Author: Lesley
Source: MetaEra

Core Insights

• Compared to a simple holding strategy, using mining as a strategic path to enter Web 3.0 has three advantages: strong volatility resistance, stable cash flow resilience, and the potential for synergistic asset appreciation.
• Cango does not view mining as the ultimate goal, but rather as a means to establish long-term capabilities in controlling electricity resource costs and optimizing efficiency, laying the foundation for the company's long-term development.
• The essence of traditional enterprises entering Web 3.0 is to exchange physical resources for on-chain value anchoring. Only by achieving breakthroughs in technology innovation, compliance construction, and economic model optimization can they truly leverage strengths and avoid weaknesses, ensuring steady and far-reaching progress.
The Web 3.0 strategies and layouts of publicly listed companies have become an increasingly hot topic of public interest. Against this backdrop, MetaEra officially launched the ++“High-End Dialogue” series of interviews with executives of crypto concept stocks++. We will engage in conversations with those corporate leaders who dare to take the lead in the wave of digital transformation, exploring their strategic layouts, business innovations, and financial innovations from the decision-makers' first perspective, providing forward-looking insights for industry participants.

In November 2024, Cango Inc. (NYSE: CANG), a company deeply engaged in the automotive finance sector for years, decisively announced its entry into the Bitcoin mining sector to address the growth bottlenecks of its traditional main business, becoming a pioneer among listed companies exploring the Web 3.0 track. On July 23, 2025, Cango announced the completion of a secondary acquisition and simultaneously appointed a new management team with extensive blockchain experience, marking the company's official completion of its transformation into a Bitcoin mining enterprise.

Cango announces the completion of a secondary acquisition and the appointment of a new management team
In this interview, MetaEra spoke with Paul Yu, the newly appointed CEO and Director of Cango—an experienced builder and entrepreneur with over 18 years of experience in Bitcoin mining, energy infrastructure, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and asset management, who is leading Cango onto a new growth track.

From Automotive Finance to Global Mining Enterprise: Cango's Glamorous Transformation

Looking back at its development history, Cango was once an important player in China's automotive finance sector. In 2018, the company successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming a Chinese enterprise ringing the bell on Wall Street. However, with changes in the internet finance business environment and facing bottlenecks in traditional business, Cango urgently needed to find new growth engines.
In November 2024, Cango officially entered the crypto field, fully transforming into a "Bitcoin mining enterprise," rapidly expanding its business to North America, the Middle East, South America, and East Africa. On July 23, 2025, Cango announced the appointment of a new board and executive team with backgrounds in digital asset infrastructure, finance, and energy investment, officially completing its full transformation into a Bitcoin mining enterprise.
As a veteran in the blockchain industry, why did Paul Yu choose to join Cango at this time as CEO and Director? MetaEra conducted an exclusive interview with him.

Cango announces the appointment of Mr. Paul Yu as CEO and Director
When discussing the reasons for joining Cango, Paul Yu candidly stated that he was attracted to the company's transformative ambition. "As a long-term practitioner in the Bitcoin mining field, I deeply resonate with Cango's strategic transformation ambition," Paul Yu said. "The company increased its hash rate from zero to 50 EH/s, the second highest in the world, through cash acquisitions and equity swaps in just nine months. This efficient execution aligns perfectly with my industry-focused philosophy."
He pointed out that Cango's successful transformation is closely tied to its precise judgment of market timing: "When the deal was finalized in 2024, Bitcoin (BTC) was still at a cyclical low, the price of mining machines was low (we chose the cost-effective model S19 XP), and the competition for hash rate had not yet heated up, laying a low-cost advantage for subsequent profitability." He cited data indicating that in the fourth quarter of 2024, the company's Bitcoin mining revenue reached 653 million yuan (approximately 89.5 million USD), with total quarterly revenue of 668 million yuan (approximately 91.5 million USD), a year-on-year increase of over 400%, completely reversing the decline of its automotive business."
Paul Yu is confident about Cango's future, with specific reasons being: Cango's Q1 2025 financial report shows strong financial resilience. He introduced, "As of the end of Q1 2025, the company held cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totaling 2.5 billion yuan (approximately 346.7 million USD), with a cumulative Bitcoin holding of 2,475 coins."
He noted that joining Cango coincided with favorable policy winds: "Several states in the U.S. have included Bitcoin in their fiscal reserves, pushing the coin price above 120,000 USD, opening a profit window for mining enterprises." Based on this background, Paul Yu expressed, "With the resonance of business fundamentals, capital strength, and industry opportunities, I look forward to leading the team to achieve a leap from transformation exploration to global leadership."
Cango's transformation is not only an adjustment of business direction but also a true reflection of how a listed company constructs a new growth curve in the crypto era.

