UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

Commission File Number: 001-40261

Soluna Holdings, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(518) 218-2550

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (Section 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a 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.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates as of June 30, 2022 (based on the closing price of $4.07 per share on the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC for that date) was $39,047,018.

As of March 28, 2023, the Registrant had 24,676,680 shares of common stock outstanding.

Documents incorporated by reference: Portions of the registrant’s Proxy Statement for its 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Form 10-K.

INDEX TO FORM 10-K

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the discussion in this section, contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Any statements herein that are not statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements. When we use the words “anticipate,” “estimate,” “plans,” “projects,” “continuing,” “ongoing,” “expects,” “management believes,” “we believe,” “we intend,” “should,” “could,” “may,” “will,” and similar words or phrases, we are identifying forward-looking statements which may involve estimates, assumptions and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. In making these forward-looking statements, the Company has assumed that the current market will continue and grow and that the risks listed below will not adversely impact the Company.

By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, which contribute to the possibility that the predicted outcomes may not occur or may be delayed. Forward-looking statements may relate to future financial conditions, results of operations, plans, objectives, performance or business developments. These statements speak only as of the date they are made and are based on information currently available and on the then current expectations and assumptions concerning future events, which are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from that which was expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to:

Other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information include, among others, risks relating to: the Company’s limited operating history; future capital needs and uncertainty of additional financing; share price fluctuations; the need for the Company to manage its planned growth and expansion; cybersecurity threats and hacking; possibility of cessation of monetization of cryptocurrencies; limited history of de-centralized financial system; technological obsolescence and difficulty in obtaining hardware; price volatility of cryptocurrencies; the May 2020 and any future Bitcoin halving events cryptocurrency network difficulty and impact of increased global computing power; economic dependence on regulated terms of service and electricity rates risks; future profits/losses and production revenues/expenses; cryptocurrency exchanges are new and mostly unregulated; discretion regarding by the Company of available funds; political and regulatory risk; permits and licenses; server failures; global financial conditions; tax consequences; environmental regulations; environmental liability; erroneous transactions and human error; the continued development of existing and planned facilities; risks of non-availability of insurance; competition; reliance on key personnel; credit risk; uncertainty of widespread use of cryptocurrency; interest rate risk; fluctuations in currency exchange rates; controlling shareholder risk; and COVID-19 pandemic risk. Particular factors which could impact future results of the business of the Company include but are not limited to: the construction and operation of blockchain infrastructure may not occur as currently planned, or at all; expansion may not materialize as currently anticipated, or at all; the digital currency market; the ability to successfully mine digital currency; revenue may not increase as currently anticipated, or at all; it may not be possible to profitably liquidate the current digital currency inventory, or at all; a decline in digital currency prices may have a significant negative impact on operations; the volatility of digital currency prices; the anticipated sustainability of the renewable energy on which the Company depends at economical prices for the purposes of cryptocurrency mining; the ability to complete current and future financings; any regulations or laws that will prevent the Company from operating its business; historical prices of digital currencies and the ability to mine digital currencies that will be consistent with historical prices.

Except as may be required by applicable law, we do not undertake or intend to update or revise our forward-looking statements and we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this registration statement. Thus, assumptions should not be made that our silence over time means that actual events are bearing out as expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements.

PART I

Item 1: Business

Unless the context requires otherwise in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Annual Report”), the terms “SHI,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Soluna Holdings, Inc. together with its consolidated subsidiaries, “SCI” refers to Soluna Computing, Inc , formerly known as EcoChain, Inc.. Other trademarks, trade names, and service marks used in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the property of their respective owners.

Overview and Recent Developments

Soluna Holdings, Inc. (“SHI”, “Company”, “our”), formerly known as Mechanical Technology, Incorporated was incorporated in Nevada on March 24, 2021, and is the successor to Mechanical Technology, Inc., which was incorporated in the State of New York in 1961, as a result of a merger which became effective on March 29, 2021, and is headquartered in Albany, New York. Effective November 2, 2021, the Company changed its name from “Mechanical Technology, Incorporated” (or “MTI”) to “Soluna Holdings, Inc.”

SHI currently conducts our business through our wholly-owned subsidiary, Soluna Computing, Inc. (“SCI”). SCI is engaged in the mining of cryptocurrency through data centers that can be powered by renewable energy sources. Recently, SCI has built modular data centers that are used for cryptocurrency mining though proprietary mining and hosting business models. SCI intends to continue to develop and build modular data centers that use wasted renewable energy for cryptocurrency mining and in the in the future can be used for intensive, batchable computing applications, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, with the goal of providing a cost-effective alternative to battery storage or transmission lines. Headquartered in Albany, New York, the Company uses technology and intentional design to solve complex, real-world challenges. The Company’s data centers are operated through certain projects noted below: Project Edith, Project Sophie, Project Marie, and Project Dorothy.

Until the Sale (as defined below), we also operated though our wholly-owned subsidiary, MTI Instruments, an instruments business engaged in the design, manufacture and sale of vibration measurement and system balancing solutions, precision linear displacement sensors, instruments and system solutions, and wafer inspection tools. MTI Instruments was incorporated in New York on March 8, 2000. MTI Instruments’ products consisted of engine vibration analysis systems for both military and commercial aircraft and electronic gauging instruments for position, displacement and vibration application within the industrial manufacturing markets, as well as in the research, design and process development markets. These systems, tools and solutions were developed for markets and applications that require consistent operation of complex machinery and the precise measurements and control of products, processes, and the development and implementation of automated manufacturing and assembly. On December 17, 2021, we announced that we had entered into a non-binding letter of intent with a potential buyer (the “Buyer”) regarding the potential sale of MTI Instruments (the “LOI”) to an unrelated third party. Pursuant to the LOI, the Buyer would acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding common stock of MTI Instruments. As a result of the foregoing, the MTI Instruments business was reported as discontinued operations in the consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2021 and prior periods within our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, as was filed with the SEC on March 31, 2022, as well as in these consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022 (the “Annual Report”). On April 11, 2022, we consummated the sale of MTI Instruments, (‘the Sale”)., MTI Instruments ceased to be our wholly-owned subsidiary, and, as a result, we have exited the instruments business.

