Core Scientific Takes $41.9M Loss to Dump Jack Dorsey Miners

Crypto miner Core Scientific has taken a stinging $41.9 million loss to completely walk away from its Bitcoin mining hardware deal with Jack Dorsey's Block. Financial reports show that Core handed Block at least $67.9 million starting in 2024 for specialized mining chips. The company paid $10 million in July 2024, another $21.3 million in January 2025, and a final $36.6 million in January 2026. Despite paying out millions, Core chose to terminate the agreement and cancel all future equipment deliveries to pursue a new business strategy.

The timing of the exit points to a shift toward high performance computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure. Just a day before the settlement, Core signed massive 15 year property leases covering 529 megawatts, mostly dedicated to AMD. Those data center leases are expected to pull in more than $14 billion in contracted revenue, proving that renting space for AI chips currently makes more business sense than running Dorsey's hardware.

Block has faced a rough patch with several business setbacks alongside this mining contract cancellation. The company previously wrote down large sums on its Tidal acquisition and dealt with major regulatory fines over Cash App. Block also announced steep workforce reductions, cutting its staff by nearly half. Market watchers will keep a close eye on Block as it prepares to share its next quarterly financial results, especially since management has not yet issued a public comment on the Core Scientific fallout.