Written by: KarenZ, Foresight News
This week (July 7), NASDAQ-listed mining company Bit Digital (BTBT) announced the completion of its comprehensive transition to an Ethereum treasury strategy, accumulating its Ethereum holdings to over 100,000 ETH.
This move not only marks a comprehensive shift in its business focus from Bitcoin mining to the Ethereum ecosystem, demonstrating firm confidence in the long-term potential of the Ethereum ecosystem, but also reflects the increasing institutional attractiveness of Ethereum.
This article will analyze Bit Digital's development history, transformation background, and the core motivations for its shift to Ethereum.
The past and present of Bit Digital.
Predecessor: Deeply mired in crisis as 'China's first car loan stock'.
Bit Digital's predecessor traces back to Dianniu Financial Limited (Golden Bull Limited). Dianniu Financial was established in November 2015 in Shanghai, focusing on auto mortgage loans as its core business.
According to the International Financial News, Dianniu Financial once disclosed on its official website that in January 2016, it received 20 million yuan in angel investment at its launch (co-funded by Zeng Erxin and Liu Xiaohui); in May 2016, Dianniu Financial completed its Series B financing, with Huishi Equity Investment Fund (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (Huishi Fund) and Shaanxi Xifeng Investment Co., Ltd. (Xifeng Investment) jointly investing; in December 2016, Dianniu Financial again secured 200 million yuan in Series C financing. However, there are also allegations of 'fraudulent financing in three rounds' and 'false advertising.'
Listed on NASDAQ in March 2018, with the stock code 'DNJR', touted as 'China's first car loan stock'.
But good times didn't last long. In 2019, as the domestic P2P industry faced turmoil and cleanup, Dianniu Financial was investigated by the Shanghai Public Security Bureau in July 2019 for allegedly illegally absorbing public deposits, with 17 suspects being subjected to criminal coercive measures. The actual controller was also placed on the 'red notice' list. The company's stock price plummeted, nearing delisting. In October of the same year, the company's board removed the original chairman and CEO, Zeng Erxin, CFO, Leng Jing, and director Liu Xiaohui, subsequently forming a new management team.
Transition: Car leasing, Bitcoin mining business.
After the collapse of the P2P business, Dianniu Financial gradually transitioned to car leasing and Bitcoin mining businesses.
In the third quarter of 2020, Dianniu Financial changed its name to Bit Digital, Inc., and its NASDAQ trading code was also changed to 'BTBT', divesting its original P2P lending business. The company headquarters was subsequently relocated to New York, USA.
In September 2020, Bit Digital registered a wholly-owned subsidiary, Bit Digital USA, Inc., in Delaware, USA, planning to operate its mining machines through this company and accelerate the strategy of relocating mining machines from China to North America.
In June 2021, following China's comprehensive ban on cryptocurrency mining activities, Bit Digital suspended its remaining mining operations in China, further accelerating its relocation strategy to North America.
From 2020 to 2021, Bit Digital expanded its scale through multiple rounds of financing for mining machine procurement and capacity expansion. By Q1 2021, Bit Digital had a total of 40,965 mining machines distributed across Xinjiang, Sichuan, Yunnan in China, and Texas, Nebraska, and Georgia in the USA, making Bitcoin mining the core source of revenue for Bit Digital, with Q1 mining revenue reaching $43.95 million. However, subsequently, with the migration of miners, production restrictions, and the overall increase in Bitcoin network hash rate, Bit Digital's revenue decreased.
It is worth mentioning that in April 2020, Yu Hong, who initiated the WeChat group 'Three O'clock Insomnia Blockchain', joined Dianniu Financial as Chief Strategy Officer and Director. However, in February 2021, with a 'major reshuffle' of Bit Digital's management, Yu Hong resigned from his positions. In April of the same year, Dianniu Financial also acquired its wholly-owned subsidiary, XMAX Chain Limited, located in Hong Kong, as its wholly-owned subsidiary in Hong Kong, with all Bitcoin mining operations in mainland China managed by XMAX Hong Kong. Yu Hong was an early investor in XMAX Chain and had once supported the project, but later announced his separation from XMAX Chain. Of course, Dianniu Financial later clarified that Yu Hong had no relation with XMAX Hong Kong.
Diversification exploration: Ethereum + cloud services + high-performance computing.
Starting at the end of 2022, Bit Digital began to reduce its reliance on single Bitcoin mining and initiated a diversified layout.
In December 2022, Bit Digital launched Ethereum staking business.
In 2023, Bit Digital established a subsidiary, WhiteFiber AI, Inc. (formerly Bit Digital AI, Inc.), venturing into cloud services.
In June 2024, WhiteFiber HPC, Inc. (formerly Bit Digital HPC, Inc.) was established, focusing on high-performance computing (HPC) business. In October of the same year, it acquired Canada's Enovum Data Centers Corp to strengthen HPC data center capabilities.
