DarkHorse Technologies Inc.

Overview

Sphere 3D was incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) on May 2, 2007 as T.B. Mining Ventures Inc. On March 24, 2015, we completed a short-form amalgamation with a wholly-owned subsidiary. In connection with the short-form amalgamation, we changed our name to “Sphere 3D Corp.” Any reference to the “Company”, “Sphere 3D”, “we”, “our”, “us”, or similar terms refers to Sphere 3D Corp. and its subsidiaries. In December 2014, we completed the acquisition of Overland Storage, Inc. (“Overland”) to grow our business in the containerization and virtualization technologies along with data management products that enabled workload-optimized solutions. In November 2018, we sold our Overland business. In January 2022, we commenced operations of our Bitcoin mining business and are dedicated to becoming a leader in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. We have established and plan to continue to grow an enterprise-scale mining operation through the procurement of mining equipment and partnering with experienced service providers. On December 28, 2023, we sold our Service and Product segment, which included HVE ConneXions and Unified ConneXions, and plan to focus on growing our Bitcoin mining operation.

Bitcoin and Blockchain

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that operates on a peer-to-peer network, allowing users to send and receive payments without relying on banks or central authorities. It runs on a public blockchain, a distributed ledger where all transactions are recorded and secured through cryptographic verification. Within the Bitcoin ecosystem, there are three key participants: users, miners, and nodes. Users are individuals or businesses that send, receive, or store Bitcoin, typically using wallets. Miners are participants who use computational power to solve complex mathematical puzzles, validating transactions and adding them to the blockchain in exchange for newly minted Bitcoin and transaction fees as a reward for their work. Nodes are computers that maintain a full copy of the blockchain and help verify transactions, ensuring the network remains secure and decentralized. Together, these participants enable Bitcoin to function as a trustless, borderless, and censorship-resistant financial system.

In the Bitcoin network, transactions must be validated before they are added to the blockchain. When a user initiates a transaction, it is broadcast to the network and enters the mempool, where it awaits confirmation. Full nodes verify the transaction by checking the sender’s balance and digital signature against the blockchain’s history. Once verified, miners compete to include the transaction in a new block through a process called Proof of Work, where they solve a complex cryptographic puzzle to find a valid hash that meets the network’s difficulty requirements. The first miner to solve the puzzle broadcasts the new block to the network, and if other nodes verify its validity, it is permanently added to the blockchain. As a reward for securing the network, the winning miner receives a block reward, which consists of newly minted Bitcoin—currently 3.125 BTC as of 2024—along with transaction fees paid by users. Over time, as the block reward continues to halve approximately every four years, transaction fees will become an increasingly important incentive for miners to continue securing the network. This system ensures Bitcoin remains decentralized, secure, and resistant to inflation.

As of December 31, 2024, we held approximately 14.9 Bitcoin. The fair value of our Bitcoin as of December 31, 2024 was approximately $1.4 million on our consolidated balance sheet.

In September 2024, we entered into a letter of intent with Simple Mining LLC (“Simple Mining”) to build-out a 12.5 megawatt (“MW”) site in Iowa with Simple Mining managing the build-out of the infrastructure for the new mining site. Due to delays in permitting and timeline, we shifted to a different site, under the same construct and power cost assumptions, reducing the overall capacity from 12.5 MW to 8 MW. For the year ended December 31, 2024, we made payments of $1.4 million towards the infrastructure.

Subsequent to December 31, 2024, we incurred additional costs of $1.4 million towards the infrastructure of the new 8 MW mining site in Iowa. The 8 MW site was energized on March 10, 2025. In March 2025, we entered into a Managed Services Agreement with Simple Mining to operate the site on our behalf.