On April 11, 2022, SHI entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Stock Purchase Agreement”) with NKX Acquiror, Inc. (the “Purchaser”), pursuant to which the Company sold on such date all of the issued and outstanding shares of capital stock of its wholly-owned subsidiary, MTI Instruments, for approximately $9.4 million in cash, subject to certain adjustments as set forth in the Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Sale”). The consideration paid by the Purchaser to the Company was based on an aggregate enterprise value of approximately $10.75 million. The Company recognized a gain on the sale of approximately $7.8 million.

Project Edith

The Edith project is a project permitted to consume up to 3.3 MegaWatts (“MW”) located in Wenatchee, Washington. The data center was acquired from the estate of the GigaWatt bankruptcy in May 2020. The project operates in a district with increasing power rates. At the time of Soluna’s acquisition (May 2020), the peak power rate, which does not include all charges to the facility was at 2.68 cents kWh, forecasting to increase 3.62 cents kWh by January 2025.

In the first quarter of 2022, the ETH (“Ethereum”) foundation made it clear that the merge to proof-of-stake was happening and graphics processing unit (“GPU”) mining was going to be challenged going forward. In the early summer of 2022, Soluna began to seek a buyer for the assets. Soluna ultimately sold the GPU mining assets and other mining equipment in September 2022 for $790 thousand. Soluna has committed to providing certain facilities contracts at cost plus a markup to facilitate the continued operations for the mining assets for the new ownership.

Project Marie

The Marie Project is Soluna’s 20 MW co-location facility based in Kentucky. This facility was Soluna’s first project in Kentucky, prior to building the Sophie greenfield project. The site is powered by the Tennessee Valley Authority (“TVA”) grid and is designed to operate 24/7 less mandatory TVA curtailment windows.

On December 30, 2021, Soluna MC Borrowing 2021-1 LLC (the “Borrower”), an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of the Company entered into a Master Equipment Finance Agreement (the “MEFA”) with NYDIG ABL LLC (“NYDIG”) as lender, servicer and collateral agent (the “NYDIG facility”). The Master Agreement outlined the framework for a financing up to approximately $14.4 million in aggregate equipment financing.

In January 2022, Soluna began investing capital into Project Marie to upgrade the facility to support 20 MW of power consumption and create power efficiencies in the main leased building. These upgrades were completed in February of 2022. In January, Soluna completed the roll out of legacy hosting customers at the facility to be replaced with proprietary mining equipment.

In March and April, the facility experienced several unplanned outages due to issues with electrical infrastructure owned by CC Metals and Alloys, LLC (“CCMA”). Despite these setbacks, the facility was able to recover and continue to run at a steady hashrate throughout the course of the year. When the Bitcoin downturn hit, the Marie facility took initiative to ensure maximum efficiency of the miner inventory and also took action to reduce site-level expenses.

Project Marie power was impacted by increased Financial Conduit Authority (“FCA”) changes in late summer which were at levels not seen in many years. To further reduce risk to contribution margin, the company began contract negotiations with the 10 MW hosting customer at the site whose renewal was due in September. These negotiations resulted in a more favorable fee structure that positioned the company to better navigate the FCA volatility and the broader Bitcoin economics.

With the decline in the price of Bitcoin that occurred during 2022, by September 2022, the cashflows from Marie became inadequate to fully service the NYDIG loan. After discussions with NYDIG, two separate monthly waivers of payments for September and October 2022 were agreed. By November 2022, however, the Borrower failed to make its payment, and subsequently, on December 20, 2022, the Borrower received a Notice of Acceleration and Repossession (the “NYDIG Notice”) from NYDIG with respect to the MEFA, by and between Borrower and NYDIG. The obligations of Borrower under the MEFA and reflected in the NYDIG Notice are ring-fenced to Borrower and its direct parent company, Soluna MC LLC. The Company is not a party to any guaranty, collateral agreement or other support agreement with or for the benefit of NYDIG. Borrower had entered into a dialogue with NYDIG to resolve the matters set forth in the NYDIG Notice.

The NYDIG Notice states that (a) Borrower failed to observe or perform certain covenants, conditions or agreements contained in the MEFA and such failure continued unremedied for a period of ten days after Borrower’s knowledge of such breach, which resulted in an event of default under the MEFA, and (b) Borrower defaulted under the guaranty, collateral agreement, or other support agreement, which resulted in an event of default under the MEFA. In addition, the NYDIG Notice states that Borrower failed to pay certain payments of principal and interest under the MEFA when due, which failure also constituted an event of default under the MEFA. As a result of the foregoing events of default, and pursuant to the MEFA, NYDIG (x) declared the principal amount of all loans due and owing under the MEFA and all accompanying Loan Documents (as defined in the MEFA) to be due and immediately payable, (y) imposed a default rate of interest on any outstanding principal amount of each loan (together with all then unpaid interest accruing thereon) and all other obligations under the MEFA and the Loan Documents, and (z) demanded the return of all equipment subject to the MEFA and the Loan Documents.

On February 23, 2023, NYDIG proceeded to foreclose on all of the collateral securing the MEFA, which resulted in a reportable disposition of all of the Company’s mining assets at the site and certain of the operating assets of Project Marie. Additionally, NDYIG has stated its intention to pursue SCI, the parent company of Guarantor, under a piercing of the corporate veil claim relating to Defendants’ debts and liabilities under the loan documents. SCI denies any such liability and has filed a complaint for a declaratory judgment against NYDIG in the Eighth Judicial District Court in Clark County, Nevada on March 16, 2023 seeking a declaratory judgment as to such matter. In a related development, also on February 23, 2023, the Borrower received a notice of termination of the Management and Hosting Services Agreement with CC Metals and Alloys, LLC. As a result of this action and certain other characteristics of the facility, the Company elected to shut down the Marie facility, and has impaired certain property, plant, and equipment assets that were at the Marie facility. The Company believes it will maximize its profits and return on assets by concentrating its personnel and capital on its Dorothy Facility.

Project Sophie

The Sophie Project is Soluna’s 25 MW modular data center based in Kentucky. This facility is the first site based on Soluna’s modular design, electrical design, and powered by its proprietary software Maestro OS (™). The site is powered by the TVA grid and is designed to operate during off-peak hours to help Western Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative (“WKRECC”) manage its excess energy consumption. During 2022, power prices at the site, after the full ramp-up of activities, were approximately 4.0 cents per kWh.

