Core Scientific shares tumble on first day of relisting

After a little over a year of bankruptcy proceedings, bitcoin mining company Core Scientific has completed its reorganization requirements. The firm announced its relisting on the Nasdaq on Wednesday.

Core Scientific (CORZ) shares immediately plummeted more than 30% after the opening bell Wednesday, dipping to around $3.50 from their opening price of $5.89.

“Price volatility is not a surprise,” a spokesperson for Core Scientific told Blockworks. “We remain focused on executing our pragmatic growth plan to deliver long-term shareholder value.”

The company filed for bankruptcy in December 2022 after struggling to cover debt obligations after bitcoin lost more than 60% of its value from 2021. Core was among several mining operations that took out high-interest loans to fund growth amid the 2021 bull market.

The reorganization plan, which the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas approved last week, called for “100% recovery to all creditors…and significant recovery to existing equity holders,” according to court documents. The plan includes the equitization of about $400 million in secured and unsecured claims, as well as a decrease in annual debt service by roughly $60 million.

Core said Tuesday that it had emerged from “from Chapter 11 with a strengthened balance sheet” after successfully reducing its debt by $400 million “through the conversion of equipment lender and convertible note holder debt to equity.”

Bitcoin mining stocks broadly posted mixed returns Wednesday, with Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms losing 3.5% and 2.7%, respectively, midway through the session. Hut 8 Corp, which is down close to 50% since the start of 2024, managed to stay in the green Wednesday with a modest gain of 0.3%.

Analysts from Blockworks Research say that the discrepancy may be a sign that mining stockholders are moving away from the asset. This change could be due to the availability of new spot ETFs, which provide a more direct method for gaining bitcoin exposure.

“There’s also the upcoming bitcoin halving (which will reduce miners’ primary source of income by 50%), but that should come as even less of a surprise, seeing as it’s been foreordained since 2008,” Blockworks analysts said in a Jan. 18 note.

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