Bitcoin Mining

We obtain Bitcoin as a result of our mining operations, and when necessary we sell Bitcoin to support our operations and strategic growth. We mine Bitcoin in Missouri, Texas and Iowa, which do not have any material state-specific regulatory restrictions on the mining of Bitcoin. However, it is possible that these states or other states in which we may seek to operate may create laws that would impede Bitcoin mining. We do not currently plan to engage in regular trading of Bitcoin other than sales to convert our Bitcoin into U.S. dollars. Decisions to hold or sell our Bitcoin are currently made by management by analyzing forecasts and monitoring the market in real time. We have a hybrid treasury strategy to hold Bitcoin when possible, and sell to fund working capital requirements.

A key component of the Bitcoin mining business segment is to acquire highly specialized computer servers (known in the industry as “miners”), which operate application-specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”) chips designed specifically to mine Bitcoin, and deploy such miners at-scale utilizing our hosting agreements. ASIC miners are the most effective and energy-efficient machines available today, and we believe deploying them at-scale, will enable us to continue growing our hashrate and optimize the output and longevity of our miners as they are deployed.

Our Bitcoin mining operation is focused on maximizing our ability to successfully mine Bitcoin by growing our hashrate (the amount of computer power we devote to supporting the Bitcoin blockchain), to increase our chances of successfully creating new blocks on the Bitcoin blockchain (a process known as “proof of work”). Generally, the greater share of the Bitcoin blockchain’s total network hashrate (the aggregate hashrate deployed to solving a block on the Bitcoin blockchain) a miner’s hashrate represents, the greater that miner’s chances of solving a block and, therefore, earning the block reward. As the proliferation of Bitcoin continues and the market price for Bitcoin increases, we expect additional miner operators to enter the market in response to an increased demand for Bitcoin which we anticipate to follow increased Bitcoin prices. As these new miner operators enter the market and as increasingly powerful miners are deployed in an attempt to solve a block, the Bitcoin blockchain’s network hashrate grows, meaning an existing miner must increase its hashrate at pace commensurate with the growth of network hashrate to maintain its relative chance of solving a block and earning a block reward. As we expect this trend to continue, we will need to continue growing our hashrate to compete in our dynamic and highly competitive industry.

As of December 31, 2024, we owned approximately 14,000 miners, of which approximately 6,300 were in service, and a total hashrate capacity of 0.76 exahash per second (“EH/s”). We are strategizing for our future growth by refreshing a significant portion of our fleet with newer-generation machines to bolster efficiency and developing a 8 MW site in Iowa. Vertically integrating with self owned facilities, like the Iowa site, allows us to reduce our reliance on third-parties and decrease our overall cost to mine a Bitcoin. As a result of our strategic changes, during the third and fourth quarter of 2024 mining production decreased as we focused on our long-term strategic goals of transitioning to lower-cost hosting sites, vertically integrating to own our own sites, and refreshing our fleet with newer-generation machines.

In 2024, we mined 286.3 Bitcoin, which represented a decrease of 57.1% over the 667.4 Bitcoin we mined in 2023. The decrease was primarily due to the halving event in April 2024 and our strategic plan to transition to lower-cost hosting sites and refresh our fleet with newer-generation machines. Based on our existing operations and expected deployment of miners we have purchased, we anticipate having approximately 1.5 EH/s of total hashrate in operation during 2025. We plan to continue to acquire new generation miners as we expand our exahash. We do not have scheduled downtime for our miners. We periodically perform both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance on our miners. Depending on the type of repair, the miner may run at a reduced speed or be taken offline. We use multiple software programs to monitor the performance of our machines. The miners owned as of December 31, 2024 have an average efficiency (joules per terahash – “J/th”) of 27.1 J/th. The miner efficiency is an indication of how efficiently we can earn Bitcoin and minimize cost to run the miner. Currently, we intend only to mine Bitcoin and we hold no other cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin. We do not have any power purchase agreements for the supply of power.