Planning for the Future: How Does Cango Build a Global Hash Rate Ecosystem?

Traditional enterprises enter the crypto market in various ways; some choose to adopt a holding strategy or invest in blockchain technology, while others venture into this emerging field through mergers, acquisitions, and cross-industry collaborations. However, in the face of increasingly fierce competition in the crypto market, Cango has chosen to enter through Bitcoin mining, building a global hash rate ecosystem.

Strategic Direction: Why Choose Mining Instead of Holding?

In the strategic choices of crypto enterprises, whether to hold or mine is always a core topic that cannot be avoided. While mainstream U.S. companies generally choose a "buy and hold" strategy, Cango decisively opted for the "mining production" track early on.
Paul Yu believes that compared to a simple holding strategy, using mining as a strategic path to enter Web 3.0 has three advantages:
・Volatility Resistance: The mining machine's operating rate can be dynamically adjusted to hedge against price fluctuations, keeping the average holding cost of BTC within a controllable range;
・Cash Flow Resilience: With the current hash rate scale of 50 EH/s, Cango produces more than 20 BTC daily, providing the company with stable cash flow;
・Asset Synergistic Appreciation: Mining machines, as physical assets, can be used for collateral financing, forming a dual leverage structure with BTC as a liquid asset.
At the same time, geopolitical policy factors have strongly promoted this strategic choice. "The Trump administration's policy support for cryptocurrencies created an unprecedented strategic window for us," Paul Yu pointed out, "especially in promoting the repeal of the SAB 121 Act and encouraging state governments to include BTC in their fiscal reserves, a series of policies have substantially improved the operating environment for mining enterprises." Cango is also leveraging this policy windfall to accelerate its layout in North America and the global market.
Paul Yu revealed that to better implement its global strategy, Cango is planning to establish a local team and headquarters in the U.S., demonstrating its global layout and emphasis on the North American market.
However, Paul Yu also emphasized that mining is not the endpoint but the starting point for Cango's entry into the hash rate era. Under his leadership, Cango is steadily expanding its business and establishing new growth points in the Web 3.0 and energy hash rate fields.

Strategic Goals: Entering Through Mining Towards a Resilient Hash Rate Future

Cango's future layout is not merely a horizontal expansion of business but a systematic upgrade based on a profound understanding of the relationship between energy and hash rate.
"Cango starts with Bitcoin mining to build large-scale hash rate operation capabilities, with the core purpose of accumulating experience in 'energy acquisition and management,' such as choosing low electricity price areas and conducting dynamic electricity arbitrage," Paul Yu explained. Cango does not view mining as the ultimate goal but as a means to establish long-term capabilities in controlling electricity resource costs and optimizing efficiency, laying the foundation for the company's long-term development.

Cango's hash rate has reached 50 EH/s, making it the second largest in the world
Based on the above vision, in Paul Yu's strategic blueprint, Cango's development path is clearly divided into three major stages—from efficiency release to energy integration, ultimately advancing to the positioning leap of a hash rate scheduling platform. Based on this, Paul Yu introduced Cango's future goals to MetaEra.
・Short-term Goal: Release the value of 50 EH/s of hash rate by improving operational efficiency, including enhancing operational efficiency and upgrading machines, and selectively acquiring low electricity price mining sites to reduce the cost per BTC.
・Mid-term Strategy: Build a dual-driven model of "energy + hash rate." Pilot "green electricity + energy storage" projects in renewable energy-rich areas to bring some mining sites' electricity costs close to zero and convert surplus electricity into revenue sources. At the same time, repurpose mining facilities to provide HPC (high-performance computing) services for AI companies, opening up a second growth curve.
・Long-term Positioning: Become a resilient hash rate scheduler, dynamically allocating resources to BTC mining and AI computing, forming a composite business model of "mining revenue + AI service fees + green electricity trading."
Regarding Cango's future positioning, Paul Yu summarized the advantages of the current strategy: "Cango will focus on upgrading energy value, achieving zero marginal cost power supply for some mining sites through green electricity infrastructure, and gradually providing HPC services for AI clients, ultimately creating a resilient hash rate pool, significantly enhancing asset utilization and cyclical resistance."
In the context of a global surge in hash rate demand and the increasingly clear trend of integration between AI and crypto infrastructure, Cango's strategic layout is not only a reconstruction of the traditional mining enterprise model but is also expected to win decisive advantages for cross-cycle growth.