By April 8, 2022, older machines (Bitmain S9s) at Sophie were replaced with newer models growing the hashrate and a power usage effectiveness and consuming over 20 MW of energy. In May of 2022, the Project Sophie team moved into the completed offices, added a new asphalt road, and upgraded the network infrastructure on the site. In June and July of 2022, the site exceeded previous mining hashrates by installing new Bitmain S19s and replacing S9 machines. Project Sophie has also hosted a series of curtailment and MaestroOS control system, our proprietary load monitoring management system, demonstrations with leading renewable energy companies and capital providers, further enhancing the site’s performance.

Project Dorothy

The Dorothy Project is a 100 MW Soluna modular data center co-located at the Briscoe Wind Farm in Silverton, Texas. It was acquired as part of the merger with Soluna Callisto in October 2021, discussed in further details on Footnote 5 on the consolidated financial statements. The initial 50MW phase of the project includes 44 modular data center buildings in two sub-phases, Dorothy 1A and Dorothy 1B. Each of these phases is 25 MW each. Dorothy is the second modular data center built using Soluna’s proprietary design and software. The facility is designed to consume the wasted electricity from the wind farm and the grid. It incorporates learnings and enhancements from the Sophie project.

Permitting and Construction:

In March 2022, Soluna began site level construction via an early access agreement with the landowner and Briscoe Wind Farm, LLC., to place the concrete pad and erection of the site’s main warehouse. In April of 2022, the procurement of internet service providers began. By May 2022, the company began erecting the prefabricated modular data center buildings and trenching for underground electrical conduits.

On June 15, 2022, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (“ERCOT”), the Texas independent system operator, formed a new taskforce, Large Flexible Load Interconnection Taskforce (“LTLTF” of “LFL”) to deal with the overwhelming increase in new load interconnection requests related to Bitcoin Mining. The new task force’s charter focused on studying the systems impact of these data centers and to establish a new interim process for approval. The new process included the addition of new technical studies and modeling to ensure the reliability of the electrical system. Briscoe, Oncor and Soluna collaborated on completing the required technical studies throughout the summer and early fall of 2022.

On October 31, 2022, after the completion of required studies, the Briscoe Wind Farm submitted a revised Resource Asset Registration Forms (“RARF”) to ERCOT requesting the addition of the Dorothy Project as a 100 MW behind-the-meter load and to initiate the modeling process. On December 8, 2022, the Briscoe/Soluna project was approved by the ERCOT modeling team. On December 19, 2022, all required studies were approved and the Dorothy Project received a “Met Planning” approval from ERCOT LFL.

While these ERCOT approvals were being obtained, through the summer and fall of 2022, Soluna continued the construction of Dorothy erecting more buildings, installing power infrastructure, completing the warehouse and office buildings, including ancillary HVAC and power. From September to December 2022, all mechanical and electrical construction was completed for Dorothy 1A. On October 15, 2022, Dorothy 1B’s construction was officially paused. In March 2023, the data center’s substation interconnection was completed, and Dorothy 1B’s construction was resumed and the site’s network and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems were installed.

Project-level Financing:

On April 22, 2022, SCI signed definitive agreements with funds managed by Spring Lane Capital (“SLC”) to provide a $35 million pool of capital for financing Soluna projects co-located with renewable energy projects. At least $12.5 million of the pool was earmarked for the Dorothy Project. In July 2022, Soluna began drawing down on the SLC capital to finance Dorothy construction and return capital to the Company for past funding. In exchange for SLC’s contributions, the Company and Spring Lane were issued approximately 68% and 32% of the Class B Membership Interests in Soluna DVSL ComputeCo, LLC (“DVSL”). The Company consolidated the accounts of DVSL, a Variable Interest Entity (“VIE”), as of December 31, 2022.

On March 10, 2023, SCI completed the final tranche of a series of project-level agreements for $7.5 million of capital to fund the first 25 MW of the Dorothy Facility and corporate expenses from funds managed by SLC. This additional capital will be used to help complete the substation interconnection and the final stages of the Dorothy Facility, and corporate operations of Soluna. SLC has been a strategic partner for Soluna at the project and corporate levels of the business since 2022. In this series of transactions, SLC has increased its stake in DVSL from approximately 32% to 85% and has in turn reduced SCI’s ownership from 68% to 15%. After SLC realizes an 18% Internal Rate of Return hurdle on its investments, Soluna retains the right to 50% of the profits on Soluna DVSL ComputeCo.

The second 25 MW being developed as part of the Dorothy Facility, the ownership of which is held within Soluna DV ComputeCo, LLC (“DV”), remains indirectly wholly owned by the Company.

Operating Definitive Agreements with Counter Parties:

Throughout 2022 SCI’s corporate development continued to negotiate the definitive documents with Golden Spread Electric Cooperative, Inc., a Texas cooperative corporation (“GSEC”) and Lighthouse Electric Cooperative, Inc., a Texas cooperative corporation (“LHEC”), Oncor Electric Delivery, LLC (“Oncor”) and Briscoe Wind Farm, LLC’s various sponsors and financing parties (“Briscoe”). These agreements were finalized in March 2023 (see below).

On March 2, 2023, Soluna DV Services, LLC, a Nevada limited liability company (“ServeCo”) and an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, entered into a series of agreements with Briscoe, (b) GSEC, and (c) LHEC. All the agreements were effective as of February 24, 2023 (the “Effective Date”). The Company is developing a modular data center in phases (the “Dorothy Facility”). The two phases of the Dorothy Facility will have a peak demand of 50 megawatts, and if, upon mutual agreement, all four phases are completed, the data center will have an estimated peak demand of 150 megawatts. The Dorothy Facility will be located next to, and supplied energy from, Briscoe’s 150-megawatt wind farm located at or near Briscoe and Floyd Counties, Texas (the “Briscoe Wind Farm”). Under the agreements, LHEC and GSEC will supply the Dorothy Facility with energy from the Briscoe Wind Farm and the ERCOT market.

ServeCo and LHEC entered into an Agreement for Electric Service to Soluna DV Services, LLC (the “Retail Agreement”) for resale of energy supplied from the Briscoe Wind Farm and the ERCOT market delivered by GSEC for service to the energy load of the Dorothy Facility. As noted above, GSEC has by separate agreement arranged to purchase power at wholesale from Briscoe or to deliver and purchase power from the ERCOT market to serve LHEC with electric power and energy for resale to ServeCo for service to the Dorothy Facility. The initial term of the Retail Agreement is five years, with up to five extension terms of one year each unless terminated by LHEC or ServeCo.

