As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 20, 2021
Registration No. 333-
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM S-1
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
GREENIDGE GENERATION HOLDINGS INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware | 7374 | 86-1746728 | ||
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
(Primary Standard Industrial Classification Code Number) |
(I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) |
590 Plant Road
Dresden, NY 14441
(315) 536-2359
(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrants principal executive offices)
Jeffrey E. Kirt
Chief Executive Officer
590 Plant Road
Dresden, NY 14441
(315) 536-2359
(Names, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
Copies to:
Chris Zochowski Richard Alsop Kristina Trauger Shearman & Sterling LLP 401 9th Street, NW Suite 800 Washington, DC 20004 (202) 508-8000 |
Dean M. Colucci Michelle Geller Alex Pherson Duane Morris LLP 1540 Broadway New York, NY 10036 (973) 424-2020 |
Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after this Registration Statement becomes effective.
If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box. ☐
If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of large accelerated filer, accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, and emerging growth company in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer | ☐ | Accelerated filer | ☐ | |||
Non-accelerated filer | ☒ | Smaller reporting company | ☒ | |||
Emerging growth company | ☒ |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for comply with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of Securities Act. ☐
CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
| ||||
Title of Each Class of Securities to be Registered |
Proposed Maximum Aggregate Offering Price(1)(2) |
Amount of Registration Fee | ||
% Senior Notes due 2026 |
$115,000,000 | $12,546.50 | ||
| ||||
|
(1) | Estimated solely for the purpose of computing the registration fee in accordance with Rule 457(o) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act). |
(2) | Includes up to $15,000,000 in aggregate principal amount of additional Notes which may be issued upon the exercise of a 30-day option granted to the underwriters. |
The registrant hereby amends this registration statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this registration statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the registration statement shall become effective on such date as the Commission, acting pursuant to such Section 8(a), may determine.
The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting offers to buy these securities in any state where the offer or sale is not permitted.
SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED September 20, 2021
PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS
$100,000,000
GREENIDGE GENERATION HOLDINGS INC.
% Senior Notes due 2026
We are offering $100,000,000 aggregate principal amount of our % Senior Notes due 2026 (the Notes). Interest on the Notes will accrue from , 2021, and will be paid quarterly in arrears on January 31, April 30, July 31 and October 31 of each year, commencing on October 31, 2021, and at maturity. The Notes will mature on , 2026. We may redeem the Notes for cash in whole or in part at any time at our option (i) on or after , 2023 and prior to , 2024, at a price equal to 102% of their principal amount, (ii) on or after , 2024 and prior to , 2025, at a price equal to 101% of their principal amount, and (iii) on or after , 2025, at a price equal to 100% of their principal amount, plus (in each case noted above) accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the date of redemption. See Description of NotesOptional Redemption. The Notes will be issued in denominations of $25 and in integral multiples thereof.
The Notes will be our senior unsecured obligations, will rank equally in right of payment with all of our existing and future senior unsecured indebtedness and will be senior to any other indebtedness expressly made subordinate to the Notes. The Notes will be effectively subordinated to all of our existing and future secured indebtedness (to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness) and structurally subordinated to all existing and future liabilities of our subsidiaries, including trade payables.
On September 14, 2021, we consummated the transactions contemplated by that certain Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of March 19, 2021, (the Merger Agreement), by and among Greenidge, Support.com, Inc. (Support) and GGH Merger Sub, Inc. (Merger Sub). As contemplated by the Merger Agreement, Merger Sub merged with and into Support, the separate corporate existence of Merger Sub ceased and Support survived as a wholly owned subsidiary of Greenidge (such transaction, the Merger).
We are an emerging growth company as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act), and are subject to reduced public company reporting requirements.
We are also a controlled company under the rules of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (Nasdaq) and may take advantage of certain corporate governance exemptions afforded to a controlled company under the rules of Nasdaq.
Investing in the Notes involves a high degree of risk. See Risk Factors beginning on page 15 to read about factors you should consider before you make an investment decision.
Neither the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
We intend to apply to list the Notes on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. If approved for listing, trading on such exchange is expected to begin within 30 business days of , 2021, the original issue date. If such listing is obtained, we have no obligation to maintain such listing, and we may delist the Notes at any time.
Per Note | Total(2)(3) | |||||||
Public offering price |
$ | $ | ||||||
Underwriting discount(1) |
$ | $ | ||||||
Proceeds, before expenses, payable to us(2) |
$ | $ |
(1) | See Underwriting for a description of all underwriting compensation payable in connection with this offering. |
(2) | B. Riley Securities, Inc. (B. Riley), as representative of the underwriters, may exercise an option to purchase up to an additional $ aggregate principal amount of Notes offered hereby, within 30 days of the date of this prospectus. If this option is exercised in full, the total offering price will be $ , the total underwriting discount paid by us will be $ , and total proceeds to us, before expenses, will be approximately $ . |
(3) | Total expenses of the offering payable by us, excluding underwriting discounts and commissions, are estimated to be $ . |
The underwriters expect to deliver the Notes to purchasers in book-entry form through the facilities of The Depository Trust Company (DTC) for the accounts of its participants, including Euroclear Bank S.A./N.V., as operator of the Euroclear System, and Clearstream Banking, société anonyme, on or about , 2021.
Book-Running Manager
B. Riley Securities
The date of this prospectus is , 2021
Page | ||||
iii | ||||
1 | ||||
12 | ||||
15 | ||||
48 | ||||
49 | ||||
50 | ||||
52 | ||||
67 | ||||
MANAGEMENTS DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS FOR GREENIDGE |
75 | |||
93 | ||||
113 | ||||
121 | ||||
127 | ||||
129 | ||||
133 | ||||
137 | ||||
137 | ||||
137 | ||||
F-1 |
i
ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS
You should rely only on the information contained in or incorporated by reference into this prospectus and any free writing prospectus that we have authorized in connection with this offering. Neither we nor the underwriters have authorized anyone to provide you with any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus or any applicable prospectus supplement or any free writing prospectuses prepared by or on behalf of us or to which we have referred you. Neither we nor the underwriters take responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. Neither we nor the underwriters will make an offer to sell these securities in any jurisdiction where such offer or sale are not permitted. No dealer, salesperson or other person is authorized to give any information or to represent anything not contained in this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus. You should assume that the information appearing in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement is accurate as of the date on the front of those documents only, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or any applicable prospectus supplement, or any sale of a security. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since those dates.
We may also provide a prospectus supplement or post-effective amendment to the registration statement to add information to, or update or change information contained in, this prospectus. Any statement contained in this prospectus will be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this prospectus to the extent that a statement contained in such prospectus supplement or post-effective amendment modifies or supersedes such statement. Any statement so modified will be deemed to constitute a part of this prospectus only as so modified, and any statement so superseded will be deemed not to constitute a part of this prospectus. You should read both this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement or post-effective amendment to the registration statement together with the additional information to which we refer you in the section of this prospectus titled Where You Can Find More Information.
This prospectus contains summaries of certain provisions contained in some of the documents described herein, but reference is made to the actual documents for complete information. All of the summaries are qualified in their entirety by the actual documents. Copies of some of the documents referred to herein have been filed, will be filed or will be incorporated by reference as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and you may obtain copies of those documents as described below under Where You Can Find More Information.
ii
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This prospectus includes certain statements that may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act). All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements for purposes of federal and state securities laws. These forward-looking statements involve uncertainties that could significantly affect our financial or operating results. These forward- looking statements may be identified by terms such as anticipate, believe, continue, foresee, expect, intend, plan, may, will, would, could and should and the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements in this document include, among other things, statements regarding our business plan, business strategy and operations in the future. In addition, all statements that address operating performance and future performance, events or developments that are expected or anticipated to occur in the future, including statements relating to creating value for stockholders, benefits of the Merger to our customers, vendors, employees, stockholders and other constituents, are forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Matters and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements include but are not limited to the matters and factors described in the section Risk Factors, as well as statements about or relating to or otherwise affected by:
| the ability to negotiate or execute definitive documentation with respect to a facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina on terms and conditions that are acceptable to Greenidge, whether on a timely basis or at all; |
| the ability to recognize the anticipated objectives and benefits of an expansion into a facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina; |
| the ability to recognize the anticipated objectives and any benefits of the Merger, including the anticipated tax treatment of the Merger; |
| changes in applicable laws, regulations or permits affecting our operations or the industries in which we operate, including regulation regarding power generation, cryptocurrency usage and/or cryptocurrency mining; |
| any failure by us to obtain acceptable financing with regard to our growth strategies or operations; |
| fluctuations and volatility in the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies; |
| loss of public confidence in, or use cases of, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies; |
| the potential of cryptocurrency market manipulation; |
| the economics of mining cryptocurrency, including as to variables or factors affecting the cost, efficiency and profitability of mining; |
| the availability, delivery schedule and cost of equipment necessary to maintain and grow our business and operations, including mining equipment and equipment meeting the technical or other specifications required to achieve our growth strategy; |
| the possibility that we may be adversely affected by other economic, business or competitive factors, including factors affecting the industries in which we operate or upon which we rely and are dependent; |
| the ability to expand successfully to other facilities, mine other cryptocurrencies or otherwise expand our business; |
| changes in tax regulations applicable to us, our assets or cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin; |
iii
| any litigation involving us; |
| costs and expenses relating to cryptocurrency transaction fees and fluctuation in cryptocurrency transaction fees; |
| the condition of our physical assets, including that our current single operating facility may realize material, if not total, loss and interference as a result of equipment malfunction or break-down, physical disaster, data security breach, computer malfunction or sabotage; and |
| the actual and potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. |
Consequently, all of the forward-looking statements made in this prospectus are qualified by the information contained herein, including the information contained under this caption and the information under the section Risk Factors. No assurance can be given that these are all of the factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from the forward-looking statements.
You should not put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. No assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do occur, what impact they will have on the results of our operations, financial condition or cash flows. Actual results may differ materially from those discussed in this prospectus. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this prospectus and we do not assume any duty to update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, uncertainties or otherwise, as of any future date.
iv
This summary highlights selected information contained elsewhere in this prospectus. This summary is not complete and does not contain all of the information that you should consider before deciding whether to invest in our securities. You should carefully read the entire prospectus, including the risks associated with an investment in our company discussed in the Risk Factors section of this prospectus, before making an investment decision. Some of the statements in this prospectus are forward-looking statements. See the section titled Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.
Unless the context otherwise requires, all references in this prospectus to the Company, we, us, our, our company or Greenidge refer to Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries following the Merger, other than certain historical information which refers to the business of Greenidge or Support, as applicable, prior to the consummation of the Merger.
Our Company
Overview
Cryptocurrency Mining and Power Generation
We own a vertically integrated bitcoin mining and power generation facility located in the Town of Torrey, New York. Our historical operations comprise two primary revenue sources:
| Bitcoin-Mining. Our approximately 106 megawatt (MW) natural gas power generation facility powered approximately 41 MW of bitcoin mining capacity as of July 31, 2021. Our bitcoin mining capacity generates revenue in the form of bitcoin by earning bitcoin as rewards and transaction fees for supporting the global bitcoin network with application-specific integrated circuit computers (ASICs or miners) owned by us. We currently convert most of our earned bitcoin into U.S. dollars. We also generate revenues in U.S. dollars to a lesser extent from third parties for hosting and maintaining their ASICs. We intend to rapidly increase our bitcoin mining capacity of owned ASICs to increase our revenue. |
| Independent Electric Generation. We sell surplus electricity generated by our power plant, and not consumed in bitcoin mining operations, to New York States power grid at prices set on a daily basis through the New York Independent Systems Operator (the NYISO) wholesale market. We increase or decrease the total amount of electricity sold by the power plant based on prevailing prices in the wholesale electricity market. In addition, we receive revenues from the sale of our capacity and ancillary services in the NYISO wholesale market. |
We also acquired Support pursuant to the Merger and it now operates as our wholly-owned subsidiary. Support provides customer and technical support solutions delivered by home-based employees. Supports homesourcing model, which enables outsourced work to be delivered by people working from home, has been specifically designed for remote work, with attention to security, recruiting, training, delivery, and employee engagement. See Business Support.com, Inc. for additional information regarding Support.
The ASIC miners require a significant amount of power to operate, thus, access to low-cost electricity is important to profitably mine bitcoin on a large scale. Unlike most other bitcoin mining companies, we own our power generation assets and operate our own data center and miners. This allows us to operate without relying on highly variable third-party power purchase agreements or hosting agreements that are subject to renegotiation, counter-party risk or other cost volatility. Our bitcoin mining operations are powered by electricity generated directly by our power plant, which is referred to as behind-the-meter power because it is not subject to transmission and distribution charges from local utilities. Our owned bitcoin miners had, as of July 31, 2021, the capacity to consume approximately 41 MW of electricity.
1
We believe that this behind-the-meter power generation capability provides a stable, cost-effective source of power for bitcoin mining activities. Our primary business objective is to grow revenue by (i) executing our plan to increase bitcoin mining capacity at our current plant to approximately 85 MW and (ii) acquiring additional captive power resources, at other locations, to expand our bitcoin mining operations and our provision of related blockchain services.
We are exploring potential new locations where we intend to replicate our vertically integrated bitcoin mining and power generation business model. Additionally, we are evaluating partnership with owners of low-cost energy sources, with a particular focus on renewable sources, as a potential avenue to grow our bitcoin mining operations. On July 2, 2021, we announced that we had signed a letter of intent to execute a 10-year lease for a facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina at which we intend to develop our next bitcoin mining operation, using existing electrical infrastructure at the location. We have not yet executed a binding lease for the Spartanburg facility, no major terms have been agreed to between the parties, no commitment with respect thereto has arisen and there can be no assurance that a satisfactory agreement can be reached, however we expect that operations at the Spartanburg facility will commence in late 2021 or early 2022 and will be fully carbon neutral. We intend to use our significant power plant and bitcoin mining technical know-how to achieve at least 500 MW of mining capacity by 2025.
To achieve scale, bitcoin mining requires access to large amounts of low-cost electricity, making our owned natural gas power generation facility a competitive advantage. Under this vertically integrated model, we benefit from (i) what we believe to be the only public company in the United States with a bitcoin mining operation of this scale in the United States currently using power generated from its own power plant, (ii) our low power costs, (iii) potential upside from an increase in the price of bitcoin, (iv) the ability to optimize operations to maximize revenue between power production and bitcoin mining, (v) our lack of reliance on third-party power producers, (vi) stability with respect to the energy regulatory landscape, (vii) the experience of our management team and vendor partnerships, and (viii) the backing of Atlas Capital Resources LP, our controlling stockholder (Atlas).
Products and Services
Bitcoin Mining Operations
We began mining bitcoin in 2019 with the construction of a pilot data center to operate approximately 1 MW of bitcoin mining capacity located at our power generation facility in the Town of Torrey, NY. We launched a commercial data center for bitcoin mining and blockchain services in January 2020, and as of December 31, 2020, we had approximately 6,900 miners (including 5 Antminer S19 Pros, 5 Antminer S19s, approximately 6,600 Antminer S17s, approximately 250 Whatsminer M30s and approximately 50 Antminer T17s) deployed on our site capable of producing an estimated aggregate hash rate capacity of approximately 0.4 exahash per second (EH/s). Although the number of miners deployed provides a sense of scale of cryptocurrency mining operations as compared to our peers, management believes that hash rate, or the number of hashes a miner can perform in each second, typically expressed in EH/s or terahash per second (TH/s) and used as a measure of computational power or mining capacity used to mine and process transactions on a blockchain such as bitcoin, provides a more comparable measure of our fleets ability to process cryptocurrency transactions as compared to other bitcoin mining operations.
As of July 31, 2021, we had approximately 14,300 miners (including approximately 1,200 Antminer S19 Pros, approximately 4,000 Antminer S19s, approximately 6,600 Antminer S17s, approximately 2,000 Whatsminer M30s, approximately 430 Whatsminer M31s, 10 Avalon A-166s, and approximately 50 Antminer T17s) deployed on our site capable of producing an estimated aggregate hash rate capacity of approximately 1.1 EH/s. At July 31, 2021, we also had outstanding orders pending for approximately 800 Antminer S19 Pros, 6,000 Antminer S19J Pros, 800 Antminer S19Js and 500 Whatsminer M30s. As of July 31, 2021, approximately 500 of
2
the committed miners are manufactured and hosted on-site. Additionally, between August 1 and September 15, 2021, we placed an order for an additional 11,500 S19j Pro Bitmain Antminers. It is possible that supply side constraints may impact the ability of our suppliers to timely fulfill our open orders.
With the full deployment of these new miners, our total fleet is expected to comprise approximately 32,500 total miners and is expected to utilize approximately 95 MW of electricity. The new advanced miners have substantially greater hash rate capacities and use electric power more efficiently than our existing miner fleet.
With the deployment of the aforementioned miners in 2021, we expect to be able to achieve a total hash rate capacity of at least 1.4 EH/s by the end of 2021. After deploying all of our miners contracted to be purchased, we expect to achieve a total hash rate capacity of approximately 2.9 EH/s. While there is a possibility supply side constraints impact the ability of our suppliers to timely fulfill our open orders, we do not anticipate any supply side constraints to impact the ability of suppliers to deliver on the remaining miners not yet manufactured.
Wholesale Power Operations
We sell capacity, energy and ancillary services from our approximately 106 MW power generation facility and sell power that we generate, at wholesale, to the NYISO when dispatched, based on the NYISOs daily supply and demand needs. We began our energy sales in 2017 when our power generation facility came back online after converting from a coal-fired to a natural gas-fired facility. We had, as of July 31, 2021, approximately 63 MW of capacity available for sale into the NYISO system (although we would expect that such available MW will be reduced as we add additional bitcoin mining capacity as described above).
We purchase the natural gas to run our power plant through a third-party gas provider and we contract directly with Empire Pipeline Inc. for the delivery of the gas that we purchase. The natural gas is transported to our captive pipeline through which this gas is transported 4.6 miles to our power plant.
We have a contract with Empire Pipeline Inc. which provides for the transportation to our pipeline of up to 15,000 dekatherms of natural gas per day. We also have contracts with Emera Energy covering both the purchase of natural gas and the bidding and sale of electricity through the NYISO.
All of the energy produced by us that is not utilized onsite for bitcoin mining activities is sold through the NYISO. These sales accounted for 35% and 90% of our total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
Our Integrated Business Model
Our vertically integrated business model provides low-cost power for our bitcoin mining operations and allows us to sell surplus electricity, enabling us to optimize our revenue producing activities.
Bitcoin Revenue
We generate electricity on-site from our vertically integrated power plant and use the electricity to power our ASIC miners, generating bitcoin which we then exchange for U.S. dollars. Revenue generated by the mining of bitcoin measured on a dollar per MWh basis, is variable and depends on several factors including but not limited to the price of bitcoin, our proportion of global hash rate processing, transaction volume and the prevailing bitcoin rewards per new block added to the bitcoin blockchain. For the month of July 2021, based on our existing fleet, we generated bitcoin revenue (excluding hosting) at an average rate of approximately $320/MWh.
We have historically converted between 95% and 100% of mined bitcoin to cash on a daily basis using a third- party platform and are subject to the platforms User Agreement. For security purposes, we utilize a proprietary
3
auto-liquidation script to convert bitcoin to fiat currency automatically upon receiving bitcoin rewards into our wallet, and to transfer the cash received to our operating bank account daily. We utilize hardware wallet verification for account log-in, as well as a feature to white-list our bank accounts. This process limits the amount of time bitcoin and fiat currency are stored on the third party platform and is designed to limit our potential loss. Fees incurred to convert bitcoin into fiat currency are subject to standard rates charged by the third partys published tiered pricing table and, as of July 31, 2021, represent 0.18% of each transaction. Additionally, we hold a nominal amount of bitcoin on our balance sheet, the majority of which is held in cold storage custody with a third-party custodian.
Wholesale Power Revenue
We sell capacity, energy, and ancillary services to the wholesale power grid managed by the NYISO. Through these sales, we generate revenue in three streams.
| Capacity revenue: We receive capacity revenue for committing to sell power to the NYISO when dispatched. |
| Energy revenue: When dispatched by the NYISO, we receive energy revenue based on the hourly price of power. |
| Ancillary services revenue: When selected by the NYISO, we receive compensation for the provision of operating reserves. |
Revenue generated from the wholesale power market is variable and depends on several factors including but not limited to the supply and demand for electricity and generation capacity in the market and the prevailing price of natural gas.
Competitive Advantages
To achieve scale, bitcoin mining requires access to large amounts of low-cost electricity, making our owned natural gas power generation facility a competitive advantage. Under this vertically integrated model, we benefit from the following additional competitive advantages:
| No direct competitor currently owns and operates its own power plant for the purpose of Bitcoin mining. We believe that there is no other public company in the United States with a bitcoin mining operation of this scale in the United States currently using power generated from its own power plant. |
| Low power costs. Through access to the Millennium Pipeline price hub which provides relatively low market rates for natural gas and the relatively cool climate where our power plant is located, we are able to produce our energy at competitive rates and largely avoid the extra cost of active cooling of the bitcoin mining operations. |
| Bitcoin market upside. Profitability is highly levered to bitcoin price, difficulty, global network hash rate, and transaction volume. |
| Power market upside. Being online 24/7 allows us to optimize between power and bitcoin mining revenue. |
| Self-reliance. 100% of the power that we use in our bitcoin mining operations is provided by behind-the-meter generation with no reliance on third-party power purchase agreements that can be modified or revoked at any time. |
| Stable regulatory environment. Our mining operation and power generation facility located in New York State are regulated in accordance with U.S. and New York State laws which are more stable, for example, than the laws of the Peoples Republic of China and certain other low-cost power environments. |
4
| Cryptocurrency experience. We employ a first-class power generation and mining team and partnerships with premier manufacturers for the procurement of reliable and low-cost ASIC mining computers of proven performance. |
| Blue-chip backing. Our controlling stockholder, Atlas, is affiliated with an investment firm with more than $6.8 billion of assets under management and prior experience owning and operating more than 1,000 MW of power generation assets. |
Call Center Support Services
On September 14, 2021, we acquired Support pursuant to the Merger and it now operates as our wholly-owned subsidiary. Support provides customer and technical support solutions delivered by home-based employees. Supports homesourcing model, which enables outsourced work to be delivered by people working from home, has been specifically designed for remote work, with attention to security, recruiting, training, delivery, and employee engagement. See BusinessSupport.com, Inc. for additional information regarding Support.
Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company
We qualify as an emerging growth company under Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the JOBS Act). As a result, we are permitted to, and intend to, rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements. For so long as we are am emerging growth company, we will not be required to:
| have an auditor report on our internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; |
| comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditors report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (i.e., an auditor discussion and analysis); |
| submit certain executive compensation matters to shareholder advisory votes, such as say-on-pay, say-on-frequency and pay ratio; and |
| disclose certain executive compensation related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the CEOs compensation to median employee compensation. |
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an emerging growth company can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have elected to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period. Our financial statements may therefore not be comparable to those of companies that comply with such new or revised accounting standards.
We will remain an emerging growth company for up to five years, or until the earliest of (i) the last day of the first fiscal year in which our total annual gross revenues are $1.07 billion or more, (ii) the date that we become a large accelerated filer as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act, which would occur if the market value of our class A common stock that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter, or (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt during the preceding three year period.
Controlled Company Exemption
Atlas and its affiliates currently control 89.3% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock and have the power to elect a majority of our directors. Pursuant to Nasdaq listing standards, a company of which more than
5
50% of the voting power for the election of directors is held by an individual, a group or another company qualifies as a controlled company. As a controlled company, we are exempt from certain Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, including the requirements to have (i) a board comprised of a majority of independent directors; (ii) compensation of executive officers determined by a majority of the independent directors or a compensation committee comprised solely of independent directors; and (iii) director nominees selected or recommended for our board either by a majority of the independent directors or a nominating committee comprised solely of independent directors. If we cease to be a controlled company and our shares continue to be listed on Nasdaq, we will be required to comply with these standards and, depending on the independencedetermination with respect to our then-current directors, we may be required to add additional directors to our board in order to achieve such compliance within the applicable transition periods.
Merger
On September 14, 2021, we consummated the transactions contemplated by that certain Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of March 19, 2021, by and among Greenidge, Support and Merger Sub, Inc. As contemplated by the Merger Agreement, Merger Sub merged with and into Support, the separate corporate existence of Merger Sub ceased and Support survived as a wholly owned subsidiary of Greenidge. At the effective time of the Merger (the Effective Time), we issued 2,998,261 shares of class A common stock in exchange for all shares of common stock, par value $0.0001, of Support and all outstanding stock option and restricted stock units of Support.
Equity Purchase Agreement with B. Riley Affiliate
On September 15, 2021, we entered into a common stock purchase agreement (the Purchase Agreement) with an affiliate of B. Riley (the Investor) pursuant to which we have the right to put, or sell, to the Investor up to $500,000,000 of shares of class A common stock, subject to certain limitations and conditions set forth in the Purchase Agreement, from time to time during the term of the Purchase Agreement. As provided in the Purchase Agreement, we may require the Investor to purchase shares of our class A common stock from time to time by delivering a put notice to the Investor specifying the total number of shares to be purchased. The per share purchase price for the shares of class A common stock that we elect to sell to the Investor pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, if any, will be determined by reference to the volume weighted average price of our class A common stock for the full period of regular trading hours on Nasdaq on the applicable purchase date on which we have timely delivered written notice to the Investor directing it to purchase shares under the Purchase Agreement, less a fixed 5% discount, which shall be increased to a fixed 6% discount at such time that we received aggregate cash proceeds of $200,000,000 as payment for all shares of class A common stock purchased by the Investor in all prior sales of class A common stock made under the Purchase Agreement. The Investor will have no obligation to purchase shares pursuant to the purchase agreement to the extent that such purchase would cause the Investor to own more than 4.99% of our issued and outstanding shares of class A common stock.
In connection with the Purchase Agreement, we entered into a registration rights agreement with the Investor pursuant to which we agreed to prepare and file a registration statement registering the resale by the Investor of those shares of our class A common stock to be issued under the Purchase Agreement.
Increase in Authorized Capital
On September 13, 2021, we filed an amendment to our certificate of incorporation to increase our authorized capital stock. Following the amendment, our authorized capital stock consists of 2,400,000,000 shares of class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, 600,000,000 shares of class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 20,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share.
6
Stock Split
On March 16, 2021, we effectuated a forward stock split whereby each outstanding share of common stock was split into four new shares of common stock. As a result of this stock split, our issued and outstanding common stock was increased from 7,080,000 shares to 28,320,000 shares and the number of shares of common stock issuable upon conversion of the series A preferred stock increased from 1,620,000 shares of common stock to 6,480,000 shares of common stock. Accordingly, all share and per share information contained in this prospectus has been restated to retroactively show the effect of this stock split.
Corporate Information
Our principal executive offices are located at 590 Plant Road, Dresden, NY 14441, and our telephone number is (315) 536-2359. We maintain a website at www.greenidge.com. Information on our website is not incorporated by reference into or otherwise part of this prospectus.
Summary Risk Factors
An investment in the Notes involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks summarized below. These risks are discussed more fully in the Risk Factors section of this prospectus. These risks include, but are not limited to, the following:
Risks Related to the Notes
| We may be able to incur substantially more debt, which could have important consequences to you. |
| The Notes will be unsecured and therefore will be effectively subordinated to any secured indebtedness that we currently have or that we may incur in the future. |
| The Notes will be structurally subordinated to the indebtedness and other liabilities of our subsidiaries. |
| The indenture under which the Notes will be issued will contain limited protection for holders of the Notes. |
| An increase in market interest rates could result in a decrease in the value of the Notes. |
| An active trading market for the Notes may not develop, which could limit the market price of the Notes or your ability to sell them. |
| We may redeem the Notes before maturity, and you may be unable to reinvest the proceeds at the same or a higher rate of return. |
Risks Related to Our Business
| We have a limited operating history, with operating losses as we have grown. If we are unable to sustain greater revenues than our operating costs of bitcoin mining and power generation, as well as expansion plans, we will resume operating losses, which could negatively impact our operations, strategy and financial performance. |
| While we have multiple sources of revenue from our business and operations, these sources of revenue currently all depend on the single natural gas power generation facility that we operate. Any disruption to our single power plant would have a material adverse effect on our business and operations, as well as our results of operations and financial condition. |
7
| As the aggregate amount of computing power, or hash rate, in the bitcoin network increases, the amount of bitcoin earned per unit of hash rate decreases; as a result, in order to maintain our market share, we may have to incur significant capital expenditures in order to expand our fleet of miners. |
| The loss of any of our management team, an inability to execute an effective succession plan, or an inability to attract and retain qualified personnel could adversely affect our operations, strategy and business. |
| Our subsidiaries conduct the substantial majority of our operations and own our operating assets. |
| Our business and operating plan may be altered due to several external factors including but not limited to market conditions, the ability to procure equipment in a quantity, cost and timeline consistent with the business plan and the ability to identify and acquire additional locations to replicate the operating model in place at our existing facility. |
| The properties utilized by us in our bitcoin mining operations may experience damage, including damage not covered by insurance. |
| Our bitcoin may be subject to loss, theft or restriction on access. |
| If bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies are determined to be investment securities, and we hold a significant portion of our assets in such cryptocurrency, investment securities or non-controlling equity interests of other entities, we may inadvertently violate the Investment Company Act. |
| There has been limited precedent set for financial accounting of digital assets and so it is unclear how we will be required to account for digital asset transactions. |
| Our ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations. |
| Regulatory changes or actions may alter the nature of an investment in us or restrict the use of bitcoin in a manner that adversely affects our business, prospects or operations. |
| We are subject to risks related to Internet disruptions, which could have an adverse effect on our ability to mine bitcoin. |
| Our future success will depend significantly on the price of bitcoin, which is subject to risk and has historically been subject to wide swings and significant volatility. |
| The impact of geopolitical and economic events on the supply and demand for bitcoin is uncertain. |
| Bitcoin miners and other necessary hardware are subject to malfunction, technological obsolescence, the global supply chain and difficulty and cost in obtaining new hardware. |
| We face risks and disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain issues, including in semiconductors and other necessary bitmining components, which could significantly impact our operations and financial results. |
| We may not adequately respond to rapidly changing technology. |
| A failure to properly monitor and upgrade the bitcoin network protocol could damage the bitcoin network which could, in turn, have an adverse effect on our business. |
| Over time, incentives for bitcoin miners to continue to contribute processing power to the bitcoin network may transition from a set reward to transaction fees. If the incentives for bitcoin mining are not sufficiently high, we may not have an adequate incentive to continue to mine. |
| Incorrect or fraudulent cryptocurrency transactions may be irreversible. |
8
Risks Related to Our Subsidiary Support.com, Inc.
| Supports financial condition and results of operations may vary from quarter to quarter, which may cause the price of our common stock to decline. |
| A substantial portion of Supports revenue is generated by a limited number of clients. The loss or reduction in business from any of these clients would adversely affect its business and results of operations. |
| Support has a history of losses, it may incur losses in the future and may not sustain profitability in the near term; and as a result, it may need to alter its business plans or change its business strategy. |
| Support has been, is currently and may be in the future the subject of governmental investigations relating to past products and services. |
Summary Consolidated Financial Data of Greenidge
The following tables present summary historical consolidated financial data of Greenidge. The summary historical consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and related notes of Greenidge contained elsewhere in this prospectus and the information under Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations for Greenidge.
