2025 witnessed an explosive development of the cryptocurrency market as major companies heavily invested in the field. Cango (CANG), a Shanghai-based auto lending company, made waves in the bitcoin mining industry by acquiring 50 exahashes per second (EH/s) of mining power. Valued at 363 million dollars, Cango is expected to become one of the largest bitcoin miners in the world when their equipment goes into operation. The company spent 256 million dollars for an initial 32 EH/s from Bitmain and will fund an additional 18 EH/s with 144 million dollars in stock.
Cango's stock price has increased by more than 362% by the end of the year, attracting a lot of attention from the market. Once primarily focused on auto lending and vehicle exports, Cango has demonstrated diversification into bitcoin mining, alongside previous efforts in renewable energy and electric vehicles. Cango's management emphasizes the operational advantages of bitcoin mining, such as flexibility in balancing energy consumption. Upon completion, the company will contribute about 6% of Bitcoin's total hash rate. Currently, Cango still relies on Bitmain for infrastructure and support as they venture into the new field. Looking to the future, the company hopes to build a more efficient in-house operation and adjust its bitcoin holdings depending on market conditions. In November 2024, Cango successfully mined 363.9 BTC, worth approximately 35 million dollars.
Another highlight this year is the launch of the 'Solana Winternitz Vault' – a vault solution against quantum computing to protect users' assets from potential threats posed by quantum computers. This solution uses a hash-based signature system that generates new keys for each transaction, making coordinated attacks by quantum computers more difficult. Currently, the Winternitz vault is optional and must be used as an alternative to traditional wallets to ensure maximum security.
Looking to the future, the cryptocurrency market still faces challenges from new technologies such as quantum computing. While Ethereum is also considering quantum-resistant solutions, co-founder Vitalik Buterin believes that real threats from quantum computers are still distant. However, it is evident that the security movement is gaining more attention as the cryptocurrency industry matures and grows stronger.