ServeCo and Briscoe also entered into a Cooperation Agreement (the “Cooperation Agreement”), pursuant to which Briscoe and ServeCo agreed to certain rights, obligations, and restrictions with respect to the real property of the Dorothy Facility and the construction, interconnection, permitting, operation, maintenance, removal, and decommissioning of the Dorothy Facility and applicable credit support. Soluna DV ComputeCo, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company and Soluna DVSL ComputeCo, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company became parties to the Cooperation Agreement by each entering into a Joinder Agreement on the Effective Date. Unless terminated sooner in accordance with its terms, the term of the Cooperation Agreement is from the Effective Date until the expiration or termination of the Power Purchase Agreement, by and between Briscoe and GSEC, dated as of the Effective Date (the “PPA”).

ServeCo, Briscoe, LHEC, and GSEC also entered into a Performance and Net Energy Security Agreement (the “PSA”), pursuant to which ServeCo will provide certain credit support to LHEC in connection with its obligations under the Retail Agreement and the other transaction agreements. The PSA is effective on the Effective Date and will remain in effect for 18 months following the later of the termination of the Retail Agreement or the termination of the PPA.

On the Effective Date, ServeCo and Alice Fay Grabbe (“Owner”) entered into a Lease Agreement (the “Lease”) to lease certain real property located in Briscoe County, Texas for the Dorothy Facility. Unless terminated sooner in accordance with its terms, the initial term of the Lease is five years. The initial term of the Lease will automatically extend for five additional one-year periods, unless terminated by ServeCo or Owner.

Company Organization

Our website is at http://www.solunacomputing.com. Information contained on our website does not constitute part of and is not incorporated into this Annual Report.

The corporate organizational structure as of December 31, 2022, of SHI appears below.

Effective January 1, 2023, SLC increased its stake in Soluna DVSL ComputeCo from approximately 32% to 85% and has in turn reduced SCI’s ownership from 68% to 15%.

Notice of Potential Delisting

On December 21, 2022, the Company received a letter (the “Nasdaq Notice”) from the Listing Qualifications Staff of The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) indicating that, based upon the closing bid price of the Company’s common stock (the “Common Stock”) for the last 30 consecutive business days, the Common Stock no longer meets the requirement to maintain a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share, as set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). The Notice has no immediate effect on the listing of the Company’s Common Stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market.

In accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), the Company has a grace period of 180 calendar days, or until June 21, 2023, to regain compliance with the minimum closing bid price requirement for continued listing. In order to regain compliance, the minimum closing bid price per share of the Company’s Common Stock must be at least $1.00 for a minimum of ten consecutive business days.

Results of Special Meeting of Stockholders on March 10, 2023

The Company held the Special Meeting of stockholders on March 10, 2023, in which the following items were approved by the Company’s stockholders:

Business Segments

Cryptocurrency Proprietary Mining Segment

SCI engages in cryptocurrency mining by which transactions between cryptocurrency users are verified and added to the blockchain public ledger. Cryptocurrency mining also introduces new cryptocurrency coins into the existing circulating supply, facilitating a peer-to-peer decentralized network without the need for a third-party central authority.

Cryptocurrency Mining Revenue

SCI recognizes revenue when the related cryptocurrencies are converted to U.S. dollars through its accounts with Coinbase and Bittrex, cryptocurrency exchanges (i.e., a platform that facilitates the exchange of cryptocurrencies for other assets, such as conventional money or other digital currencies). SCI exchanges cryptocurrency to U.S. dollars through the Coinbase and Bittrex account daily. SCI primarily mines Bitcoin and in prior years and to a lesser degree, in 2022, mined Ethereum, Ethereum Classic LiteCoin, RavenCoin, Zcash, and Sia. The type of cryptocurrency mined is based specifically on the installed cryptocurrency miner, in each of the Company’s data centers, as each miner can mine only one type of cryptocurrency at a time. The miners perform complex computations at a speed referred to as the “hash rate.” SCI participates in mining pools where our miners’ computations are combined with those of other miners owned by others to place blocks on the blockchain, which generates the relevant Proof of Work and related cryptocurrency reward.  The mining pool operator uses software to track contributions to the pool made by all the miners and allocates the newly minted cryptocurrency to each participant in the pool based on their pro rata contributions. SCI monitors its contributions to each pool and the distribution of the relevant cryptocurrency to ensure that SCI receives the correct amount of cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrencies allocated to SCI are automatically issued to its Coinbase and Bittrex accounts either daily or based on reaching a threshold level of a mined coin as established by SCI with the pools. Certain coins, such as Sia and Zcash are converted to Bitcoin by the pool prior to being transferred to SCI’s Coinbase and Bittrex accounts. Coinbase and Bittrex conversions to U.S. dollars are initiated daily by SCI. Coinbase and Bittrex converts the coins to U.S. dollars based on the coin price at the time of the transfer.   The U.S. dollars are then transferred to SCI’s bank account.

Cryptocurrency Data Hosting Services Segment

The Company has entered into customer hosting contracts whereby the Company provides electrical power and network connectivity to cryptocurrency mining customers, in exchange for a fixed rate per megawatt-hour (“MWh”) (“Contract Capacity”), and a share of mining profits. The majority of the Company’s hosting services were located at the Project Marie facility. The Company allocated approximately 10 MWs to hosted customers. The hosting fee is paid monthly in advance. The actual monthly amounts are calculated after the close of each month and reconciled to the monthly advance based on the clauses contained in the ASIC respective contracts. Monthly advanced payments and customer deposits are reflected as other liabilities. Customer contract security deposits are made at the time the contract is signed and held until the conclusion of the contract relationship. In August of 2022, the Company executed a change in the hosting contract at Project Marie, in which the Company moved to charging a flat fee per month, with the electricity charges then treated as a pass-through and in turn not recognized as revenue. The Company still receives a profit share component from this hosting contract. On February 23, 2023, the Borrower received a notice of termination of the Management and Hosting Services Agreement with CC Metals and Alloys, LLC. As a result of this action and certain other characteristics of the facility (see above), the Company elected to shut down the Marie facility. The Company expects future hosting contracts to have an electricity pass-through impact, operations overhead fee component, and profit share elements noted above.