The summary financial data as of December 31, 2020 and 2019 and for the years then ended are derived from the audited consolidated financial statements of Greenidge contained elsewhere in this prospectus. The summary financial data as of June 30, 2021 and for the three months and six months ended June 30, 2021 and June 30, 2020 are derived from the unaudited consolidated financial statements of Greenidge contained elsewhere in this prospectus. Our financial statements are prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP.
The summary financial data is only a summary and should be read in conjunction with the historical financial statements and related notes. Greenidge is the successor entity for accounting purposes to GGH LLC as a result of the corporate restructuring consummated in January 2021.
Pursuant to this restructuring, Greenidge was incorporated in the State of Delaware on January 27, 2021 and, on January 29, 2021, entered into an asset contribution and exchange agreement with all holders of GGH LLC, pursuant to which Greenidge acquired all of the ownership interests in GGH LLC in exchange for 28,000,000 shares of our common stock. As a result of this transaction, GGH LLC became our wholly-owned subsidiary. The financial information presented herein is that of GGH LLC through January 29, 2021 and Greenidge thereafter.
9
Statement of Operations Data (in thousands except per share amounts):
Three Months Ended June 30, |
Six Months Ended June 30, |
|||||||||||||||
2021 | 2020 | 2021 | 2020 | |||||||||||||
Total revenue |
$ | 16,176 | $ | 4,672 | $ | 27,239 | $ | 7,814 | ||||||||
Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below) |
4,724 | 2,582 | 9,146 | 4,609 | ||||||||||||
Selling, general and administrative expenses |
4,565 | 1,189 | 8,060 | 2,638 | ||||||||||||
Depreciation and amortization |
1,603 | 1,130 | 2,864 | 2,163 | ||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
Income (loss) from operations |
5,284 | (229 | ) | 7,169 | (1,596 | ) | ||||||||||
Interest and other expense, net |
(369 | ) | (342 | ) | (243 | ) | (581 | ) | ||||||||
Provision for income taxes |
(1,397 | ) | | (2,129 | ) | | ||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
Net income (loss) |
$ | 3,518 | $ | (571 | ) | $ | 4,797 | $ | (2,177 | ) | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
Net income (loss) per share: |
||||||||||||||||
Basic |
$ | 0.10 | $ | 0.15 | ||||||||||||
Diluted |
$ | 0.08 | $ | 0.12 |
Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
2020 | 2019 | |||||||
Total revenue |
$ | 20,114 | $ | 4,439 | ||||
Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below) |
12,600 | 4,900 | ||||||
Selling, general and administrative expenses |
5,581 | 5,833 | ||||||
Depreciation and amortization |
4,564 | 1,679 | ||||||
Loss from operations |
(2,631 | ) | (7,973 | ) | ||||
Interest and other expense, net |
(659 | ) | (502 | ) | ||||
Net loss |
$ | (3,290 | ) | $ | (8,475 | ) |
Selected Balance Sheet Data (in thousands):
June 30, 2021 |
December 31, 2020 |
|||||||
Current assets |
$ | 59,933 | $ | 14,541 | ||||
Long-term assets |
68,754 | 50,834 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total assets |
$ | 128,687 | $ | 65,375 | ||||
Total liabilities |
$ | 35,748 | $ | 21,015 | ||||
Total stockholders equity |
$ | 92,939 | $ | 44,360 |
Summary Consolidated Financial Data of Support
The following tables present summary historical consolidated financial data of Support. The summary historical consolidated financial data of Support as of December 31, 2020 and for the years ended December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 have been derived from the audited consolidated financial statements of Support contained in its Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2020 and contained elsewhere in this prospectus. The summary historical consolidated financial data of Support as of June 30, 2021 and for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021 and June 30, 2020 have been derived from the unaudited consolidated financial statements of Support contained in its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 and included elsewhere in this prospectus.
10
The summary historical consolidated financial data is only a summary and should be read together with, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the financial statements and notes thereto included elsewhere in this prospectus.
Statement of Operations Data (in thousands except per share amounts):
Three Months Ended June 30, |
Six Months Ended June 30, |
|||||||||||||||
2021 | 2020 | 2021 | 2020 | |||||||||||||
Total revenue |
$ | 8,512 | $ | 11,034 | $ | 18,143 | $ | 22,983 | ||||||||
Cost of revenue |
5,492 | 7,172 | 11,587 | 14,886 | ||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Gross profit |
3,020 | 3,862 | 6,556 | 8,097 | ||||||||||||
Total operating expenses |
3,869 | 3,389 | 9,424 | 7,295 | ||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Income (loss) from operations |
(849 | ) | 473 | (2,868 | ) | 802 | ||||||||||
Interest income and other, net |
75 | 173 | 117 | 257 | ||||||||||||
Income taxes |
(25 | ) | (29 | ) | (42 | ) | (78 | ) | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Net income (loss) |
$ | (799 | ) | $ | 617 | $ | (2,793 | ) | $ | 981 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Net income (loss) per share: Basic and Diluted |
$ | (0.03 | ) | $ | 0.03 | $ | (0.13 | ) | $ | 0.05 |
Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
2020 | 2019 | |||||||
Total revenue |
43,864 | 63,333 | ||||||
Cost of revenue |
28,921 | 46,865 | ||||||
Gross profit |
14,943 | 16,468 | ||||||
Total operating expenses |
14,891 | 13,517 | ||||||
Income from operations |
52 | 2,951 | ||||||
Interest income and other, net |
496 | 1,049 | ||||||
Income taxes |
(102 | ) | (154 | ) | ||||
Net income |
$ | 446 | $ | 3,846 | ||||
Net income per share: Basic and Diluted |
$ | 0.02 | $ | 0.20 |
Selected Balance Sheet Data (in thousands):
June 30, 2021 |
December 31, 2020 |
|||||||
Current assets |
$ | 44,567 | $ | 37,612 | ||||
Long-term assets |
1,438 | 1,654 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total assets |
$ | 46,005 | $ | 39,266 | ||||
Total liabilities |
$ | 5,758 | $ | 4,830 | ||||
Total stockholders equity |
$ | 40,247 | $ | 34,436 |
11
The summary below describes the principal terms of the Notes. Some of the terms and conditions described below are subject to important limitations and exceptions. See Description of Notes for a more detailed description of the terms and conditions of the Notes. All capitalized terms not defined herein have the meanings specified in Description of Notes. Unless otherwise indicated, the information in this prospectus assumes that the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional Notes.
Issuer: |
Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc. |
Notes Offered: |
$100,000,000 aggregate principal amount of % Senior Notes due 2026 (or $ aggregate principal amount of % Senior Notes due 2026 if the underwriters option is exercised in full). |
Offering Price: |
100% of the principal amount. |
Maturity Date: |
The Notes will mature on , 2026, unless redeemed prior to maturity. |
Interest Rate and Payment Dates: |
% interest per annum on the principal amount of the Notes, payable quarterly in arrears on January 31, April 30, July 31 and October 31 of each year, beginning on October 31, 2021 and at maturity. |
Ranking: |
The Notes will be our senior unsecured obligations and will rank: |
| senior to the outstanding shares of our common stock; |
| senior to any of our future subordinated debt; |
| pari passu (or equally) with our future unsecured and unsubordinated indebtedness; |
| effectively subordinated to any existing or future secured indebtedness (including indebtedness that is initially unsecured to which we subsequently grant security), to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness; and |
| structurally subordinated to all existing and future indebtedness of our subsidiaries, financing vehicles or similar facilities. |
The indenture governing the Notes does not limit the amount of indebtedness that we or our subsidiaries may incur or whether any such indebtedness can be secured by our assets. As of , 2021, we had approximately $ of outstanding indebtedness, of which was secured. |
Guarantors: |
The Notes will not be guaranteed by any of our subsidiaries or affiliates. |
Optional Redemption: |
We may redeem the Notes for cash in whole or in part at any time at our option (i) on or after , 2023 and prior to , 2024, at a price equal to 102% of their principal amount, (ii) on or after , 2024 and prior to , 2025, at a price equal to |
12
101% of their principal amount, and (iii) on or after , 2025, at a price equal to 100% of their principal amount, plus (in each case noted above) accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the date of redemption. See Description of NotesOptional Redemption for additional details. |
Sinking Fund: |
The Notes will not be subject to any sinking funding (i.e., no amounts will be set aside by us to ensure repayment of the Notes at maturity). |
Use of Proceeds: |
We anticipate using the net proceeds of this offering for general corporate purposes, including funding future acquisitions and investments, repaying indebtedness, making capital expenditures and funding working capital. For additional information, see Use of Proceeds. |
Events of Default: |
Events of default generally will include failure to pay principal, failure to pay interest, failure to observe or perform any other covenant or warranty in the Notes or in the indenture that governs the Notes, and certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization. See Description of NotesEvents of Default. |
No Financial Covenants: |
The indenture governing the Notes will not contain financial covenants. |
Additional Notes: |
We may create and issue additional Notes ranking equally and ratably with the Notes in all respects, so that such additional Notes will constitute and form a single series with the Notes and will have the same terms as to status, redemption or otherwise (except the price to public, the issue date, and, if applicable, the initial interest accrual date and initial interest payment date) as the Notes; provided that if any such additional Notes are not fungible with the Notes initially offered hereby for U.S. federal income tax purposes, such additional Notes will have one or more separate CUSIP numbers. |
Defeasance: |
The Notes are subject to legal and covenant defeasance by us. See Description of NotesDefeasance for more information. |
Listing: |
We intend to apply to list the Notes on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol . If the Notes are approved for listing, we expect trading in the Notes to begin within 30 business days of the original issue date. The underwriters have advised us that they intend to make a market in the Notes prior to commencement of any trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. However, the underwriters will have no obligation to do so, and no assurance can be given that a market for the Notes will develop prior to commencement of trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, or if developed, will be maintained. |
13
Form and Denomination: |
The Notes will be issued in book-entry form in denominations of $25 and integral multiples thereof. The Notes will be represented by a permanent global certificate deposited with the trustee as custodian for DTC and registered in the name of a nominee of DTC. Beneficial interests in any of the Notes will be shown on, and transfers will be effected only through, records maintained by DTC and its direct and indirect participants and any such interest may not be exchanged for certificated securities, except in limited circumstances. |
Settlement: |
Delivery of the Notes will be made against payment therefor on or about , 2021. |
Trustee: |
Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB |
Governing Law: |
The indenture and the Notes will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York. |
Risk factors: |
Investing in the Notes involves a high degree of risk and purchasers may lose their entire investment. See Risk Factors below and the other information included elsewhere in this prospectus for a discussion of factors you should carefully consider before deciding to invest in the Notes. |
14
An investment in the Notes involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully read and consider all of the risks described below, together with all of the other information contained or referred to in this prospectus, including the matters addressed in Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements, before making an investment decision with respect to the Notes. If any of the following events occur, our financial condition, business and results of operations (including cash flows) may be materially adversely affected. As a result, you could lose some or all of any investment you may have or may make in the Company.
Risks Related to this Offering
We may be able to incur substantially more debt, which could have important consequences to you.
We may be able to incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future. The terms of the indenture governing the Notes will not prohibit us from doing so. If we incur any additional indebtedness that ranks equally with the Notes, the holders of that debt will be entitled to share ratably with you in any proceeds distributed in connection with any insolvency, liquidation, reorganization or dissolution. This may have the effect of reducing the amount of proceeds paid to you. Incurrence of additional debt would also further reduce the cash available to invest in operations, as a result of increased debt service obligations. If new debt is added to our current debt levels, the related risks that we now face could intensify.
Our level of indebtedness could have important consequences to you, because:
| it could affect our ability to satisfy our financial obligations, including those relating to the Notes; |
| a substantial portion of our cash flows from operations would have to be dedicated to interest and principal payments and may not be available for operations, capital expenditures, expansion, acquisitions or general corporate or other purposes; |
| it may impair our ability to obtain additional debt or equity financing in the future; |
| it may limit our ability to refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness on or before maturity; |
| it may limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and industry; and |
| it may make us more vulnerable to downturns in our business, our industry or the economy in general. |
Our operations may not generate sufficient cash to enable us to service our debt. If we fail to make a payment on the Notes, we could be in default on the Notes, and this default could cause us to be in default on other indebtedness, to the extent outstanding. Conversely, a default under any other indebtedness, if not waived, could result in acceleration of the debt outstanding under the related agreement and entitle the holders thereof to bring suit for the enforcement thereof or exercise other remedies provided thereunder. In addition, such default or acceleration may result in an event of default and acceleration of other indebtedness of the Company, entitling the holders thereof to bring suit for the enforcement thereof or exercise other remedies provided thereunder. If a judgment is obtained by any such holders, such holders could seek to collect on such judgment from the assets of the Company. If that should occur, we may not be able to pay all such debt or to borrow sufficient funds to refinance it. Even if new financing were then available, it may not be on terms that are acceptable to us.
However, no event of default under the Notes would result from a default or acceleration of, or suit, other exercise of remedies or collection proceeding by holders of, our other outstanding debt, if any. As a result, all or substantially all of our assets may be used to satisfy claims of holders of our other outstanding debt, if any, without the holders of the Notes having any rights to such assets. The indenture governing the Notes will not restrict our ability to incur additional indebtedness.
15
The Notes will be unsecured and therefore will be effectively subordinated to any secured indebtedness that we currently have or that we may incur in the future.
The Notes will not be secured by any of our assets or any of the assets of our subsidiaries. As a result, the Notes will be effectively subordinated to any secured indebtedness that we or our subsidiaries have currently outstanding, or may incur in the future (or any indebtedness that is initially unsecured to which we subsequently grant security) to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness. The indenture governing the Notes will not prohibit us or our subsidiaries from incurring additional secured (or unsecured) indebtedness in the future. In any liquidation, dissolution, bankruptcy or other similar proceeding, the holders of any of our existing or future secured indebtedness and the secured indebtedness of our subsidiaries may assert rights against the assets pledged to secure that indebtedness and may consequently receive payment from these assets before they may be used to pay other creditors, including the holders of the Notes.
The Notes will be structurally subordinated to the indebtedness and other liabilities of our subsidiaries.
The Notes are obligations exclusively of Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc., and not of any of our subsidiaries. None of our subsidiaries is a guarantor of the Notes, and the Notes are not required to be guaranteed by any subsidiaries we may acquire or create in the future. Therefore, in any bankruptcy, liquidation or similar proceeding, all claims of creditors (including trade creditors) of our subsidiaries will have priority over our equity interests in such subsidiaries (and therefore the claims of our creditors, including holders of the Notes) with respect to the assets of such subsidiaries. Even if we are recognized as a creditor of one or more of our subsidiaries, our claims would still be effectively subordinated to any security interests in the assets of any such subsidiary and to any indebtedness or other liabilities of any such subsidiary senior to our claims. Consequently, the Notes will be structurally subordinated to all indebtedness and other liabilities (including trade payables) of any of our subsidiaries and any subsidiaries that we may in the future acquire or establish as financing vehicles or otherwise. The indenture governing the Notes will not prohibit us or our subsidiaries from incurring additional indebtedness in the future. In addition, future debt and security agreements entered into by our subsidiaries may contain various restrictions, including restrictions on payments by our subsidiaries to us and the transfer by our subsidiaries of assets pledged as collateral.
The indenture under which the Notes will be issued will contain limited protection for holders of the Notes.
The indenture under which the Notes will be issued will offer limited protection to holders of the Notes. The terms of the indenture and the Notes will not restrict our or any of our subsidiaries ability to engage in, or otherwise be a party to, a variety of corporate transactions, circumstances or events that could have an adverse impact on your investment in the Notes. In particular, the terms of the indenture and the Notes will not place any restrictions on our or our subsidiaries ability to:
| issue debt securities or otherwise incur additional indebtedness or other obligations, including (1) any indebtedness or other obligations that would be equal in right of payment to the Notes, (2) any indebtedness or other obligations that would be secured and therefore rank effectively senior in right of payment to the Notes to the extent of the values of the assets securing such debt, (3) indebtedness of ours that is guaranteed by one or more of our subsidiaries and which therefore is structurally senior to the Notes and (4) securities, indebtedness or obligations issued or incurred by our subsidiaries that would be senior to our equity interests in our subsidiaries and therefore rank structurally senior to the Notes with respect to the assets of our subsidiaries; |
| pay dividends on, or purchase or redeem or make any payments in respect of, capital stock or other securities subordinated in right of payment to the Notes; |
| sell assets (other than certain limited restrictions on our ability to consolidate, merge or sell all or substantially all of our assets); |
| enter into transactions with affiliates; |
16
| create liens (including liens on the shares of our subsidiaries) or enter into sale and leaseback transactions; |
| make investments; or |
| create restrictions on the payment of dividends or other amounts to us from our subsidiaries. |
In addition, the indenture will not include any protection against certain events, such as a change of control, a leveraged recapitalization or going private transaction (which may result in a significant increase of our indebtedness levels), restructuring or similar transactions. Furthermore, the terms of the indenture and the Notes will not protect holders of the Notes in the event that we experience changes (including significant adverse changes) in our financial condition, results of operations or credit ratings, as they do not require that we or our subsidiaries adhere to any financial tests or ratios or specified levels of net worth, revenues, income, cash flow, or liquidity. Also, an event of default or acceleration under our other indebtedness would not necessarily result in an Event of Default under the Notes.
Our ability to recapitalize, incur additional debt and take a number of other actions that are not limited by the terms of the Notes may have important consequences for you as a holder of the Notes, including making it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations with respect to the Notes or negatively affecting the trading value of the Notes.
Other debt we issue or incur in the future could contain more protections for its holders than the indenture and the Notes, including additional covenants and events of default. The issuance or incurrence of any such debt with incremental protections could affect the market for and trading levels and prices of the Notes.
An increase in market interest rates could result in a decrease in the value of the Notes.
In general, as market interest rates rise, notes bearing interest at a fixed rate decline in value. Consequently, if you purchase the Notes, and the market interest rates subsequently increase, the market value of your Notes may decline. We cannot predict the future level of market interest rates.
An active trading market for the Notes may not develop, which could limit the market price of the Notes or your ability to sell them.
The Notes are a new issue of debt securities for which there currently is no trading market. We intend to apply to list the Notes on the Nasdaq Global Select Market within 30 business days of the original issue date under the symbol . We cannot provide any assurances that an active trading market will develop for the Notes or that you will be able to sell your Notes. If the Notes are traded after their initial issuance, they may trade at a discount from their initial offering price depending on prevailing interest rates, the market for similar securities, our credit ratings, general economic conditions, our financial condition, performance and prospects and other factors. The underwriters have advised us that they intend to make a market in the Notes pending any listing of the Notes on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, but they are not obligated to do so. The underwriters may discontinue any market-making in the Notes at any time at their sole discretion. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that a liquid trading market will develop for the Notes, that you will be able to sell your Notes at a particular time or that the price you receive when you sell will be favorable. To the extent an active trading market does not develop, the liquidity and trading price for the Notes may be harmed. Accordingly, you may be required to bear the financial risk of an investment in the Notes for an indefinite period of time.
In addition, there may be a limited number of buyers when you decide to sell your Notes. This may affect the price, if any, offered for your Notes or your ability to sell your Notes when desired or at all.
17
We may redeem the Notes before maturity, and you may be unable to reinvest the proceeds at the same or a higher rate of return.
We may redeem the Notes in whole or in part on or after , 2023, at our option at the redemption prices as described under Description of NotesOptional Redemption. If a redemption does occur, you may be unable to reinvest the money you receive in the redemption at a rate that is equal to or higher than the rate of return on the Notes.
Risks Related to Our Business
Risks Related to Our Business Generally
We have a limited operating history, with operating losses as we have grown. If we are unable to sustain greater revenues than our operating costs of bitcoin mining and power generation, as well as expansion plans, we will resume operating losses, which could negatively impact our operations, strategy and financial performance.
We have undergone a transformation in recent years and began bitcoin mining in May 2019. We have experienced recurring losses from operations in prior years. Our bitcoin mining business is in its early stages, and bitcoin and energy pricing and bitcoin mining economics are volatile and subject to uncertainty. Our current strategy will continue to expose us to the numerous risks and volatility associated with the bitcoin mining and power generation sectors, including fluctuating bitcoin to U.S. dollar prices, the costs of bitcoin miners, the number of market participants mining bitcoin, the availability of other power generation facilities to expand operations and regulatory changes.
If, among other things, the price of bitcoin declines or mining economics become prohibitive, we could incur future losses. Such losses could be significant as we incur costs and expenses associated with recent investments and potential future acquisitions, as well as legal and administrative related expenses. While we are closely monitoring our cash balances, cash needs and expense levels, significant expense increases may not be offset by a corresponding increase in revenue or a significant decline in bitcoin prices could significantly impact our financial performance.
While we have multiple sources of revenue from our business and operations, these sources of revenue currently all depend on the single natural gas power generation facility that we operate. Any disruption to our single power plant would have a material adverse effect on our business and operations, as well as our results of operations and financial condition.
We operate a single source natural gas power generation facility that presently comprises and supports all of our business and operations. While we realize multiple sources of revenue from our business and operations, each current source of revenue is dependent on the continuing operation of our natural gas power generation facility in the Town of Torrey, New York. We have signed a letter of intent for a facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina at which we intend to develop our next bitcoin mining operation, using existing electrical infrastructure at the location. However, we have not yet executed a binding agreement for the Spartanburg facility, no major terms have been agreed to between the parties, no commitment with respect thereto has arisen and there can be no assurance that a satisfactory agreement can be reached. Power plants involve complex operations and equipment, much of which is subject to wear and tear in the normal course of operation. Further, equipment used in the operations of the power plant may also suffer breakdown or malfunction, physical disaster and sabotage. Substantially all of our power plant and bitcoin mining operations are operated with computer systems that may be subject to data security breaches, computer malfunction and viruses, and generally require continual software updates and maintenance. Repairing, replacing or otherwise fixing or addressing any of these or other issues may require the allocation of significant time, capital or other resources, such as technical capability, and during such period of time, we would be unable to operate our power plant and generate revenue. We may not have the adequate capital or other resources to fix or otherwise address these factors or issues in a timely manner or at all, and we may not have access to the necessary parts or equipment that are required to fix or otherwise address such factors or issues. Some of the parts and equipment necessary to operate the power plant may require long lead-times in order to acquire, either due to availability, production time or cycles, shipping or other factors, thereby
18
making such parts or equipment difficult to acquire in a timely manner or on a cost-effective basis, if available at all. Any disruption to our single power plant would cause a suspension of revenue generating activity and would have a material adverse effect on our business and operations, as well as our results of operations and financial condition.
As the aggregate amount of computing power, or hash rate, in the bitcoin network increases, the amount of bitcoin earned per unit of hash rate decreases; as a result, in order to maintain our market share, we may have to incur significant capital expenditures in order to expand our fleet of miners.
The aggregate computing power of the global bitcoin network has generally grown over time and we expect it to continue to grow in the future. To the extent the global hash rate continues to increase, the market share of and the amount of bitcoin rewards paid to any fixed fleet of miners will decrease. Therefore, in order to maintain our market share, we may be required to expand our mining fleet, which may require significant capital expenditures.
The loss of any of our management team, an inability to execute an effective succession plan, or an inability to attract and retain qualified personnel could adversely affect our operations, strategy and business.
Our operations, strategy and business will depend to a significant degree on the skills and services of our management, including Jeffrey Kirt, our Chief Executive Officer, Dale Irwin, our President and Timothy Rainey, our Chief Financial Officer.
At present, our management team is small, and we will need to continue to grow our management in order to alleviate pressure on our existing management team and in order to continue to develop our business and execute on any future identification and expansion into other potential power generation or other cryptocurrency mining opportunities. If our management, including any new hires that we may make, fails to work together effectively or to execute our plans and strategies on a timely basis, our business could be harmed. Furthermore, if we fail to execute an effective contingency or succession plan with the loss of any member of management, the loss of such management personnel may significantly disrupt our business.
The loss of key members of management could inhibit our business. Our future success also depends in large part on our ability to attract, retain and motivate key management and operating personnel. As we continue to develop and expand our operations, we may require personnel with different skills and experiences, and who have a sound understanding of our business and the bitcoin industry. The market for highly qualified personnel in this industry is very competitive, and we may be unable to attract and retain such personnel. If we are unable to attract and retain such personnel, our business could be harmed.
Our subsidiaries conduct the substantial majority of our operations and own our operating assets.
Our subsidiaries conduct the substantial majority of our operations and own our operating assets. As a result, our ability to make required payments on the Notes depends in part on the operations of our subsidiaries and our subsidiaries ability to distribute funds to us. To the extent our subsidiaries are unable to distribute, or are restricted from distributing, funds to us, we may be unable to fulfill our obligations under the Notes. Our subsidiaries are separate and distinct legal entities and have no obligation, contingent or otherwise, to pay amounts due on the Notes or to make funds available for that purpose. The Notes will not be guaranteed by any of our subsidiaries or any other person.
It may take significant time, expenditure or effort for us to grow our business, including our bitcoin mining operations, through acquisitions, and our efforts may not be successful.
The number of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency mining companies has greatly increased in recent years. As we and other bitcoin/cryptocurrency mining companies seek to grow their mining capacity or access additional sources of electricity to power their growing mining operations, the acquisition of existing cryptocurrency mining companies and standalone electricity production facilities may become an attractive avenue of growth. Currently, we source our electricity for our bitcoin mining operations from our captive 106-megawatt power generation facility located in the Town of Torrey, New York. If we determine to expand our operations beyond
19
the capacity of our 106-megawatt power generation facility, we may want to do so through the acquisition of additional bitcoin or other cryptocurrency mining businesses or electricity generating power plants. On July 2, 2021, we announced that we had signed a letter of intent to execute a 10-year lease for a facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina at which we intend to develop our next bitcoin mining operation, using existing electrical infrastructure at the location. We have not yet executed a binding lease for the Spartanburg facility, no major terms have been agreed to between the parties, no commitment with respect thereto has arisen and there can be no assurance that a satisfactory agreement can be reached, however we expect that operations at the Spartanburg facility will commence in late 2021 or early 2022 and will be fully carbon neutral. However, attractive acquisition targets may not be available to us for a number of reasons, such as growing competition for attractive targets, economic or industry sector downturns, geopolitical tensions, regulatory changes, environmental challenges, increases in the cost of additional capital needed to close business combination or operate targets post-business combination. Our inability to identify and consummate acquisitions of attractive targets could have a material and adverse impact on our long term growth prospects.
Our business and operating plan may be altered due to several external factors, including market conditions, the ability to procure equipment in a quantity, cost and timeline consistent with our business plan and the ability to identify and acquire additional locations to replicate the operating model in place at our existing facility.
We have developed a business plan that contemplates the anticipated completion of our build out in the Town of Torrey, NY as well as the acquisition of additional power generation assets where we envision replicating our existing business model. The business plan is predicated on certain assumptions regarding many factors, some of which include no disruption to current operations from regulatory changes requirements, and procurement of additional mining equipment of certain performance specifications at certain future dates and prices, as well as the acquisition of additional locations. Our business plan is subject to change to the extent we are not able to achieve the expected outcomes consistent with our current assumptions.
The properties utilized by us in our bitcoin mining operations may experience damage, including damage not covered by insurance.
Our current bitcoin mining operation in the Town of Torrey, New York is, and any future bitcoin mining operations that we establish will be, subject to a variety of risks relating to physical condition and operation, including:
| the presence of construction or repair defects or other structural or building damage; |
| any noncompliance with or liabilities under applicable environmental, health or safety regulations or requirements or building permit requirements; |
| any damage resulting from natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, floods and windstorms; |
| damage caused by criminal actors, such as cyberattacks, vandalism, sabotage or terrorist attacks; and |
| claims by employees and others for injuries sustained at our properties. |
Any of these could render our bitcoin mining operations and/or power generation inoperable, temporarily or permanently, and the potential impact on our business is currently magnified because we currently operate from a single location. The security and other measures we take to protect against these risks may be insufficient or unavailable. Our property insurance covers approximately $197 million per occurrence on plant, including business interruption, and $50 million for bitcoin mining equipment in all cases, subject to certain deductibles. Our insurance may not be adequate to cover the losses we suffer as a result of these risks
Our bitcoin may be subject to loss, theft or restriction on access.
We are subject to the risk that some or all of our bitcoin could be lost or stolen. Cryptocurrencies are stored in cryptocurrency sites commonly referred to as wallets which may be accessed to exchange a holders
20
cryptocurrency assets. Access to our bitcoin assets could also be restricted by cybercrime (such as a denial of service attack) against a service at which we maintain a hosted hot wallet. A hot wallet refers to any cryptocurrency wallet that is connected to the Internet. In general, hot wallets are easier to set up and access than wallets in cold storage, but they are also more susceptible to hackers and other technical vulnerabilities. Cold storage refers to any cryptocurrency wallet that is not connected to the Internet. Cold storage wallets are generally more secure than hot wallets, but they are not ideal for quick or regular transactions, and we may experience lag time in our ability to respond to market fluctuations in the price of our bitcoin. We currently engage a third-party provider to hold our bitcoin in multi-signature cold storage wallets, and such third party provider maintains secure backups to reduce the risk of malfeasance, but the risk of loss of our bitcoin assets cannot be wholly eliminated. We utilize hot wallets on exchanges to liquidate daily bitcoin mining rewards (and amounts held in hot wallets are limited to one days worth of mining revenue, to mitigate risk of loss. Any restrictions on access to our hot wallets due to cybercrime or other reasons could limit our ability to convert bitcoin to cash.
Hackers or malicious actors may attempt to steal, bitcoin, such as by attacking the bitcoin network source code, exchange miners, third-party platforms, cold and hot storage locations or software, our general computer systems or networks, or by other means. As we increase in size, we may become a more appealing target of hackers or other malicious actors. In addition, if in the future we hold more of our generated bitcoin long term for investment purposes, the threat of the loss of our bitcoin to hackers would become a more substantial risk and the potential for substantial losses would grow.
Bitcoin are controlled by the possessor of both the unique public and private keys relating to the local or online digital wallet in which they are held, which wallets public key or address is reflected in the networks public blockchain. We publish the public key relating to digital wallets in use when we verify the receipt of transfers and disseminate such information into the network, but we will need to safeguard the private keys relating to such digital wallets. To the extent such private keys are lost, destroyed or otherwise compromised, we will be unable to access our bitcoin and such private keys may not be capable of being restored.
Any of these events may adversely affect our business.
If bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies are determined to be investment securities, and we hold a significant portion of our assets in such cryptocurrency, investment securities or non-controlling equity interests of other entities, we may inadvertently violate the Investment Company Act. We could incur large losses to modify our operations to avoid the need to register as an investment company or could incur significant expenses to register as an investment company or could terminate operations altogether.