In March of this year, Bit Digital established WhiteFiber Canada, Inc., forming a multi-regional collaborative network for HPC and cloud services.
Comprehensive transition to an Ethereum treasury management strategy company.
In early July 2025, Bit Digital announced the completion of its transition to an Ethereum treasury management strategy, recently raising approximately $172 million in total revenue and using net capital to purchase Ethereum. In addition, Bit Digital sold about 280 Bitcoins and used the proceeds to increase its ETH holdings.
Including the previously held 24,434 ETH (as of March 31, 2025), Bit Digital's total ETH holdings reached 100,603.
Meanwhile, Bit Digital's official profile has also been updated, stating, "Bit Digital is a publicly listed digital asset platform focused on Ethereum-native asset management and staking strategies."
Regarding the HPC business, in February 2025, Bit Digital officially renamed its HPC business to WhiteFiber, Inc., encompassing its GPU cloud services and HPC data center platform, Enovum Data Centers.
Why All in on Ethereum?
Sam Tabar, CEO of Bit Digital, clearly stated: "We believe Ethereum has the potential to rewrite the entire financial system. Ethereum's programmable features, increasing adoption rate, and staking yield model represent the future of digital assets. Bit Digital aligns itself with Ethereum's long-term potential and positions itself as a funds management platform for Ethereum. Bit Digital plans to actively increase its holdings to ultimately become a leading ETH holding company globally."
In Bit Digital's view, Ethereum is becoming a new strategic corporate asset class, similar to historical gold and government bonds, but more dynamic — relying on the largest developer ecosystem globally (far exceeding other blockchains), Ethereum's technological innovations are continuously iterating.
Of course, as a company originally focused on Bitcoin mining, the transition of Bit Digital to the Ethereum ecosystem is influenced not only by macro trends in the cryptocurrency industry but also by internal financial and operational considerations.
Bitcoin mining profitability is under pressure.
Intensified competition for computing power + Bitcoin halving: The difficulty of Bitcoin mining continues to rise, leading to a decrease in miners' marginal profits.
Bitcoin mining highly relies on cheap electricity, and Bit Digital was forced to relocate to North America in 2021 due to China's crackdown on mining operations, resulting in a significant increase in operating and compliance costs.
The profitability of Bit Digital's digital asset mining continues to weaken: in Q1 2025, Bit Digital's digital asset mining revenue was $7.77 million, a decrease of 64% compared to $21.89 million in Q1 2024. Meanwhile, the costs associated with digital asset revenue dropped from $12.98 million in Q1 2024 to $6.12 million. The cost-to-income ratio, which can reflect profitability, was 59% in Q1 2024 and rose to 78% in Q1 2025, not including depreciation and amortization expenses (totaling $7.24 million across all businesses). A higher cost-to-income ratio indicates that the cost corresponding to each unit of income is higher, meaning weaker profitability.
The company's business structure is imbalanced, with the proportion of digital mining revenue continuously declining: in Q1 2025, this business revenue accounted for only 31% of total revenue, compared to 72% in the same period of 2024, urgently needing new growth points to support performance.
The attractiveness of the Ethereum ecosystem.
In 2024, ETH staking revenue was $600,000, a 72% increase compared to the same period last year. As of March 31, 2025, Bit Digital had approximately 21,568 ETH staked in the native staking protocol. After increasing its Ethereum holdings to 100,603, Bit Digital stated that it is not just purchasing tokens but is allocating its reserves to a protocol.
Ethereum's staking mechanism allows holders to obtain relatively stable annualized returns by locking up tokens. Compared to the high energy consumption and uncertainty of Bitcoin mining, staking provides more predictable returns. High-energy mining activities are restricted under carbon neutrality goals, while Ethereum's proof-of-stake mechanism has extremely low energy consumption, aligning more with the trend of global sustainable development.
Institutional allocation is shifting towards diversification: as the adoption rate of the Ethereum ecosystem increases, institutional investors are gradually shifting from Bitcoin-centric allocations to diversification and beginning to pay attention to the long-term value of Ethereum.
In summary, Bit Digital's development journey is a process of transformation and breakthrough from adversity: from being deeply mired in crisis as a Chinese P2P platform, to being listed on NASDAQ, then transforming into a Bitcoin mining enterprise, laying out HPC and AI, and finally fully transitioning to Ethereum when mining revenue fell short of expectations, its strategic adjustments have consistently followed trends. However, this bet on Ethereum also faces new challenges — performance will be highly tied to Ethereum's price.
For the crypto industry, Bit Digital's transformation is both a reflection of the increasing attractiveness of the Ethereum ecosystem and an indication that institutional investors and mining companies' allocation logic for digital assets is evolving from 'mining for profit' to 'long-term asset holding'. In the future, as the Ethereum ecosystem continues to mature, more institutions may join this track.