Cryptocurrency Assets for both Mining and Hosting services

Soluna engages in the design, development and building of site locations that are employed to host certain cryptocurrency assets, known as miners. Soluna constructs and builds these data centers employing certain know how. These site location facilities contain certain buildings called modular data centers, electrical equipment including transformers, switch gear and busways, racking and other equipment.

Cryptocurrency assets, known as miners, consist of hardware and software that perform the computations needed to mine cryptocurrencies, as discussed under “Cryptocurrency Revenue” above, and as such are the source of the associated revenues generated by a cryptocurrency mine, including SCI’s. SCI has several thousand miners in service, mostly Bitmains, that generate Bitcoin. For a number of reasons, including (i) that SCI purchases miners in the secondary market from a number of different sellers, and (ii) that the price fluctuates because of supply and demand, as well as changes in the price of the specific cryptocurrency that can be mined by the miner purchased, which in turn drives the cost of the miners, the cost of purchasing these assets fluctuates regularly.

Bitcoin Mining Ecosystem and Competitive Landscape

Bitcoin miners compete on a global basis and organize themselves in a wide range of structures from individuals using one or more systems to run mining operations to industrial-scale data centers with thousands of systems. The zero-sum, winner take-all approach results in an intense focus on innovation in hardware, software, facility design, and power procurement strategies. Miners may organize themselves into pools, which creates a more stable revenue stream aggregating their hashrate with other miners. The mining business is global and is not dominated by any particular individual or organization.

The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index estimates that hashrate is distributed globally on the following basis (January - 2022):¹

¹ https://ccaf.io/cbeci/mining_map

The Company differentiates its strategy in three principal ways:

Notwithstanding these competitive advantages, we continue to face stiff competition from other cryptocurrency mining companies, some of which may have greater financial, technical, and operational resources. Our primary competitors are:

As the industry evolves, new entrants may emerge, and existing competitors may adopt new strategies or technologies that could potentially challenge our position. To stay competitive, we remain committed to continuously improving our mining efficiency, investing in advanced technologies, and closely monitoring regulatory developments to navigate the dynamic competitive landscape effectively.

Intellectual Property

The production of Bitcoin is governed by open source software and in addition relies upon internally developed software and design methodologies which it protects as trade secrets.

Soluna has filed eight provisional patent applications with the U.S. Patent and Trade Market Office. These patents pertain to the technologies related to the Modular Data Center (MDC) concept employed by the Company such as their modular architecture, cooling technology, simulations technology and overall technologies related to the control of the data center. There are also provisional patents regarding the variable power consumption of the data center and the local co-optimization of power generation supply with demand. Provisional patent applications must be converted into full patent applications within one year of filing.

Soluna also filed two full patent applications, both of which are utility patents. The first is related to the modular data center, specifically the layout of the buildings (modules) on a site. The layout as well as specific elements are critical elements which drive our efficiency.

The second full application is around the local co-optimization of power generation supply with demand generated using a data center. This patent outlines the methodology of having an independently metered load co-located with power generation.

There can be no assurance that any of the Company’s patent applications will be granted, or if granted, will convey any competitive advantage to the Company. Enforcing patents is a timely and expensive process and the Company may not have sufficient resources to pursue any infringement.

Soluna has a registered trademark for the Company name.

Equity investment – Harmattan Energy, Ltd (“HEL”)

Simultaneously with entering into the January 2020 Operating and Management Agreement with HEL, the Company, pursuant to a purchase agreement it entered into with HEL, made a strategic investment in HEL by purchasing 158,730 Class A Preferred Shares of HEL for an aggregate purchase price of $500,000. After acceptance of the Deliverables, as required by the terms of the purchase agreement, the Company purchased an additional 79,365 Class A Preferred Shares of HEL for an aggregate purchase price of $250,000. The Company also has the right, but not the obligation, to purchase additional equity securities of HEL and its subsidiaries (including additional Class A Preferred Shares of HEL) if HEL secures certain levels or types of project financing with respect to its own wind power generation facilities. The Company has additionally entered into a Side Letter Agreement, dated January 13, 2020, with Soluna Technologies Investment I, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company that owns, on a fully diluted basis, 61.5% of HEL and is controlled by a Brookstone Partners-affiliated director of the Company. The Side Letter Agreement provides for the transfer to the Company of additional Class A Preferred Shares of HEL in the event HEL issues additional equity below agreed-upon valuation thresholds.

Several of HEL’s equity holders are affiliated with Brookstone Partners, the investment firm that holds an equity interest in the Company through Brookstone Partners Acquisition XXIV, LLC. One of our Brookstone-affiliated directors serves as a director and is currently acting President of HEL, and the other Brookstone-affiliated director and the Company’s CEO, has an ownership interest in HEL. During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company had performed an impairment assessment and noted that the full amount of $750,000 for the Company’s investment in HEL had been impaired and written off the books for fiscal year 2022.

Existing or Probable Governmental Regulations

Regulatory

Cryptocurrency mining is largely an unregulated activity at both the state and federal level. We anticipate that cryptocurrency mining will face increased regulation in the near and long-term. We cannot predict how future regulations may affect our business or operations. State regulation of cryptocurrency mining is important with respect to where we conduct our mining operations. Our Dorothy Project is located in the State of Texas. To the extent that there is any state regulation, Texas is one of the most favorable regulatory environments for cryptocurrency miners.

In March 2022, the United States announced plans to establish a unified federal regulatory regime for cryptocurrency, and a group of United States Senators sent a letter to the United States Treasury Department asking Treasury Secretary Yellen to investigate Treasury’s ability to monitor and restrict the use of cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions imposed by the United States. We are unable to predict the impact that any new regulations may have on our business at the time of filing this Annual Report. We continue to monitor and proactively engage in dialogue on legislative matters related to our industry.

On August 17, 2022, the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the U.S. House of Representatives sent letters to other public companies with Bitcoin mining operations requesting information related to the environmental impact and energy consumption of the recipients.

In September 2022, the White House issued a report regarding the Climate and Energy Implications of Crypto-Assets in the United States. The report states that the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency should initiate a process to solicit data and develop environmental performance and energy conservation standards for crypto-asset technologies, including mining equipment. Should such measures prove ineffective at achieving the Administration’s environmental goals, the report calls for the Administration to explore executive actions and legislation to limit or eliminate the use of high energy intensity consensus mechanisms for crypto-asset mining.