Under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the Investment Company Act), a company may be deemed an investment company if the value of our investment securities is more than 40% of our total assets (exclusive of government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. At the present time, the SEC does not deem the bitcoin that we own, acquire or mine as an investment security, and we do not believe any of the bitcoin we own, acquire or mine to be securities. Additionally, we do not currently hold a significant portion of our assets in bitcoin. However, SEC rules and applicable law are subject to change, especially in the evolving world of cryptocurrency, and further, the Investment Company Act analysis may not be uniform across all forms of cryptocurrency that we might mine or hold.
If the SEC or other regulatory body were to determine that bitcoin, or any other cryptocurrency that we may mine or hold in the future, constitutes an investment security subject to the Investment Company Act, and if we were to hold a significant portion of our total assets in such bitcoin or other cryptocurrency as a result of our mining activities and/or in investments in which we do not have a controlling interest, the investment securities we hold could exceed 40% of our total assets, exclusive of cash items. Such a situation could be hastened if we choose to hold more of our mined bitcoin or other cryptocurrency rather than converting our mined bitcoin or cryptocurrency in significant part to U.S. dollars.
21
In such an event, we could determine that we have become an investment company. Limited exclusions are available under the Investment Company Act, including an exclusion granting an inadvertent investment company a one-year grace period from registration as an investment company. In that year, we would be required to take actions to cause the investment securities held by us to be less than 40% of our total assets, which could include acquiring assets with our cash and bitcoin or other cryptocurrency on hand, liquidating our investment securities or bitcoin or seeking a no-action letter from the SEC if we are unable to acquire sufficient assets or liquidate sufficient investment securities in a timely manner. Such actions could require significant cost, disruption to our operations or growth plans and diversion of management time and attention.
If we were unable to qualify for an exemption from registration as an investment company, or fail to take adequate steps within the one-year grace period for inadvertent investment companies, we would need to register with the SEC as an investment company under the Investment Company Act or cease almost all business, and our contracts would become voidable. Investment company registration is time consuming and would require a restructuring of our business. Moreover, the operation of an investment company is very costly and restrictive, as investment companies are subject to substantial regulation concerning management, operations, transactions with affiliated persons and portfolio composition, and Investment Company Act filing requirements. The cost of such compliance would result in us incurring substantial additional expenses, and the failure to register if required would have a materially adverse impact on our operations.
There has been limited precedent set for financial accounting of digital assets and so it is unclear how we will be required to account for digital asset transactions.
While we record digital assets as indefinite-lived intangible assets in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification, or ASC, 350, there is currently no authoritative guidance under GAAP which specifically addresses the accounting for digital assets, including digital currencies.
We recognize bitcoin related revenue when bitcoins are earned. The receipt of bitcoins is generally recorded as revenue, using the spot price of a prominent exchange at the time of daily reward and bitcoins are recorded on the balance sheet at their cost basis and are reviewed for impairment annually.
A change in financial accounting standards or their interpretation could result in changes in accounting treatment applicable to our bitcoin business.
If federal or state legislatures or agencies initiate or release tax determinations that change the classification of bitcoins as property for tax purposes (in the context of when such bitcoins are held as an investment), such determination could have a negative tax consequence on us.
Current IRS guidance indicates that digital assets such as bitcoin should be treated and taxed as property, and that transactions involving the payment of ethereum or bitcoin for goods and services should be treated as barter transactions. While this treatment creates a potential tax reporting requirement for any circumstance where the ownership of a bitcoin passes from one person to another, usually by means of bitcoin transactions (including off- blockchain transactions), it preserves the right to apply capital gains treatment to those transactions which may adversely affect an investment in us.
Our ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.
As of December 31, 2020, Support had approximately $145.6 million in U.S. federal tax net operating loss (NOLs) carryforwards, the usage of which is subject to Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). If a corporation undergoes an ownership change within the meaning of Section 382, the corporations net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes arising from before the ownership change are subject to limitations on use after the ownership change. In general, an ownership change occurs if there is a cumulative change in the corporations equity ownership by certain stockholders that exceeds fifty percentage points over a rolling three-year period. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. The Merger resulted in an ownership change for Support. Thus, our existing NOLs may be subject to limitations arising from
22
the previous ownership change, and if we undergo an ownership change in connection with or after this offering, our ability to utilize NOLs could be further limited by Section 382 of the Code. Future changes in our stock ownership, some of which might be beyond our control, could result in additional ownership changes under Section 382 of the Code subjecting our ability to use our NOLs to stricter limitations. For these reasons, we may not be able to utilize a material portion of the NOL carryforwards even if we attain profitability.
Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Related Risks
Regulatory changes or actions may alter the nature of an investment in us or restrict the use of bitcoin in a manner that adversely affects our business, prospects or operations.
As bitcoin and cryptocurrencies generally have grown in both popularity and market size, governments around the world have reacted differently to them; certain governments have deemed them illegal, and others have allowed their use and trade without restriction. Based on stated efforts to curtail energy usage on mining, to protect investors or to prevent criminal activity, and in part to redirect interest into competing government- created cryptocurrencies, recent regulations have proliferated. In March 2021, a new law was proposed in India to criminalize the mining, transferring or holding of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and current rules require extensive disclosure to the government of cryptocurrency holdings. At the same time, India is rumored to be developing its own centralized national digital currency. Similarly, China has also limited some mining and trading, although not possession, of cryptocurrency, ostensibly to reduce energy usage in a country representing an estimated 65% of bitcoin mining, but reports suggest such regulation is also designed, in part, to drive appetite for Chinas own digital yuan. On April 16, 2021, Turkey imposed bans on the use of cryptocurrency as payment and now requires transactions of a certain size to be reported to a government agency in the wake of alleged fraud at one of Turkeys largest exchanges. In addition, in May 2021, Iran announced a temporary ban on cryptocurrency mining as a way to reduce energy consumption amid power blackouts. Many jurisdictions, such as the United States, subject bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to extensive, and in some cases overlapping, unclear and evolving regulatory requirements. Further, in January 2021, Russia adopted legislation to identify cryptocurrency as a digital asset and legitimize its trading, but also prohibit its use as a payment method; mining operations have also grown significantly in Russia since this time. Such varying government regulations and pronouncements are likely to continue for the near future.
In the U.S., the Federal Reserve Board, U.S. Congress and certain U.S. agencies (e.g., the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the SEC, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Treasury Department (FinCEN), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation) have begun to examine the operations of the bitcoin network, bitcoin users and the bitcoin exchange market. Increasing regulation and regulatory scrutiny may result in new costs for us and our management having to devote increased time and attention to regulatory matters, change aspects of our business or result in limits on the use cases of bitcoin. In addition, regulatory developments and/or our business activities may require us to comply with certain regulatory regimes. For example, to the extent that our activities cause us to be deemed a money service business under the regulations promulgated by FinCEN under the authority of the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act, we may be required to comply with FinCEN regulations, including those that would mandate us to implement certain anti-money laundering programs, make certain reports to FinCEN and maintain certain records.
Ongoing and future regulation and regulatory actions could significantly restrict or eliminate the market for or uses of bitcoin and/or materially and adversely impact our business.
We are subject to risks related to Internet disruptions, which could have an adverse effect on our ability to mine bitcoin.
In general, bitcoin and our business of mining bitcoin is dependent upon the Internet. A significant disruption in Internet connectivity could disrupt a currencys network operations and have an adverse effect on the price of bitcoin and our ability to mine bitcoin.
23
Our future success will depend significantly on the price of bitcoin, which is subject to risk and has historically been subject to wide swings and significant volatility.
Our operating results will depend significantly on the price of bitcoin. Specifically, our revenues from our bitcoin mining operations are based principally on two factors: (1) our mining payouts from our third-party mining pools; and (2) the price of bitcoin. Accordingly, a decrease in the price of bitcoin will result in a decrease in our revenues. Moreover, the price of bitcoin has historically been subject to wide swings and significant volatility. This means that our operating results may be subject to significant volatility.
Bitcoin prices have historically been volatile and impacted by a variety of factors, including market perception, the degree to which bitcoin is accepted as a means of payment, the volume of purchases and sales of bitcoin by market participants, real or perceived competition from alternative cryptocurrencies as well as those factors discussed in this section Risk Factors.
We may not be able to compete effectively against other companies, some of whom have greater resources and experience.
We may not be able to compete effectively against present or future competitors. The bitcoin industry has attracted various high-profile and well-established competitors, some of whom have substantially greater liquidity and financial resources than us. With the limited resources we have available, we may experience great difficulties in expanding and improving our network of computers to remain competitive. In addition, new ways for investors and market participants to invest in bitcoin and cryptocurrencies continue to develop, and we may be adversely affected by competition from other methods of investing in bitcoin. Competition from existing and future competitors, particularly those that have access to competitively priced energy, could result in our inability to secure acquisitions and partnerships and to successfully execute our business plan. If we are unable compete effectively, our business could be negatively affected.
The impact of geopolitical and economic events on the supply and demand for bitcoin is uncertain.
Geopolitical crises may motivate large-scale purchases of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which could increase the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rapidly. This may increase the likelihood of a subsequent price decrease as crisis-driven purchasing behavior dissipates. Such risks are similar to the risks of purchasing commodities in uncertain times, such as the risk of purchasing, holding or selling gold. Alternatively, as cryptocurrencies are an emerging asset class, global crises and general economic downturns may discourage investment in bitcoin as investors could focus their investment on less volatile asset classes as a means of hedging their investment risk.
Bitcoin is subject to supply and demand forces. How such supply and demand will be impacted by geopolitical events is largely uncertain but could be harmful to us and investors in our class A common stock.
Bitcoin miners and other necessary hardware are subject to malfunction, technological obsolescence, the global supply chain and difficulty and cost in obtaining new hardware.
Our bitcoin miners are subject to malfunctions and normal wear and tear, and, at any point in time, a certain number of our bitcoin miners are typically off-line for maintenance or repair. The physical degradation of our miners will require us to replace miners that are no longer functional. Because we utilize many units of the same bitcoin miner models, if there is a model wide component malfunction whether in the hardware or the software that powers these miners, the percentage of offline miners could increase substantially, disrupting our operations. Any major bitcoin miner malfunction out of the typical range of downtime for normal maintenance and repair could cause significant economic damage to us.
Additionally, as technology evolves, we may need to acquire newer models of miners to remain competitive in the market. New miners can be costly and may be in short supply. Given the long production period to
24
manufacture and assemble bitcoin miners and the current global semiconductor chip shortage, there can be no assurance that we can acquire enough bitcoin mining computers or replacement parts on a cost-effective basis or at all for the maintenance and expansion of our bitcoin mining operations. We rely on third parties, principally located in China, to supply us with bitcoin miners and shortages of bitcoin miners or their component parts, material increases in bitcoin miner costs, or delays in delivery of our orders, including due to trade restrictions and COVID-19 supply chain disruptions, could significantly interrupt our plans for expanding our bitcoin mining capacity in the near term and future.
Bitmain, a provider of bitcoin miners, adjusts its prices based on bitcoin mining revenues, so the cost of new machines is unpredictable but could be extremely high. As a result, at times, we may obtain Bitmain miners and other hardware from third parties at premium prices, to the extent they are available. Due to high demand and the limited number of suppliers, we must identify miners on terms we find attractive, negotiate to lock in the purchase and price and wait for delivery. As we wait for such miner delivery, we bear the risk of bitcoin price decreases and mining difficulty increases. Meanwhile, our competitors may be receiving and installing miners purchased at lower cost.
This upgrading and replacement process requires substantial capital investment and we may face challenges in doing so on a timely and cost-effective basis. Shortages of bitcoin mining computers could result in reduced bitcoin mining capacity and increased operating costs, which could materially delay the completion of our planned bitcoin mining capacity expansion and put us at a competitive disadvantage.
We face risks and disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain issues, including in semiconductors and other necessary bitmining components, which could significantly impact our operations and financial results.
Our business was adversely impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular as a result of a decline in energy prices and the availability of bitcoin miners, and may continue to be adversely impacted in the future.
The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has and may continue to adversely affect the economies of many countries, resulting in an economic downturn that may have an adverse effect on financial markets, energy and bitcoin prices, the demand for bitcoin and other factors that could impact our operating results.
China has also limited the shipment of certain products in and out of its borders, which could negatively impact our ability to receive bitcoin mining equipment from our China-based suppliers. Our third-party manufacturers, suppliers, sub-contractors and customers have been disrupted by worker absenteeism, quarantines, restrictions on employees ability to work, office and factory closures, disruptions to ports and other shipping infrastructure, border closures, or other travel or health-related restrictions. Depending on the magnitude of such effects on our supply chain, shipments of parts for our existing miners, as well as any new miners we purchase, may be delayed. As our miners require repair or become obsolete and require replacement, our ability to obtain adequate replacements or repair parts from our manufacturer may therefore be hampered. Supply chain disruptions could therefore negatively impact our operations.
In addition, multiple factors including some related to the COVID-19 pandemic have created a global semiconductor shortage. Since the inception of the pandemic, factory shutdowns and limitations due to employee illness or public health requirements have significantly slowed output, while global demand for products requiring chips increased. These 2020-2021 challenges worsened a pre-existing semiconductor and other supply shortage. Semiconductor supply has not yet rebounded, and manufacturers across all industries are waiting and driving up demand and costs. While we have already purchased the bitcoin miners for our 2021 plans, any delay or disruption in delivery of these purchased miners, or future miners necessary for our success and growth, may have a material and negative impact on our bitcoin mining operations and financial results.
25
We may not adequately respond to rapidly changing technology.
Competitive conditions within the bitcoin industry require that we use sophisticated technology in the operation of our business. The industry for blockchain technology is characterized by rapid technological changes, new product developments and evolving industry standards. New technologies, techniques or products could emerge that offer better performance than the software and other technologies that we utilize, and we may have to transition to these new technologies to remain competitive. We may not be successful in implementing new technology or doing so in a cost-effective manner. During the course of implementing any such new technology into our operations, we may experience system interruptions. Furthermore, there can be no assurances that we will recognize, in a timely manner or at all, the benefits that we may expect as a result of our implementing new technology into our operations. As a result, our business and operations may suffer.
A failure to properly monitor and upgrade the bitcoin network protocol could damage the bitcoin network which could, in turn, have an adverse effect on our business.
The open-source structure of the bitcoin network protocol means that the contributors to the protocol are generally not directly compensated for their contributions in maintaining and developing the protocol. As the bitcoin network protocol is not sold and its use does not generate revenues for contributors, contributors are generally not compensated for maintaining and updating the bitcoin network protocol. The lack of guaranteed financial incentive for contributors to maintain or develop the bitcoin network and the lack of guaranteed resources to adequately address emerging issues with the bitcoin network may reduce incentives to address issues adequately or in a timely manner. Because our mining activities rely on the bitcoin network, negative developments with respect to that network may have an adverse effect on our business.
Over time, incentives for bitcoin miners to continue to contribute processing power to the bitcoin network may transition from a set reward to transaction fees. If the incentives for bitcoin mining are not sufficiently high, we may not have an adequate incentive to continue to mine.
In general, as the number of bitcoin rewards awarded for solving a block in a blockchain decreases, our ability to achieve profitability also decreases. Decreased use and demand for bitcoin rewards may adversely affect our incentive to expend processing power to solve blocks. If the bitcoin rewards for solving blocks and transaction fees are not sufficiently high, fewer bitcoin miners will mine. At insufficiently attractive rewards, our costs of operations in total may exceed our revenues from bitcoin mining.
To incentivize bitcoin miners to continue to contribute processing power to the bitcoin network, such network may either formally or informally transition from a set reward to transaction fees earned upon solving for a block. This transition could be accomplished either by bitcoin miners independently electing to record in the blocks they solve only those transactions that include payment of a transaction fee or by the bitcoin network adopting software upgrades that require the payment of a minimum transaction fee for all transactions. If as a result transaction fees paid for bitcoin transactions become too high, bitcoin users may be reluctant to transfer bitcoin or accept bitcoin as a means of payment, and existing users may be motivated to hold existing bitcoin and switch from bitcoin to another digital asset or back to fiat currency for transactions, diminishing the aggregate amount of available transaction fees for bitcoin miners. Such reduction would adversely impact our results of operations.
Incorrect or fraudulent cryptocurrency transactions may be irreversible.
It is possible that, through computer or human error, theft or criminal action, our cryptocurrency could be transferred in incorrect amounts or to unauthorized third parties or accounts. In general, cryptocurrency transactions are irrevocable, and stolen or incorrectly transferred cryptocurrencies may be irretrievable, and we may have extremely limited or no effective means of recovering such cryptocurrencies. As a result, any incorrectly executed or fraudulent bitcoin transactions could adversely affect our business.
26
The bitcoin reward for successfully uncovering a block will halve several times in the future, and bitcoin value may not adjust to compensate us for the reduction in the rewards we receive from our bitcoin mining efforts.
Halving is a process designed to control the overall supply and reduce the risk of inflation in cryptocurrencies using a proof of work consensus algorithm. At a predetermined block, the bitcoin mining reward is cut in half, hence the term halving. For bitcoin, the reward was initially set at 50 bitcoin currency rewards per block and this was cut in half to 25 on November 28, 2012 at block 210,000, then again to 12.5 on July 9, 2016 at block 420,000. The most recent halving for bitcoin occurred on May 11, 2020 at block 630,000 and the reward was reduced to 6.25. It is expected that the next halving will likely occur in 2024. This process will reoccur until the total amount of bitcoin currency rewards issued reaches 21 million, which is expected around the year 2140. Bitcoin has had a history of price fluctuations around the halving of its rewards, and there can be no assurance that any price change will be favorable or would compensate for the reduction in bitcoin mining reward in connection with a halving. If the award of bitcoin or a proportionate decrease in bitcoin mining difficulty does not follow these anticipated halving events, the revenue we earn from our bitcoin mining operations would see a corresponding decrease, and we may not have an adequate incentive to continue bitcoin mining.
We may not be able to realize the benefits of forks, and forks in a digital asset network may occur in the future which may affect the value of bitcoin held by us.
To the extent that a significant majority of users and miners on a cryptocurrency network install software that changes the cryptocurrency network or properties of a cryptocurrency, including the irreversibility of transactions and limitations on the mining of new cryptocurrency, the cryptocurrency network would be subject to new protocols and software. However, if less than a significant majority of users and miners on the cryptocurrency network consent to the proposed modification, and the modification is not compatible with the software prior to its modification, a fork of the network would occur, with one prong of the network running the pre-modified software and the other running the modified software. The effect of such a fork would be the existence of two versions of the cryptocurrency running in parallel, yet lacking interchangeability and necessitating exchange-type transaction to convert currencies between the two forks. After a fork, it may be unclear which fork represents the original asset and which is the new asset.
If we hold bitcoin at the time of a hard fork into two cryptocurrencies, industry standards would dictate that we would be expected to hold an equivalent amount of the old and new assets following the fork. However, we may not be able to secure or realize the economic benefit of the new asset. Our business may be adversely impacted by forks in the bitcoin network.
The further development and acceptance of digital asset networks and other digital assets, which represent a new and rapidly changing industry, are subject to a variety of factors that are difficult to evaluate. The slowing or stopping of the development or acceptance of digital asset systems may adversely affect an investment in us.
The use of cryptocurrencies to, among other things, buy and sell goods and services and complete transactions, is part of a new and rapidly evolving industry that employs cryptocurrency assets, including bitcoin, based upon a computer-generated mathematical and/or cryptographic protocol. Large-scale acceptance of bitcoin as a means of payment has not, and may never, occur. The growth of this industry in general, and the use of bitcoin in particular, is subject to a high degree of uncertainty, and the slowing or stopping of the development or acceptance of developing protocols may occur unpredictably. The factors include, but are not limited to:
| continued worldwide growth in the adoption and use of bitcoin as a medium to exchange; |
| governmental and quasi-governmental regulation of bitcoin and its use, or restrictions on or regulation of access to and operation of the bitcoin network or similar cryptocurrency systems; |
| changes in consumer demographics and public tastes and preferences; |
| the maintenance and development of the open-source software protocol of the network; |
27
| the increased consolidation of contributors to the bitcoin blockchain through bitcoin mining pools; |
| the availability and popularity of other cryptocurrencies and other forms or methods of buying and selling goods and services, including new means of using fiat currencies; |
| the use of the networks supporting cryptocurrencies for developing smart contracts and distributed applications; |
| general economic conditions and the regulatory environment relating to cryptocurrencies; |
| environmental restrictions on the use of electricity to mine bitcoin and a resulting decrease in global bitcoin mining operations; |
| an increase in bitcoin transaction costs and a resultant reduction in the use of and demand for bitcoin; and |
| negative consumer sentiment and perception of bitcoin specifically and cryptocurrencies generally. |
The outcome of any of these factors could have negative effects on our business.
It is possible that cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin could have features that make them more desirable to a material portion of the cryptocurrency user base and this could result in a reduction in demand for bitcoin, which could have a negative impact on the price of bitcoin and adversely affect us.
Bitcoin holds a first-to-market advantage over other cryptocurrencies. This first-to-market advantage is driven in large part by having the largest user base and, more importantly, the largest combined mining power in use to secure their respective blockchains and transaction verification systems. More users and miners makes a cryptocurrency more secure, which makes it more attractive to new users and miners, resulting in a network effect that strengthens this first-to-market advantage.
Despite the first-to-market advantage of the bitcoin network over other cryptocurrency networks, it is possible that another cryptocurrency could become comparatively more popular. If an alternative cryptocurrency obtains significant market shareeither in market capitalization, mining power or use as a payment technologythis could reduce bitcoins market share and value. Substantially all of our mining revenue is derived from mining bitcoin and, while we may mine other cryptocurrencies in the future, we have no plans to do so currently and may incur significant costs if we choose to do so. For example, our current application-specific integrated circuit machines (i.e., our miners) are principally utilized for mining bitcoin and cannot mine other cryptocurrencies that are not mined utilizing the SHA-256 algorithm. As a result, the emergence of a cryptocurrency that erodes bitcoins market share and value could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We may be adversely affected by competition from other methods of investing in bitcoin.
We compete with other users and/or companies that are mining bitcoin or providing investors exposure to bitcoin without direct purchases of bitcoin and with other potential financial vehicles linked to cryptocurrency, including securities backed by or linked to bitcoin through entities similar to it. Market and financial conditions, and other conditions beyond our control, may make it more attractive to invest in such other entities, or to invest in bitcoin or other cryptocurrency directly, as opposed to investing in us. Conversely, given the nascence of cryptocurrency market within the broader investment market, investors may associate entities involved in cryptocurrency mining, trading or related services with each other, and thus, public reports of challenges at any of such other entities may have a negative impact on our business. Finally, the emergence of other financial vehicles and exchange-traded funds have been scrutinized by regulators and such scrutiny and any negative impressions or conclusions resulting from such scrutiny could be applicable to us and impact our business. Such circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our operations and growth strategy.
28
We are subject to momentum pricing risk.
Momentum pricing typically is associated with growth stocks and other assets whose valuation, as determined by the investing public, accounts for anticipated future appreciation in value. Cryptocurrency market prices are determined primarily using data from various exchanges, over-the-counter markets, and derivative platforms. Momentum pricing may have resulted, and may continue to result, in speculation regarding future appreciation in the value of cryptocurrencies and bitcoin in particular, inflating and making their market prices more volatile. As a result, they may be more likely to fluctuate in value due to changing investor confidence in future appreciation (or depreciation) in their market prices, which could adversely affect the value of bitcoin mined by us.
Our reliance on third-party mining pool service providers for our mining payouts may have a negative impact on our business.
We use thirdparty mining pools to receive our mining rewards from the network. Mining pools allow miners to combine their processing power, increasing their chances of solving a block and getting paid by the network. The rewards are distributed by the pool operator, proportionally to our contribution to the pools overall mining power used to generate each block. Should a pool operators system suffer downtime for any reason, including, as a result of a cyber-attack, software malfunction or other similar issues for any reason, it would negatively impact our ability to receive revenue. Furthermore, we are dependent on the accuracy of the mining pool operators record keeping to accurately record the total processing power provided to the pool for a given bitcoin mining application in order to assess the proportion of that total processing power we provided. While we have internal methods of tracking both our power provided and the total used by the pool, the mining pool operator uses our own record-keeping to determine our proportion of a given reward. We have little means of recourse against the mining pool operator if we determine the proportion of the reward paid out to us by the mining pool operator is incorrect, other than leaving the pool. If we are unable to consistently obtain accurate proportionate rewards from our mining pool operators, we may experience reduced reward for our efforts, which would have an adverse effect on our business and operations.
Banks and financial institutions may not provide bank accounts, or may cut off certain banking or other financial services, to cryptocurrency investors or businesses that engage in bitcoin-related activities or that accept bitcoin as payment.
A number of companies that engage in bitcoin and/or other cryptocurrency-related activities have been unable to find banks or financial institutions that are willing to provide them with bank accounts and other services. Similarly, changing governmental regulations about the legality of transferring or holding bitcoin and other cryptocurrency may prompt other banks and financial institutions to close existing bank accounts or discontinue banking or other financial services to such companies in the cryptocurrency industry, or even investors with accounts for transferring, receiving or holding their cryptocurrency. Specifically, China already restricts financial institutions from holding, trading or facilitating transactions in bitcoin. Similarly, other countries have proposed cryptocurrency legislation that could have a significant impact on the ability to utilize banking services in such countries for cryptocurrency. Both India and China, among other countries, are reportedly driving toward the development and adoption of a national digital currencyand taking legislative action that could be viewed as disadvantaging to private cryptocurrencies in the process.
Should such rules and restrictions continue or proliferate, we may not only be unable to obtain or maintain these services for our business but also experience business disruption if our necessary commercial partners, such as bitcoin mining pools or miner manufacturers, cannot conduct their businesses effectively due to such regulations. The difficulty that many businesses that provide bitcoin and/or derivatives on other cryptocurrency-related activities have and may continue to have in finding banks and financial institutions willing to provide them services may diminish the usefulness of bitcoin as a payment system and harm public perception of bitcoin. If we are unable to obtain or maintain banking services for our business as a result of our bitcoin-related activities, our business could be adversely affected.
29
Blockchain technology may expose us to specially designated nationals or blocked persons or cause us to violate provisions of law.
We are subject to the rules enforced by The Office of Financial Assets Control of the US Department of Treasury (OFAC), including regarding sanctions and requirements not to conduct business with persons named on its specially designated nationals list. However, because of the pseudonymous nature of blockchain transactions, we may inadvertently and without our knowledge engage in transactions with persons named on OFACS specially designated nationals list.
Power Generation Related Risks
Our operations and financial performance may be impacted by fuel supply disruptions, price fluctuations in the wholesale power and natural gas markets, and fluctuations in other market factors that are beyond our control.
Our power generation depends on our purchases of fuel and other products consumed during the production of electricity from a number of suppliers. Our operations and financial performance generally may be impacted by changes in the supply of fuel and other required products, price fluctuations in the wholesale power and natural gas markets, and other market factors beyond our control.
Delivery of these fuels to our facilities is dependent upon fuel transmission or transportation infrastructure, storage and inventory of fuel stocks, as well as the continuing financial viability of contractual counterparties. As a result, we are subject to the risks of disruptions or curtailments in the production of power at our generation facility if fuel is limited or unavailable at any price, if a counterparty fails to perform, or if there is a disruption in the fuel delivery infrastructure. Disruption in the delivery of fuel, including disruptions as a result of weather, transportation difficulties, global demand and supply dynamics, labor relations, environmental regulations or the financial viability of fuel suppliers, could adversely affect our ability to operate our facilities, which could result in lower power sales and/or higher costs to our bitcoin mining operations and thereby adversely affect our results of operations.
Separate from supply, market prices for power, capacity, ancillary services, natural gas, and oil are volatile, unpredictable and tend to fluctuate substantially. Disruptions in our fuel supplies may require us to find alternative fuel sources at higher costs, to find other sources of power to deliver to counterparties at a higher cost, or to pay damages to counterparties for failure to deliver power as contracted. Unlike most other commodities, electric power can only be stored on a very limited basis and generally must be produced concurrently with its use. As a result, power prices and our costs are subject to significant volatility due to supply and demand imbalances, especially in the day-ahead and spot markets. We buy significant quantities of fuel on a short-term or spot market basis. Prices for the natural gas that we purchase fluctuate, sometimes rising or falling significantly over a relatively short period of time. The price we can obtain for the sale of power may not rise at the same rate, or may not rise at all, to match a rise in fuel or delivery costs. Further, any changes in the costs of natural gas or transportation rates, changes in the relationship between such costs and the market prices of power, or an inability to procure fuel for physical delivery at prices that we consider favorable could all adversely affect our operations, the costs of meeting our obligations, and the profitability of our bitcoin mining, and thus, our operations and financial performance. Volatility in market prices for fuel and electricity may result from a number of factors outside of our control, including:
| changes in generation capacity in our markets, including the addition of new supplies of power as a result of the development of new plants, expansion of existing plants, the continued operation of uneconomic power plants due to state subsidies, or additional transmission capacity; |
| disruption to, changes in or other constraints or inefficiencies of electricity, fuel or natural gas transmission or transportation; |
| electric supply disruptions, including plant outages and transmission disruptions; |
| changes in market liquidity; |
30
| weather conditions, including extreme weather conditions and seasonal fluctuations, including the effects of climate change; |
| changes in commodity prices and the supply of commodities, including but not limited to natural gas and oil; |
| changes in the demand for power or in patterns of power usage, including the potential development of demand-side management tools and practices, distributed generation, and more efficient end-use technologies; |
| development of new fuels, new technologies and new forms of competition for the production of power; |
| fuel price volatility; |
| changes in capacity prices and capacity markets. |
| federal, state and foreign governmental environmental, energy and other regulation and legislation, including changes therein and judicial decisions interpreting such regulations and legislation; |
| the creditworthiness and liquidity of fuel suppliers and/or transporters and their willingness to do business with us; and |
| general economic and political conditions. |
Such factors and the associated fluctuations in power and natural gas prices have affected our wholesale power generation profitability and cost of power for bitcoin mining activities in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
Changes in technology may negatively impact the value of our NY power plant and any future power plants.
Research and development activities are ongoing in the industry to provide alternative and more efficient technologies to produce power. There are alternate technologies to supply electricity, most notably fuel cells, micro turbines, batteries, windmills and photovoltaic (solar) cells, the development of which are currently being subsidized and expanded by the State of New York, where we currently operate (as well as by state or local governments in areas where we may operate in the future), to address global climate change concerns. It is possible that technological advances will reduce the cost of alternative generation to a level that is equal to or below that of certain central station production. Also, as new technologies are developed and become available, the quantity and pattern of electricity usage by customers could decline, with a corresponding decline in revenues derived by generators. These alternative energy sources could result in a decline to the dispatch and capacity factors of our NY power plant. As a result of these factors, the value of our generation facilities could be significantly reduced.
We sell capacity, energy and ancillary services to the wholesale power grid managed by the NYISO. Our business may be affected by the actions of nearby states or other governmental actors in the competitive wholesale marketplace.