The Wave of Tokenized Stocks: The Second Growth Curve for Traditional Listed Companies?

In the broader context of the deepening integration of crypto assets and traditional finance, publicly listed companies are becoming key drivers of this historic transformation.

Structural Advantages of Traditional Listed Companies in Web 3.0

Compared to crypto-native enterprises, traditional listed companies exhibit irreplaceable structural advantages in their transformation to Web 3.0. Paul Yu provides strong evidence for this viewpoint through Cango's practice. Paul Yu believes that Cango's core advantages are reflected in three dimensions.
First is the compliance gene. "Listing on the NYSE in 2018 allowed us to accumulate a mature compliance system," Paul Yu explained. "From SEC disclosure standards to cross-border regulatory responses, this complete compliance framework is being fully migrated to Cango's new business." This compliance capability is particularly valuable in the current environment of tightening regulations.
Second is the asset-light path. Cango chose to quickly enter the industry by acquiring second-hand mining machines, avoiding the market difficulties of tight supply and high prices for new machines, allowing Cango to achieve industry-leading operational efficiency with relatively small capital investment. "The depreciation cost per unit for the S19XP model we use is only 13,000 USD, far lower than the cost of new machines at the same time," Paul Yu pointed out. "More importantly, we have established strategic partnerships with key industry players, including Bitmain and Antalpha, ensuring stable development."
Third is strategic determination. "We always adhere to the principle of prioritizing cash flow quality, focusing on building hard power in hash rate efficiency and energy infrastructure," Paul Yu emphasized. This focused strategy allows Cango to maintain a clear development direction in the complex and ever-changing crypto market, directing limited resources to the areas with the most long-term value.
"In our view, the essence of traditional enterprises entering Web 3.0 is to exchange physical resources for on-chain value anchoring," Paul Yu summarized. "Only by achieving breakthroughs in technology innovation, compliance construction, and economic model optimization can they truly leverage strengths and avoid weaknesses, ensuring steady and far-reaching progress."
It is important to note that under the backdrop of the integration of tokenized assets and stocks, the valuation logic of listed companies is also being redefined. Paul Yu stated that the trend of tokenized stocks will change the way companies are valued, requiring listed companies to combine traditional discounted cash flow (DCF) models with on-chain asset values (such as BTC holdings, hash rate scale). This shift places higher demands on listed enterprises: they must establish transparent and efficient information disclosure mechanisms to bridge the gap in traditional investors' understanding of Web 3.0 assets.

Cango on Stock Tokenization: Optimistic but Not Yet Involved

When discussing the trend of stock tokenization, Paul Yu exhibited a recognition yet restrained attitude.
"We recognize the potential of stock tokenization in enhancing liquidity, lowering investment thresholds, and optimizing capital efficiency. Investors can enjoy experiences such as 24-hour global trading and real-time on-chain dividends, which inject blockchain's efficient genes into traditional finance."
"Although the industry's innovations are exciting, Cango has not yet initiated any substantial exploration of stock tokenization," Paul Yu admitted. "Our strategic priorities are clearly focused on two points: maximizing hash rate efficiency and establishing energy infrastructure. These two pillars are core to Cango's transition from a 'mining enterprise' to a 'green energy comprehensive service provider.'"
Paul Yu stated that Cango's current strategic focus remains on the two core areas of hash rate and energy. This "knowing what to pursue and what to forgo" strategic determination reflects a mature enterprise's profound understanding of resource allocation efficiency. In the current landscape where opportunities abound in the Web 3.0 track, companies that can resist temptation and focus on core businesses are often better positioned to build long-term competitive advantages.

Conclusion: Traditional Finance and Web 3.0 are Merging

Cango's glamorous transformation from an "automotive finance enterprise" to a "Bitcoin mining enterprise" reflects another path choice for traditional listed companies seeking a second growth curve. Against the backdrop of an increasingly favorable policy environment and continuous inflow of institutional funds, more and more traditional enterprises are beginning to incorporate digital assets into their strategic considerations, with "token and stock integration" moving from concept to reality.
However, the success of transformation is by no means accidental. Cango's ability to become a leading mining enterprise in just nine months hinges on precise timing, efficient resource allocation, and clear strategic positioning. This reminds us that the transformation to Web 3.0 tests not only a company's foresight but also its execution and risk control capabilities.
As the Web 3.0 industry continues to flourish, long-term builders are gradually replacing short-term speculators, becoming the dominant force in industry development. Cango's transformation is undoubtedly an important part of this change.