Mining Pools

A mining pool is a service operated by a mining pool operator that pools the resources of individual miners to share their processing power over a network. Mining pools emerged in response to the growing difficulty and network hash rate competing for Bitcoin rewards on the Bitcoin blockchain as a way of lowering costs and reducing the risk of an individual miner’s mining activities. The mining pool operator coordinates the computing power of the independent mining enterprises participating in the mining pool. Mining pools are subject to various risks such as disruption and down time. In the event that a pool we utilize experiences down time or is not yielding returns, our results may be impacted.

We are engaged with Bitcoin mining pool operators as our customers, to provide a service to perform hash calculations for the mining pool operator, which is our only performance obligation. Providing hash calculation services is an output of our ordinary activities. We have service agreements with Foundry Digital LLC and Luxor Technology Corporation, each a mining pool operator, to provide a service to perform hash calculations. In exchange for providing the service, we are entitled to Full Pay Per Share (“FPPS”), which is a fractional share of the fixed Bitcoin award the mining pool operator receives, plus a fractional share of the transaction fees attached to that blockchain less net Bitcoin fees due to the mining pool operator over the measurement period, as applicable. The pay-outs received are based on the expected value from the block reward plus the transaction fee reward, regardless of whether the mining pool operator successfully records a block to the blockchain.

Our fractional share is based on a contractual formula, which primarily calculates the hashrate provided to the mining pool as a percentage of total network hashrate and other inputs. The contracts, which are less than 24 hours and continuously renew throughout the day, are terminable at any time by either party without compensation and our enforceable right to compensation only begins when we start providing the service to the mining pool operator, which begins daily at midnight Universal Time Coordinated (“UTC”). The terms, conditions, and compensation are at the current market rates, and accordingly the renewal option is not a material right. The contract arises at the point that we provide hash calculation services to the mining pool operator, which is the beginning of the contract day at midnight UTC time (contract inception), as customer consumption is in tandem with daily earnings of delivery of the service. According to the customer contract, daily earnings are calculated from midnight-to-23:59:59 UTC time, and the payout is made one hour later at 1:00 AM UTC time.

Hosting Agreements

On April 19, 2024, we entered into a Master Hosting Agreement with Simple Mining LLC (“Simple Mining”) for rack space, network services, electrical connections, routine facility maintenance, and technical support of certain of the Company’s mining equipment. On September 25, 2024, we entered into Amendment No. 2 to the Master Hosting Agreement (“Simple Mining Hosting”) for certain of our mining machines to be hosted at Simple Mining’s facility in Iowa. The Simple Mining Hosting agreement has a term of two years and can be terminated by us with a 30 day advance notice. On September 25, 2024, we entered into Amendment No. 3 to the Master Hosting Agreement (“Simple Mining XP Hosting”) for certain of our mining machines to be hosted at Simple Mining’s facility in Iowa until the new facility Simple Mining and Sphere are developing is completed (see Note 8 Certain Balance Sheet Items - Construction in Progress for additional details). The Simple Mining XP Hosting agreement can be terminated by us with a 30 day advance notice. We paid Simple Mining a deposit of $0.1 million in 2024 and an additional deposit of $0.5 million in 2025, collectively representing 30 days of estimated service fees.

On October 18, 2023, we entered into a Hosting Agreement with Joshi Petroleum, LLC (the “Joshi Hosting Agreement”) for rack space, network services, electrical connections, routine facility maintenance, and technical support of certain of our mining equipment. The Joshi Hosting Agreement has an initial term of three years with subsequent one year renewal periods until either party provides written notice to the other party of its desire to avoid and given renewal term at least 30 days in advance of the conclusion of the prior initial term or renewal period. As required by the Joshi Hosting Agreement, we paid a deposit of $0.3 million representing the last two months of estimated service fees.