We sell capacity, energy and ancillary services to the wholesale power grid managed by the NYISO. The competitive wholesale marketplace may be impacted by out-of-market subsidies provided by states or state entities, including bailouts of uneconomic nuclear plants, imports of power from Canada, renewable mandates or subsidies, mandates to sell power below our cost of acquisition and associated costs, as well as out-of-market payments to new or existing generators. These out-of-market subsidies to existing or new generation undermine the competitive wholesale marketplace, which can lead to decreased energy market revenues or premature retirement of existing facilities, including those owned by us. If these measures continue, capacity and energy prices may be suppressed, and we may not be successful in our efforts to insulate the competitive market from this interference. Our wholesale power revenue may be materially impacted by rules or regulations that allow regulated utilities to participate in competitive wholesale markets or to own and operate rate-regulated facilities that provide capacity, energy and ancillary services that could be provided by competitive market participants.
31
The availability and cost of emission allowances could adversely impact our costs of operations.
We are required to maintain, through either allocations or purchases, sufficient emission allowances for SO2, CO2 and NOx to support our operations in the ordinary course of operating our power generation facilities. These allowances are used to meet the obligations imposed on us by various applicable environmental laws. If our operational needs require more than our allocated allowances, we may be forced to purchase such allowances on the open market, which could be costly. If we are unable to maintain sufficient emission allowances to match our operational needs, we may have to curtail our operations so as not to exceed our available emission allowances or install costly new emission controls. As we use the emission allowances that we have purchased on the open market, costs associated with such purchases will be recognized as operating expense. If such allowances are available for purchase, but only at significantly higher prices, the purchase of such allowances could materially increase our costs of operations in the affected markets.
Our financial performance could be materially and adversely affected if energy market participants continue to construct additional generation facilities (i.e., new-build) or expand or enhance existing generation facilities despite relatively low power prices and such additional generation capacity results in a reduction in wholesale power prices or more competition from bitcoin mining competitors with access to cheaper supplies of electricity.
Given the overall attractiveness of the markets in which we operate, and certain tax benefits associated with renewable energy, among other matters, energy market participants have continued to construct new generation facilities (i.e., new-build) or invest in enhancements or expansions of existing generation facilities despite relatively low wholesale power prices. If this market dynamic continues, and/or if our bitcoin mining competitors begin to build or acquire their own power plants to fuel their bitcoin mining operations, our results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected if such additional generation capacity results in a cheaper supply of electricity to our bitcoin mining competitors or lower prices at which we sell capacity, energy or ancillary services to the wholesale power grid.
Maintenance, expansion and refurbishment of power generation facilities involve significant risks that could result in unplanned power outages or reduced output and could have a material adverse effect on our revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.
Our facilities require periodic maintenance and repair. Any unexpected failure, including failure associated with breakdowns or forced outages, and any related unanticipated capital expenditures could result in reduced profitability from both loss of bitcoin mining operations and power generation. Such unexpected outages have occurred in the past, and may occur in the future, due to factors both within and outside of our control. We can give no assurances that outages involving our power plant will not occur in the future, or that any such outage would not have a negative effect on our business and results of operations. In addition, we cannot be certain of the level of capital expenditures that will be required due to changing environmental laws (including changes in the interpretation or enforcement thereof), needed facility repairs and unexpected events (such as natural disasters or terrorist attacks). Unexpected capital expenditures could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity and financial condition. If we significantly modify power generation equipment, we may be required to install the best available control technology or to achieve the lowest achievable emission rates as such terms are defined under the new source review provisions of the Clean Air Act of 1963, which would likely result in substantial additional capital expenditures.
Operation of power generation facilities involves significant risks and hazards that could disrupt or have a material adverse effect on our revenues and results of operations, and we may not have adequate insurance to cover these risks and hazards. Our employees, contractors, customers and the general public may be exposed to a risk of injury due to the nature of our operations.
The conduct of our operations, including operation of our power plant, information technology systems and other assets is subject to a variety of inherent risks. These risks include the breakdown or failure of equipment,
32
accidents, potential physical injury, hazardous spills and exposures, fires, property damage, security breaches, viruses or outages affecting information technology systems, labor disputes, obsolescence, delivery/ transportation problems and disruptions of fuel supply, performance below expected levels or other financial liability, and may be caused to or by employees, customers, contractors, vendors, contractual or financial counterparties, other third parties, weather events or acts of God.
Operational disruptions or similar events may impact our ability to conduct our businesses efficiently and lead to increased costs, expenses or losses. Planned and unplanned outages at our power plants may require us to curtail operation of the plant. Any reduced power supply could also have a negative impact on the cost structure of our bitcoin mining operations.
These and other hazards can cause significant personal injury or loss of life, severe damage to and destruction of property, plant and equipment, contamination of, or damage to, the environment and suspension of operations. Further, the employees and contractors of our operating affiliates work in, and customers and the general public may be exposed to, potentially dangerous environments at or near our operations. As a result, employees, contractors, customers and the general public are at risk for serious injury, including loss of life.
The occurrence of one or more of these events may result in us or our affiliates being named as a defendant in lawsuits asserting claims for substantial damages, including for environmental cleanup costs, personal injury and property damage and fines and/or penalties. We maintain an amount of insurance protection that we consider adequate, but we cannot provide any assurance that our insurance will be sufficient or effective under all circumstances and against all hazards or liabilities to which we may be subject and, even if we do have insurance coverage for a particular circumstance, we may be subject to a large deductible and maximum cap. A successful claim for which we are not fully insured could hurt our financial results and materially harm our financial condition. Further, due to rising insurance costs and changes in the insurance markets, we cannot provide any assurance that our insurance coverage will continue to be available at all or at rates or on terms similar to those presently available. Any losses not covered by insurance could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
Our business is subject to substantial energy regulation and may be adversely affected by legislative or regulatory changes relating to climate change or policies regarding cryptocurrency mining, as well as liability under, or any future inability to comply with, existing or future energy regulations or requirements.
Our business is subject to extensive U.S. federal, state and local laws. Compliance with, or changes to, the requirements under these legal and regulatory regimes may cause us to incur significant additional costs or adversely impact our ability to continue operations as usual or compete on favorable terms with competitors. Failure to comply with such requirements could result in the shutdown of a non-complying facility, the imposition of liens, fines, and/or civil or criminal liability and or costly litigations before the agencies and/or in state of federal court. Changes to these laws and regulations could result in temporary or permanent restrictions on certain operations at our facilities, including power generation or use in connection with cryptocurrency mining, and compliance with, or opposing such regulation, may be costly.
The regulatory environment has undergone significant changes in the last several years due to state and federal policies affecting wholesale competition and the creation of incentives for the addition of large amounts of new renewable generation and, in some cases, transmission. These changes are ongoing, and we cannot predict the future design of the wholesale power markets or the ultimate effect that the changing regulatory environment will have on our business. In addition, in some of these markets, interested parties have proposed material market design changes, including the elimination of a single clearing price mechanism, as well as proposals to reinstate the vertically-integrated monopoly model of utility ownership or to require divestiture by generating companies to reduce their market share. If competitive restructuring of the electric power markets is reversed, discontinued, delayed or materially altered, our business prospects and financial results could be negatively impacted. In addition, since 2010, there have been a number of reforms to the regulation of the derivatives markets, both in the United States and internationally. These regulations, and any further changes thereto, or adoption of additional
33
regulations, including any regulations relating to position limits on futures and other derivatives or margin for derivatives, could negatively impact our ability to hedge our portfolio in an efficient, cost-effective manner by, among other things, potentially decreasing liquidity in the forward commodity and derivatives markets or limiting our ability to utilize non-cash collateral for derivatives transactions.
Obtaining and complying with required government permits and approvals may be time-consuming and costly.
We and our affiliates are required to obtain, and to comply with, numerous permits and licenses from federal, state and local governmental agencies. The process of obtaining and renewing necessary permits and licenses can be lengthy and complex, requiring up to months or years for approval depending on the nature of the permit or license and such process could be further complicated or extended in the event regulations change. In addition, obtaining such permit or license can sometimes result in the establishment of conditions that create a significant ongoing impact to the nature or costs of operations or even make the project or activity for which the permit or license was sought unprofitable or otherwise unattractive. In addition, such permits or licenses may be subject to denial, revocation or modification under various circumstances. Failure to obtain or comply with the conditions of permits or licenses, or failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, may result in the delay or temporary suspension of our operations and electricity sales or the curtailment of our delivery of electricity to our customers and may subject us to penalties and other sanctions. Although various regulators routinely renew existing permits and licenses, renewal of our existing permits or licenses could be denied or jeopardized by various factors, including failure to provide adequate financial assurance for closure, failure to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations or permit conditions, local community, political or other opposition and executive, legislative or regulatory action.
Our inability to procure and comply with the permits and licenses required for these operations, or the cost to us of such procurement or compliance, could have a material adverse effect on us. In addition, new environmental legislation or regulations, if enacted, or changed interpretations of existing laws, may cause activities at our facilities to need to be changed to avoid violating applicable laws and regulations or eliciting claims that historical activities at our facilities violated applicable laws and regulations. In addition to the possible imposition of fines in the case of any such violations, we may be required to undertake significant capital investments and obtain additional operating permits or licenses, which could have a material adverse effect on us.
Our cost of compliance with existing and new environmental laws could have a material adverse effect on us.
We and our affiliates are subject to extensive environmental regulation by governmental authorities, including the United States Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA), and state environmental agencies and/or attorneys general. We may incur significant additional costs beyond those currently contemplated to comply with these regulatory requirements. If we fail to comply with these regulatory requirements, we could be forced to reduce or discontinue operations or become subject to administrative, civil or criminal liabilities and fines. Existing environmental regulations could be revised or reinterpreted, new laws and regulations could be adopted or become applicable to us or our facilities, and future changes in environmental laws and regulations could occur, including potential regulatory and enforcement developments related to air emissions, all of which could result in significant additional costs beyond those currently contemplated to comply with existing requirements. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on us.
The EPA has recently finalized or proposed several regulatory actions establishing new requirements for control of certain emissions from certain sources, including electricity generation facilities. In the future, the EPA may also propose and finalize additional regulatory actions that may adversely affect our existing generation facilities or our ability to cost-effectively develop new generation facilities. There is no assurance that the currently installed emissions control equipment at the natural gas-fueled generation facilities owned and operated by us will satisfy the requirements under any future EPA or state environmental regulations. Future federal and/or state regulatory actions could require us to install significant additional emissions control equipment, resulting in potentially material costs of compliance for our generation units, including capital expenditures, higher operating and fuel costs and potential production curtailments. These costs could have a material adverse effect on us.
34
We may not be able to obtain or maintain all required environmental regulatory approvals. If there is a delay in obtaining any required environmental regulatory approvals, if we fail to obtain, maintain or comply with any such approval or if an approval is retroactively disallowed or adversely modified, the operation of our generation facilities could be stopped, disrupted, curtailed or modified or become subject to additional costs. Any such stoppage, disruption, curtailment, modification or additional costs could have a material adverse effect on us.
In addition, we may be responsible for any on-site liabilities associated with the environmental condition of facilities that we have acquired, leased, developed or sold, regardless of when the liabilities arose and whether they are now known or unknown. In connection with certain acquisitions and sales of assets, we may obtain, or be required to provide, indemnification against certain environmental liabilities. Another party could, depending on the circumstances, assert an environmental claim against us or fail to meet its indemnification obligation to us.
We could be materially and adversely affected if current regulations are implemented or if new federal or state legislation or regulations are adopted to address global climate change, or if we are subject to lawsuits for alleged damage to persons or property resulting from greenhouse gas emissions.
There is attention and interest nationally and internationally about global climate change and how greenhouse gas emissions, such as CO2, contribute to global climate change. Over the last several years, the U.S. Congress and state and federal authorities have considered and debated several proposals intended to address climate change using different approaches, including a cap on carbon emissions with emitters allowed to trade unused emission allowances (cap-and-trade), a tax on carbon or greenhouse gas emissions, limits on the use of generated power in connection with cryptocurrency mining, incentives for the development of low-carbon technology and federal renewable portfolio standards. A number of federal court cases have been filed in recent years asserting damage claims related to greenhouse gas emissions, and the results in those proceedings could establish adverse precedent that might apply to companies (including us) that produce greenhouse gas emissions. We could be materially and adversely affected if new federal and/or state legislation or regulations are adopted to address global climate change or if we are subject to lawsuits for alleged damage to persons or property resulting from greenhouse gas emissions.
Expenses, liabilities or injunctions resulting from the currently adjourned Article 78 litigation filed with the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Yates County, could adversely affect our business prospects, results of operations and financial condition.
On December 17, 2020, certain parties filed an Article 78 petition with the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Yates County, that challenges the Town of Torreys site plan review for the planned expansion of our bitcoin mining data center. We were joined in the petition as a necessary party. The petition asserts, among other things, a violation of the State of New York Environmental Quality Review Act for failing to identify all areas of environmental concern or appropriately review the potential environmental impacts of the planned expansion of our data center. This claim could result in litigation, may be time-consuming and costly, divert management resources, require us to change, postpone or halt the construction of our planned bitcoin mining data center expansion, or have other adverse effects on our business. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our plan of operation, results of operations and business growth prospects. In addition, costly and time- consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce our approved building rights.
Risks Related to Our Subsidiary Support.com, Inc.
Supports financial condition and results of operations may vary from quarter to quarter, which may cause the price of our common stock to decline.
Supports quarterly results of operations have fluctuated in the past and could do so in the future. Because its results of operations are difficult to predict, you should not rely on quarterly comparisons of its results of operations as an indication of its future performance. Fluctuations in Supports results of operations may be due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to, those listed below and those identified throughout this section:
| The performance of its partners, including the success of its partners in attracting end users of its products, which can impact the amount of revenue it derives; |
35
| Change, or reduction in or discontinuance of its programs with clients and partners; |
| Cancellations, rescheduling or deferrals of significant customer products or service programs; |
| Its reliance on a small number of partners for a substantial majority of its revenue; |
| Its ability to successfully license and grow revenue related to its SUPERAntiSpyware® software, Guided Paths®, Support.com Cloud and its service offerings; |
| The timing of its sales to its clients and its partners resale of its products to end users and its ability to enter into new sales with partners and renew existing programs with its clients and partners; |
| The availability and cost-effectiveness of advertising placements for its software products and services and its ability to respond to changes in the advertising markets in which it participates; |
| The efficiency and effectiveness of its technology specialists; |
| Its ability to effectively match staffing levels with service volumes on a cost-effective basis; |
| Its ability to manage contract labor; |
| Its ability to hire, train, manage and retain its home-based customer support specialists and enhance the flexibility of its staffing model in a cost-effective fashion and in quantities sufficient to meet forecast requirements; |
| Its ability to manage costs under its self-funded health insurance program; |
| Usage rates on the subscriptions it offers; |
| Its ability to maintain a competitive cost structure for its organization; |
| The rate of expansion of its offerings and its investments therein; |
| Changes in the markets for computers and other technology devices relating to unit volume, pricing and other factors, including changes driven by declines in sales of personal computers and the growing popularity of tablets, and other mobile devices and the introduction of new devices into the connected home; |
| Its ability to adapt to its clients needs in a market space defined by frequent technological change; |
| Severe financial hardship or bankruptcy of one or more of its major clients; |
| The amount and timing of operating costs and capital expenditures in its business; |
| Failure to protect its intellectual property; |
| Diversion of managements attention from other business concerns, incurrence of costs and disruption of its ongoing business activities as a result of acquisitions or divestitures by Support; |
| Costs related to the defense and settlement of litigation, which can also have an additional adverse impact on it because of negative publicity, diversion of management resources and other factors; |
| Costs related to the defense and settlement of government investigations, requests for information and audits, which can also have an additional adverse impact on it because of negative publicity, diversion of management resources and other factors, including, without limitation, those audits, requests for information and investigations described in Part II. Item 1. Legal Proceedings of its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020; |
| Public health or safety concerns, medical epidemics or pandemics, such as COVID-19, and other natural- or man-made disasters; |
| The effects of any acquisitions, divestitures or significant investments; and |
| Potential losses on investments, or other losses from financial instruments it may hold that are exposed to market risk. |
36
Due to fluctuations in Supports quarterly and annual results of operations and other factors, the price at which our common shares trades may be volatile. Accordingly, you may not be able to resell your shares of common stock at or above the price you paid. In future periods, our stock price could decline if, amongst other factors, Supports revenue or operating results are below its estimates or the estimates or expectations of securities analysts and investors.
A substantial portion of Supports revenue is generated by a limited number of clients. The loss or reduction in business from any of these clients would adversely affect its business and results of operations.
Support receives a significant amount of its revenue from a limited number of customers. For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, our largest customer accounted for 44% and 63% of our total revenue, respectively. For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, our second largest customer accounted for 43% and 25% of our total revenue, respectively. There were no other customers that accounted for 10% or more of our total revenue in any of the periods presented.
In the past, sales to Supports largest customers have fluctuated significantly from period to period and year to year and will likely continue to fluctuate in the future. The loss of these or other significant relationships, the change of the terms or terminations of its arrangements with any of these customers, the reduction or discontinuance of programs or billable hours with any of these customers, or the failure of any of these customers to achieve their targets has in the past adversely affected and could in the future adversely affect its business. For example, Supports partners may decide to shorten its billable hours and use other vendors in the provision of their business and/or may periodically place these types of services out for bid. Supports competitors, many of whom have significantly more resources than Support does, may offer more favorable bids for the same business compared to what it offers; and as a result, Support may lose, or face a decline in the business it does with these significant customers.
Support may engage in the acquisition of other companies, investments, joint ventures and strategic alliances outside of its current line of business, which may have an adverse material effect on its existing business.
Support may engage in the acquisition of other companies, investments, joint ventures and strategic alliances outside of its current line of business to design and develop new technologies and products, to strengthen competitiveness by scaling up and to expand its existing business line into new regions. Such transactions, especially in new lines of business, inherently involve risk due to the difficulties in integrating operations, technologies, products and personnel. Integration issues are complex, time-consuming and expensive and, without proper planning and implementation, may adversely affect its existing business. Furthermore, Support may incur significant acquisition, administrative and other costs in connection with these transactions, including costs related to integration or restructuring of acquired businesses. In addition, Support may make investments in companies outside its current line of business in an attempt to broaden its business opportunities. These investments may not provide a return or lead to an increase in Supports operating results, and it may not obtain the benefits of these investments that it intends to recognize when making them. There can be no assurance that these transactions will be beneficial to Supports business or financial condition. Even assuming these transactions are beneficial, there can be no assurance that Support will be able to successfully integrate the new business lines acquired or achieve all or any of the initial objectives of these transactions.
Support has a history of losses, it may incur losses in the future and may not sustain profitability in the near term; and as a result, it may need to alter its business plans or change its business strategy.
Although Support has recently been profitable in the last two fiscal years, its profitability declined in 2020 compared to 2019. Prior to becoming profitable in 2019, Support had a history of losses. Supports accumulated deficit as of December 31, 2020 amounted to $208.8 million. Support may incur losses in the future and may not be able to sustain its profitability in the near term. As a result, Support may elect or may be required to alter its business plans or change its business strategy. Any change to Supports business plans or strategy will present
37
risks related to its ability to execute on these changes and may require it to make additional investments in its business, all of which could harm its operating results and cause our stock price to decline.
Supports contracts generally do not contain minimum purchase requirements and can generally be terminated by its customers on short notice without penalty.
Support enters into written agreements with each client for its services, and it generally seeks multi-year terms for such agreements. However, these agreements generally permit Supports clients to terminate for convenience on relatively short notice. Moreover, these agreements generally allow clients to procure similar services from other vendors, do not penalize its clients for early termination, and do not contain minimum purchase requirements or volume commitments. Accordingly, Support faces the risk that its clients may cancel or renegotiate contracts it has with them, which may adversely affect its results. If a principal client canceled or did not renew its contract with Support, its results would suffer. Clients can generally reduce the volume of services they outsource to Support without any penalties, which would have an adverse effect on its revenue, results of operations and overall financial condition.
Supports business is based on a relatively new and evolving business model.
Support is executing a plan to grow its business by providing customer support services provided by experts who work from their homes, creating a robust, timely and innovative library of Guided Path® self-support tools, licensing its Support.com Cloud application, and providing end-user consumer software products. Support may not be able to offer these services and software products successfully. Supports customer support experts are generally home-based, which requires a high degree of coordination and quality control of employees working from diverse and remote locations. Support expects to invest cash generated from its existing business to support its growth initiatives. Supports investments, which typically are made in advance of revenue, may not yield increased revenue to offset these expenses. As a result of these factors, the future revenue and income potential of its business is uncertain. Any evaluation of Supports business and its prospects must be considered in light of these factors and the risks and uncertainties often encountered by companies in its stage of development. Some of these risks and uncertainties relate to Supports ability to do the following:
| Maintain its current relationships and service programs, and develop new relationships, with service partners, subscriptions, and licensees of its Support.com technical support offering on acceptable terms or at all; |
| Reach prospective customers for its software products in a cost-effective fashion; |
| Reduce its dependence on a limited number of partners for a substantial majority of its revenue; |
| Successfully license and grow revenue related to its consumer software, Support.com technical support subscriptions, Guided Paths® and its technology support service offerings; |
| Manage its employees and contract labor efficiently and effectively; |
| Maintain gross and operating margins; |
| Match staffing levels with demand for services and forecast requirements; |
| Obtain bonuses and avoid penalties in contractual arrangements; |
| Operate successfully in a time-based pricing model; |
| Operate effectively in the SMB market; |
| Successfully introduce new, and adapt its existing, services and products for consumers and businesses; |
| Respond effectively to changes in the market for customer support services; |
| Realize benefits of any acquisitions it makes; |
38
| Adapt to changes in the markets it serves; |
| Adapt to changes in its industry, including consolidation; |
| Adapt to changes in the market due to public health concerns, medical epidemics or pandemics, such as COVID-19, and other natural- or man-made disasters; |
| Respond to government regulations relating to its current and future business; |
| Manage and respond to present, threatened, and future litigation; and |
| Manage and respond to present, threatened or future government investigations and audits, including, without limitation, those audits and investigations described in Part II. Item 1 Legal Proceedings of its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020. |
If Support is unable to address these risks, its business, results of operations and prospects could suffer.
Changes in the market for computers and other consumer electronics and in the technology support services market could adversely affect Supports business.
Reductions in unit volumes of sales for computers and other devices Support supports, or in the prices of such equipment, could adversely affect its business. Support offer both services that are attached to the sales of new computers and other devices, and services designed to fix existing computers and other devices. Declines in the unit volumes sold of these devices or declines in the pricing of such devices could adversely affect demand for its services or its revenue mix, either of which would harm its operating results. Further, Support does not support all types of computers and devices, meaning that it must select and focus on certain operating systems and technology standards for computers, tablets, smart phones, and other devices. Support may not be successful in supporting new devices in the connected home and Internet of Things, and consumers and SMBs may prefer equipment it does not support, which may decrease the market for its services and products if customers migrate away from platforms it supports. In addition, the structures and pricing models for programs in the technology support services market may change in ways that reduce Supports revenues and its margins.
Support has been, is currently and may be in the future the subject of governmental investigations relating to past products and services.
Support has been, is currently and may in the future be the subject of governmental investigations relating to its past products and how those products were used by its third-party partners.
These governmental inquiries could harm Supports reputation with customers and negatively impact its ability to sell to existing customers or attract new customers. In addition to the ongoing costs to respond to these inquiries, Support could be required to make additional payments to resolve these or other governmental proceedings that may be brought in the future. In some cases, Support may not be the subject of an investigation, but it may be required to expend resources, including time from its management team, to address information requests or to indemnify individual current or former employees who may become involved in governmental proceedings or also be requested to provide information. These historical proceedings, Supports ongoing matters and any inquiries or proceedings that arise in the future could have a material adverse effect on its operations, financial results and our stock price.
Support is a party to a Consent Order with the Federal Trade Commission which imposes ongoing obligations.
On November 6, 2018, Support entered into a Stipulation to Entry of Order for Permanent Injunction and Monetary Judgment (the Consent Order), with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), resolving a multi-year FTC investigation relating to PC Healthcheck, an obsolete software program that Support developed on behalf of a third party for their use with their customers. As part of the Consent Order, Support agreed to pay $10 million
39
and to implement certain new procedures and enhance certain existing procedures. Any violation or alleged violation of the terms of the Consent Order could impose additional financial liability in the form of regulatory fines and/or legal fees, as well as harm Supports reputation with customers or prospective customers and have a material adverse effect on its operations, financial results and our stock price.
Support has been named as a party to legal proceedings, including governmental proceedings, in the past and may be named in additional ones in the future, which could subject it to liability, require it to indemnify its customers or employees, require it to obtain or renew licenses, require it to stop selling its products, services and/or programs, or force it to redesign its products, services and/or programs.
Support has been named as a party to several lawsuits, government inquiries or investigations and other legal proceedings (referred to as litigation), and it may be named in additional ones in the future. Any potential litigation also could force Support to do one or more of the following:
| stop selling, offering for sale, making, having made or exporting products, services and/or programs; |
| limit or restrict the type of work that employees involved in such litigation may perform for it; |
| pay substantial damages and/or license fees and/or royalties to the party bringing the claim that could adversely impact its liquidity or operating results; and |
| attempt to redesign those products, services and/or programs that contain the allegedly problematic component. |
Under certain circumstances, Support has contractual and other legal obligations to indemnify and to incur legal expenses for current and former directors and officers and/or customers. If Support is required to make a significant payment under any of its indemnification obligations, including those to its customers and/or on behalf of its former or current employees, could have a material adverse effect on its business and the trading price for our securities. Litigation may be time consuming, expensive, and disruptive to normal business operations, and the outcome of litigation is difficult to predict. The ultimate outcome of litigation could have a material adverse effect on Supports business and the trading price for our securities. Furthermore, litigation, regardless of the outcome, may result in significant expenditures, diversion of Supports managements time and attention from the operation of its business and damage to its reputation or relationship with third parties, which could materially and adversely affect its business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and our stock price.
Support may face intellectual property infringement claims that could be costly to defend and result in its loss of significant rights.
Supports business relies on the use and licensing of technology. Other parties may assert intellectual property infringement claims against Support or its customers, and its products may infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties. For example, Supports products may infringe patents issued to third parties. In addition, as is increasingly common in the technology sector, Support may be confronted with the aggressive enforcement of patents by companies whose primary business activity is to acquire patents for the purpose of offensively asserting them against other companies. From time to time, Support has received allegations or claims of intellectual property infringement, and it may receive more claims in the future. Support may also be required to pursue litigation to protect is intellectual property rights or defend against allegations of infringement. Intellectual property litigation is expensive and time-consuming and could divert managements attention from Supports business. The outcome of any litigation is uncertain and could significantly impact Supports financial results. If there is a successful claim of infringement, Support may be required to develop non-infringing technology or enter into royalty or license agreements which may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all. Supports failure to develop non-infringing technologies or license proprietary rights on a timely basis would harm its business.
40
If Support is unable to protect or enforce its intellectual property rights, or it loses its ability to utilize the intellectual property of others, its business could be adversely affected.
Supports success depends, in part, upon its ability to obtain intellectual property protection for its proprietary processes, software and other solutions. Support relies upon confidentiality policies, nondisclosure and other contractual arrangements, and patent, trade secret, copyright and trademark laws to protect its intellectual property rights. These laws are subject to change at any time and could further limit Supports ability to obtain or maintain intellectual property protection. There is uncertainty concerning the scope of patent and other intellectual property protection for software and business methods, which are fields in which Support relies on intellectual property laws to protect its rights. Even where Support obtains intellectual property protection, its intellectual property rights may not prevent or deter competitors, former employees, or other third parties from reverse engineering its solutions or software. Further, the steps Support takes in this regard might not be adequate to prevent or deter infringement or other misappropriation of its intellectual property by competitors, former employees or other third parties, and it may not be able to detect unauthorized use of, or take appropriate and timely steps to enforce, its intellectual property rights. Enforcing Supports rights might also require considerable time, money and oversight, and it may not be successful. Further, Support relies on third-party software in providing some of its services and solutions. If Support loses its ability to continue using any such software for any reason, including because it is found to infringe the rights of others, it will need to obtain substitute software or find alternative means of obtaining the technology necessary to continue to provide its solutions. Supports inability to replace such software, or to replace such software in a timely or cost-effective manner, could materially adversely affect its results of operations.
Support may face class actions and similar claims that could be costly to defend or settle and result in negative publicity and diversion of management resources.
Supports business involves direct sale and licensing of services and software to consumers and SMBs, and it typically includes customary indemnification provisions in favor of its partners in its agreements for the distribution of its services and software. As a result, Support can be subject to consumer litigation and legal proceedings related to its services and software, including putative class action claims and similar legal actions, including, but not limited to, consumer litigation and legal proceedings. Support can also be subject to employee litigation and legal proceedings related to its employment practices attempted on a class or representative basis. Such litigation can be expensive and time-consuming regardless of the merits of any action and could divert managements attention from Supports business. The cost of defense can be large as can any settlement or judgment in an action. The outcome of any litigation is uncertain and could significantly impact Supports financial results. Regardless of outcome, litigation can have an adverse impact on Support because of defense costs, negative publicity, diversion of management resources and other factors.
Support must comply with a variety of existing and future laws and regulations that could impose substantial costs on it and may adversely impact its business.
Support is subject to a variety of laws and regulations, which may differ among jurisdictions, affecting its operations in areas including, but not limited to: intellectual property ownership and infringement; tax; anti- corruption such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Bribery Act; foreign exchange controls and cash repatriation restrictions; data privacy requirements such as the European Economic Area Privacy Regulation, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA); competition; Consent Order terms (for example, the recent Consent Order Support entered into with the FTC); advertising; employment; product regulations; health and safety requirements; and consumer laws. If Support fails to continue to comply with these regulations, it may be unable to provide products or services to certain customers, or it may incur penalties or fines. Support is unable to predict the outcome or effects of any of these potential actions or any other legislative or regulatory proposals on its business. Any changes to the legal and regulatory framework applicable to Supports businesses could have an adverse impact on the results of its operations. Although Supports management systems are designed to maintain compliance, if it violates or fails
41
to comply with any laws or regulations, applicable consent orders or decrees, a range of consequences could result, including fines, sales limitations, criminal and civil liabilities or other sanctions. The costs of complying with these laws (including the costs of any investigations, auditing and monitoring) could adversely affect Supports current or future business.
Supports product and service offerings are in their early stages and failure to market, sell and develop the offerings effectively and competitively could result in a lack of growth.
A number of competitive offerings exist in the market, providing various features that may overlap with Supports Support.com offerings today or in the future. Some competitors in these markets far exceed its spending on sales and marketing activities and benefit from greater existing brand awareness, channel relationships and existing customer relationships. Support may not be able to reach the market effectively and adequately or convey its differentiation as needed to grow its customer base. To reach Supports target market effectively, it may be required to continue to invest substantial resources in sales and marketing and engineering and IT activities, which could have a material adverse effect on its financial results. In addition, if Support fails to develop and maintain competitive features, deliver high-quality products and satisfy existing customers, its Support.com offerings could fail to grow. Disruptions in infrastructure operations could impair Supports ability to deliver Support.com offerings to customers, thereby affecting its reputation with existing and prospective customers and possibly resulting in monetary penalties or financial losses.
