NYDIG’s Parent Firm Stone Ridge Accuses Mawson of $30M Bitcoin Miner Theft

NYDIG’s parent company, Stone Ridge, and its recently acquired Bitcoin mining subsidiary, Consensus Colocation, have filed a lawsuit against their hosting partner, Mawson Infrastructure.

The lawsuit, filed this week in the state of Delaware, accuses Mawson of unlawfully taking possession of more than 20,000 ASIC miners owned by NYDIG and operated by Consensus at Mawson’s Midland facility in Pennsylvania.

The plaintiffs claim that Mawson has been mining Bitcoin for itself using the allegedly stolen miners—valued at $30 million—since February 28, generating daily profits of between $100,000 and $200,000.

According to the lawsuit, Consensus and Stone Ridge entered into a colocation agreement in December 2023 and agreed to terminate the partnership by the end of March 2025, with a gradual reduction in colocation capacity leading up to the deadline to facilitate equipment removal.

However, in early February, Mawson sent two invoices to Stone Ridge totaling $1,978,000 for colocation fees and electricity prepayments for February and March. The plaintiffs disputed the charges, arguing that they had a mutual understanding that significantly less energy would be used during the final month of the contract.

The dispute escalated when Mawson changed the payout address for the hosted miners and revoked Consensus personnel’s access credentials. According to Stone Ridge, Mawson later justified the diversion, citing a provision in their colocation agreement.

According to the lawsuit, the hosting agreement stated that if the deposit fell below the required amount before April 1, 2024, Mawson had a limited right to redirect the hash rate of Consensus’s miners and use the proceeds to replenish the deposit—provided Consensus failed to pay other amounts owed to Mawson.

The plaintiffs contend that this provision does not apply in this case, arguing:

“On its face, it was operative only ‘prior to April 1, 2024’ and only in narrow circumstances relating to the replenishment of a deposit. When Mawson began redirecting the hash rate on February 28, the deposit was fully paid. And in any event, Mawson has stolen hash rate worth many times more than the $17,505.45 Mawson claims (without justification) that Consensus owes in purported ‘late fees.’”

The lawsuit seeks an injunction to restore the hosting agreement, demanding that Mawson reinstate access to the miners as part of the removal process.