On April 4, 2023, we entered into a Master Hosting Services Agreement with Rebel Mining Company, LLC (the “Rebel Hosting Agreement”) for rack space, network services, electrical connections, routine facility maintenance, and technical support of certain of our mining equipment. The Rebel Hosting Agreement has a term of three years with subsequent one year renewal periods. As required by the Rebel Hosting Agreement, we paid a deposit of $2.6 million representing the last two months of estimated service fees. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we recorded a $0.9 million impairment to prepaid service fees held by Rebel Mining Company and is included in impairment of other assets on the consolidated statement of operations. On January 16, 2025, we terminated the Rebel Hosting Agreement and agreed to a settlement amount of $2.4 million payable to us in satisfaction of all obligations of the Rebel Hosing Agreement and it constitutes a final settlement of all amounts owed by either party of the Rebel Hosting Agreement.

On February 8, 2023, we entered into a Hosting Agreement with Lancium FS 25, LLC (the “Lancium Hosting Agreement”) for rack space, network services, electrical connections, routine facility maintenance, and technical support of certain of our mining equipment. The Lancium Hosting Agreement has a term of two years with subsequent one year renewal periods. As required by the Lancium Hosting Agreement, we paid a deposit of $0.2 million representing a partial payment towards the last two months of estimated service fees. On November 15, 2024, both parties terminated the Lancium Hosting Agreement, which resulted in the return of our deposit, and waiving of outstanding service fees in exchange for the mining equipment in immersion. We recorded a $2.3 million loss on equipment retained by Lancium, as agreed upon in the Termination Agreement, and is included in loss on disposal of property and equipment on the consolidated statement of operations.

On June 3, 2022, we entered into a Master Agreement with Compute North LLC (the “Compute North MA”) for, the colocation, management, and other services of certain of our mining equipment. In December 2022, the Compute North MA was assigned to GC Data Center Granbury, LLC (the “GC Data Center MA”). In the first quarter of 2024, Marathon Digital Holdings acquired GC Data Center Granbury Equity Holdings, LLC and assumed the GC Data Center MA. The GC Data Center MA had a term of five years beginning December 2022. The monthly service fee was payable based on the actual hashrate performance of the equipment per miner type per location as a percentage of the anticipated monthly hashrate per miner type. As required by the service agreement, we paid a deposit of $0.5 million representing the last two months of monthly service fees. On August 28, 2024, we and GC Data Center Granbury, LLC (the “Host”) mutually entered into a termination agreement effective August 31, 2024, and the Host paid a termination fee to us of $3.0 million to settle all matters pertaining to the GC Data Center MA including all services and deposit prepayment for estimated services fees, which is included within other income (expense) in our consolidated statements of operations.

Master Services Agreement

On August 19, 2021, we entered into a Master Services Agreement (the “Gryphon MSA”) with Gryphon Digital Mining, Inc. (“Gryphon”), under which Gryphon agreed to be the exclusive provider of any and all management services for all of our blockchain and cryptocurrency-related operations including but not limited to services relating to all mining equipment owned, purchased, leased, operated, or otherwise controlled by us at any location (collectively, the “Services”) unless the Gryphon MSA is terminated by us. As consideration for the Gryphon MSA, Gryphon received the equivalent of 22.5% of the net operating profit, as defined in the Gryphon MSA, of all of our blockchain and cryptocurrency related operations as a management fee. In addition, any costs Gryphon incurred on our behalf were reimbursed to Gryphon as defined in the Gryphon MSA. On April 7, 2023, the Company filed litigation against Gryphon outlining several breaches to the Gryphon MSA, including but not limited to, several fiduciary and operational breaches. On October 6, 2023, in accordance with the cure period, the Company terminated the Gryphon MSA. On March 7, 2025, we reached a settlement with Gryphon Digital Mining, Inc. to resolve all claims against each other on mutually satisfactory terms that will result in the complete dismissal of the outstanding litigation. We were required to make no payments under the settlement agreement.

On March 19, 2024, the Company filed a lawsuit against Gryphon in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The Company alleged that Gryphon converted certain Bitcoin of Sphere’s after the termination of the Gryphon MSA. After the Company filed the lawsuit, Gryphon returned proceeds stemming from the sale of Bitcoin. The Company subsequently dismissed the suit without prejudice. In March 2024, the Company received $1.5 million in proceeds from the sale of Bitcoin, which are included in the statements of cash flows within investing activities.