Supports end-user software revenues are dependent on online traffic patterns and the availability and cost of online advertising in certain key placements.
Some of Supports consumer end-user software revenue stream is obtained through advertising placements in certain key online media placements. From time to time a trend or a change in a key advertising placement will impact Support, decreasing traffic or significantly increasing the cost or effectiveness of online advertising and therefore compromising its ability to purchase a desired volume and placement of advertisements at profitable rates. If such a change were to continue to occur, on several occasions in the past, Support may be unable to attract desired amounts of traffic, its costs for advertising may further increase beyond its forecasts and its software revenues may further decrease. As a result, Supports operating results would be negatively impacted.
Support operates in a highly competitive industry, with intense price competition, which may intensify as its competitors expand their operations.
The industry in which Support operates is highly competitive and includes numerous small companies capable of competing effectively in it markets on a local basis, as well as several large companies that possess substantially greater financial resources than it does. Contracts are traditionally awarded on the basis of competitive bids or direct negotiations with customers.
The competitive factors in Supports markets include, amongst others, are product and service quality and availability, responsiveness, experience, technology, equipment quality, reputation for retaining highly skilled agents and price. The competitive environment has intensified as mergers among industry partners have reduced the number of available customers and mergers amongst Supports competitors have created larger companies for it to compete against. Some of Supports current and potential competitors have greater resources, longer histories, more customers, and/or greater brand recognition. They may secure better terms from vendors, adopt more aggressive pricing, and devote more resources to technology, infrastructure, fulfillment, and marketing.
Competition may intensify, including with the development of new business models and the entry of new and well-funded competitors, and as Supports competitors enter into business combinations or alliances and established companies in other markets expand to become competitive with its business. Furthermore, Support cannot be sure that its competitors will not develop competing products, systems, services or technologies that gain market acceptance in advance of its products, systems, services or technologies, or that its competitors will
42
not develop new products, systems, services or technologies that cause its existing products, systems, services or technologies to become non-competitive or obsolete, which may adversely affect Supports results of operations through the potential reduction of sales and profits.
Supports business is highly dependent upon its brand recognition and reputation, and the failure to maintain or enhance its brand recognition or reputation would likely have a material adverse effect on its business.
Supports brand recognition and reputation are critical aspects of its business. Support believes that maintaining and further enhancing its brand as well as its reputation will be critical to retaining existing customers and attracting new customers. Support also believes that the importance of its brand recognition and reputation will continue to increase as competition in its markets continues to develop. Supports success in this area will be dependent on a wide range of factors, some of which are out of its control, including the following:
| the efficacy of its marketing efforts; |
| its ability to retain existing and obtain new customers and strategic partners; |
| the quality and perceived value of its services; |
| actions of its competitors, its strategic partners, and other third parties; |
| positive or negative publicity, including material on the Internet; |
| regulatory and other governmental related developments; and |
| litigation related developments. |
If Support implements new marketing and advertising strategies, it may utilize marketing and advertising channels with significantly higher costs than its current channels, which in turn could adversely affect its operating results. Implementing new marketing and advertising strategies also would increase the risk of devoting significant capital and other resources to endeavors that do not prove to be cost effective. Further, Support also may incur marketing and advertising expenses significantly in advance of the time it anticipates recognizing revenue associated with such expenses, and its marketing and advertising expenditures may not generate sufficient levels of brand awareness or result in increased revenue. Even if Supports marketing and advertising expenses result in increased revenue, the increase might not offset its related expenditures. If Support is unable to maintain its marketing and advertising channels on cost-effective terms or replace or supplement existing marketing and advertising channels with similarly or more effective channels, its marketing and advertising expenses could increase substantially, its customer base could be adversely affected, and its business, operating results, financial condition, and reputation could suffer.
Furthermore, negative publicity, whether or not justified, relating to events or activities attributed to Support, its employees, its strategic partners, its affiliates, or others associated with any of these parties, may tarnish its reputation and reduce the value of its brands. Damage to Supports reputation and loss of brand equity may reduce demand for its products and services and have an adverse effect on its business, operating results, and financial condition. Moreover, any attempts to rebuild Supports reputation and restore the value of its brands may be costly and time consuming, and such efforts may not ultimately be successful.
Supports success depends upon its ability to attract, develop and retain highly qualified employees while also controlling its labor costs in a competitive labor market.
Supports customers expect a high level of customer support and product knowledge from its employees. To meet the needs and expectations of Supports customers, it must attract, develop and retain a large number of highly qualified employees while at the same time control labor costs. Supports ability to control labor costs is subject to numerous external factors, including prevailing wage rates and health and other insurance costs, as well as the impact of legislation or regulations governing labor relations, minimum wage, or healthcare benefits.
43
An inability to provide wages and/or benefits that are competitive within the markets in which Support operates could adversely affect its ability to retain and attract employees. Likewise, changes in market compensation rates may adversely affect Supports labor costs. In addition, Support competes with other retail businesses for many of its employees in hourly positions, and it invests significant resources in training and motivating them to maintain a high level of job satisfaction. These positions have historically had high turnover rates, which can lead to increased training and retention costs, particularly in a competitive labor market. Effective succession planning is also important to its long-term success. Failure to ensure effective transfer of knowledge and smooth transitions involving key employees and executive management could hinder Supports strategic planning and execution. There is no assurance that Support will be able to attract or retain highly qualified employees in the future. As such, Supports ability to develop and deliver successful products and services may be adversely affected.
Supports business would be adversely affected by the departure of existing members of its senior management team.
Supports business would be adversely affected by the departure of existing members of its senior management team. Supports success depends, in large part, on the continued contributions of its senior management team. Effective succession planning is also important for Supports long-term success. Failure to ensure effective transfers of knowledge and smooth transitions involving senior management could hinder Supports strategic planning and execution. Support does not currently maintain key person life insurance covering its senior management. The loss of any of Supports senior management could harm its ability to implement its business strategy and respond to the rapidly changing market conditions in which it operates.
If Support fails to attract, train and manage its consumer support experts in a manner that meets forecast requirements and provides an adequate level of support for its customers, its reputation and financial performance could be harmed.
Supports business depends in part on its ability to attract, manage and retain its customer support specialists and other support personnel. If Support is unable to attract, train and manage in a cost-effective manner adequate numbers of competent specialists and other support personnel to be available as service volumes vary, particularly as it seeks to expand the breadth and flexibility of its staffing model, its service levels could decline, which could harm its reputation, result in financial losses under contract terms, cause it to lose customers and partners, and otherwise adversely affect its financial performance. Supports ability to meet its need for support personnel while controlling its labor costs is subject to numerous external factors, including the level of demand for its products and services, the availability of a sufficient number of qualified persons in the workforce, unemployment levels, prevailing wage rates, changing demographics, health and other insurance costs, including managing costs under its self-funded health insurance program which can vary substantially each reporting period, and the cost of compliance with labor and wage laws and regulations. In the case of programs with time- based pricing models, the impact of failing to attract, train and manage such personnel could directly and adversely affect its revenue and profitability. Although Supports service delivery and communications infrastructure enables it to monitor and manage customer support specialists remotely, because they are typically home-based and geographically dispersed, it could experience difficulties meeting services levels and effectively managing the costs, performance and compliance of these customer support specialists and other support personnel. Any problems Support encounters in effectively attracting, managing and retaining its customer support specialists and other support personnel could seriously jeopardize its service delivery operations and its financial results.
Disruptions in Supports information technology and service delivery infrastructure and operations could impair the delivery of its services and harm its business.
Support depends on the continuing operation of its information technology and communication systems and those of its third-party service providers. Any interruption or failure of its internal or external systems could
44
prevent Support or its service providers from accepting orders and delivering services, or cause company and consumer data to be unintentionally lost, destroyed or disclosed. Supports continuing efforts to upgrade and enhance the security and reliability of its information technology and communications infrastructure could be very costly, and it may have to expend significant resources to remedy problems such as a security breach or service interruption. Interruptions in its services resulting from labor disputes, telephone or Internet failures, power or service outages, natural disasters or other events, or a security breach could reduce its revenue, increase its costs, cause customers and partners and licensees to fail to renew or to terminate their use of its offerings, and harm its reputation and its ability to attract new customers.
Costs related to software defects or other errors in Supports products could have a material adverse effect on it.
From time to time, Support may experience software defects, bugs and other errors associated with the introduction and/or use of its complex software products. Despite Supports testing procedures, errors may occur in new products or releases after commencement of commercial deployments in the future. Such errors could result in:
| Loss of or delay in market acceptance of its products; |
| Material recall and replacement costs; |
| Delay in revenue recognition or loss of revenue; |
| The diversion of the attention of its engineering personnel from product development efforts; |
| Support having to defend against litigation related to defective products; and |
| Damage to Supports reputation in the industry that could adversely affect its relationships with its customers. |
In addition, the process of identifying a software error in software products that have been widely distributed may be lengthy and require significant resources. Support may have difficulty identifying the end customers of the defective products in the field, which may cause it to incur significant replacement costs, contract damage claims from its customers and further reputational harm. Any of these problems could materially and adversely affect Supports results of operations. Despite Supports best efforts, security vulnerabilities may exist with respect to its products. Mitigation techniques designed to address such security vulnerabilities, including software and firmware updates or other preventative measures, may not operate as intended or effectively resolve such vulnerabilities. Software and firmware updates and/or other mitigation efforts may result in performance issues, system instability, data loss or corruption, unpredictable system behavior, or the theft of data by third parties, any of which could significantly harm Supports business and reputation.
Supports systems collect, access, use, and store personal customer information and enable customer transactions, which poses security risks, requires it to invest significant resources to prevent or correct problems that may be caused by security breaches, and may harm its business.
A fundamental requirement for online communications, transactions and support is the secure collection, storage and transmission of confidential information. Supports systems collect and store confidential and personal information of its individual customers as well as its partners and their customers users, including personally identifiable information and payment card information, and its employees and contractors may access and use that information in the course of providing services. In addition, Support collects and retain personal information of its employees in the ordinary course of its business. Support and its third-party contractors use commercially available technologies to secure this information. Despite these measures, parties may attempt to breach the security of Supports data or that of its customers. In addition, errors in the storage or transmission of data could breach the security of that information. Support may be liable to its customers for any breach in security and any breach could subject it to governmental or administrative proceedings or monetary penalties, damage its
45
relationships with partners and harm its business and reputation. Also, computers are vulnerable to computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins and similar disruptions, which could lead to interruptions, delays or loss of data. Support may be required to expend significant capital and other resources to comply with mandatory privacy and security standards required by law, industry standard, or contract, and to further protect against security breaches or to correct problems caused by any security breach.
A breach of Supports security systems may have a material adverse effect on its business.
Supports security systems are designed to maintain the physical security of its facilities and protect its customers and employees confidential information, as well as its own proprietary information. However, Support is also dependent on a number of third-party cloud-based and other service providers of critical corporate infrastructure services relating to, among other things, human resources, electronic communication services and certain finance functions, and Support is, of necessity, dependent on the security systems of these providers. Accidental or willful security breaches or other unauthorized access by third parties or Supports employees or contractors of its facilities, its information systems or the systems of its cloud-based or other service providers, or the existence of computer viruses or malware in its or their data or software could expose it to a risk of information loss and misappropriation of proprietary and confidential information, including information relating to its products or customers and the personal information of its employees. In addition, Support has, from time to time, also been subject to unauthorized network intrusions and malware on its own IT networks. Any theft or misuse of confidential, personal or proprietary information as a result of such activities could result in, among other things, unfavorable publicity, damage to Supports reputation, loss of its trade secrets and other competitive information, difficulty in marketing its products, allegations by its customers that Support has not performed its contractual obligations, litigation by affected parties and possible financial obligations for liabilities and damages related to the theft or misuse of such information, as well as fines and other sanctions resulting from any related breaches of data privacy regulations, any of which could have a material adverse effect on its reputation, business, profitability and financial condition. Since the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently and are often not recognized until launched against a target, Support may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures.
Data privacy regulations are expanding and compliance with, and any violations of, these regulations may cause Support to incur significant expenses.
Privacy legislation, enforcement and policy activity in this area are expanding rapidly in many jurisdictions and creating a complex regulatory compliance environment. Costs to comply with and implement these privacy- related and data protection measures could be significant. In addition, even Supports inadvertent failure to comply with federal, state or international privacy-related or data protection laws and regulations could result in proceedings against Support by governmental entities or others, and substantial fines and damages. The theft, loss or misuse of personal data collected, used, stored or transferred by Support to run Supports business could result in significantly increased business and security costs or costs related to defending legal claims.
Support is exposed to risks associated with payment card and payment fraud and with payment card processing.
Certain of Supports customers use payment cards to pay for its services and products. Support may suffer losses as a result of orders placed with fraudulent payment cards or other payment data. Supports failure to detect or control payment fraud could have an adverse effect on its results of operations. Support is also subject to payment card association operating standards and requirements, as in effect from time to time. Compliance with those standards requires Support to invest in network and systems infrastructure and processes. Failure to comply with these rules or requirements may subject Support to fines, potential contractual liabilities, and other costs, resulting in harm to its business and results of operations.
46
Privacy concerns and laws or other domestic or foreign regulations may require Support to incur significant costs and may reduce the effectiveness of its solutions, and its failure to comply with those laws or regulations may harm its business and cause it to lose customers.
Supports software and services contain features that allow its technology specialists and other personnel to access, control, monitor, and collect information from computers and other devices. Federal, state and foreign government bodies and agencies, however, have adopted or are considering adopting laws and regulations restricting or otherwise regulating the collection, use and disclosure of personal information obtained from consumers and individuals. Those regulations could require costly compliance measures, could reduce the efficiency of its operations, or could require Support to modify or cease to provide its systems or services. Liability for violation of, costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by such laws and regulations may limit the use and adoption of Supports services and reduce overall demand for them. Even the perception of privacy concerns, whether or not valid, may harm Supports reputation and inhibit adoption of its solutions by current and future customers. In addition, Support may face claims about invasion of privacy or inappropriate disclosure, use, storage, or loss of information obtained from its customers. Any imposition of liability could harm Supports reputation, cause it to lose customers and cause its operating results to suffer.
Support relies on third-party technologies in providing certain of its software and services. Supports inability to use, retain or integrate third-party technologies could delay service or software development and could harm its business.
Support licenses technologies from third parties, which are integrated into its services, technology and end user software. Supports use of commercial technologies licensed on a non-exclusive basis from third parties poses certain risks. Some of the third-party technologies Support licenses may be provided under open source licenses, which may have terms that require it to make generally available its modifications or derivative works based on such open source code. Supports inability to obtain or integrate third-party technologies with its own technology could delay service development until equivalent compatible technology can be identified, licensed and integrated. These third-party technologies may not continue to be available to Support on commercially reasonable terms or at all. If Supports relationship with third parties were to deteriorate, or if such third parties were unable to develop innovative and saleable products, or component features of its products, it could be forced to identify a new developer and its future revenue could suffer. Support may fail to successfully integrate any licensed technology into its services or software, or maintain it through its own development work, which would harm its business and operating results.
If Supports services are used to commit fraud or other similar intentional or illegal acts, it may incur significant liabilities, its services may be perceived as not secure and customers may curtail or stop using its services.
Certain software and services Support provides, including its Support.com Cloud applications, enable remote access to and control of third-party computer systems and devices. Support generally is not able to control how such access may be used or misused by licensees of its software offerings or its employees. If Supports software is used by its employees or others to commit fraud or other illegal acts, including, but not limited to, violating data privacy laws, proliferating computer files that contain a virus or other harmful elements, interfering or disrupting third-party networks, infringing any third partys copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other rights, transmitting any unlawful, harassing, libelous, abusive, threatening, vulgar, obscene or otherwise objectionable material, or committing unauthorized access to computers, devices, or protected information, third parties may seek to hold Support legally liable. As a result, defending such claims could be expensive and time- consuming regardless of the merits, and Support could incur significant liability or be required to undertake expensive preventive or remedial actions. As a result, Supports operating results may suffer and its reputation may be damaged.
47
We estimate that the net proceeds from this offering will be approximately $ million after discounts, commissions, structuring fees and expenses related to this offering (or approximately $ million if the underwriters option is exercised in full). We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including funding future acquisitions and investments, repaying indebtedness, making capital expenditures and funding working capital.
48
The following table sets forth our capitalization as of June 30, 2021:
| on an actual basis; and |
| on an adjusted basis to give effect to this offering as if it occurred on that date. |
You should read the data set forth below in conjunction with Use of Proceeds appearing elsewhere in this prospectus, as well as our audited financial statements and the accompanying notes and the section entitled Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation for Greenidge.
As of June 30, 2021 | ||||||||
Actual | Adjusted | |||||||
(in thousands) | ||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents |
$ | 37,890 | ||||||
Long-term debt |
$ | 19,542 | ||||||
Total stockholders equity |
$ | 92,939 | ||||||
Total capitalization |
$ | 112,481 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
49
DESCRIPTION OF OTHER INDEBTEDNESS
The following table summarizes our contractual obligations and other commitments (in thousands) as of June 30, 2021, (the latest practicable date prior to filing of this registration statement) and the years in which these obligations are due:
Total | Less than 1 Year | 1-3 Years | ||||||||||
Notes payable(1) |
$ | 43,791 | $ | 20,798 | $ | 22,993 | ||||||
Equipment lease(2) |
$ | 680 | $ | 544 | $ | 136 | ||||||
Natural gas commitments(3) |
$ | 1,718 | $ | 1,718 | $ | | ||||||
Purchase commitments(4) |
$ | 22,471 | $ | 22,471 | $ | |
(1) | The notes payable amounts presented in the above table include financed principal obligations plus estimated contractual future interest and risk premium payments. |
(2) | Equipment finance lease obligations include fixed monthly rental payments and exclude estimated revenue sharing payments. |
(3) | Represents off balance sheet arrangements to purchase gas through March 1, 2022. |
(4) | Represents miner purchase commitments as of June 30, 2021 |
Notes PayableEquipment Finance Agreements
The notes payable are associated with five equipment finance and security agreements that financed the purchase of miners that have been delivered. These notes carry an annual interest rate of between 15% and 17%, and are repaid by way of blended payments of interest and principal, as well as an additional risk premium payment, with the final payment due 18 months from delivery date. The loans provided for in these equipment finance agreements mature in June 2022, June 2022, November 2022, December 2022 and October 2023. As of June 30, 2021, we had a total $18.6 million notes payable outstanding under such equipment finance agreements. See Note 4 to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements (Unaudited) included in this prospectus.
Finance Lease
In March 2021, we entered into an equipment lease agreement for certain mining units. In conjunction with the lease agreement, we recorded a finance lease obligation of $1.2 million and a right-of-use asset of $1.4 million. The lease includes obligations for a monthly fixed payment of less than $0.1 million and a revenue sharing obligation of 10% of the revenue attributable to the miners purchased. The lease ends in August 2022, at which point the equipment transfers to us. See Note 5 to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements (Unaudited) included in this prospectus.
Purchase Commitments
As of June 30, 2021 we had outstanding commitments to purchase an additional 6,300 miners with a remaining cash commitment of $22.5 million, which has been included in the table above. We have $23.5 million of committed financing associated with these miners that will be funded upon delivery. These purchase commitments are cancellable only by us; however, if we were to cancel, we would forfeit the equipment deposits paid.
The $23.5 million of committed financing for the miner purchase commitments are generally for a term of 18 months from delivery date with interest rates between 15% to 17% and require an additional risk premium payment.
Since the end of the second quarter through September 15, 2021, we had purchased and deployed approximately 1,000 M30 Whatsminers and ordered an additional 11,500 S19j Pro Bitmain Antminers. The aggregate amount of these additional purchases was approximately $73.0 million.
50
Letters of Credit
On March 19, 2021, we entered into an arrangement with Atlas Capital Resources LP and Atlas Capital Resources (P) LP (collectively referred to herein as Atlas) and its affiliates pursuant to which we agreed, upon request, to direct our bank to issue new letters of credit to replace all or a portion of the letters of credit provided by Atlas and certain of its affiliates, upon the consummation of a potential investment in, financing of, or sale of any of our assets or equity or debt securities, which results in net proceeds to us of at least $10,000,000.
Atlas obtained a letter of credit from a financial institution in the amount of $4,994 at June 30, 2021, payable to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). This letter of credit guarantees the current value of the Companys environmental trust liability. The Company owns and operates a landfill, and as required by the NYSDEC, landfills are required to fund a trust to cover closure costs and expenses after the landfill has stopped operating.
Atlas also obtained a letter of credit from a financial institution in the amount of $3,630 at June 30, 2021, payable to Empire Pipeline Incorporated (Empire) in the event the Company should not make contracted payments for costs related to a pipeline interconnection project the Company has entered into with Empire. See Note 11 to our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements (Unaudited) included in this prospectus.
51
Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc. (the Company) will issue $100,000,000 in aggregate principal amount of % Senior Notes due 2026 (the Notes) under an indenture to be dated as of , 2021 (the base indenture) between the Company and Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB as trustee (the trustee), as supplemented by the first supplemental indenture (together with the base indenture, the indenture). Unless the context requires otherwise, all references to we, us, our and the Company in this section refer solely to Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc., the issuer of the Notes, and not to any of its subsidiaries.
The following description is only a summary of certain provisions of the indenture and the Notes. You should read these documents in their entirety because they, and not this description, define your rights as holders of the Notes. The following summary does not purport to be complete and is subject to, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to, the indenture and to the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, as amended (the Trust Indenture Act), and to all of the provisions of the indenture and those terms made a part of the indenture by reference to the Trust Indenture Act.
General
The Notes:
| will be our general unsecured, senior obligations; |
| will be initially limited to an aggregate principal amount of $100,000,000 (assuming no exercise of the underwriters option to purchase additional Notes described herein); |
| will mature on , 2026 unless earlier redeemed or repurchased, and 100% of the aggregate principal amount will be paid at maturity; |
| will bear cash interest from , 2021 at an annual rate of %, payable quarterly in arrears on January 31, April 30, July 31 and October 31 of each year, beginning on October 31, 2021, and at maturity; |
| will be redeemable at our option, in whole or in part, at any time on or after , 2023, at the prices and on the terms described under Optional Redemption below; |
| will be issued in denominations of $25 and integral multiples of $25 in excess thereof; |
| will not have a sinking fund; |
| are expected to be listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol ; and |
| will be represented by one or more registered Notes in global form, but in certain limited circumstances may be represented by Notes in definitive form. |
| will be redeemable at our option, in whole, but not in part, at any time upon the occurrence of certain change of control events, at the prices and on the terms described under Optional Redemption Upon Change of Control below; |
The indenture will not limit the amount of indebtedness that we or our subsidiaries may issue. The indenture will not contain any financial covenants and does not restrict us from paying dividends or issuing or repurchasing our other securities. Other than restrictions described under CovenantsMerger, Consolidation or Sale of Assets below, the indenture will not contain any covenants or other provisions designed to afford holders of the Notes protection in the event of a highly leveraged transaction involving us or in the event of a decline in our credit rating as the result of a takeover, recapitalization, highly leveraged transaction or similar restructuring involving us that could adversely affect such holders.
We may from time to time, without the consent of the existing holders, issue additional Notes having the same terms as to status, redemption or otherwise (except the price to public, the issue date and, if applicable, the initial
52
interest accrual date and the initial interest payment date) that may constitute a single fungible series with the Notes offered by this prospectus; provided that if any such additional Notes are not fungible with the Notes initially offered hereby for U.S. federal income tax purposes, such additional Notes will have one or more separate CUSIP numbers. For the avoidance of doubt, such additional Notes will still constitute a single series with all other Notes issued under the indenture for all purposes, including waivers, amendments, redemptions and offers to purchase.
Ranking
The Notes are senior unsecured obligations of the Company, and, upon our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, will rank (i) senior to the outstanding shares of our common stock, (ii) senior to any of our future subordinated debt, (iii) pari passu (or equally) with our future unsecured and unsubordinated indebtedness, (iv) effectively subordinated to any existing or future secured indebtedness (including indebtedness that is initially unsecured to which we subsequently grant security), to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness, and (v) structurally subordinated to all existing and future indebtedness of our subsidiaries, financing vehicles or similar facilities. See Risk FactorsThe Notes will be unsecured and therefore will be effectively subordinated to any secured indebtedness that we currently have or that we may incur in the future. The Notes will be obligations solely of the Company and will not be guaranteed by any of our subsidiaries.
We derive substantially all of our operating income and cash flow from our investments in our subsidiaries. Claims of creditors of our subsidiaries generally will have priority with respect to the assets and earnings of such subsidiaries over the claims of our creditors, including holders of the Notes. As a result, the Notes will be effectively subordinated to creditors, including trade creditors and preferred stockholders, if any, other than us, of our subsidiaries. See Risk FactorsThe Notes will be structurally subordinated to the indebtedness and other liabilities of our subsidiaries.
As of , 2021, we had approximately $ million of outstanding indebtedness, inclusive of approximately $ million of secured indebtedness.
Interest
Interest on the Notes will accrue at an annual rate equal to 8.5% from and including , 2021 to , but excluding, the maturity date or earlier acceleration or redemption and will be payable quarterly in arrears on January 31, April 30, July 31 and October 31 of each year, beginning on October 31, 2021 and at maturity, to the holders of record at the close of business on the immediately preceding January 15, April 15, July 15 and October 15 (and October 15 immediately preceding the maturity date), as applicable (whether or not a business day).
The initial interest period for the Notes will be the period from and including , 2021, to, but excluding, October 31, 2021, and subsequent interest periods will be the periods from and including an interest payment date to, but excluding, the next interest payment date or the stated maturity date, as the case may be. The amount of interest payable for any interest period, including interest payable for any partial interest period, will be computed on the basis of a 360-day year comprised of twelve 30-day months. If an interest payment date falls on a non-business day, the applicable interest payment will be made on the next business day and no additional interest will accrue as a result of such delayed payment.
Business day means, for any place where the principal and interest on the Notes is payable, each Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday which is not a day in which banking institutions in New York or Wilmington, Delaware are authorized or obligated by law or executive order to close.
Optional Redemption
Except as described below and under Optional Redemption Upon Change of Control, the Notes will not be redeemable by us at our option prior to , 2023.
53
The Notes may be redeemed for cash in whole or in part at any time at our option (i) on or after , 2023 and prior to , 2024, at a price equal to 102% of their principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the date of redemption, (ii) on or after , 2024 and prior to , 2025, at a price equal to 101% of their principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the date of redemption, and (iii) on or after , 2025 and prior to maturity, at a price equal to 100% of their principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the date of redemption.
In each case, redemption shall be upon notice not fewer than 10 days and not more than 60 days prior to the date fixed for redemption, except that redemption notices may be delivered more than 60 days prior to a redemption date if the notice is issued in connection with a defeasance of the Notes or a discharge of the indenture. Notices of redemption may be subject to satisfaction or waiver of one or more conditions precedent specified in the notice of redemption.
If less than all of the Notes are to be redeemed, the particular Notes to be redeemed will be selected not more than 45 days prior to the redemption date by the trustee from the outstanding Notes not previously called for redemption, by lot, or in the trustees discretion, on a pro-rata basis, provided that the unredeemed portion of the principal amount of any Notes will be in an authorized denomination (which will not be less than the minimum authorized denomination) for such Notes. The trustee will promptly notify us in writing of the Notes selected for redemption and, in the case of any Notes selected for partial redemption, the principal amount thereof to be redeemed. Beneficial interests in any of the Notes or portions thereof called for redemption that are registered in the name of DTC or its nominee will be selected by DTC in accordance with DTCs applicable procedures.
The trustee shall have no obligation to calculate any redemption price or any component thereof, and the trustee shall be entitled to receive and conclusively rely upon an officers certificate delivered by the Company that specifies any redemption price.
Unless we default on the payment of the redemption price, on and after the date of redemption, interest will cease to accrue on the Notes called for redemption.
We may at any time, and from time to time, purchase Notes at any price or prices in the open market or otherwise.
Optional Redemption Upon Change of Control
The Notes may be redeemed for cash in whole but not in part at our option at any time within 90 days of the occurrence of a Change of Control, at a price equal to 100.5% of their principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the date of redemption. Redemption shall be upon notice not fewer than 10 days and not more than 60 days prior to the date fixed for redemption. Notices of redemption may be subject to satisfaction or waiver of one or more conditions precedent specified in the notice of redemption.
A Change of Control will be deemed to have occurred at the time after the Notes are originally issued if:
(1) | any Person (as such term is used in Sections 13(d) and 14(d) of the Exchange Act) is or becomes the Beneficial Owner (as defined in Rules 13d-3 and 13d-5 under the Exchange Act, except that for purposes of this clause (1) such Person shall be deemed to have Beneficial Ownership of all shares that any such Person has the right to acquire, whether such right is exercisable immediately or only after the passage of time), directly or indirectly, of more than 50.0% of the total voting power of the Voting Stock of the Company; |
(2) | the merger or consolidation of the Company with or into another Person or the merger of another Person with or into the Company, or the sale of all or substantially all the assets of the Company (determined on a consolidated basis) to another Person other than a transaction following which, in the case of a merger or consolidation transaction, holders of securities that represented 100.0% of the |
54
Voting Stock of the Company immediately prior to such transaction (or other securities into which such securities are converted as part of such merger or consolidation transaction) own directly or indirectly at least a majority of the voting power of the Voting Stock of the surviving Person in such merger or consolidation transaction immediately after such transaction and in substantially the same proportion as before the transaction; |
(3) | Continuing Directors (as defined below) cease to constitute at least a majority of the Companys board of directors; or |
(4) | if after the Notes are initially listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market or another national securities exchange, the Notes fail, or at any point cease, to be listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market or such other national securities exchange. For the avoidance of doubt, it shall not be a Change of Control if after the Notes are initially listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market or another national securities exchange, such Notes are subsequently listed on a different national securities exchange and the prior listing is terminated. |
Continuing Director means a director who either was a member of our board of directors on the issue date of the Notes or who becomes a member of our board of directors subsequent to that date and whose election, appointment or nomination for election by our stockholders is duly approved by a majority of the continuing directors on our board of directors at the time of such approval by such election or appointment.
Voting Stock of any specified Person as of any date means the Capital Stock of such Person that is at the time entitled to vote generally in the election of the Board of Directors of such Person.
Events of Default
Holders of our Notes will have rights if an Event of Default occurs in respect of the Notes and is not cured, as described later in this subsection. The term Event of Default in respect of the Notes means any of the following:
| we do not pay interest on any Note when due, and such default is not cured within 30 days; |
| we do not pay the principal of the Notes when due and payable; |
| we breach any covenant or warranty in the indenture with respect to the Notes and such breach continues for 60 days after we receive a written notice of such breach from the trustee or the holders of at least 25% of the principal amount of the Notes; and |
| certain specified events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization occur and remain undischarged or unstayed for a period of 90 days. |
The trustee may withhold notice to the holders of the Notes of any default, except in the payment of principal, premium, if any, or interest, if the trustee in good faith determines the withholding of notice to be in the interest of the holders of the Notes.
Each year, we will furnish to the trustee a written statement of certain of our officers certifying that to their knowledge we are in compliance with the indenture and the Notes, or else specifying any default, its status and what actions we are taking or propose to take with respect thereto.
