Canaan's (CAN -1.51%) shares ended up having quite the explosive week on the market, in the best way possible. Following news Thursday morning that it had been on the receiving end of a very sizable order of the crypto mining equipment in which it specializes, investors tripped over themselves buying up the stock.

At the end of the day, Canaan's shares flew 27% higher in price, during a session when the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.13%) barely eked out a gain.

50,000-plus reasons to smile

Just after market open that morning, Canaan reported -- no doubt with great pleasure -- that a client it did not identify placed an order for over 50,000 of its current-generation Avalon A15 Pro mining machines. This is the company's largest order in three years, which in crypto industry terms is quite a long stretch.

Person at a desk using a PC and tablet computer simultaneously.

Image source: Getty Images.

The company wasn't particularly forthcoming with details. In addition to keeping mum on the customer's identity, it did not put a dollar value on the order.

That didn't matter to investors, as such an unexpectedly large outlay can only be healthy for Canaan's fundamentals.

In the press release announcing the order, Canaan quoted CEO Nangeng Zhang as saying that the deal "highlights not only the strength of our Avalon A15 Pro, but also our deep commitment to serving customers worldwide, with a particular focus on building long-term partnerships in the U.S. market."

Knock-on effects

In addition to giving a serious lift to Canaan's stock, positive investor sentiment from the deal helped crank up the share prices of crypto miners (one of which, after all, just might be the customer in question).

As the Avalon A15 was designed with Bitcoin mining in mind (although it's also capable of producing altcoins), the arrangement also contributed to the coin's rise in value Thursday.