than $14 billion of contracted revenue.
Renting warehouses to AMD now pays better than mining bitcoin using Dorsey’s chips. Block had announced the purchase agreement for roughly 15 exahashes of its three-nanometer chips in July 2024, with Core as Proto’s first chip customer.
Block wound down TBD, the unit that incubated its bitcoin mining initiative, in November 2024. The company’s common stock has lost 68% of its value over the past five years amid a series of business setbacks.
Block paid $237.3 million for Jay-Z’s Tidal in 2021, which Reuters reported was widely perceived as “a terrible business decision,” and later wrote off $132.3 million of that investment. In January 2025, the CFPB ordered Block to pay a $55 million penalty plus up to $120 million in redress over Cash App’s fraud claims, while state regulators fined it $80 million the day before.
Block laid off approximately 4,000 employees in February 2026, reducing its workforce by nearly half. Dorsey had said on Block’s Q2 2025 earnings call that its mining division would “have some really happy customers” and “grow the market,” but less than a year later, its marquee customer took a loss to cancel the remainder of its order.
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