Remedies if an Event of Default Occurs
If an Event of Default has occurred and is continuing, the trustee or the holders of not less than 25% of the outstanding principal amount of the Notes may declare the entire principal amount of the Notes, together with accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to be due and payable immediately by a notice in writing to us and, if notice is given by the holders of the Notes, the trustee. This is called an acceleration of maturity. If the Event of Default occurs in relation to our filing for bankruptcy or certain other events of bankruptcy, insolvency or
55
reorganization occur, the principal amount of the Notes, together with accrued and unpaid interest, if any, will automatically, and without any declaration or other action on the part of the trustee or the holders, become immediately due and payable.
At any time after a declaration of acceleration of the Notes has been made by the trustee or the holders of the Notes and before any judgment or decree for payment of money due has been obtained by the trustee, the holders of a majority of the outstanding principal of the Notes, by written notice to us and the trustee, may rescind and annul such declaration and its consequences if (i) we have paid or deposited with the trustee all amounts due and owed with respect to the Notes (other than principal that has become due solely by reason of such acceleration) and certain other amounts, and (ii) any other Events of Default have been cured or waived.
At our election, the sole remedy with respect to an Event of Default due to our failure to comply with certain reporting requirements under the Trust Indenture Act or under CovenantsReporting below, for the first 180 calendar days after the occurrence of such Event of Default, consists exclusively of the right to receive additional interest on the Notes at an annual rate equal to (1) 0.25% for the first 90 calendar days after such default and (2) 0.50% for calendar days 91 through 180 after such default. On the 181st day after such Event of Default, if such violation is not cured or waived, the trustee or the holders of not less than 25% of the outstanding principal amount of the Notes may declare the principal, together with accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on the Notes to be due and payable immediately. If we choose to pay such additional interest, we must notify the trustee and the holders of the Notes by certificate of our election at any time on or before the close of business on the first business day following the Event of Default and we shall deliver to the trustee an officers certificate (upon which the trustee may rely conclusively) to that effect stating (i) the amount of such additional interest that is payable and (ii) the date on which such additional interest is payable. Unless and until the trustee receives such a certificate, the trustee may assume without inquiry that no such additional interest is payable and the trustee shall not have any duty to verify our calculations of additional interest.
Before a holder of the Notes is allowed to bypass the trustee and bring a lawsuit or other formal legal action or take other steps to enforce such holders rights relating to the Notes, the following must occur:
| such holder must give the trustee written notice that the Event of Default has occurred and remains uncured; |
| the holders of at least 25% of the outstanding principal of the Notes must have made a written request to the trustee to institute proceedings in respect of such Event of Default in its own name as trustee; |
| such holder or holders must have offered to the trustee indemnity satisfactory to the trustee against the costs, expenses and liabilities to be incurred in compliance with such request; |
| the trustee for 60 days after its receipt of such notice, request and offer of indemnity has failed to institute any such proceeding; and |
| no direction inconsistent with such written request has been given to the trustee during such 60-day period by holders of a majority of the outstanding principal of the Notes. |
No delay or omission in exercising any right or remedy will be treated as a waiver of that right, remedy or Event of Default.
The holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding Notes may waive any default or Event of Default and its consequences, except defaults or Events of Default regarding payment of principal, premium, if any, or interest, unless we have cured the default or Event of Default in accordance with the indenture. Any waiver shall cure the default or Event of Default.
Subject to the terms of the indenture, if an Event of Default occurs and continues, the trustee is under no obligation to exercise any of its rights or powers under the indenture at the request or direction of any of the
56
holders, unless such holders have offered the trustee security or indemnity satisfactory to the trustee. The holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding Notes will have the right to direct the time, method and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the trustee, or exercising any trust or power conferred on the trustee, with respect to the Notes, provided that:
| the direction so given by the holder is not in conflict with any law or the indenture, nor does it subject the trustee to a risk of personal liability in respect of which the trustee has not received indemnification satisfactory to it in its sole discretion against all losses, liabilities and expenses caused by taking or not taking such action; and |
| the trustee may take any other action deemed proper by the trustee which is not inconsistent with such direction. |
A holder of the Notes will have the right to institute a proceeding under the indenture or to appoint a receiver or trustee, or to seek other remedies only if:
| the holder has given written notice to the trustee of a continuing Event of Default; |
| the holders of at least 25% in aggregate principal amount of the then-outstanding Notes have made written request to the trustee to institute proceedings in respect of such Event of Default in its own name as trustee under the indenture, and such holders have offered security or indemnity satisfactory to the trustee to institute the proceeding as trustee; and |
| the trustee does not institute the proceeding, and does not receive from the holders of a majority in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding Notes other conflicting directions within 60 days after the notice, request and offer. |
These limitations do not apply to a suit instituted by a holder if we default in the payment of the principal, premium, if any, or interest on, the Notes.
Book-entry and other indirect holders of the Notes should consult their banks or brokers for information on how to give notice or direction to or make a request of the trustee and how to declare or cancel an acceleration of maturity.
Waiver of Defaults
The holders of not less than a majority of the outstanding principal amount of the Notes may on behalf of the holders of all Notes waive any past default with respect to the Notes other than (i) a default in the payment of principal, premium, if any, or interest on the Notes when such payments are due and payable (other than by acceleration as described above), or (ii) in respect of a covenant that cannot per the terms of the indenture be modified or amended without the consent of each holder of Notes.
Covenants
In addition to standard covenants relating to payment of principal, premium, if any, and interest, maintaining an office where payments may be made or securities can be surrendered for payment, payment of taxes by us and related matters, the following covenants will apply to the Notes.
Merger, Consolidation or Sale of Assets
The indenture will provide that we will not merge or consolidate with or into any other person (other than a merger of a wholly owned subsidiary into us), or sell, transfer, lease, convey or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all our property in any one transaction or series of related transactions unless:
| we are the surviving entity or the entity (if other than us) formed by such merger or consolidation or to which such sale, transfer, lease, conveyance or disposition is made will be a corporation or limited |
57
liability company organized and existing under the laws of the United States of America, any state thereof or the District of Columbia; |
| the surviving entity (if other than us) expressly assumes, by supplemental indenture in form reasonably satisfactory to the trustee, executed and delivered to the trustee by such surviving entity, the due and punctual payment of the principal of, and premium, if any, and interest on, all the Notes outstanding, and the due and punctual performance and observance of all the covenants and conditions of the indenture to be performed by us; |
| immediately after giving effect to such transaction or series of related transactions, no default or Event of Default has occurred and is continuing; and |
| in the case of a merger where the surviving entity is other than us, we or such surviving entity will deliver, or cause to be delivered, to the trustee, an officers certificate and an opinion of counsel, each stating that such transaction and the supplemental indenture, if any, in respect thereto, comply with this covenant and that all conditions precedent in the indenture relating to such transaction have been complied with; provided that in giving an opinion of counsel, counsel may rely on an officers certificate as to any matters of fact, including as to the satisfaction of the preceding bullet. |
The surviving entity (if other than us) will succeed to, and be substituted for, and may exercise every right and power of, the Company under the Notes and the indenture, and the Company will automatically and unconditionally be released and discharged from its obligations under the Notes and the indenture.
Reporting
If, at any time, we are not subject to the reporting requirements of Sections 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act to file any periodic reports with the SEC, we agree to furnish to holders of the Notes and the trustee, for the period of time during which the Notes are outstanding, our audited annual consolidated financial statements, within 90 days of our fiscal year end, and unaudited interim consolidated financial statements, within 45 days of our fiscal quarter end (other than our fourth fiscal quarter). All such financial statements will be prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, as applicable.
The posting or delivery of any such information, documents and reports to the trustee is for informational purposes only and the trustees receipt of such shall not constitute constructive notice of any information contained therein or determinable from information contained therein, including the Companys compliance with any of the covenants under the indenture (as to which the trustee is entitled to rely exclusively on an officers certificate). The trustee shall have no duty to review or analyze reports, information and documents delivered to it. Additionally, the trustee shall not be obligated to monitor or confirm, on a continuing basis or otherwise, the Companys compliance with the covenants or with respect to any reports or other documents filed with any protected online data system or participate on any conference calls.
Modification or Waiver
There are three types of changes we can make to the indenture and the Notes:
Changes Not Requiring Approval
We can make certain changes to the indenture and the Notes without the specific approval of the holders of the Notes. This type is limited to clarifications and certain other changes that would not adversely affect holders of the Notes in any material respect and include changes:
| to evidence the succession of another corporation, and the assumption by the successor corporation of our covenants, agreements and obligations under the indenture and the Notes; |
58
| to add to our covenants such new covenants, restrictions, conditions or provisions for the protection of the holders of the Notes, and to make the occurrence, or the occurrence and continuance, of a default in any of such additional covenants, restrictions, conditions or provisions an Event of Default; |
| to modify, eliminate or add to any of the provisions of the indenture to such extent as necessary to effect the qualification of the indenture under the Trust Indenture Act, and to add to the indenture such other provisions as may be expressly permitted by the Trust Indenture Act, excluding however, the provisions referred to in Section 316(a)(2) of the Trust Indenture Act; |
| to cure any ambiguity or to correct or supplement any provision contained in the indenture or in any supplemental indenture which may be defective or inconsistent with other provisions; |
| to secure the Notes; |
| to evidence and provide for the acceptance and appointment of a successor trustee and to add or change any provisions of the indenture as necessary to provide for or facilitate the administration of the trust by more than one trustee; and |
| to make provisions in regard to matters or questions arising under the indenture, so long as such other provisions do not materially affect the interest of any other holder of the Notes. |
Changes Requiring Approval of Each Holder
We cannot make certain changes to the Notes without the specific approval of each holder of the Notes. The following is a list of those types of changes:
| changing the stated maturity of the principal of, or any installment of interest on, any Note; |
| reducing the principal amount or rate of interest of any Note; |
| changing the place of payment where any Note or any interest is payable; |
| impairing the right to institute suit for the enforcement of any payment on or after the date on which it is due and payable; |
| reducing the percentage in principal amount of holders of the Notes whose consent is needed to modify or amend the indenture; and |
| reducing the percentage in principal amount of holders of the Notes whose consent is needed to waive compliance with certain provisions of the indenture or to waive certain defaults. |
Changes Requiring Majority Approval
Any other change to the indenture and the Notes would require the approval by holders of not less than a majority in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding Notes.
Consent from holders to any change to the indenture or the Notes must be given in writing. The consent of the holders of the Notes is not necessary under the indenture to approve the particular form of any proposed amendment. It is sufficient if such consent approves the substance of the proposed amendment.
Further Details Concerning Voting
The amount of Notes deemed to be outstanding for the purpose of voting will include all Notes authenticated and delivered under the indenture as of the date of determination except:
| Notes cancelled by the trustee or delivered to the trustee for cancellation; |
| Notes for which we have deposited with the trustee or paying agent or set aside in trust money for their payment or redemption and, if money has been set aside for the redemption of the Notes, notice of such redemption has been duly given pursuant to the indenture to the satisfaction of the trustee; |
59
| Notes held by the Company, its subsidiaries or any other entity which is an obligor under the Notes, unless such Notes have been pledged in good faith and the pledgee is not the Company, an affiliate of the Company or an obligor under the Notes; |
| Notes which have undergone full defeasance, as described below; and |
| Notes which have been paid or exchanged for other Notes due to such Notes loss, destruction or mutilation, with the exception of any such Notes held by bona fide purchasers who have presented proof to the trustee that such Notes are valid obligations of the Company. |
We will generally be entitled to set any day as a record date for the purpose of determining the holders of the Notes that are entitled to vote or take other action under the indenture, and the trustee will generally be entitled to set any day as a record date for the purpose of determining the holders of the Notes that are entitled to join in the giving or making of any Notice of Default, any declaration of acceleration of maturity of the Notes, any request to institute proceedings or the reversal of such declaration. If we or the trustee set a record date for a vote or other action to be taken by the holders of the Notes, that vote or action can only be taken by persons who are holders of the Notes on the record date and, unless otherwise specified, such vote or action must take place on or prior to the 180th day after the record date. We may change the record date at our option, and we will provide written notice to the trustee and to each holder of the Notes of any such change of record date.
Discharge
The indenture will provide that we can elect to be discharged from our obligations with respect to the Notes, except for specified obligations, including obligations to:
| register the transfer or exchange of the Notes; |
| replace stolen, lost or mutilated Notes; |
| maintain paying agencies; and |
| hold monies for payment in trust. |
In order to exercise our rights to be discharged, we must (i) deposit with the trustee money or U.S. government obligations, or a combination thereof, sufficient (to the extent of any U.S. government obligations, in the opinion of a nationally recognized firm of independent public accountants, investment bank or appraisal firm, to generate enough cash to make interest, principal and any other applicable payments on the Notes on the applicable due date) to pay all the principal of, any premium and interest on, the Notes on the dates payments are due, (ii) deliver irrevocable instructions to the trustee to apply the deposited cash and/or U.S. government obligations toward the payment of the Notes at maturity or on the redemption date, as the case may be, and (iii) deliver an officers certificate and opinion of counsel to the trustee stating that all conditions precedent under the indenture relating to the satisfaction and discharge of the indenture have been complied with.
U.S. government obligations means securities that are (1) direct obligations of the United States for the payment of which its full faith and credit is pledged, or (2) obligations of a person controlled or supervised by and acting as an agency or instrumentality of the United States, the payment of which is unconditionally guaranteed as a full faith and credit obligation by the United States, which in either case, are not callable or redeemable by the issuer thereof and shall also include a depository receipt issued by a bank (as defined in Section 3(a)(2) of the Securities Act) as custodian with respect to any such U.S. government obligations or a specific payment of principal of or interest on any such U.S. government obligations held by such custodian for the account of the holder of such depository receipt; provided that (except as required by law) such custodian is not authorized to make any deduction from the amount payable to the holder of such depository receipt from any amount received by the custodian in respect of the U.S. government obligations or the specific payment of principal of or interest on the U.S. government obligations evidenced by such depository receipt.
60
Defeasance
The following defeasance provisions will be applicable to the Notes. Defeasance means that, by irrevocably depositing with the trustee an amount of cash denominated in U.S. dollars and/or U.S. government obligations sufficient to pay all principal and interest, if any, on the Notes when due and satisfying any additional conditions noted below, we will be deemed to have been discharged from our obligations under the Notes. In the event of a covenant defeasance, upon depositing such funds and satisfying similar conditions discussed below we would be released from certain covenants under the indenture governing the Notes. The consequences to the holders of the Notes would be that, while they would no longer benefit from certain covenants under the indenture, and while the Notes could not be accelerated for any reason, the holders of the Notes nonetheless would be guaranteed to receive the principal and interest owed to them.
Covenant Defeasance
Under the indenture, we have the option to take the actions described below and be released from some of the restrictive covenants under the indenture under which the Notes were issued. This is called covenant defeasance. In that event, holders of the Notes would lose the protection of those restrictive covenants but would gain the protection of having money and government securities set aside in trust to repay the Notes. In order to achieve covenant defeasance, the following must occur:
| we must irrevocably deposit or cause to be deposited with the trustee as trust funds for the benefit of all holders of the Notes cash, U.S. government obligations or a combination of cash and U.S. government obligations sufficient, without reinvestment, in the opinion of a nationally recognized firm of independent public accountants, investment bank or appraisal firm, to generate enough cash to make interest, principal and any other applicable payments on the Notes on their various due dates; |
| we must deliver to the trustee an opinion of counsel stating that under U.S. federal income tax law, we may make the above deposit and covenant defeasance without causing holders to be taxed on the Notes differently than if those actions were not taken; |
| we must deliver to the trustee an officers certificate stating that the Notes, if then listed on any securities exchange, will not be delisted as a result of the deposit; |
| no default or Event of Default with respect to the Notes has occurred and is continuing, and no defaults or Events of Defaults related to bankruptcy, insolvency or organization occurs during the 90 days following the deposit; |
| the covenant defeasance must not cause the trustee to have a conflicting interest within the meaning of the Trust Indenture Act; |
| the covenant defeasance must not result in a breach or violation of, or constitute a default under, the indenture or any other material agreements or instruments to which we are a party; |
| the covenant defeasance must not result in the trust arising from the deposit constituting an investment company within the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the Investment Company Act), unless such trust will be registered under the Investment Company Act or exempt from registration thereunder; and |
| we must deliver to the trustee an officers certificate and an opinion of counsel stating that all conditions precedent with respect to the covenant defeasance have been complied with. |
Full Defeasance
If there is a change in U.S. federal income tax law, we can legally release ourselves from all payment and other obligations on the Notes if we take the following actions below:
| we must irrevocably deposit or cause to be deposited with the trustee as trust funds for the benefit of all holders of the Notes cash, U.S. government obligations or a combination of cash and U.S. government |
61
obligations sufficient, without reinvestment, in the opinion of a nationally recognized firm, of independent public accountants, investment bank or appraisal firm, to generate enough cash to make interest, principal and any other applicable payments on the Notes on their various due dates; |
| we must deliver to the trustee an opinion of counsel confirming that there has been a change to the current U.S. federal income tax law or an Internal Revenue Service ruling that allows us to make the above deposit without causing holders to be taxed on the Notes any differently than if we did not make the deposit; |
| we must deliver to the trustee an officers certificate stating that the Notes, if then listed on any securities exchange, will not be delisted as a result of the deposit; |
| no default or Event of Default with respect to the Notes has occurred and is continuing and no defaults or Events of Defaults related to bankruptcy, insolvency or organization occurs during the 90 days following the deposit; |
| the full defeasance must not cause the trustee to have a conflicting interest within the meaning of the Trust Indenture Act; |
| the full defeasance must not result in a breach or violation of, or constitute a default under, the indenture or any other material agreements or instruments to which we are a party; |
| the full defeasance must not result in the trust arising from the deposit constituting an investment company within the meaning of the Investment Company Act unless such trust will be registered under the Investment Company Act or exempt from registration thereunder; and |
| we must deliver to the trustee an officers certificate and an opinion of counsel stating that all conditions precedent with respect to the full defeasance have been complied with. |
In the event that the trustee is unable to apply the funds held in trust to the payment of obligations under the Notes by reason of a court order or governmental injunction or prohibition, then those of our obligations discharged under the full defeasance or covenant defeasance will be revived and reinstated as though no deposit of funds had occurred, until such time as the trustee is permitted to apply all funds held in trust under the procedure described above to the payment of obligations under the Notes. However, if we make any payment of principal, premium, if any, or interest on the Notes to the holders, we will have the right to receive such payments from the trust in the place of the holders.
Counsel may rely on an officers certificate as to any matters of fact in giving an opinion of counsel in connection with the full defeasance or covenant defeasance provisions.
Listing
We have applied to list the Notes on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol . If the application is approved, we expect trading in the Notes on the Nasdaq Global Select Market to begin within 30 business days of the date of the original issue date. The Notes are expected to trade flat, meaning that purchasers will not pay and sellers will not receive any accrued and unpaid interest on the Notes that is not included in the trading price thereof.
Governing Law
The indenture and the Notes will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York.
Global Notes; Book-Entry Issuance
The Notes will be issued in the form of one or more global certificates, or Global Notes, registered in the name of The Depository Trust Company, or DTC. DTC has informed us that its nominee will be Cede & Co.
62
Accordingly, we expect Cede & Co. to be the initial registered holder of the Notes. No person that acquires a beneficial interest in the Notes will be entitled to receive a certificate representing that persons interest in the Notes except as described herein. Unless and until definitive securities are issued under the limited circumstances described below, all references to actions by holders of the Notes will refer to actions taken by DTC upon instructions from its participants, and all references to payments and notices to holders will refer to payments and notices to DTC or Cede & Co., as the registered holder of these securities.
DTC has informed us that it is a limited-purpose trust company organized under the New York Banking Law, a banking organization within the meaning of the New York Banking Law, a member of the Federal Reserve System, a clearing corporation within the meaning of the New York Uniform Commercial Code, and a clearing agency registered pursuant to the provisions of Section 17A of the Exchange Act. DTC holds and provides asset servicing for over 3.5 million issues of U.S. and non-U.S. equity issues, corporate and municipal debt issues, and money market instruments from over 100 countries that DTCs participants, or Direct Participants, deposit with DTC. DTC also facilitates the post-trade settlement among Direct Participants of sales and other securities transactions in deposited securities through electronic computerized book-entry transfers and pledges between Direct Participants accounts. This eliminates the need for physical movement of securities certificates. Direct Participants include both U.S. and non-U.S. securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and certain other organizations. DTC is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, or DTCC.
DTCC is the holding company for DTC, National Securities Clearing Corporation and Fixed Income Clearing Corporation, all of which are registered clearing agencies. DTCC is owned by the users of its regulated subsidiaries. Access to the DTC system is also available to others such as both U.S. and non-U.S. securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies and clearing corporations that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a Direct Participant, either directly or indirectly (Indirect Participants and, together with Direct Participants, Participants). DTC has an S&P rating of AA+ and a Moodys rating of Aaa. The DTC Rules applicable to its participants are on file with the SEC. More information about DTC can be found at www.dtcc.com.
Purchases of the Notes under the DTC system must be made by or through Direct Participants, which will receive a credit for the Notes on DTCs records. The ownership interest of each actual purchaser of each Note, or the Beneficial Owner, is in turn to be recorded on the Direct and Indirect Participants records. Beneficial Owners will not receive written confirmation from DTC of their purchase. Beneficial Owners are, however, expected to receive written confirmations providing details of the transaction, as well as periodic statements of their holdings, from the Direct or Indirect Participant through which the Beneficial Owner entered into the transaction. Transfers of ownership interests in the Notes are to be accomplished by entries made on the books of Direct and Indirect Participants acting on behalf of Beneficial Owners. Beneficial Owners will not receive certificates representing their ownership interests in the Notes, except in the event that use of the book-entry system for the Notes is discontinued.
To facilitate subsequent transfers, all Notes deposited by Direct Participants with DTC are registered in the name of DTCs partnership nominee, Cede & Co., or such other name as may be requested by an authorized representative of DTC. The deposit of the Notes with DTC and their registration in the name of Cede & Co. or such other DTC nominee do not effect any change in beneficial ownership. DTC has no knowledge of the actual Beneficial Owners of the Notes; DTCs records reflect only the identity of the Direct Participants to whose accounts the Notes are credited, which may or may not be the Beneficial Owners. The Direct and Indirect Participants will remain responsible for keeping account of their holdings on behalf of their customers.
Conveyance of notices and other communications by DTC to Direct Participants, by Direct Participants to Indirect Participants, and by Direct Participants and Indirect Participants to Beneficial Owners will be governed by arrangements among them, subject to any statutory or regulatory requirements as may be in effect from time to time.
63
Redemption notices will be sent to DTC. If less than all of the Notes are being redeemed, DTCs practice is to determine by lot the amount of the interest of each Direct Participant in the Notes to be redeemed.
Neither DTC nor Cede & Co. (nor any other DTC nominee) will consent or vote with respect to the Notes unless authorized by a Direct Participant in accordance with DTCs applicable procedures. Under its usual procedures, DTC mails an Omnibus Proxy to us as soon as possible after the record date. The Omnibus Proxy assigns Cede & Co.s consenting or voting rights to those Direct Participants to whose accounts the Notes are credited on the record date (identified in a listing attached to the Omnibus Proxy).
Redemption proceeds, distributions and interest payments on the Notes will be made to Cede & Co., or such other nominee as may be requested by an authorized representative of DTC. DTCs practice is to credit Direct Participants accounts upon DTCs receipt of funds and corresponding detail information from us or the applicable trustee or depositary on the payment date in accordance with their respective holdings shown on DTCs records. Payments by Participants to Beneficial Owners will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices, as is the case with the Notes held for the accounts of customers in bearer form or registered in street name, and will be the responsibility of such Participant and not of DTC nor its nominee, the applicable trustee or depositary, or us, subject to any statutory or regulatory requirements as may be in effect from time to time. Payment of redemption proceeds, distributions and interest payments to Cede & Co. (or such other nominee as may be requested by an authorized representative of DTC) is the responsibility of us or the applicable trustee or depositary. Disbursement of such payments to Direct Participants will be the responsibility of DTC, and disbursement of such payments to the Beneficial Owners will be the responsibility of Direct Participants and Indirect Participants.
The information in this section concerning DTC and DTCs book-entry system has been obtained from sources that we believe to be reliable, but we take no responsibility for the accuracy thereof.
None of the Company, the trustee, any depositary, or any agent of any of them will have any responsibility or liability for any aspect of DTCs or any participants records relating to, or for payments made on account of, beneficial interests in a Global Note, or for maintaining, supervising or reviewing any records relating to such beneficial interests.
Termination of a Global Note
If a Global Note is terminated for any reason, interest in it will be exchanged for certificates in non-book-entry form as certificated securities. After such exchange, the choice of whether to hold the certificated Notes directly or in street name will be up to the investor. Investors must consult their own banks or brokers to find out how to have their interests in a Global Note transferred on termination to their own names, so that they will be holders of the Notes. See Form, Exchange and Transfer of Certificated Registered Securities.
Payment and Paying Agents
We will pay interest to the person listed in the trustees records as the owner of the Notes at the close of business on the record date for the applicable interest payment date, even if that person no longer owns the Note on the interest payment date. Because we pay all the interest for an interest period to the holders on the record date, holders buying and selling the Notes must work out between themselves the appropriate purchase price. The most common manner is to adjust the sales price of the Notes to prorate interest fairly between buyer and seller based on their respective ownership periods within the particular interest period.
Payments on Global Notes
We will make payments on the Notes so long as they are represented by Global Notes in accordance with the applicable policies of the depositary in effect from time to time. Under those policies, we will make payments
64
directly to the depositary, or its nominee, and not to any indirect holders who own beneficial interest in the Global Notes. An indirect holders right to those payments will be governed by the rules and practices of the depositary and its participants.
Payments on Certificated Securities
In the event the Notes become represented by certificates, we will make payments on the Notes as follows. We will pay interest that is due on an interest payment date by check mailed on the interest payment date to the holder of the Note at his or her address shown on the trustees records as of the close of business on the record date. We will make all payments of principal by check or wire transfer at the office of the trustee in the contiguous United States and/or at other offices that may be specified in the indenture or a notice to holders against surrender of the Note.
Payment When Offices Are Closed
If any payment is due on the Notes on a day that is not a business day, we will make the payment on the next day that is a business day. Payments made on the next business day in this situation will be treated under the indenture as if they were made on the original due date. Such payment will not result in a default under the Notes or the indenture, and no interest will accrue on the payment amount from the original due date to the next day that is a business day.
Book-entry and other indirect holders should consult their banks or brokers for information on how they will receive payments on the Notes.
Form, Exchange and Transfer of Certificated Registered Securities
Notes in physical, certificated form will be issued and delivered to each person that DTC identifies as a beneficial owner of the related Notes only if:
| DTC notified us at any time that it is unwilling or unable to continue as depositary for the Global Notes; |
| DTC ceases to be registered as a clearing agency under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended; or |
| an Event of Default with respect to such Global Note has occurred and is continuing. |
Holders may exchange their certificated securities for Notes of smaller denominations or combined into fewer Notes of larger denominations, as long as the total principal amount is not changed and as long as the denomination is equal to or greater than $25.
Holders may exchange or transfer their certificated securities at the office of the trustee. We have appointed the trustee to act as our agent for registering the Notes in the name of holders transferring Notes. We may at any time designate additional transfer agents or rescind the designation of any transfer agent or approve a change in the office through which any transfer agent acts.
Holders will not be required to pay a service charge for any registration of transfer or exchange of their certificated securities, but they may be required to pay any tax or other governmental charge associated with the registration of transfer or exchange. The transfer or exchange will be made only if our transfer agent is satisfied with the holders proof of legal ownership.
If we redeem any of the Notes, we may block the transfer or exchange of those Notes selected for redemption during the period beginning 15 days before the day we deliver the notice of redemption and ending on the day of
65
such delivery, in order to determine or fix the list of holders. We may also refuse to register transfers or exchanges of any certificated Notes selected for redemption, except that we will continue to permit transfers and exchanges of the unredeemed portion of any Note that will be partially redeemed.
About the Trustee
Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB will be the trustee under the indenture and will be the principal paying agent and registrar for the Notes. The trustee may resign or be removed with respect to the Notes provided that a successor trustee is appointed to act with respect to the Notes.
66
UNAUDITED PRO FORMA COMBINED FINANCIAL INFORMATION
The following unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information was prepared using the acquisition method of accounting under U.S. GAAP and gives effect to the transaction between Greenidge and Support to be accounted for as a business combination, with Greenidge being deemed the acquiring company for accounting purposes.
We were determined to be the accounting acquirer based upon the terms of the Merger Agreement and other factors including: (i) Greenidge stockholders are expected to own approximately 90% of the fully-diluted Greenidge common stock immediately following the closing of the transaction; (ii) the largest individual stockholder of the combined entity is an existing stockholder of Greenidge; (iii) directors appointed by Greenidge will hold a majority of board seats of the combined company; and (iv) Greenidges senior management will be the senior management of Greenidge following consummation of the Merger.
The following unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial statements are based on our historical financial statements and Supports historical financial statements, as adjusted to give effect to our acquisition of Support and certain related transactions. The unaudited pro forma condensed combined statement of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021 and the year ended December 31, 2020 gives effect to these transactions as if they had occurred on January 1, 2020. The unaudited pro forma condensed combined balance sheet as of June 30, 2021 gives effect to these transactions as if they had occurred on June 30, 2021.
Because we will be treated as the accounting acquirer, our assets and liabilities will be recorded at their pre-combination carrying amounts and the historical operations that are reflected in the unaudited pro forma financial information will be those of Greenidge. Supports assets and liabilities will be measured and recognized at their fair values as of the transaction date, and combined with the assets, liabilities and results of operations of Greenidge after the consummation of the transaction.
The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information is based on the assumptions and adjustments that are described in the accompanying notes. The application of the acquisition method of accounting is dependent upon a purchase price allocation analysis, which includes valuation analysis and other studies that have yet to be completed, pursuant to Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 805, Business Combinations. Accordingly, the pro forma adjustments are preliminary, subject to further revision as additional information becomes available and additional analyses are performed, and have been made solely for the purpose of providing unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information. Differences between these preliminary estimates and the final acquisition accounting, expected to be completed after the closing of the transaction, will occur and these differences could have a material impact on the accompanying unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information and the combined companys future results of operations and financial position. In addition, differences between the preliminary and final amounts will likely occur as a result of changes in the fair value of Supports common stock and changes in Supports assets and liabilities.
The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information does not give effect to the potential impact of current financial conditions, regulatory matters, operating efficiencies or other savings or expenses that may be associated with the integration of the two companies. The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information is preliminary and has been prepared for illustrative purposes only and is not necessarily indicative of the financial position or results of operations in future periods or the results that actually would have been realized had we and Support been a combined company during the specified periods. The actual results reported in periods following the transaction may differ significantly from those reflected in these pro forma financial information presented herein for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to, differences between the assumptions used to prepare this pro forma financial information and actual results realized.
