A Letter from Leo Lu, Chairman and CEO of BitFuFu
I first entered the digital asset world in 2017, when Bitcoin was trading around $3,000. What struck me most then—and what has been validated repeatedly over the years—is Bitcoin’s remarkable resilience. Despite enduring multiple bear markets, Bitcoin’s adoption has continued to grow steadily. The number of holders increases. Institutional acceptance deepens. The infrastructure becomes increasingly robust.
I’m grateful I stepped into this space in 2017, and even more grateful that five years ago, I had the opportunity to found BitFuFu and contribute meaningfully to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Lower the Threshold
When I established BitFuFu in 2020, Bitcoin mining had already become highly industrialized. For most individuals wanting to participate in mining, the barriers had grown substantially higher. While mining offers lower acquisition costs than purchasing Bitcoin directly, this advantage only materializes through precise cost and efficiency control, a challenge fraught with complexity. It involves procuring equipment, arranging logistics, managing hosting facilities, deploying monitoring systems, coordinating maintenance, and ensuring stable operations where any interruption can result in losses.
These challenges, manageable for professional institutions, present overwhelming obstacles for individuals. BitFuFu was founded to lower these barriers to entry.
My objective was clear: build a global cloud mining platform where users could simply log in, purchase hashrate, and begin mining Bitcoin, without worrying about hardware, logistics, or operations. We would handle all the operational complexity.
I believed this represented the most efficient path for users to acquire Bitcoin at reasonable cost while participating directly in securing the Bitcoin network. However, cloud mining services lacking transparency cannot earn user trust.
Transparency First (2021)
Cloud mining wasn’t a new concept, but many users had lost faith in the sector. Platforms with opaque operations, unverifiable data, and unfulfilled promises had damaged the industry’s credibility. From day one, BitFuFu made transparency our highest priority.
Through our platform, users rent genuine, reliable hashrate with clear, verifiable returns. Like traditional miners, they can choose mining pools, monitor hashrate in real-time, track the entire process from third-party pools to personal wallets, and maintain management and control. Our underlying technology is Aladdin, our proprietary system capable of managing, slicing, and dispatching ultra-large-scale hashrate with precision. These foundations, laid in our earliest days, became our most formidable competitive advantages.
2021 was a year of rapid growth for BitFuFu. In April, we launched our Antminer S19 Pro cloud mining service, bringing institutional-grade efficiency to retail users. In May, we introduced customized private mining solutions for larger clients. In the meantime, we established our global operations footprint, pursuing compliant and sustainable growth environments.
Navigating the Bear Market (2022-2023)
The following years brought severe tests to the crypto market. Amid Bitcoin’s extreme volatility, numerous mining companies found themselves in distress—many from overexpansion, excessive leverage, or concentrated geographic exposure.
We chose a more prudent path, gradually refining our distinctive "dual-engine model": serving global users through cloud mining services for stable cash flow, while maintaining self-mining operations for long-term Bitcoin exposure. This flexibility enabled us to adjust hashrate allocation dynamically based on market conditions.
In December 2022, even at the bear market’s nadir, we launched the industry’s first Antminer S19 XP cloud mining service. The S19 XP represented the top of mining efficiency at the time, and we made it accessible to users worldwide. During those years, we also built a globally distributed network spanning North America, Africa, and beyond. By the end of 2023, we had become one of the most geographically diversified mining companies in the industry.
Throughout 2023, regardless of Bitcoin’s volatility, demand for our services continued growing. We dynamically adjusted service pricing based on Bitcoin’s price, allowing us to attract users during low-price periods while maintaining engagement as prices rose.
Public Listing and Strategic Expansion (2024)
By 2024, years of disciplined operations had borne fruit. According to Frost & Sullivan, BitFuFu has become the world’s largest cloud mining platform, serving hundreds of thousands of users while achieving profitability every year.
On March 1, 2024, we listed on Nasdaq (ticker: FUFU), one of the most thrilling moments of my life. The night before, we had driven from Boston to New York, and I barely slept. I had prepared a new suit but nearly forgot my tie, ultimately purchasing one hastily just before the bell-ringing ceremony.
Going public wasn’t merely about raising capital. It was a commitment to the highest standards of transparency, governance, and accountability. For BitFuFu, these requirements aligned perfectly with our philosophy: large-scale mining must be compliant, transparent, and reliable.
As our scale expanded, our strategy evolved accordingly. In October 2024, we acquired an 80MW mining facility in Ethiopia—our first self-owned facility. This marked a critical step toward upstream assets and controlled power costs. Through direct operations, we could better optimize performance, control costs, and capture more of the value chain. With Africa’s abundant hydropower resources, the Ethiopia project also reflected our commitment to sustainable, diversified energy.
That December, we signed a two-year framework purchase agreement with Bitmain for up to 80,000 S21 series miners. This was one of the industry’s largest equipment procurement agreements, ensuring continued access to efficient hardware as we scale.
The Journey Continues (2025)
Entering 2025, BitFuFu’s pace accelerated further.
We launched BitFuFu Pool to aggregate hashrate and introduced BitFuFuOS, increasing mining efficiency by up to 20%. By providing these tools, we’re progressively achieving full end-to-end coverage—from mining machines to services—building a truly comprehensive mining platform.
In February 2025, we acquired a 51MW Bitcoin mining facility in Oklahoma, marking our entry into the U.S. market with owned infrastructure. North America has always been our strategic focus, and this facility complements our global footprint, securing low-cost, reliable energy in one of the most mining-friendly jurisdictions.
This year, BitFuFu managed peak hashrate exceeding 38 EH/s and peak power capacity reaching 752 megawatts. Our business portfolio spans cloud mining, self-mining, hosting, and equipment services, with a continuously growing global user base. Since establishment, we’ve cumulatively mined almost 30,000 Bitcoin, consistently creating value for our clients.
Looking Ahead
BitFuFu’s next phase will continue our transition from an asset-light model toward a more flexible integrated approach that incorporates strategic owned assets.
We’ll continue investing in energy innovation, controlling the full chain from fuel to electricity and exploring self-generated power for mining. We’ll further expand our mining services platform. We’ll explore financial innovation, connecting mining output with real-world assets (RWA) through compliant frameworks. And we’ll pursue disciplined global expansion, developing new regions and partnerships.
Through all of this, our core philosophy remains unchanged: Bitcoin mining is infrastructure for a decentralized future. We’re building for the next decade. We’re building for everyone who believes in Bitcoin. We remain focused on Bitcoin ecosystem development and committed to making greater contributions.
Thank You
No five-year journey is built alone.
To our users: You trusted us when trust was scarce. Your belief sustained us through the hardest moments. You are why we exist.
To our partners: You scaled with us, believed in us, and helped us become what we are today.
To our team: You solved impossible problems and executed through uncertainty. Every milestone belongs to you.
To the Bitcoin community: Your belief in an open, resilient network inspires everything we build.
Five years is a milestone. But for BitFuFu, it’s only the beginning.
The journey continues.