We are unable to predict the impact that any new standards, legislation, or regulations may have on our business at the time of filing this Annual Report. We continue to monitor and proactively engage in dialogue on regulatory and legislative matters related to our industry.

Further, in December 2022 the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued guidance advising companies to disclose exposure and risk to the cryptocurrency market. While the focus is on digital asset managers and exchanges, and not Bitcoin miners, the failure of such large asset managers and exchanges may create increased price volatility of Bitcoin. Soluna does not store our Bitcoin on such exchanges; however, we may be impacted by such failures.

In January 2023, the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation issued a joint statement discouraging banks from doing business with clients in crypto-asset industries. In January 2023, the Federal Reserve also issued a policy statement broadening its authority to cover state-chartered banks.

Also in January 2023, the House of Representatives announced its first ever Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets and the intention to develop a regulatory framework for the digital asset industry. Bipartisan leadership of the Senate Banking Committee announced that goal as well.

As the regulatory and legal environment evolves, we may become subject to new laws, such as further regulation by the SEC and other agencies, which may affect our mining and other activities. For additional discussion regarding our belief about the potential risks existing and future regulation pose to our business, see Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” of this Annual Report.

Environmental

There are increasing concerns over the quantity of energy, particularly from non-renewable sources, used for Bitcoin mining and its effects on the environment. Many media reports focus exclusively on the energy requirements of Bitcoin mining and cite it as an environmental concern. However, those reports tend to omit discussion of the positive contributions associated with Bitcoin mining to other customers on the electrical grid. Bitcoin mining operations present a stable demand for energy and can be quickly curtailed, uniquely positioning businesses that engage in Bitcoin mining to respond to increased electricity demand in emergency situations. Overall, our operations incentivize new power generation development, and our actions help to reduce the frequency and impact of power failures and electricity price surges.

Human Capital Resources

As of March 20, 2023, we had 32 employees, including 30 full-time employees, 1 part-time employee, and 1 full-time consultant consisting of nine SHI employees (six are in finance and three executives), 23 SCI employees. Of the SCI employees one was in finance, fourteen in operations, one in corporate development, four in technology and engineering, and two executives. The operations personnel include both individuals directly involved in the strategy of our data centers as well as data center maintenance and supervisory roles. Certain positions within our organization require industry-specific technical knowledge. We have been successful in attracting and retaining qualified technical personnel for these positions. None of our employees are covered by any collective bargaining agreement.

Our human capital resources objectives include, as applicable, identifying, recruiting, retaining, engaging, incentivizing, and integrating our existing and additional employees. The Company supports its employees through a competitive compensation package, including company equity, generous health benefits and a flexible PTO policy. We have a combination of remote and on-site employees.

Insurance

The Company and its subsidiaries maintains insurance policies with reputable insurers against such risks and in such amounts as management has determined to be prudent for our operations and that we believe are similar in scope and coverage in all material respects to insurance policies maintained by other similarly situated businesses. These policies include coverages for D&O, Builders Risk, Property, General Liability, Auto and other casualty lines of business.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

Our business, financial condition and operating results are subject to a number of risk factors, both those that are known to us and identified below and others that may arise from time to time. These risk factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from those suggested by forward-looking statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (this “Report”) and elsewhere, and may adversely affect our business, financial condition or operating results. If any of these risk factors should occur, moreover, the trading price of our securities could decline, and investors in our securities could lose all or part of their investment in our securities. These risk factors, along with other information contained in this Report, should be carefully considered in evaluating our prospects.

Risks Relating to the Company and its Growth Strategy

The Company’s ability to operate as a going concern is in doubt.

The audit opinion and notes that accompany the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements disclose a going concern qualification to its ability to continue in business. The accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared under the assumption that the Company will continue as a going concern. The Company has incurred losses resulting in an accumulated deficit of $221.8 million as of December 31, 2022, and further losses are anticipated in the development of its business.

The accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements has shown that the Company did not generate sufficient revenue to generate net income and has negative working capital as of December 31, 2022. The Company’s ability to continue as a going concern is dependent on its ability to raise capital to fund its future data centers and working capital requirements or its ability to profitably execute its business plan. The Company’s plans for the long-term return to and continuation as a going concern include financing its future operations through sales of its Common Shares and/or debt. Additionally, the volatility in capital markets and general economic conditions in the U.S. and elsewhere can pose significant challenges to raising the required funds. These factors raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

The Company’s consolidated financial statements do not give effect to any adjustments required to realize its assets and discharge its liabilities in other than the normal course of business and at amounts different from those reflected in the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements.

We may not be able to refinance, extend or repay our substantial indebtedness owed to our convertible note debt holders, which would have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and ability to continue as a going concern.

We anticipate that we will need to raise a significant amount of debt or equity capital in the near future in order to repay our outstanding debt obligations owed to our convertible noteholders when they mature. On October 25, 2021, the Company issued to certain institutional investors secured convertible notes in the aggregate principal amount of approximately $16.3 million for an aggregate purchase price of $15.0 million. Through original issuance until March 23, 2023, the noteholders have converted approximately $5.2 million of debt. As of March 23, 2023, we owed our convertible debt holders approximately $11.6 million of principal which is currently due on April 25, 2023. If we are unable to raise sufficient capital to repay these obligations at maturity and we are otherwise unable to extend the maturity dates or refinance these obligations, we would be in default. We cannot provide any assurances that we will be able to raise the necessary amount of capital to repay these obligations or that we will be able to extend the maturity dates or otherwise refinance these obligations. Upon a default in the convertible debt our convertible debt holders would have the right to exercise its rights and remedies to collect, which would include foreclosing on our assets. Accordingly, a default would have a material adverse effect on our business and, if our convertible noteholders exercise its rights and remedies, we would likely be forced to seek bankruptcy protection.

We may be impacted by macroeconomic conditions due to global pandemics, epidemics or outbreaks of disease and the resulting global supply chain crisis.