The assumptions and estimates underlying the unaudited adjustments to the pro forma condensed combined financial statements are described in the accompanying notes, which should be read together with the pro forma condensed combined financial statements.
67
Pro Forma Condensed Combined Balance Sheet
As of June 30, 2021
(in thousands)
Greenidge | Support | Pro Forma Adjustments |
Note 4 | Pro Forma Combined |
||||||||||||||||
Assets: |
||||||||||||||||||||
Current assets |
||||||||||||||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents |
$ | 37,890 | $ | 32,295 | $ | | $ | 70,185 | ||||||||||||
Short term investments |
| 6,201 | | 6,201 | ||||||||||||||||
Digital assets |
222 | | | 222 | ||||||||||||||||
Accounts receivable |
369 | 5,470 | | 5,839 | ||||||||||||||||
Fuel deposits |
1,297 | | | 1,297 | ||||||||||||||||
Miner equipment deposits |
16,523 | | | 16,523 | ||||||||||||||||
Emissions and carbon offset credits |
1,665 | | | 1,665 | ||||||||||||||||
Prepaid expense and other current assets |
1,967 | 601 | | 2,568 | ||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Total current assets |
59,933 | 44,567 | | 104,500 | ||||||||||||||||
Property and equipment, net |
67,346 | 1,043 | | 68,389 | ||||||||||||||||
Deposits and other assets |
1,408 | 395 | | 1,803 | ||||||||||||||||
Intangible assets |
| | 16,810 | (a)(b) | 16,810 | |||||||||||||||
Goodwill |
| | 250,841 | (b) | 250,841 | |||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Total assets |
$ | 128,687 | $ | 46,005 | $ | 267,651 | $ | 442,343 | ||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Liabilities: |
||||||||||||||||||||
Current liabilities |
||||||||||||||||||||
Accounts payable |
$ | 1,650 | $ | 242 | $ | | $ | 1,892 | ||||||||||||
Natural gas payable |
1,088 | | | 1,088 | ||||||||||||||||
Accrued expenses |
3,226 | 3,408 | 4,765 | (h) | 11,399 | |||||||||||||||
Accrued emissions expensecurrent |
814 | | | 814 | ||||||||||||||||
Deferred revenue |
40 | 1,189 | | 1,229 | ||||||||||||||||
Notes payablecurrent portion |
11,499 | | | 11,499 | ||||||||||||||||
Finance lease, current portion |
570 | 12 | | 582 | ||||||||||||||||
Income taxes payable |
1,567 | | | 1,567 | ||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Total current liabilities |
20,454 | 4,851 | 4,765 | 30,070 | ||||||||||||||||
Deferred tax liability |
482 | | 4,623 | (b)(c) | 5,105 | |||||||||||||||
Notes payablenet of current portion |
7,064 | | | 7,064 | ||||||||||||||||
Finance lease obligation, net of current portion |
409 | | | 409 | ||||||||||||||||
Asset retirement obligations |
2,345 | | | 2,345 | ||||||||||||||||
Environmental trust liability |
4,994 | | | 4,994 | ||||||||||||||||
Other long-term liabilities |
| 907 | | 907 | ||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Total liabilities |
35,748 | 5,758 | 9,388 | 50,894 | ||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Stockholders equity: |
||||||||||||||||||||
Common stock |
| 3 | (3 | ) | (b) | | ||||||||||||||
Members capital |
| | | (d) | | |||||||||||||||
Common stock class A |
| | | | ||||||||||||||||
Common stock class B |
3 | | | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
Series A preferred GGHI |
1 | | | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
Additional paid-in-capital |
113,054 | 259,620 | (259,620 | ) | (b) | 474,013 | ||||||||||||||
303,275 | (b) | |||||||||||||||||||
57,684 | (e) | |||||||||||||||||||
Treasury stock, at cost |
| (5,297 | ) | 5,297 | (b) | | ||||||||||||||
Accumulated other comprehensive loss |
| (2,482 | ) | 2,482 | (b) | | ||||||||||||||
Accumulated deficit |
(20,119 | ) | (211,597 | ) | 211,597 | (b) | (82,568 | ) | ||||||||||||
(4,765 | ) | (h) | ||||||||||||||||||
(57,684 | ) | (e) | ||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Total stockholders equity |
92,939 | 40,247 | 258,263 | 391,449 | ||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Total liabilities and stockholders equity |
$ | 128,687 | $ | 46,005 | $ | 267,651 | $ | 442,343 | ||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
68
Pro Forma Condensed Combined Statement of OperationsThree Months Ended June 30, 2021
(in thousands, except per share amounts)
Greenidge | Support | Merger Pro Forma Adjustments |
Pro Forma Note 4 |
Pro Forma Combined |
||||||||||||||||
Revenues |
$ | 16,176 | $ | 8,512 | $ | | $ | 24,688 | ||||||||||||
Cost of revenues (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below) |
4,724 | 5,492 | (20 | ) | (k | ) | 10,196 | |||||||||||||
Engineering and IT |
| 555 | (8 | ) | (k | ) | 547 | |||||||||||||
Selling, general and administrative |
4,565 | 3,314 | (57 | ) | (k | ) | 7,822 | |||||||||||||
Depreciation and amortization |
1,603 | | 85 | (k | ) | 2,497 | ||||||||||||||
809 | (f | ) | ||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Income (loss) from operations |
5,284 | (849 | ) | (809 | ) | 3,626 | ||||||||||||||
Interest income (expense) and other |
(369 | ) | 75 | | (g | ) | (294 | ) | ||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Income (loss) before income taxes |
4,915 | (774 | ) | (809 | ) | 3,332 | ||||||||||||||
Income tax provision |
(1,397 | ) | (25 | ) | 223 | (i | ) | (1,199 | ) | |||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Net income (loss) |
$ | 3,518 | $ | (799 | ) | $ | (587 | ) | $ | 2,132 | ||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Net income (loss) per common share: |
||||||||||||||||||||
Basic |
$ | 0.10 | ($ | 0.03 | ) | $ | 0.06 | |||||||||||||
Diluted |
$ | 0.08 | ($ | 0.03 | ) | $ | 0.06 | |||||||||||||
Weighted average common shares outstanding |
||||||||||||||||||||
Basic |
28,320 | 24,150 | (24,150 | ) | (b | ) | 38,360 | |||||||||||||
10,040 | (l | ) | ||||||||||||||||||
Diluted |
35,425 | 24,150 | (24,150 | ) | (b | ) | 38,360 | |||||||||||||
2,935 | (l | ) |
Pro Forma Condensed Combined Statement of OperationsSix Months Ended June 30, 2021
(in thousands, except per share amounts)
Greenidge | Support | Merger Pro Forma Adjustments |
Pro Forma Note 4 |
Pro Forma Combined |
||||||||||||||||
Revenues |
$ | 27,239 | $ | 18,143 | $ | | $ | 45,382 | ||||||||||||
Cost of revenues (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below) |
9,146 | 11,587 | (70 | ) | (k | ) | 20,663 | |||||||||||||
Engineering and IT |
| 1,479 | (9 | ) | (k | ) | 1,470 | |||||||||||||
Selling, general and administrative |
8,060 | 7,945 | (112 | ) | (k | ) | 15,893 | |||||||||||||
Depreciation and amortization |
2,864 | | 191 | (k | ) | 4,673 | ||||||||||||||
1,618 | (f | ) | ||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Income (loss) from operations |
7,169 | (2,868 | ) | (1,618 | ) | 2,683 | ||||||||||||||
Interest income (expense) and other |
(243 | ) | 117 | 22 | (g | ) | (104 | ) | ||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Income (loss) before income taxes |
6,926 | (2,751 | ) | (1,596 | ) | 2,579 | ||||||||||||||
Income tax provision |
(2,129 | ) | (42 | ) | 439 | (i | ) | (1,732 | ) | |||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Net income (loss) |
$ | 4,797 | $ | (2,793 | ) | $ | (1,157 | ) | $ | 847 | ||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Net income (loss) per common share: |
||||||||||||||||||||
Basic |
$ | 0.15 | ($ | 0.13 | ) | $ | 0.02 | |||||||||||||
Diluted |
$ | 0.12 | ($ | 0.13 | ) | $ | 0.02 | |||||||||||||
Weighted average common shares outstanding |
||||||||||||||||||||
Basic |
28,283 | 22,189 | (22,189 | ) | (b | ) | 38,360 | |||||||||||||
10,077 | (l | ) | ||||||||||||||||||
Diluted |
35,245 | 22,189 | (22,189 | ) | (b | ) | 38,360 | |||||||||||||
3,115 | (l | ) |
69
Pro Forma Condensed Combined Statement of OperationsYear Ended December 31, 2020
(in thousands, except per share amounts)
Greenidge | Reorganization Pro Forma Adjustments |
Note 4 | Pro Forma Greenidge Post Reorganization |
Support | Merger Pro Forma Adjustments |
Note 4 | Pro Forma Combined |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Revenues |
$ | 20,114 | $ | | $ | 20,114 | $ | 43,864 | | $ | 63,978 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Cost of revenues (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below) |
12,600 | | 12,600 | 28,921 | (247 | ) | (k | ) | 41,274 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Engineering and IT |
| | | 3,655 | (5 | ) | (k | ) | 3,650 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Selling, general and administrative |
5,581 | | 5,581 | 11,236 | 4,765 | (h | ) | 79,199 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
57,684 | (e | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(67 | ) | (k | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Depreciation and amortization |
4,564 | | 4,564 | | 319 | (k | ) | 8,120 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
3,237 | (f | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
Income (loss) from operations |
(2,631 | ) | | (2,631 | ) | 52 | (65,686 | ) | (68,265 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Interest income (expense) and other |
(659 | ) | | (659 | ) | 496 | 573 | (g | ) | 410 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
Income (loss) before income taxes |
(3,290 | ) | | (3,290 | ) | 548 | (65,113 | ) | (67,855 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Income tax provision |
| (482 | ) | (j | ) | (482 | ) | (102 | ) | 2,948 | (i | ) | 2,364 | |||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Net income (loss) |
$ | (3,290 | ) | $ | (482 | ) | $ | (3,772 | ) | $ | 446 | $ | (62,165 | ) | $ | (65,491 | ) | |||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Net income (loss) per common share: |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Basic |
($ | 0.13 | ) | $ | 0.02 | ($ | 1.72 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Diluted |
($ | 0.13 | ) | $ | 0.02 | ($ | 1.72 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weighted average common shares outstanding: |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Basic |
28,000 | 19,192 | (19,192 | ) | (b | ) | 38,040 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
10,040 | (l | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Diluted |
28,000 | 19,369 | (19,369 | ) | (b | ) | 38,040 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
10,040 | (l | ) |
70
Notes to the Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Financial Information
Note 1Description of Transaction and Basis of Presentation
The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information was prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP and pursuant to the rules and regulations of SEC Regulation S-X and present the pro forma financial position and results of operations of the combined companies based upon the historical data of Greenidge and Support.com, Inc. (Support).
For the purposes of the unaudited pro forma combined financial information, the accounting policies of Greenidge and Support are aligned with the exception of presentation of depreciation and amortization. Accordingly, there are adjustments to give effect for accounting policy alignment for depreciation and amortization in the pro forma adjustments described in Note 4, Pro Forma Adjustments.
Description of Transaction
On September 14, 2021, we consummated the transactions contemplated by that certain Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of March 19, 2021, (the Merger Agreement), by and among Greenidge, Support and GGH Merger Sub, Inc. (Merger Sub). As contemplated by the Merger Agreement, Merger Sub merged with and into Support, the separate corporate existence of Merger Sub ceased and Support survived as a wholly owned subsidiary of Greenidge (such transaction, the Merger).
Basis of Presentation
We are the successor entity for accounting purposes to Greenidge Generation Holdings LLC (GGH LLC) as a result of the corporate restructuring consummated in January 2021. Pursuant to this restructuring, Greenidge was incorporated in the State of Delaware on January 27, 2021 and on January 29, 2021, entered into an asset contribution and exchange agreement with GGH LLC, pursuant to which Greenidge acquired all of the ownership interests in GGH LLC in exchange for 28,000,000 shares of our common stock. Also, on January 29, 2021, in connection with the restructuring, the outstanding principal loan balance plus accrued but unpaid interest aggregating to $3.6 million due to Atlas and its affiliate was converted into shares of our common stock and deemed paid in full. As a result of this restructuring transaction, GGH LLC became a wholly owned subsidiary of Greenidge. The financial information presented herein is that of GGH LLC through January 29, 2021 and Greenidge thereafter.
On March 16, 2021, we amended our organizational documents whereby (i) we established our class A common stock (with one vote per share) and class B common stock (with ten votes per share), (ii) all then outstanding common stock was converted to class B common stock, and (iii) a forward split of 4 for 1 was effected for all outstanding common stock. All share amounts presented have been restated to reflect this 4 for 1 split. In connection with this, the effective conversion rate for the Series A preferred stock issued in the Series A Private Placement, discussed further in Note 2, Financing transaction, was adjusted to provide that each share of series A preferred stock will be converted into four shares of class B common stock upon the filing and effectiveness of a registration statement registering such underlying class B common stock for resale.
We have preliminarily concluded that the transaction represents a business combination pursuant to Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 805, Business Combinations. We have not yet completed an external valuation analysis of the fair market value of Supports assets to be acquired and liabilities to be assumed. Using the estimated total purchase consideration for the transaction, we have allocated the purchase price to assets and liabilities based upon preliminary estimates of fair values. This preliminary purchase price allocation has been used to prepare pro forma adjustments in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined balance sheet. The final purchase price allocation will be determined when we have determined the final consideration and completed the detailed valuations and other studies and necessary calculations. The final
71
purchase price allocation could differ materially from the preliminary purchase price allocation used to prepare the pro forma adjustments. The final purchase price allocation may include:
| changes in allocations to intangible assets and bargain purchase gain or goodwill based on the results of certain valuations and other studies that have yet to be completed, |
| other changes to assets and liabilities, and |
| changes to the ultimate purchase consideration. |
Note 2Financing transactions
On January 29, 2021, we completed a private placement offering of 1,620,000 shares of series A preferred stock, at a price per share of $25.00, to certain individuals and accredited investors, for an aggregate amount of $40.5 million, or $37.1 million net of expenses. After giving effect to a 4 for 1 stock split on March 16, 2021, each share of series A preferred stock is convertible into four shares of class B common stock.
In connection with the execution of the Merger Agreement, and as a condition to our willingness to enter into the Merger Agreement, on March 19, 2021, Support entered into the subscription agreement with 210 Capital, LLC. Pursuant to the subscription agreement, 210 Capital, LLC purchased an aggregate of 3,909,871 shares of Supports common stock for a purchase price of $1.85 per share, or an aggregate purchase price of $7.2 million, representing approximately 16.6% of the outstanding shares of Supports common stock.
Note 3Preliminary purchase price allocation
We have performed a preliminary valuation analysis of the fair value of Supports assets and liabilities. The following table summarizes the allocation of the preliminary purchase price as of the acquisition date based upon the market capitalization of Support.com (in thousands):
Cash and cash equivalents |
$ | 32,295 | ||
Short term investments |
6,201 | |||
Accounts receivable |
5,470 | |||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets |
601 | |||
Property and equipment |
1,043 | |||
Other assets |
395 | |||
Accounts payable |
(242 | ) | ||
Accrued Expenses and other current liabilities |
(3,420 | ) | ||
Deferred revenue |
(1,189 | ) | ||
Other liabilities |
(907 | ) | ||
Intangible assets |
16,810 | (1) | ||
Deferred tax liability |
(4,623 | )(2) | ||
Goodwill |
250,841 | (3) | ||
|
|
|||
Total consideration |
$ | 303,275 | ||
|
|
(1) | To reflect the intangible assets, based upon a preliminary estimate of fair value and consists of customer contracts and trade name recognized as a result of the transaction. |
(2) | The deferred tax liability resulting from the increase in basis of intangible assets, as applicable, for book purposes but not for tax purposes was calculated using a 27.5% effective tax rate. |
(3) | To reflect the goodwill recognized as a result of the transaction. |
Under the acquisition method of accounting, the total purchase price is allocated to the acquired tangible and intangible assets and assumed liabilities of Support based on their estimated fair values as of the transaction closing date. The excess of the acquisition consideration paid over the estimated fair values of net assets acquired will be recorded as goodwill in the balance sheet.
72
Note 4Pro forma adjustments
The pro forma adjustments are based on preliminary estimates and assumptions that are subject to change. The following adjustments have been reflected in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information:
(a) | Reflects the intangible assets based upon preliminary estimates of fair value of customer contracts and tradename recognized as a result of the transaction. |
(b) | Represents the elimination of the historical equity of Support and the initial allocation of the purchase price to identified intangibles, fair value adjustments and goodwill, as follows (in thousands): |
Total consideration |
$ | 303,275 | (y) | |
Common stock |
(3 | ) | ||
Additional paid-in capital |
(259,620 | ) | ||
Treasury stock |
5,297 | |||
Accumulated other comprehensive loss |
2,482 | |||
Accumulated deficit |
211,597 | |||
Assets: |
||||
Intangible assets |
(16,810 | ) | ||
Liabilities: |
||||
Deferred tax liability |
4,623 | |||
|
|
|||
Goodwill |
$ | 250,841 | ||
|
|
(y) | Consideration of $303.3 million assumes a price per share of Support common stock of $11.80 and that the fully diluted amount of Support common stock is 25,701,286. Note that this is an illustrative purchase price and the final purchase price will be determined at the date the transaction is consummated. |
(c) | Adjusts the deferred tax liabilities resulting from the transaction. The estimated increase in deferred tax liabilities stems from the fair value adjustments for non-deductible intangible assets based on an estimated tax rate of 27.5%. |
(d) | Reflects the March 16, 2021 amendments to the organizational documents of Greenidge whereby (i) Greenidge established its class A common stock (with one vote per share) and class B common stock (with ten votes per share), (ii) all then outstanding common stock of Greenidge was converted to class B common stock, and (iii) a forward split of 4 for 1 was effected for all outstanding common stock of Greenidge. In connection with this, the effective conversion rate for the series A preferred stock issued in the Series A Private Placement was adjusted to provide that each share of series A preferred stock will be converted into four shares of class B common stock upon the filing and effectiveness of a registration statement registering such underlying class B common stock for resale. These events eliminated the historical equity of GGH LLC and established class A common stock and class B common stock at a par value of $0.0001 per share. |
(e) | Reflects an adjustment for the estimated value of the Investor Fee based upon 562,174 shares of class A common stock of Greenidge at a price of $102.61, which is the implied price using the price per share of Support common stock noted in (y) above and the exchange ratio of 0.115. This cost will not affect the combined companys income statement beyond 12 months after the Closing Date. |
(f) | Reflects an adjustment for amortization of intangible assets, consisting of customer contracts and the Support.com trade name, recognized as a result of the transaction. The estimated value for the customer contracts is $15.6 million, which was determined by the present value of expected cash flows from such contracts. The estimated value of the customer contracts is assumed to be amortized over five years on a straight line basis. The estimated value of the Support.com trade name is $1.3 million, which was based on the present value of discrete royalties avoided plus the present value of the tax |
73
amortization benefit. The estimated value of the trade name is assumed to be amortized over 10 years on a straight line basis. |
(g) | Reflects the elimination of interest expense related to loans from Greenidges controlling shareholder that have been deemed fully satisfied. |
(h) | Reflects an adjustment for estimated transaction costs for both Greenidge and Support, such as adviser fees, legal and accounting expenses not yet incurred as of June 30, 2021. These costs will not affect the combined companys income statement beyond 12 months after the Closing Date. |
(i) | Adjusts the tax provision to reflect the impact on the income tax provision resulting from the proforma adjustments, while assuming that the consolidated entity is a taxable entity due to the reorganization from an LLC to a corporation as of January 1, 2020. |
(j) | Reflects an adjustment for the proforma effect of the reorganization from an LLC to a corporation, as if the reorganization occurred on January 1, 2020, to recognize a deferred tax liability for the differences between the recorded values and tax bases of assets and liabilities. |
(k) | Adjusts Supports results to present depreciation and amortization as a separate line item, consistent with Greenidges presentation. |
(l) | The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial statements assume there will be 3,560,435 class A common stock shares outstanding, of which 2,998,261 shares will be issued to Support stockholders as consideration for the Merger and 562,174 shares will be issued to the Investor and 34,800,000 shares of class B common stock outstanding (inclusive of 320,000 shares issued during the first quarter of 2021 for the exercise of stock options and the purchase of miners) upon completion of the Merger and conversion of the series A preferred stock. The diluted shares included in the Greenidge financial statements include approximately 1.1 million shares related to options and restricted shares of Greenidge. |
74
MANAGEMENTS DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF
OPERATIONS FOR GREENIDGE
The following discussion should be read together with the audited financial statements and the related notes thereto of Greenidge for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 and the unaudited interim financial statements and related notes thereto of Greenidge for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020 included elsewhere in this prospectus. This discussion contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect plans, estimates and beliefs and involve numerous risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those described in the Risk Factors and Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements sections of this prospectus. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. For purposes of this section, the Company, we, us and our refer to Greenidge (i.e. Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc. together with its consolidated subsidiaries prior to the Merger). You should carefully read Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements in this prospectus.
Overview
Greenidge is the successor entity for accounting purposes to GGH LLC as a result of the corporate restructuring consummated in January 2021. Pursuant to this restructuring, Greenidge was incorporated in the State of Delaware on January 27, 2021 and on January 29, 2021, entered into an asset contribution and exchange agreement with GGH LLC, pursuant to which Greenidge acquired all of the ownership interests in GGH LLC in exchange for 28,000,000 shares (on a split-adjusted basis) of our common stock. As a result of this transaction, GGH LLC became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Greenidge. The financial information presented herein are that of GGH LLC for the periods before January 29, 2021 and Greenidge thereafter. On March 16, 2021, we effectuated a forward stock split whereby each outstanding share of common stock was split into four new shares of common stock (and each outstanding share of series A preferred stock would be convertible into four times as many shares of common stock as it was previously convertible into).
We own a vertically integrated bitcoin mining and power generation facility in the Town of Torrey, New York with an environmentally-sound approximately 106 MW natural gas power generation facility that has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years. We enjoy significant competitive advantages including low fixed costs, an efficient mining fleet, in-house operational expertise and low power costs due to our access to the Millennium Pipeline price hub, which provides relatively low market rates for natural gas. We are currently mining bitcoin and contributing to the security and transactability of the bitcoin ecosystem while concurrently meeting the power needs of homes and businesses in our region.
As of June 30, 2021, we powered approximately 32 MW of mining capacity, substantially all of which is dedicated to bitcoin mining. The bitcoin mining operations generate revenue through the exchange of bitcoins earned by ASICs as rewards and transaction fees for U.S. dollars and through revenue earned from third parties for hosting ASICs owned by third parties and providing operations, maintenance and other blockchain related services to third parties.
We also sell electricity generated by our power plant, and not consumed in bitcoin mining operations, to New York States power grid at prices set on a daily basis through the NYISO wholesale market. We opportunistically increase or decrease the total amount of electricity sold by the power plant based on prevailing prices in the wholesale electricity market.
Our primary business objective is to grow revenue by further leveraging our capability to own captive power resources and expand our bitcoin mining operations and blockchain services offerings. We currently internally generate all the power we require for bitcoin mining and do not purchase power from any third-party suppliers for either our mining or power generation operations. We believe that this behind-the-meter power generation capability provides a stable, cost-effective source of power for bitcoin mining activities. Our behind-the-meter power generation capability provides us with stable delivery due to the absence of any contract negotiation risk
75
with third-party power suppliers, the absence of transmission and distribution cost risk and the firm delivery of gas via our captive pipeline. Notwithstanding the structural stability of our behind-the-meter capabilities, we do however procure natural gas through a third-party energy manager which schedules delivery of our natural gas needs from the wholesale market which is subject to price volatility. We procure the majority of our gas at spot prices and enter into fixed price forward contracts from time to time for the purchase of a portion of anticipated natural gas purchases based on prevailing market conditions to partially mitigate the financial impacts of natural gas price volatility. These forward contracts qualify for the normal purchases and sales exception under ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging, as it is probable that these contracts will result in physical delivery.
Volatility in the natural gas market may impact our results of operations. While natural gas prices decreased in 2020, partially due to COVID-19 related demand reduction, prices have been on an upward trajectory since June of 2021 and are expected to continue rising into 2022 due to low inventory levels. Volatility in the natural gas market may be caused by disruption in the delivery of fuel, including disruptions as a result of weather, transportation difficulties, global demand and supply dynamics, labor relations, environmental regulations or the financial viability of fuel suppliers. We procure the majority of our natural gas supply from the Millennium Pipeline price hub, which provides relatively low market rates for natural gas.
Current gas prices are also consistent with Millennium East pool forward gas prices and we expect this trend to continue going forward. The most material factor that causes price volatility in our natural gas supply is cold weather related increases in demand during the winter months. We typically hedge a portion of the gas during this period in order to minimize the impact of weather-related gas price volatility on our operations by entering into physically settled natural gas forward contracts with our energy manager. Furthermore, we have procured firm natural gas transportation capacity at a fixed rate for a portion of our natural gas supply, thereby reducing our exposure to volatility in natural gas transportation costs. Gas transportation is procured through a long-term contract with an expiration date in September 2030. We believe there are no material renegotiation or counterparty risks for either gas forward contracts or firm transportation.
On July 2, 2021, we announced that we had signed a letter of intent to execute a 10-year lease for a facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina at which we intend to develop our next bitcoin mining operation, using existing electrical infrastructure at the location. We have not yet executed a binding lease for the Spartanburg facility, no major terms have been agreed to between the parties, no commitment with respect thereto has arisen and there can be no assurance that a satisfactory agreement can be reached, however we expect that operations at the Spartanburg facility will commence in late 2021 or early 2022 and will be fully carbon neutral. See descriptions of this transaction in more detail below under Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.
Merger
On September 14, 2021, we consummated the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, by and among Greenidge, Support and Merger Sub. As contemplated by the Merger Agreement, Merger Sub merged with and into Support, the separate corporate existence of Merger Sub ceased and Support survived as a wholly owned subsidiary of Greenidge.
Increase in Authorized Capital
On September 13, 2021, we filed an amendment to our certificate of incorporation to increase our authorized capital stock. Following the amendment, our authorized capital stock consists of 2,400,000,000 shares of class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, 600,000,000 shares of class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 20,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share.
Equity Purchase Agreement with B. Riley Affiliate
On September 15, 2021, we entered into the Purchase Agreement with the Investor pursuant to which we have the right to put, or sell to the Investor, up to $500,000,000 of shares of class A common stock, subject to
76
certain limitations and conditions set forth in the Purchase Agreement, from time to time during the term of the Purchase Agreement. As provided in the Purchase Agreement, we may require the Investor to purchase shares of our class A common stock from time to time by delivering a put notice to the Investor specifying the total number of shares to be purchased. The per share purchase price for the shares of class A common stock that we elect to sell to the Investor pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, if any, will be determined by reference to the volume weighted average price of our class A common stock for the full period of regular trading hours on Nasdaq on the applicable purchase date on which we have timely delivered written notice to the Investor directing it to purchase shares under the Purchase Agreement, less a fixed 5% discount, which shall be increased to a fixed 6% discount at such time that we received aggregate cash proceeds of $200,000,000 as payment for all shares of class A common stock purchased by the Investor in all prior sales of class A common stock made under the Purchase Agreement. The Investor will have no obligation to purchase shares pursuant to the Purchase Agreement to the extent that such purchase would cause the Investor to own more than 4.99% of our issued and outstanding shares of class A common stock.
In connection with the Purchase Agreement, we entered into a registration rights agreement with the Investor pursuant to which we agreed to prepare and file a registration statement registering the resale by the Investor of those shares of our class A common stock to be issued under the Purchase Agreement.
Miner Fleet Growth
We began mining bitcoin in 2019 with the construction of a pilot data center to operate approximately 1 MW of bitcoin mining capacity located at our power generation facility in the Town of Torrey, New York. We launched a commercial data center for bitcoin mining and blockchain services in January 2020, and as of December 31, 2020, we had approximately 6,900 miners deployed on our site capable of producing an estimated aggregate hash rate capacity of approximately 0.4 exahash per second (EH/s). Although the number of miners deployed provides a sense of scale of cryptocurrency mining operations as compared to our peers, management believes that hash rate, or the number of hashes a miner can perform in each second, typically expressed in EH/s or terahash per second (TH/s) and used as a measure of computational power or mining capacity used to mine and process transactions on a blockchain such as bitcoin, provides a more comparable measure of our fleets ability to process cryptocurrency transactions as compared to other bitcoin mining operations.
During the first six months of 2021, we deployed approximately 4,700 additional miners comprised primarily of MicroBT M30 and M31 Whatsminers, bringing our estimated maximum hash rate to 0.83 EH/s consuming approximately 32 MW of the power plants total capacity of approximately 106 MW. As of June 30, 2021, in aggregate, we had approximately 11,700 miners deployed on our site capable of producing an estimated aggregate hash rate capacity of 0.83 EH/s and had entered into additional commitments to acquire 2,000 Bitmain S19 Units scheduled to be delivered and installed beginning in the third quarter of 2021 and 1,000 MicroBT M30 Whatsminers, 800 S19j Bitmain Antminers and 1,400 S19j Pro Bitmain Antminers scheduled for deployment in the third and fourth quarters of 2021. We have also entered into commitments for an additional 14,600 S19j Pro Bitmain Antminers to be delivered and installed through 2022.
Between July 1, 2021 and August 31, 2021, we deployed all 2,000 of the previously committed S19 Pro Bitmain Antminers and approximately 1,500 M30 Whatsminers, of which 500 were previously committed.
With the full deployment of these new miners, our total fleet is expected to comprise approximately 32,500 total miners and is expected to consume approximately 95 MW of electricity. These new advanced miners have substantially greater hash rate capacities and use electric power more efficiently than our existing miner fleet. With the deployment of the aforementioned miners in 2021, we expect to be able to achieve a total hash rate capacity of at least 1.4 EH/s by the end of 2021. After deploying all of our miners contracted to be purchased, we expect to achieve a total hash rate capacity of approximately 2.9 EH/s.
77
Business Environment
The second quarter of 2021 saw a continuation of quarterly sequential revenue growth driven by cryptocurrency mining revenue due to the miner fleet growth. The higher hashrate capacity combined with a lower level of mining difficulty and a higher average bitcoin value during the second quarter of 2021 fueled the revenue growth as compared to the first quarter of 2021. Total revenue grew 46% sequentially, with cryptocurrency mining revenue growing 56% and power and capacity revenue growing 2%. The revenue growth drove a sequential 180% growth in income from operations.
Results of Operations
Comparison of Quarters Ended June 30, 2021 and 2020 (Amounts denoted in $000s)
The following table sets forth key components of the results of operations of Greenidge during the quarters ended June 30, 2021 and 2020.