Hosting Sub-License

On October 5, 2021, we entered into a Sub-License and Delegation Agreement (“Hosting Sub-Lease”) by and between Gryphon and the Company, which assigned to us a certain Master Services Agreement, dated as of September 12, 2021 (the “Core Scientific MSA”), by and between Core Scientific, Inc. (“Core Scientific”), and Gryphon and Master Services Agreement Order #2 (“Order 2”). On December 29, 2021, the Company and Gryphon entered into Amendment No. 1 to the Sub-Lease Agreement (the “Sub-Lease Amendment”) to provide Gryphon the right to recapture the usage of up to 50% of the hosting capacity to be managed by Core Scientific. The agreement allowed for approximately 230 MW of carbon neutral Bitcoin mining hosting capacity to be managed by Core Scientific as hosting partner.

On October 31, 2022, we filed an arbitration request against Core Scientific regarding the Hosting Sub-Lease. We requested that certain advanced deposits paid be refunded back to it as a result of the modification to the Company’s machine purchase agreement with FuFu Technology Limited (now Ethereal Tech Pte. Ltd.). On January 16, 2024, we reached a settlement agreement (the “Settlement Agreement”) with Core Scientific for $10.0 million of Core Scientific’s equity, which was approved by a United States Bankruptcy Judge as part of Core Scientific’s emergence from bankruptcy. The Settlement Agreement includes access to potential additional funds for interest as well as an additional equity pool if the value of Core Scientific’s equity decreases below plan value in the 18 months after the date of the Settlement Agreement commensurate with the other unsecured creditors. On January 23, 2024, we received 2,050,982 shares of Core Scientific Inc. common stock trading under the Nasdaq symbol CORZ, which was included in investment in equity securities.

At-the-Market Offering Program

On January 3, 2025, the Company entered into a sales agreement (the “AGP Agreement”) with A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners (the “Sales Agent”). In accordance with the terms of the AGP Agreement, the Company may offer and sell from time to time through or to the Sales Agent, as agent or principal, the Company's common shares having an aggregate offering price of up to $8.0 million (the “Placement Shares”). The AGP Agreement can be terminated by either party by giving two days written notice.

Neither the Company nor the Sales Agent are obligated to sell any Placement Shares pursuant to the AGP Agreement. Subject to the terms and conditions of the AGP Agreement, the Sales Agent will use commercially reasonable efforts, consistent with its normal trading and sales practices and applicable state and federal law, rules and regulations and the rules of The Nasdaq Capital Market (“Nasdaq”), to sell the Placement Shares from time to time based upon the Company’s instructions, including any price, time or size limits or other customary parameters or conditions the Company may impose. Sales of the Placement Shares, if any, will be made on Nasdaq at market prices by any method permitted by law deemed to be an “at the market offering” as defined in Rule 415 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

Disposal of Service and Product

On December 28, 2023, we entered into a share purchase agreement with Joseph O’Daniel (“Purchaser”), a related party, under which we sold our Service and Product segment, including HVE ConneXions and Unified ConneXions, for $1.00 and the transfer of outstanding assets and liabilities. As a result of the share purchase agreement, the Purchaser, who served as our President, resigned effective December 28, 2023. Through December 28, 2023, the Service and Product segment provided network operations center (“NOC”) services to its customers. NOC revenues were for monthly services performed for the customer that are performed either in-house or at the customer’s site. The Service and Product segment also delivered data management and desktop and application virtualization solutions through hybrid cloud, cloud and on premise implementations by a reseller network. We recognized a noncash gain of $0.7 million related to the transfer of net liabilities to the Purchaser.

Intellectual Property

We actively use specific hardware and software for our Bitcoin mining operations. We do not currently own, and do not have any current plans to seek, any patents in connection with our Bitcoin mining operations.

