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1. What did NIP Group buy in its third Bitcoin mining deal?
NIP Group, the parent company of the esports organization Ninjas in Pyjamas, announced on October 27, 2026 that it had acquired a third batch of Bitcoin (BTC) mining machines, paying with more than 247 million of its Class A ordinary shares. The purchase raises the company's mining capacity to about 13.85 exahashes per second and lifts its monthly output target to roughly 195 BTC, worth about $2.8 million at current prices.
The deal is notable because a gaming and entertainment company is paying for mining hardware with its own equity at a time when the shares it is issuing have fallen sharply.
Mining is the process by which computers compete to validate Bitcoin transactions and add them to the blockchain, with the winning machine earning newly created coins. The more computing power a miner controls, the larger its share of those rewards, which is why companies measure their operations in hash rate and compete to add machines.
2. Why is an esports company expanding into Bitcoin mining?
Founder and chief executive Hicham Chahine says the timing is deliberate. He wants to build mining capacity while the market is cooling, rather than at a peak when competition is fiercer and equipment is more expensive to acquire. In his view, entering when sentiment is weak gives the company a better position than chasing the sector once it is already crowded.
Chahine also says NIP reviewed its entire business, not only the mining arm, with the goal of improving margins and finding a route to profitability. Mining passed that test. In his words, "Mining had to earn its place in that review, and it did." He describes the income from the machines as real revenue that can help support the company's other projects.
That framing is significant for a company best known for competitive gaming. Esports organizations typically depend on sponsorships, media rights and merchandise, which can be uneven from year to year. Bitcoin mining offers a different kind of income, tied to the price of the asset and the network's difficulty rather than to tournament results or advertising budgets.
The decision to buy during a downturn follows a familiar logic in the sector. When prices fall, mining becomes less profitable, some operators scale back, and equipment can be easier to obtain. A company that adds machines in those conditions is betting that the price of Bitcoin will recover enough for the larger operation to pay off, and Chahine's comments indicate that NIP is making exactly that wager.
3. How much capacity does NIP Group now have?
Chahine says the newly closed tranche brings the company's total capacity to about 13.85 exahashes per second (EH/s). An exahash is one quintillion calculations per second, and the figure is the standard way to measure how much computing power a miner contributes to the Bitcoin network. By that measure, he says, NIP now ranks among the largest publicly listed miners.
The company last year expanded its Bitcoin operation with a goal of 160 BTC per month. The latest acquisition adds 35 BTC to that figure, bringing the target to 195 BTC per month. At current prices, that output is worth about $2.8 million each month.
Chahine says the third batch of machines needs only a minimal ramp-up period before it begins producing, which means the added capacity should contribute to output without a long delay.
Output targets of this kind are estimates rather than guarantees. The number of coins a miner earns depends on its share of the network's total computing power, which changes as competitors add or remove machines, and on the value of Bitcoin, which determines what each coin is worth in dollars. The 195 BTC figure and the $2.8 million estimate are therefore best read as the company's goal at current prices, not a fixed return.
4. Paying with shares carries a cost for existing holders
NIP Group settled the purchase by issuing new shares instead of using cash. Issuing equity conserves cash, which is useful for a company that is trying to reach profitability, but it also increases the number of shares outstanding. When a company issues more than 247 million shares, each existing share represents a smaller portion of the business unless earnings grow enough to offset the dilution.
The market reaction since the announcement of the mining expansion has been negative. According to Yahoo Finance data, NIPG stock fell 40.7%, from $6.74 to $4, over the week since the Bitcoin announcement, reaching an all-time low. Over the same period Bitcoin itself dropped about 2%, to $79,820, based on price data.
The gap between the two moves suggests investors are reacting to more than the price of Bitcoin. The decline in NIPG is far larger than the decline in the asset the company is buying machines to mine, which indicates concern about the company's capital structure, its strategy or both.
For a company with a share price at a record low, paying in stock has an additional implication. Each share issued is worth less than it was a week earlier, so the seller of the machines receives equity whose value is falling, while NIP gives up a larger number of shares than it would have at the higher price. Both effects work against the existing shareholders, which may help explain why the stock reacted so strongly.
5. Could the mining sites switch to AI computing?
Chahine says the facilities could eventually be turned toward artificial intelligence infrastructure if the market calls for it. NIP, he says, will study what AI and high-performance computing customers are willing to pay, how long they are prepared to commit and whether the demand is lasting or temporary.
He is clear that any move would be driven by returns. Capacity would shift only if those workloads consistently outperform mining. As he put it, "If the numbers say shift, we shift."
Converting Bitcoin mining sites into AI data centers is not a quick process. It requires substantial work, and it cannot happen overnight. Chahine nevertheless argues that the infrastructure around the machines, including the power supply and the facilities themselves, provides a solid foundation for compute-heavy workloads.
The question of reusing mining facilities for AI has become common in the industry because the two activities share requirements: large amounts of electricity, cooling and secure sites. The machines themselves are different, however. Bitcoin miners are specialized chips built for one calculation, while AI workloads generally run on other hardware, which is part of why a conversion involves substantial work.
By tying any shift to a comparison of returns, Chahine leaves the decision open. The company is not committing to leave mining. It is saying that it will measure the income from AI customers against the income from Bitcoin and move capacity only where the numbers favor it. That position gives management flexibility, but it also means investors cannot yet know which business NIP will become.
6. A gaming company at heart
NIP Group describes itself as a digital entertainment company focused on esports and gaming. Its flagship brand, Ninjas in Pyjamas, fields professional teams in Counter-Strike 2, Valorant, League of Legends and Rocket League.
Chahine ties the compute strategy back to that identity. He says the use of AI would mean applying the existing footprint and expertise to compute-heavy jobs when the economics work. In his words, "We're a gaming and entertainment company at heart." He argues that fans of gaming already depend on computing power, so combining infrastructure with entertainment is a natural fit.
Whether investors accept that logic is the open question. The company is pursuing two goals at once: to grow a mining business that produces measurable monthly income, and to keep the option of redirecting that capacity to AI customers. Each depends on conditions the company does not control, including Bitcoin's price, the cost of power and the pricing of AI computing.
The statement that fans depend on compute also reflects how the company sees its customers. Modern games, streaming and online competition all rely on powerful hardware and networks. By linking its infrastructure plans to that audience, NIP presents mining and possible AI work as extensions of its existing identity rather than a departure from it.
7. What to watch next
The next indicators are practical ones. The first is whether the third batch of machines reaches the 195 BTC monthly target, given that management expects little ramp-up time. The second is the share price, which touched an all-time low of $4 in the week after the announcement and will show whether investors are willing to back the strategy. The third is any further disclosure on the AI evaluation Chahine described, including what customers would pay and how long they would commit.
For readers following the sector, the transaction is an example of a company outside the traditional mining industry adding hash rate through share issuance in a weak market. The outcome will depend on whether the extra capacity delivers the income management describes and whether the cost of dilution proves worth paying.
The deal also adds to a wider picture of how smaller listed companies are funding growth. With cash scarce and share prices under pressure, paying in equity allows a firm to obtain assets without drawing down its balance sheet, at the cost of dilution. That trade-off is the central risk in NIP's approach, and the next few quarters will show whether the added mining income is enough to justify it.