Bitcoin Mining Hosting Due Diligence: Contract & Site Checklist

Hosting places valuable, power-intensive equipment in another party’s possession. The decisive questions are not slogans or a headline energy number. They are which entity owes each duty, which site and utility documents support it, how performance is measured, who can control the equipment, and how the customer can recover it.

No revenue, block, uptime or return is promised. Network conditions, equipment performance, curtailment, fees, taxes and market conditions change. Use this page to collect evidence; use qualified counsel, tax and customs advisers, an insurance professional, and the applicable electrical and fire authorities for decisions within their scope.

Map every party and location

Record the legal name, registration number, status, registered office and authorized signer for the contracting entity. Then identify every affiliate, site owner, landlord, subhost, utility account holder, network operator, repairer and return warehouse. A brand name or sales representative is not a substitute for the entity that owes the obligation.

• Confirm the entity in the relevant federal, provincial, territorial or foreign registry and request current constating and authority documents where material.
• Obtain the exact operating, storage and repair addresses in the evidence package and contract. A tour or photograph does not prove control of the premises.
• Review the lease, title, sublease and landlord consent under confidentiality if necessary. Confirm that permitted use, electrical capacity and term cover the service commitment.
• Identify assignment and subcontracting rights. Require notice and consent rules for movement of equipment or transfer of material duties.
• Search official insolvency records and request proportionate financial evidence. A clean search is historical, not proof of present solvency.

Verify power authority, tariff and curtailment

Ask for the actual utility or municipal-system account, rate schedule, authorized demand, service voltage, firm or non-firm status, demand and minimum charges, loss adjustments, excess-use treatment and connection limitations. Require recent invoices and the relevant service documents under a reasonable confidentiality process. The customer should be able to reconcile its allocation to the site’s bill and meter data.

Québec’s Rate CB is a useful warning against assuming that a low energy component is the whole cost. The current tariff has defined eligibility, authorized-demand, billing-demand and non-firm-service provisions. Municipal-system treatment can differ. A host’s customer price is a separate contract price and must not be presented as though it were the utility tariff.

For curtailment, define the legal or contractual source, triggers, maximum duration, notice, allocation among customers, shutdown and restart sequence, meter treatment, billing, credits, event logs, SLA treatment and whether the operator may curtail for economic reasons beyond utility instructions.

Normalize the invoice without predicting returns

Itemize energy, demand or capacity, transformation and electrical losses, cooling, network, monitoring, maintenance, minimum consumption, setup, storage, repair, insurance, freight, taxes, foreign exchange and every pass-through. Define each index, change-in-law mechanism, supporting document and audit right. State whether decreases pass through as well as increases.

effective pre-tax CAD/kWh = all non-tax hosting charges ÷ customer-attributed metered kWh

Calculate a separate cash-cost figure including taxes and one-time charges. Define meter ownership, interval, time zone, calibration, allocation method, correction process and dispute threshold. Neither figure predicts mining revenue or investment performance.

Make the SLA measurable

An uptime percentage is meaningful only after the service layer and evidence are defined. Site power available, miner reachable, local reported hashrate and pool-side accepted hashrate are different measures. Specify the eligible-minute denominator, downtime start and stop events, authoritative clock, planned-maintenance notice and cap, curtailment, network or pool exclusions, customer-caused exclusions and force-majeure language.

Define the credit formula, cap, claim window, evidence, whether credits are the sole remedy, and a termination right for recurring or prolonged failure. A 99% annual denominator permits 87.6 hours of downtime before exclusions; it does not promise accepted work or revenue. Ask for a consistent historical event log, but treat it as evidence about the disclosed measurement method rather than a forecast.

Control deposits, invoices and payment changes

• State the deposit or prepayment amount, ownership, permitted use, application date, refund conditions, replenishment, credit expiry and treatment on termination or insolvency.
• Define billing periods, invoice detail, taxes, disputed amounts, cure, late charges, suspension limits and the final reconciliation.
• If payment uses bitcoin, define the fiat conversion source and timestamp, network fee, confirmation rule, underpayment, overpayment, refund-address validation and tax invoice.
• Verify initial and changed payment instructions out of band using a previously authenticated contact. Require dual approval for material destination changes.
• Never provide a wallet seed or private key. A hosting operator does not need either to power or monitor a miner.

Protect title, possession, liens and insurance

Attach a serial-number schedule and condition record. State that title remains with the customer if that is the deal, prohibit substitution or commingling without written approval, and allocate risk of loss during inbound transit, operation, repair, movement, storage and return.

Title language alone may not answer retention, security-interest, landlord, lender or insolvency questions. In Québec, Civil Code article 2293 can give a depositary a right to retain deposited property until payment. The legal characterization and enforceability are fact-specific. Use the applicable movable-property registry, contract review and, where appropriate, landlord, lender or site-operator recognition or waiver. Do not promise that a private clause overrides third-party rights or an insolvency stay.

For insurance, request the insurer, named insured, policy period, territory, limits, deductibles and relevant wording or endorsements. Review equipment in care, custody or control; equipment breakdown; fire, water and flood; theft or crime; cyber; and business interruption. Check exclusions for mining, unattended equipment, heat, electrical events and particular sites. A certificate is evidence at a point in time, not proof that every loss is covered. Define loss-payee or additional-insured treatment where appropriate, valuation, claims control and each party’s own insurance obligation.

Assign pool, payout, firmware and repair control

The contract must identify who may change the pool URL, worker, payout address, firmware, administrator password, remote access, reboot schedule, power mode, voltage, frequency or tuning. Require documented authorization and change logs for payout redirection, firmware installation, factory resets and tuning. The customer should retain payout control and receive credential-reset evidence at exit.