Competitive Conditions

Our business is highly competitive and operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The primary drivers of competition are demand for Bitcoin and the ability to execute miner deployments to generate the highest returns while incurring the lowest costs to mine, thereby achieving maximum efficiency.

Our competition in the Bitcoin mining space fluctuates due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the value of Bitcoin rewards for mining, the amount of network hashrate, and the price of Bitcoin. We anticipate that over the long-term there will be a significant increase in the number of Bitcoin miners attempting to enter into, and expand, their Bitcoin mining activities. Our main competitors generally include other Bitcoin mining companies, both publicly listed and private. As more Bitcoin miners enter the mining industry, we expect additional pressure on the industry, with greater competition for access to mining rewards, competition for power and high-quality industrial scale mining infrastructure which is in limited supply.

We rely on both owned mining facilities (our new 8 MW hosting site in Iowa was energized in March 2025) and hosting arrangements to conduct our business, and the availability and stability of these arrangements remain uncertain and highly competitive. Hosting arrangements, in particular, may be affected by changes in regulations across different countries, while owned facilities present additional risks, including operational challenges, infrastructure maintenance, and energy costs. Significant competition for suitable mining data centers is expected to persist, and government regulations—such as local permitting requirements—could further restrict the ability of both hosted and owned mining operations to begin or continue operating in certain locations. These factors could impact our ability to secure adequate infrastructure to support some of our hashrate and maintain profitable mining operations.

For a more detailed description of competitive and other risks related to our business, see Item 1A. Risk Factors.

Industry Trends

During 2024 and 2023, the Bitcoin mining industry experienced record growth as the price of Bitcoin increased from the lows seen in early 2023. The rising Bitcoin price created renewed opportunities for public companies to access capital markets to fund growth, leading to unprecedented expansion in mining operations. As a result, the size of provisioned hash calculation services on the network increased, as measured by total hashrate. We expect competition within the mining industry to persist as long as Bitcoin prices remain elevated or continue to rise.

The price of Bitcoin increased during the first quarter of 2024 due to a new source of demand, the eleven Bitcoin spot Exchange Traded Funds (“ETFs”), which were approved to begin trading by the SEC on January 11, 2024. One such ETF earned recognition as the fastest ETF ever to surpass $10 billion in assets under management since its launch. The ETFs, as investment vehicles, provide a new access point for investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin through more traditional methods.

The Bitcoin mining industry recently experienced an increase in transaction fees on the Bitcoin network, as well as an increase in overall demand for Bitcoin. Various protocols on the Bitcoin network gained popularity during 2023, and at various times temporarily resulted in a significant increase in the transaction fees paid to add a certain Bitcoin transaction to the blockchain. These transaction fees are volatile in nature but are paid directly to miners and are representative of public interest in transacting in Bitcoin. Transaction fees are packaged with the block subsidy issued by the Bitcoin network to combine for the total reward paid to miners upon solving a block.

Governmental Regulations

We operate in a complex and rapidly evolving regulatory environment and are subject to a wide range of laws and regulations enacted by U.S. federal, state and local governments, governmental agencies and regulatory authorities, including the SEC, the Federal Trade Commission and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, as well as similar entities in other countries. Other regulatory bodies, governmental or semi-governmental, have shown an interest in regulating or investigating companies engaged in the blockchain or cryptocurrency businesses.

Regulations may substantially change in the future and it is presently not possible to know how those regulations will apply to our businesses, or when they will be effective. As the regulatory and legal environment evolves, we may become subject to new laws and further regulation by the SEC and other agencies, which may affect our mining and other activities. For instance, various bills have been proposed in the U.S. Congress related to our business, which may be adopted and have an impact on us. Additionally, governmental agencies and regulatory authorities, such as the SEC, the Federal Trade Commission and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, may also enact further regulations related to our business, which may have an impact on us. For additional discussion regarding our belief about the potential risks existing and future regulation pose to our business, see Item 1A. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business.

Employees

As of December 31, 2024, we had four employees, two of which were full time.