Global trade conditions and consumer trends that originated during the COVID-19 pandemic continue to persist and may also have long-lasting adverse impact on us and our industry. There are continued risks arising from new pandemics, epidemics or outbreaks of disease, and ongoing COVID-19 related issues which have exacerbated port congestion and intermittent supplier shutdowns and delays, resulting in additional expenses to expedite delivery of new miners, as well as critical materials needed for our expansion plans. Further, miner manufacturers have been impacted by the constrained supply of the semiconductors used in the production of the highly specialized ASIC chips miners rely on, and increased labor costs to manufacture new miners as workforces and global supply chains continue to be affected by COVID-19 and may further be affected by global outbreaks of various epidemics or disease, ultimately leading to continually higher prices for new miners. Thus, until the global supply chain crisis is resolved, and these extraordinary pressures are alleviated, we expect to continue to incur higher than usual costs to obtain and deploy new miners and we may face difficulties obtaining the new miners we need at prices or in quantities we find acceptable, if at all, and our business and results of operations may suffer as a result.

In addition, labor shortages resulting from the pandemic may lead to increased difficulty and labor costs in hiring and retaining the highly qualified and motivated people we need to conduct our business and execute on our strategic growth initiatives. Sustaining our growth plans will require the ongoing readiness and solvency of our suppliers and vendors, a stable and motivated production workforce, and government cooperation, each of which may be affected by macroeconomic factors outside of our immediate control.

We cannot predict the duration or direction of current global trends or their sustained impact. Ultimately, we continue to monitor macroeconomic conditions to remain flexible and to optimize and evolve our business as appropriate, and we will have to accurately project demand and infrastructure requirements globally and deploy our workforce and capital resources accordingly. If we experience unfavorable global market conditions, or if we cannot or do not maintain operations at a scope that is commensurate with such conditions or are later required to or choose to suspend such operations again, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results may be harmed.

We expect the cost of acquiring new miners to continue to be affected by the global supply chain crisis.

Similarly, the global supply chain crisis, coupled with increased demand for computer chips, has created a shortfall of semiconductors, resulting in challenges for the supply chain and production of the miners we employ in our Bitcoin mining operations. The miners are highly specialized servers built around ASIC chips, which very few manufacturers are able to produce in sufficient scale and quality to suit our operations. As a result, the cost to produce these miners has increased, and their manufacturers have passed on increased costs of production to purchasers like us. Therefore, until the global supply chain crisis is resolved, and these extraordinary pressures are alleviated, we expect to continue to incur higher than usual costs to obtain and deploy new miners, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Construction of our future facilities potentially exposes us to additional risks.

We intend to continue constructing modular data centers in addition to our Dorothy Facility, which potentially exposes us to significant risks we may otherwise not be exposed to, including risks related to, among other sources: construction delays; lack of availability of parts and/or labor, increased prices as a result, in part to inflation, and delays for data center equipment; labor disputes and work stoppages, including interruptions in work due to pandemics, epidemics, and other health risks; unanticipated environmental issues and geological problems; delays related to permitting and approvals to open from public agencies and utility companies; and delays in site readiness leading to our failure to meet commitments made in connection with such expansion.

All construction related projects depend on the skill, experience, and attentiveness of our personnel throughout the design and construction process. Should a designer, general contractor, significant subcontractor or key supplier experience financial problems or other problems during the design or construction process, we could experience significant delays, increased costs to complete the project and/or other negative impacts to our expected returns.

If we are unable to overcome these risks and additional pressures to complete our expansion projects in a timely manner, if at all, we may not realize their anticipated benefits, and our business and financial condition may suffer as a result.

We may have difficulty in obtaining banking services for our cryptocurrency activities.

While the banking authorities in the United States do not prohibit banks from providing banking services to cryptocurrency-related businesses such as the Company, the Federal Reserve, the FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have issued directives to banks in the United relating to their crypto-asset risks and as a result a significant number of banks have determined to limit such activities. Accordingly, we have had, and may have in the future have, difficulty in opening bank accounts, obtaining letters of credit and generally access to the banking system.

We may be unable to obtain additional funding to scale the SCI hosting and proprietary cryptocurrency mining business to a larger-scale business.

We are considering further increasing the size of our business as we seek to leverage our experience and expertise in area of hosting and proprietary cryptocurrency mining operations. To do so, however, we will need to raise additional debt and/or equity financing, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. Failure to generate adequate cash from our operations or find sources of funding would require us to scale back or curtail our operations or expansion efforts, including limiting our ability to expand the SCI hosting and cryptocurrency business to a larger-scale operation, and would have an adverse impact on our business and financial condition. If we raise additional equity financing, our stockholders may experience significant dilution of their ownership interests, and the per-share value of our Common Stock could decline. Furthermore, if we engage in additional debt financing, the holders of debt likely would have priority over the holders of Common Stock on order of payment preference. We may be required to accept terms that restrict our ability to incur additional indebtedness or take other actions including terms that require us to maintain specified liquidity or other ratios that could otherwise not be in the interests of our stockholders.

We rely upon strategic partners to finance certain of our facilities.

In order to complete construction of the first phase of our Dorothy Facility we have partnered with Spring Lane Capital, which provided $14.0 in funding to complete construction and fund corporate expenses, and we may seek similar funding completion of subsequent phases of the Dorothy Facility and our other projects in development. As a result, we will be requiring financing assistance as well as cooperation in significant operation decisions affecting the projects. If we are unable to obtain strategic partners for our projects or if we and our partners disagree on matters affecting our projects, our growth, prospects and financial results may be adversely affected.

The lack of regulation of digital asset exchanges which Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies, are traded on, may expose us to the effects of negative publicity resulting from fraudulent actors in the cryptocurrency space, and can adversely affect an investment in the Company.

The digital asset exchanges on which Bitcoin is traded are relatively new and largely unregulated. Many digital asset exchanges do not provide the public with significant information regarding their ownership structure, management teams, corporate practices, or regulatory compliance. As a result, the marketplace may lose confidence in, or may experience problems relating to, such digital asset exchanges, including prominent exchanges handling a significant portion of the volume of digital asset trading. In 2022, a number of digital asset exchanges filed for bankruptcy proceedings and/or became the subjects of investigation by various governmental agencies for, among other things, fraud, causing a loss of confidence and an increase in negative publicity for the digital asset ecosystem. As a result, many digital asset markets, including the market for Bitcoin, have experienced increased price volatility. The Bitcoin ecosystem may continue to be negatively impacted and experience long term volatility if public confidence decreases.