Quarters Ended June 30, | Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||
$ in thousands | 2021 | 2020 | $ Amount | % Change | ||||||||||||
Total revenue |
$ | 16,176 | $ | 4,672 | $ | 11,504 | 246.2 | % | ||||||||
Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below) |
4,724 | 2,582 | 2,142 | 83.0 | % | |||||||||||
Selling, general and administrative expenses |
4,565 | 1,189 | 3,376 | 283.9 | % | |||||||||||
Depreciation and amortization |
1,603 | 1,130 | 473 | 41.9 | % | |||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Income (loss) from operations |
5,284 | (229 | ) | 5,513 | N/A | |||||||||||
Other income (expense): |
||||||||||||||||
Interest expense |
(202 | ) | | (202 | ) | N/A | ||||||||||
Interest expenserelated party |
| (273 | ) | 273 | N/A | |||||||||||
Loss on sale of digital assets |
(154 | ) | (44 | ) | (110 | ) | 250.0 | % | ||||||||
Other expense, net |
(13 | ) | (25 | ) | 12 | -48.0 | % | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Total other expense, net |
(369 | ) | (342 | ) | (27 | ) | 7.9 | % | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Income (loss) before income taxes |
4,915 | (571 | ) | 5,486 | N/A | |||||||||||
Provision for income taxes |
(1,397 | ) | | (1,397 | ) | N/A | ||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Net income (loss) |
$ | 3,518 | $ | (571 | ) | $ | 4,089 | N/A | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Revenue
Quarters Ended June 30, | Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||
$ in thousands | 2021 | 2020 | $ Amount | % Change | ||||||||||||
Cryptocurrency mining |
$ | 14,064 | $ | 3,341 | $ | 10,723 | 321.0 | % | ||||||||
Power and capacity |
2,112 | 1,331 | 781 | 58.7 | % | |||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
Total revenue |
$ | 16,176 | $ | 4,672 | $ | 11,504 | 246.2 | % | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cryptocurrency mining revenue. For our cryptocurrency mining revenue, we generate electricity on-site from our power plant and use that electricity to power ASIC miners, generating bitcoin which we then exchange for U.S. dollars or hold in our wallet. Our cryptocurrency mining revenue increased by $10.7 million, or 321.0%, to $14.1 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 from $3.3 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2020. Such increase was attributable to our increased mining fleet from an average hash rate of approximately 0.37 EH/S for the quarter ended June 30, 2020 to an average of 0.64 EH/s for the quarter ended June 30, 2021. The increase in our cryptocurrency mining revenue from the quarter ended June 30, 2020 to the quarter ended June 30, 2021, is a function of increased average bitcoin selling price and growth in our hashrate capacity, offset by increased difficulty and the halving event. For the quarter ended June 30, 2021, we mined 315 bitcoins at an average price of approximately $42,781 as compared to 380 bitcoins at an average price of approximately $8,695 in the same period in 2020. The 392% increase in bitcoin price and our growth in hashrate were beneficial to bitcoin mining revenue,
78
but were partially offset by other factors including the halving event, which occurred in May 2020 and reduced the block reward from 12.5 bitcoin per block to 6.25 bitcoin per block, and a 47% average difficulty increase.
Power and capacity revenue. Power and capacity revenue is earned when we sell capacity and energy and ancillary services to the wholesale power grid managed by the NYISO. Through these sales, we earn revenue in three streams, including: (1) power revenue received based on the hourly price of power, (2) capacity revenue for committing to sell power to the NYISO when dispatched and (3) other ancillary service revenue received as compensation for the provision of operating reserves. Our power and capacity revenue increased by $0.8 million, or 58.7%, to $2.1 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 from $1.3 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2020. Power revenue was comparatively higher in the quarter ended June 30, 2021 due to warmer weather in the month of June of 2021 as compared to 2020 and lower power demand in general in 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdowns. For the quarter ended June 30, 2021, 51% higher prices were partially offset by a 21% decline in volume. These increase in prices were driven by higher demand caused by more extreme weather during 2021 as compared to the period in 2020 that the plant was online and the New York stay-at-home regulations during 2020, which reduced the demand for power. As the COVID-19 regulations are lifted, we do not anticipate further COVID-19 impacts in the future unless further COVID-19 outbreaks require further statewide shutdowns.
The components of revenue, expressed as a percentage of total revenue were:
Quarters Ended June 30, |
||||||||
2021 | 2020 | |||||||
Cryptocurrency mining |
86.9 | % | 71.5 | % | ||||
Power and capacity |
13.1 | % | 28.5 | % | ||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total revenue |
100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | ||||
|
|
|
|
For the quarters ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, our power customer accounted for 13.1% and 28.5% of our total revenue, respectively. For cryptocurrency mining, we consider our mining pool operators to be our customers. We have historically used a limited number of pool operators and the individual contracts with pool operators have a one-day term, which allows us the option to change pool operators at any time. Revenues from our largest pool operator comprised approximately 75% and 61% of total revenues for the quarters ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively. There are no revenues derived from assets outside the United States during the quarters ended June 30, 2021 and 2020.
Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization)
Quarters Ended June 30, |
Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||
$ in thousands | 2021 | 2020 | $ Amount | % Change | ||||||||||||
Cryptocurrency mining |
$ | 2,754 | $ | 1,362 | $ | 1,392 | 102.2 | % | ||||||||
Power and capacity |
1,970 | 1,220 | 750 | 61.5 | % | |||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
Total cost of revenue |
$ | 4,724 | $ | 2,582 | $ | 2,142 | 83.0 | % | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of cryptocurrency mining. Cost of cryptocurrency mining consists primarily of natural gas, emissions, payroll and benefits and other direct production costs associated with the megawatts generated for the cryptocurrency mining operation. Cost of sales excluding depreciation and amortization increased by $1.4 million, to $2.8 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 from $1.4 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2020. This increase was primarily due to the increases in our bitcoin mining fleet and hash rate.
Cost of power and capacity. Cost of power and capacity consists primarily of natural gas, emissions, payroll and benefits and other direct production costs associated with the megawatts generated for the power produced by us and sold to the grid. Cost of power and capacity revenue increased by $0.8 million, to $2.0 million for the quarter
79
ended June 30, 2021 from $1.2 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2020. This increase was due to increased power demand which requires a corresponding increase in input costs, especially gas for the quarter ended June 30, 2021. The gas cost per dekatherm for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 was $2.17 as compared to $1.56 per dekatherm for the quarter ended June 30, 2020.
Selling, general and administrative expenses
Quarters Ended June 30, |
Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||
$ in thousands | 2021 | 2020 | $ Amount | % Change | ||||||||||||
Selling, general and administrative expenses |
$ | 4,565 | $ | 1,189 | $ | 3,376 | 283.9 | % |
Selling, general and administrative expenses. Selling, general and administrative expenses consist primarily of administrative payroll and benefits, business development costs, professional fees and insurance. Selling, general and administrative expenses for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 increased $3.4 million, or 283.9%, as compared to the same period in 2020, partially due to approximately $0.9 million of costs associated with the Merger and costs related to becoming a public company. Additionally, selling, general and administrative expenses increased due to costs related to the growth of corporate infrastructure to support our growth including non-cash stock compensation of $0.4 million (as compared to none for the same period ended 2020).
Depreciation and amortization
Quarters Ended June 30, |
Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||
$ in thousands | 2021 | 2020 | $ Amount | % Change | ||||||||||||
Depreciation and amortization |
$ | 1,603 | $ | 1,130 | $ | 473 | 41.9 | % |
Depreciation and amortization for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 increased $0.5 million to $1.6 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 from $1.1 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2020 due to the purchase and deployment of additional miners.
Income (Loss) from operations
Income (Loss) from operations. We reported income from operations of $5.3 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 as compared to a loss from operations of $0.2 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2020. The improvement is primarily attributable to an increase in bitcoin mining hash rate as well as operating leverage, as a substantial portion of selling, general and administrative expenses are fixed.
Other income (expense), net
Quarters Ended June 30, |
Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||
$ in thousands | 2021 | 2020 | $ Amount | % Change | ||||||||||||
Interest expense |
$ | (202 | ) | $ | | $ | (202 | ) | N/A | |||||||
Interest expenserelated party |
| (273 | ) | 273 | N/A | |||||||||||
Loss on sale of digital assets |
(154 | ) | (44 | ) | (110 | ) | 250.0 | % | ||||||||
Other expense, net |
(13 | ) | (25 | ) | 12 | -48.0 | % | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
Total other expense, net |
$ | (369 | ) | $ | (342 | ) | $ | (27 | ) | 7.9 | % | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interest expense. Represents interest on outstanding indebtedness during the quarter ended June 30, 2021. There was interest expense for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 related to the secured financing entered into in 2021 associated with the purchase of additional miners.
80
Interest expense-related party. Represents interest on outstanding related party indebtedness due to Atlas and its affiliates for the quarters ended June 30, 2021 and 2020. The indebtedness to Atlas was deemed satisfied in full in connection with the January 29, 2021 restructuring and is no longer outstanding.
Loss on the sale of digital assets. Represents a loss in connection with the sale of digital assets (bitcoin) during the quarters ended June 30, 2021 and 2020.
Provision for income taxes
Quarters Ended June 30, |
||||||||
$ in thousands | 2021 | 2020 | ||||||
Income (loss) before income taxes |
$ | 4,915 | $ | (571 | ) | |||
Provision for income taxes |
$ | (1,397 | ) | $ | | |||
Effective Tax Rate |
28.4 | % | 0.0 | % |
Provision for income taxes: Represents estimated provision for income taxes for the quarters ended June 30, 2021 and June 30, 2020. Prior to January 27, 2021, the Company was treated as a partnership for federal and state income tax purposes. The provision for income tax was $1.4 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2021, with an effective tax rate of 28.4%. The effective tax rate was higher than the Statutory federal rate primarily due to state income taxes.
Net Income (Loss)
Net income (loss). As a result of the factors described above, net income (loss) improved by $4.1 million to income of $3.5 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 from a loss of $0.6 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2020.
Comparison of Six Months Ended June 30, 2021 and 2020 (Amounts denoted in $000s)
The following table sets forth key components of the results of operations of Greenidge during the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020.
Six Months Ended June 30, |
Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||
$ in thousands | 2021 | 2020 | $ Amount | % Change | ||||||||||||
Total revenue |
$ | 27,239 | $ | 7,814 | $ | 19,425 | 248.6 | % | ||||||||
Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown below) |
9,146 | 4,609 | 4,537 | 98.4 | % | |||||||||||
Selling, general and administrative expenses |
8,060 | 2,638 | 5,422 | 205.5 | % | |||||||||||
Depreciation and amortization |
2,864 | 2,163 | 701 | 32.4 | % | |||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Income (loss) from operations |
7,169 | (1,596 | ) | 8,765 | N/A | |||||||||||
Other income (expense): |
||||||||||||||||
Interest expense |
(368 | ) | | (368 | ) | N/A | ||||||||||
Interest expenserelated party |
(22 | ) | (540 | ) | 518 | -95.9 | % | |||||||||
Gain (loss) on sale of digital assets |
141 | (25 | ) | 166 | N/A | |||||||||||
Other income (expense), net |
6 | (16 | ) | 22 | N/A | |||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Total other expense, net |
(243 | ) | (581 | ) | 338 | -58.2 | % | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Income (loss) before income taxes |
6,926 | (2,177 | ) | 9,103 | N/A | |||||||||||
Provision for income taxes |
(2,129 | ) | | (2,129 | ) | N/A | ||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Net income (loss) |
$ | 4,797 | $ | (2,177 | ) | $ | 6,974 | N/A | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
81
Revenue
Six Months Ended June 30, |
Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||
$ in thousands | 2021 | 2020 | $ Amount | % Change | ||||||||||||
Cryptocurrency mining |
$ | 23,061 | $ | 5,630 | $ | 17,431 | 309.6 | % | ||||||||
Power and capacity |
4,178 | 2,184 | 1,994 | 91.3 | % | |||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
Total revenue |
$ | 27,239 | $ | 7,814 | $ | 19,425 | 248.6 | % | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cryptocurrency mining revenue. For our cryptocurrency mining revenue, we generate electricity on-site from our power plant and use that electricity to power ASIC miners, generating bitcoin which we then exchange for U.S. dollars or hold in our wallet. Our cryptocurrency mining revenue increased by $17.4 million, or 309.6%, to $23.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021 from $5.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020. Such increase was attributable to our increased mining fleet from an average hash rate of approximately 0.29 EH/s for the quarter ended June 30, 2020 to an average of 0.5139 EH/s for the six months ended June 30, 2021. The increase in our cryptocurrency mining revenue from the six months ended June 30, 2020 to the six months ended June 30, 2021, is a function of increased average bitcoin selling price and growth in our hashrate capacity, offset by increased difficulty and the halving event. For the six months ended June 30, 2021, we mined 528 bitcoins at an average price of approximately $41,297 and mined 673 bitcoins at an average price of approximately $8,311 in the same period in 2020. The 397% increase in bitcoin price and our growth in hashrate were beneficial to bitcoin mining revenue, but were partially offset by other factors including the halving event, which occurred in May 2020 and reduced the block reward from 12.5 bitcoin per block to 6.25 bitcoin per block, and a 43% average difficulty increase.
Power and capacity revenue. Power and capacity revenue is earned when we sell capacity and energy and ancillary services to the wholesale power grid managed by the NYISO. Through these sales, we earn revenue in three streams, including: (1) power revenue received based on the hourly price of power, (2) capacity revenue for committing to sell power to the NYISO when dispatched and (3) other ancillary service revenue received as compensation for the provision of operating reserves. Our power and capacity revenue increased by $2.0 million, or 91.3%, to $4.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021 from $2.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020. The increase was mainly attributable to the fact that we took a planned outage to further build out our mining operation for a period during the first six months of 2020, while no such outage was taken in the first six months of 2021. Power revenue was also comparatively higher in the six months ended June 30, 2021 due to more extreme weather, which led to higher power demand during the period we were online.
For the six months ended June 30, 2021, 85% higher prices were partially offset by a 5% decrease in volume. These increases in prices were driven by higher demand caused by more extreme weather during 2021 as compared to the period in 2020 that the plant was online and the New York stay-at-home regulations during 2020, which reduced the demand for power. As the COVID-19 regulations are lifted, we do not anticipate further COVID-19 impacts in the future unless further COVID-19 outbreaks require further statewide shutdowns.
The components of revenue, expressed as a percentage of total revenue were:
Six Months Ended June 30, |
||||||||
2021 | 2020 | |||||||
Cryptocurrency mining |
84.7 | % | 72.1 | % | ||||
Power and capacity |
15.3 | % | 27.9 | % | ||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total revenue |
100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | ||||
|
|
|
|
For the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, our power customer accounted for 15% and 27% of our total revenue, respectively. For cryptocurrency mining, we consider our mining pool operators to be our customers.
82
We have historically used a limited number of pool operators and the individual contracts with pool operators have a one-day term, which allows us the option to change pool operators at any time. Revenue from our largest pool operator comprised approximately 73% and 65% of total revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively. There are no revenues derived from assets outside the United States during the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020.
Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization)
Six Months Ended June 30, |
Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||
$ in thousands | 2021 | 2020 | $ Amount | % Change | ||||||||||||
Cryptocurrency mining |
$ | 5,150 | $ | 1,939 | $ | 3,211 | 165.6 | % | ||||||||
Power and capacity |
3,996 | 2,670 | 1,326 | 49.7 | % | |||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Total cost of revenue |
$ | 9,146 | $ | 4,609 | $ | 4,537 | 98.4 | % | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of cryptocurrency mining. Cost of cryptocurrency mining consists primarily of natural gas, emissions, payroll and benefits and other direct production costs associated with the megawatts generated for the digital mining operation. Cost of cryptocurrency mining revenue excluding depreciation and amortization increased by $3.2 million, to $5.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021 from $1.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020. This increase was primarily due to the increases in our bitcoin mining fleet and hash rate.
Cost of power and capacity. Cost of power and capacity consists primarily of natural gas, emissions, payroll and benefits and other direct production costs associated with the megawatts generated for the power produced by us and sold to the grid. Cost of power and capacity revenue increased by $1.3 million, to $4.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021 from $2.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020. This increase was due to increased power demand which requires a corresponding increase in input costs, especially gas for the six months ended June 30, 2021. The gas cost per dekatherm for the six months ended June 30, 2021 was $2.38 as compared to $1.66 per dekatherm for the six months ended June 30, 2020.
Selling, general and administrative expenses
Six Months Ended June 30, |
Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||
$ in thousands | 2021 | 2020 | $ Amount | % Change | ||||||||||||
Selling, general and administrative expenses |
$ | 8,060 | $ | 2,638 | $ | 5,422 | 205.5 | % |
Selling, general and administrative expenses. Selling, general and administrative expenses consist primarily of administrative payroll and benefits, business development costs, professional fees and insurance. Selling, general and administrative expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2021 increased $5.4 million, or 205.5%, as compared to the same period in 2020, partially due to approximately $1.2 million of costs associated with the Merger and costs related to becoming a public company. Additionally, selling, general and administrative expenses increased due to costs related to the growth of corporate infrastructure to support our growth including non-cash stock compensation of $1.1 million (as compared to none for the same period ended 2020).
Depreciation and amortization
Six Months Ended June 30, |
Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||
$ in thousands | 2021 | 2020 | $ Amount | % Change | ||||||||||||
Depreciation and amortization |
$ | 2,864 | $ | 2,163 | $ | 701 | 32.4 | % |
83
Depreciation and amortization for the six months ended June 30, 2021 increased $0.7 million to $2.9 million due to the purchase and deployment of additional miners.
Income (loss) from operations
Income (Loss) from operations. We reported income from operations of $7.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021 as compared to a loss from operations of $1.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020. The improvement is primarily attributable to an increase in bitcoin mining hash rate as well as operating leverage, as a substantial portion of selling, general and administrative expenses are fixed.
Other income (expense), net
Six Months Ended June 30, |
Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||
$ in thousands | 2021 | 2020 | $ Amount | % Change | ||||||||||||
Interest expense |
$ | (368 | ) | $ | | $ | (368 | ) | N/A | |||||||
Interest expenserelated party |
(22 | ) | (540 | ) | 518 | N/A | ||||||||||
Gain (loss) on sale of digital assets |
141 | (25 | ) | 166 | N/A | |||||||||||
Other income (expense), net |
6 | (16 | ) | 22 | N/A | |||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Total other expense, net |
$ | (243 | ) | $ | (581 | ) | $ | 338 | -58.2 | % | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interest expense. Represents interest on outstanding indebtedness during the six months ended June 30, 2021. There was interest expense for the six months ended June 30, 2020 related to the secured financing entered into in 2021 associated with the purchase of additional miners.
Interest expense-related party. Represents interest on outstanding related party indebtedness due to Atlas and its affiliates for the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020. The indebtedness to Atlas was deemed satisfied in full in connection with the January 29, 2021 restructuring and is no longer outstanding.
Gain (loss) on the sale of digital assets. Represents the change in value of digital assets (bitcoin) between the time the bitcoin is earned and liquidated during the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020.
Provision for income taxes
Six Months Ended June 30, |
||||||||
$ in thousands | 2021 | 2020 | ||||||
Income (loss) before income taxes |
$ | 6,926 | $ | (2,177 | ) | |||
Provision for income taxes |
$ | (2,129 | ) | $ | | |||
Effective Tax Rate |
30.7 | % | 0.0 | % |
Provision for income taxes. Represents estimated provision for income taxes for the six months ended June 30, 2021. Prior to January 27, 2021, the Company was treated as a partnership for federal and state income tax purposes. The provision for income taxes was $2.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, with an effective tax rate of 30.7%. The effective tax rate was higher than the Statutory federal rate primarily due to state income taxes, as well as the recognition of a deferred tax liability associated with the reorganization from an LLC to a corporation.
Net Income (Loss)
Net income (loss). As a result of the factors described above, net income (loss) improved by $7.0 million to income of $4.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021 from a loss of $2.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020.
84
Key Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In addition to results determined in accordance with GAAP, we believe the following key metrics and non-GAAP measures are useful in evaluating our operational performance. We use the following key metrics and non-GAAP financial information to evaluate our ongoing operations and for internal planning and forecasting purposes. We believe that non-GAAP financial information, when taken collectively with GAAP financial information, may be helpful to investors in assessing our operating performance. These results should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for, results reported in accordance with GAAP.
Bitcoins Mined
The number of bitcoins mined in the quarter ended June 30, 2021 was approximately 315 compared with approximately 403 bitcoins in the quarter ended June 30, 2020. Our mining fleet grew from an average hash rate of approximately 0.37 EH/s for the quarter ended June 30, 2020 to an average of 0.64 EH/s for the quarter ended June 30, 2021. Despite this growth in the number of miners, we saw a decrease in bitcoins mined quarter over quarter. Several factors impacted the rate at which bitcoin is mined, including an increase in overall network difficulty (a measure of how difficult it is to earn a block reward) of 47% on average during this period, as well as the halving event which occurred in May 2020. The halving event reduced the block reward from 12.5 bitcoin per block to 6.25 bitcoin per block, effectively reducing the total bitcoins mined across the entire bitcoin network by half. This halving event, which occurs approximately every four years, paired with an increase in network difficulty led to a decline in the number of bitcoins mined by us for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 as compared with the quarter ended June 30, 2021.
The number of bitcoins mined in the six months ended June 30, 2021 was approximately 528 as compared to 685 during the six months ended June 30, 2020.
Network transaction fees are charged to users of the bitcoin network for moving bitcoin on the blockchain, and are paid to the miners along with the block reward when a miner solves a block. The percentage of transactions fees paid to miners as compared to total bitcoins mined for the periods presented fluctuate with network congestion, which happens in periods of high transaction volume as well as periods that experience sudden drops in network hashrate (slowing down transaction processing). Transaction fees as a percentage of block rewards are expected to continue to be volatile, and this percentage is expected to generally trend upward as block rewards halve and assuming adoption of bitcoin continues to increase transaction volume.
Power and Mining Capacity
As of June 30, 2021 and June 30, 2020, we had a power capacity (when not mining) of approximately 106MW and a mining capacity of approximately 32MW and 17MW, respectively. Our power capacity is the measure of total rated net MW output of our power plant and represents the maximum useful output of our power generation facilities, whereas mining capacity is the number of rated net MW output from our power generation facilities devoted to bitcoin mining activity.
85
Revenue and Cost of Revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization) per MWh
Quarters Ended June 30, |
Six Months Ended June 30, |
|||||||||||||||
$ in thousands | 2021 | 2020 | 2021 | 2020 | ||||||||||||
Revenue |
||||||||||||||||
Cryptocurrency mining |
$ | 14,064 | $ | 3,341 | $ | 23,061 | $ | 5,630 | ||||||||
Power and capacity |
$ | 2,112 | $ | 1,331 | $ | 4,178 | $ | 2,184 | ||||||||
Revenue per MWh |
||||||||||||||||
Cryptocurrency mining |
$ | 220 | $ | 106 | $ | 206 | $ | 115 | ||||||||
Power and capacity |
$ | 51 | $ | 25 | $ | 51 | $ | 25 | ||||||||
Cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization) |
||||||||||||||||
Cryptocurrency mining |
$ | 2,754 | $ | 1,362 | $ | 5,150 | $ | 1,939 | ||||||||
Power and capacity |
$ | 1,970 | $ | 1,220 | $ | 3,996 | $ | 2,670 | ||||||||
Cost of revenue per MWh (exclusive of depreciation and amortization) |
||||||||||||||||
Cryptocurrency mining |
$ | 43 | $ | 43 | $ | 46 | $ | 40 | ||||||||
Power and capacity |
$ | 47 | $ | 23 | $ | 49 | $ | 31 | ||||||||
MWh |
||||||||||||||||
Cryptocurrency mining |
63,803 | 31,595 | 112,089 | 48,786 | ||||||||||||
Power and capacity |
41,747 | 53,045 | 82,075 | 86,574 |
Cryptocurrency mining revenue per MWh and power and capacity revenue per MWh are used by management to consider the extent to which we will generate electricity to either mine cryptocurrency or sell power to the New York wholesale power market. Cost of revenue (excluding depreciation and amortization) per MWh represents a measure of the cost of natural gas, emissions credits, payroll and benefits and other direct production costs associated with the MWhs produced to generate the respective revenue category for each MWh utilized. Depreciation and amortization costs are excluded from the cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization) per MWh metric; therefore, not all cost of revenues for cryptocurrency mining and power and capacity are fully reflected. To the extent any other bitcoin miners are public or may go public, the cost of revenue (exclusive of depreciation and amortization) per MWh metric may not be comparable because some competitors may include depreciation in their cost of revenue figures.
EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA
EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA adjusted for stock-based compensation and other special items determined by management, including, but not limited to business development, fair value adjustments for certain financial liabilities (including asset retirement obligations), costs associated with debt and equity transactions, and impairment charges as they are not indicative of business operations. Adjusted EBITDA is intended as a supplemental measure of our performance that is neither required by, nor presented in accordance with, GAAP. We believe that the use of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA provides an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends and in comparing our financial measures with those of comparable companies, which may present similar non-GAAP financial measures to investors. However, you should be aware that when evaluating EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA, we may incur future expenses similar to those excluded when calculating these measures. In addition, our presentation of these measures should not be construed as an inference that our future results will be unaffected by unusual or non-recurring items. Our computation of Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures computed by other companies, because all companies may not calculate Adjusted EBITDA in the same fashion.
Because of these limitations, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for performance measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. We compensate for these limitations
86
by relying primarily on our GAAP results and using EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA on a supplemental basis. You should review the reconciliation of net loss to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA below and not rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.
The following table reconciles net loss to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA for the periods indicated (in thousands):
Quarters Ended June 30, |
Six Months Ended June 30, |
|||||||||||||||
$ in thousands | 2021 | 2020 | 2021 | 2020 | ||||||||||||
Net income (loss) |
$ | 3,518 | $ | (571 | ) | $ | 4,797 | $ | (2,177 | ) | ||||||
Provision for income taxes |
1,397 | | 2,129 | | ||||||||||||
Interest expense, net |
202 | 273 | 390 | 540 | ||||||||||||
Depreciation and amortization |
1,603 | 1,130 | 2,864 | 2,163 | ||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
EBITDA |
6,720 | 832 | 10,180 | 526 | ||||||||||||
Stock-based compensation |
407 | | 1,063 | | ||||||||||||
Merger and public company filing related costs(1) |
938 | | 1,248 | | ||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
Adjusted EBITDA |
$ | 8,065 | $ | 832 | $ | 12,491 | $ | 526 | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1) | Merger and public company filing costs relate to costs associated with the Merger, the corporate reorganization from an LLC, public registration of shares and associated costs. |
Liquidity and Capital Resources
On June 30, 2021, we had cash and cash equivalents of $37.9 million and an accumulated deficit of $20.1 million. To date, we have primarily relied on debt and equity financing to fund our operations and to meet ongoing working capital needs and to execute on the initial stages of our business plan. On January 29, 2021, we completed a private placement offering of 1,620,000 shares of series A preferred stock, at a price per share of $25.00, to certain individuals and investors for an aggregate amount of $40.5 million. Even with the successful closing of the private placement offering and the anticipated cash and cash equivalents available from the Merger, we may seek to raise capital through alternative sources, such as a public offering, an additional private placement of our equity or debt securities or traditional or non-traditional credit type facilities. If we raise additional equity financing, our stockholders may experience significant dilution of their ownership interests, and the per share value of our class A common stock could decline. Furthermore, if we engage in debt financing, the debt holders would likely have priority over our stockholders, on order of payment preference.
While we held a relatively small amount of digital assets for an extended period as of June 30, 2021, our current business strategy is to sell digital assets within a short period after earning such assets. We may choose to change this strategy in the future. The average period between receipt of bitcoin and the subsequent conversion to cash is less than one day because at least 95% of the bitcoin mined each day is liquidated the same day it is mined. Our liquidity is subject to volatility in both number of bitcoins mined and the underlying price of bitcoin.
87
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
The following table summarizes our contractual obligations and other commitments (in thousands) as of June 30, 2021, (the latest practicable date prior to filing of this registration statement) and the years in which these obligations are due:
Total | Less than 1 Year |
1-3 Years | ||||||||||
Notes payable(1) |
$ | 43,791 | $ | 20,798 | $ | 22,993 | ||||||
Equipment lease(2) |
$ | 680 | $ | 544 | $ | 136 | ||||||
Natural gas commitments(3) |
$ | 1,718 | $ | 1,718 | $ | | ||||||
Purchase commitments(4) |
$ | 22,471 | $ | 22,471 | $ | |
(1) | The Notes payable amounts presented in the above table include financed principal obligations plus estimated contractual future interest and risk premium payments. |
(2) | Equipment finance lease obligations include fixed monthly rental payments and exclude estimated revenue sharing payments. |
(3) | Represents off balance sheet arrangements to purchase gas through March 1, 2022. |
(4) | Represents miner purchase commitments as of June 30, 2021 |
The Notes payable are associated with equipment finance and security agreements that financed the purchase of miners that have been delivered. These notes carry an annual interest rate of between 15%17%, and are repaid by way of blended payments of interest and principal, as well as an additional risk premium payment, with the final payment due 18 months from delivery date.
In March 2021, we entered into an equipment lease agreement for certain mining units. In conjunction with the lease agreement, we recorded a finance lease obligation of $1.2 million and a right-of-use asset of $1.4 million. The lease includes obligations for a monthly fixed payment of less than $0.1 million and a revenue sharing obligation of 10% of the revenue attributable to the miners purchased. The lease ends in August 2022, at which point the equipment transfers to us.
As of June 30, 2021 we had outstanding commitments to purchase an additional 6,300 miners with a remaining cash commitment of $22.5 million, which has been included in the table above. We have $23.5 million of committed financing associated with these miners that will be funded upon delivery. These purchase commitments are cancellable only by us; however, if we were to cancel, we would forfeit the equipment deposits paid.
The $23.5 million of committed financing for the miner purchase commitments are generally for a term of 18 months from delivery date with interest rates between 15% to 17% and require an additional risk premium payment.
Since the end of the second quarter through September 15, 2021, we had purchased and deployed approximately 1,000 M30 Whatsminers and ordered an additional 11,500 S19j Pro Bitmain Antminers. The aggregate amount of these additional purchases was approximately $73.0 million.
In the next twelve months, we expect that our operations and committed financing arrangements will provide sufficient cash for our operating expenses, purchase commitments, capital expenditures, interest payments and debt repayments. This is predicated on us achieving our forecast which could be negatively impacted by items outside of our control, in particular, significant decreases in the price of Bitcoin, regulatory changes concerning cryptocurrency or other macroeconomic conditions including if further COVID-19 outbreaks require further statewide shutdowns.
88
Summary of Cash Flow
The following table provides information about our net cash flow (in thousands) for the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020.
Six Months Ended June 30, |
||||||||
2021 | 2020 | |||||||
Net cash provided by operating activities |
$ | 9,402 | $ | 695 | ||||
Net cash used in investing activities |
(29,581 | ) | (8,913 | ) | ||||
Net cash provided by financing activities |
53,017 | | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Net change in cash and cash equivalents |
32,838 | (8,218 | ) | |||||
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year |
5,052 | 11,750 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period |
$ | 37,890 | $ | 3,532 |
Net cash provided by operating activities was $9.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, as compared to $0.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020. The increase in the operating cash flow during the first six months of 2021 as compared to 2020 was dri