Require unique credentials, multi-factor authentication where supported, least privilege, network segmentation, configuration backups, staged patches and a written incident process. The contract should state whether the operator may redirect work during maintenance or testing and how every such event is approved and reported.

Repair authorization and parts

Define diagnostic scope and fee, quote and spending threshold, emergency-work limit, approved parts and firmware, manufacturer-warranty effects, turnaround estimate and test evidence. Address board or power-supply swaps, serial tracking, ownership of removed parts, salvage, disposal, data and configuration handling, unresolved-fault return, packaging and freight. “On-site repair” is not a response-time or outcome promise.

Require telemetry, reconciliation and audit evidence

Specify customer access to machine status, temperatures, power, restarts, firmware and configuration changes, curtailment, incidents, maintenance and customer-attributed meter data. Pool-side accepted and rejected work is distinct from a device’s local reported hashrate.

Define dashboard latency, API or export format, retention period, time zone, corrections, raw utility-invoice access, audit frequency and cost, discrepancy threshold and remedy. State which party owns operational records and how they are delivered at termination. Evidence can be redacted to protect other customers, but an unexplained refusal remains Unknown.

Verify the site; do not infer compliance

Electrical approval, installation and fire

Request the approval mark or serial-specific field-evaluation evidence for each complete end-use product where required. A component mark does not necessarily approve an assembled miner, panel or cooling system. Obtain the applicable single-line and load documentation, contractor credentials, permits and inspection records. Confirm service voltage, continuous-load design, overcurrent protection, conductors, connectors, grounding or bonding, ventilation and emergency isolation with the authority and qualified professionals responsible for the site.

Obtain the occupancy-appropriate fire plan and current inspection or maintenance records for alarms, detection, suppression, extinguishers, egress and emergency systems. A utility connection, facility tour or insurance certificate does not establish electrical, building or fire compliance.

Zoning, noise, cooling and environment

Confirm permitted use, occupancy, building work, zoning and municipal noise or nuisance rules at the exact site. Identify cooling technology, heat and air discharge, water use, coolant or refrigerant, spill response and waste handling. Determine whether environmental authorization is required for the actual location and activity. Grid mix does not prove dedicated renewable supply or a specific environmental benefit; any public environmental claim needs defined boundaries, current evidence and legally adequate substantiation.

Resolve tax, customs, cross-border data and consumer scope

The agreement should identify supplier and recipient locations, tax registrations, whether amounts include tax, and the invoice information needed for the parties’ records. GST, HST and QST treatment depends on the supply, place-of-supply rules, registration and facts; obtain advice rather than copying a rate from a general guide.

For equipment crossing a border, name the importer and exporter of record, customs broker authority, classification, origin, valuation, applicable duties and taxes, freight responsibility, repair-return process and responsibility for delay, examination or seizure. Do not assume a universal ASIC classification or duty result. Preserve commercial accounting and transport records.

Inventory and telemetry can include information linked to individuals. Define collection purposes, access, subprocessors, storage locations, retention, deletion, export, safeguards and breach notification. For personal information handled outside Québec, assess the additional Québec requirements; interprovincial or international commercial handling can also engage federal privacy law.

Do not describe every customer as a consumer or every contract as business-only. Québec’s consumer statute defines a consumer as a natural person other than a merchant obtaining goods or services for business purposes. Mixed-use and other provincial facts require jurisdiction-specific review.

Plan termination, insolvency and return before deployment

Define termination for cause and convenience, cure, change of control, insolvency events, suspension limits, continuing duties, governing law, dispute process, assignment, limitation, indemnity, force majeure and document precedence. Test how these clauses interact rather than reading them in isolation.

The return schedule should cover serial-level shutdown and condition reports, credential reset, release conditions, disputed invoices, access or pickup authority, deadlines, storage, packaging, freight, insurance, customs, fees and unclaimed-property treatment. Identify the party able to enter the site if the contracting host is not the owner or operator.

Review official insolvency records, movable-property registrations and financial evidence, and consider site-owner, landlord, lender or subhost recognition of removal rights. Searches and contract language cannot ensure recovery in every insolvency. Independent counsel should assess security interests, stays, local remedies and practical access.

Bitcoin mining hosting decision worksheet

Use one worksheet per proposed contract. Record the exact document and clause rather than “confirmed by sales.” Do not create a provider score or ranking.

Decision rule: Any Unknown in identity or site control, utility authority, complete price, electrical, fire or permits, title, liens or return, or insurance is a stop condition. Resolve it before payment or shipment.

Primary sources and jurisdiction notes

Reviewed 29 August 2026. Tariffs, statutes, regulations, guidance and site facts change. Recheck the current text at contracting, renewal, site movement and any material service change.

• Hydro-Québec, 2026 Electricity Rates, Rate CB — Québec tariff example only; verify the actual site’s utility and service documents.
• Competition Act, section 74.01 and Competition Bureau environmental-claims guidance — public performance, warranty and environmental representations.
• Québec Construction Code, electrical equipment approval and RBQ fire-prevention requirements.
• Québec municipal permit and occupancy guidance and Québec environmental-authorization tool.
• Civil Code of Québec, article 2293 and Québec movable-rights registry — retention and registered-charge issues require legal interpretation.
• Québec enterprise registry and Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy search instructions.
• Revenu Québec taxable-supply guidance, CRA service place-of-supply guidance and CBSA commercial import accounting.
• Québec privacy guidance for information handled outside Québec and federal cross-border processing guidance.
• Canadian Centre for Cyber Security baseline controls.
• Québec Consumer Protection Act — applicability depends on the customer and purpose.

Frequently asked questions