These events are continuing to develop, and it is not possible to predict, at this time, every risk that they may pose to us, our service providers, or the digital asset industry as a whole. A perceived lack of stability in the digital asset exchange market and the closure or temporary shutdown of digital asset exchanges due to business failure, hackers or malware, government-mandated regulation, or fraud, may reduce confidence in digital asset networks and result in greater volatility in cryptocurrency values. These potential consequences of a digital asset exchange’s failure could adversely affect an investment in us.

Recent events in the industry, such as filing for and seeking protection of Chapter 11 proceedings by major market participants, may have significant impact on further development and acceptance of digital asset networks and digital assets as they exposed how unpredictable and turbulent the digital assets industry can be. Specifically, the Chapter 11 Bankruptcy filings of digital asset exchanges FTX Trading Ltd., et al. (“FTX”) (including its affiliated hedge fund, Alameda Research LLC) was unexpected and significantly reduced confidence in the digital assets industry as it was one of the largest and considered among safest digital asset trading platforms. Furthermore, it also revealed potential systemic risks and industry contagion as a significant number of other major market participants were affected by FTX’s Chapter 11 filing – namely, among others, BlockFi Inc., et al. (“BlockFi”), as one of the largest digital assets lending companies. At this time, we believe that there are no significant exposures of our business to any of the industry participants who filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; however, such failure of key institutions in the cryptocurrency asset industry highlights the risk of systemic interconnectedness between major market participants and the effect it could have on the industry as a whole.

The closure and temporary shutdown of major digital asset exchanges and trading platforms, such as FTX, due to fraud or business failure, has disrupted investor confidence in cryptocurrencies and led to a rapid escalation of oversight of the digital asset industry. Thus, the failures of key market participants and systemic contagion risk is expected to, as a consequence, invite stricter regulatory scrutiny. All this could have a negative impact on further development and acceptance of digital asset networks and digital assets, including Bitcoin.

Bitcoin market exposure to financially troubled cryptocurrency-based companies.

The failure of several crypto platforms has impacted and may continue to impact the broader crypto economy; the full extent of these impacts may not yet be known. Bitcoin is part of the cryptocurrency environment and is subject to price volatility resulting from financial instability, poor business practices, and fraudulent activities of players in the cryptocurrency market. When investors in cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency-based companies experience financial difficulty as a result of price volatility, poor business practices, and/or fraud, it has caused, and may cause additional, loss of confidence in the cryptocurrency space, reputational harm to cryptocurrency assets, heightened scrutiny by regulatory authorities and law makers, and a steep decline in the value of Bitcoin, among other material impacts. Such adverse effects have affected, and may in the future affect, the profitability of our Bitcoin mining operations and our ability to obtain a profit from hosting institutional-scale data center clients.

Our business plan is heavily dependent upon acquisitions and strategic alliances and our ability to identify, acquire or ally on appropriate terms, and successfully integrate and manage any acquired companies or alliances will impact our financial condition and operating results.

Part of our strategy to grow our business is dependent on the acquisition of other entities or businesses in the future that complement our current products, enhance our market coverage or technical capabilities, or offer growth opportunities. We may also need to form strategic alliances or partnerships in order to remain competitive in our market. We may not be able, however, to identify and successfully negotiate suitable acquisitions alliances, obtain any financing necessary for such acquisitions on satisfactory terms or otherwise complete any such acquisitions or alliances. Further, any acquisition or alliance may require a significant amount of management’s time and financial resources to complete; furthermore, such acquisitions, strategic alliances or partnerships could be difficult to integrate, disrupt our business and dilute stockholder value.

For example, in January 2020, the Company formed SCI as its wholly owned subsidiary to pursue a new business line focused on cryptocurrency and the blockchain ecosystem. In October 2021, Soluna Computing became a wholly owned subsidiary of SCI pursuant to a merger. Prior to the merger, Soluna Computing had assisted us in developing and operating the cryptocurrency mining facility through contractual arrangements. In May 2022, SCI secured an investment by Spring Lane Capital into the first 25 MW of Project Dorothy. Spring Lane initially invested $3.85 million and agreed to fund thirty-two percent (32%) of further costs throughout 2022 subject to a ceiling amount of $12.5 million. Later, on March 10, 2023, Spring Lane agreed to increase its participation in this first 25 MW for an additional $7.5 million, plus a similar share of all additional costs incurred during 2023 to complete the project, with a ceiling of total invested through March 10, 2023, plus an additional $3.0 million.

In the future, we may acquire or form strategic alliances or partnerships with other businesses in order to remain competitive or to acquire new technologies. Acquisitions, alliances and investments involve numerous risks, including:

Our failure to successfully manage our recent acquisition of Soluna Computing or these investments by Spring Lane into the first 25 MW of Project Dorothy, or other future acquisitions, strategic alliances or partnerships could seriously harm our operating results. In addition, our stockholders would be diluted if we finance the future acquisitions, strategic alliances or partnerships by incurring convertible debt or issuing equity securities.

We cannot offer any assurance that we will be able to identify, complete or successfully integrate any suitable acquisitions or suitable alliances. Even if successfully negotiated and closed, any acquisitions or alliances may not yield expected synergies, may not advance our business strategy as expected, may fall short of expected return-on-investment targets, or may otherwise fail to achieve their objectives or perform as contemplated and not prove successful. Companies that we acquire may operate with different cost and margin structures, which could further cause fluctuations in our operating results and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to our SCI Business and Cryptocurrency

We have a history of operating losses, and we may report additional operating losses in the future.

Our primary focus is on the hosting and proprietary cryptocurrency mining business, and we have recorded historical losses and negative cash flow from our operations when the value of Bitcoin we and our hosted customers mine does not exceed associated costs. Further, as part of our strategic growth plans, we have made capital investments in expanding and vertically integrating our mining operations, increased our employee base, and incurred additional costs associated with owning and operating a self-mining facility. However, future market prices of Bitcoin are difficult to predict, and we cannot guarantee that our future revenues will exceed our associated costs.

SCI has a limited operating history, and we may not recognize operating income from the SCI line of business in the future.

SCI began operations in January 2020 and therefore is subject to all the risks inherent in a newly established business venture in a rapidly developing and changing industry. SCI’s limited operating history also makes it difficult to evaluate SCI’s current business and its future prospects. SCI has not yet been able to confirm that its business model can or will be successful over the long term, and we may not ever continue to recognize operating income from this business. Our projections for its growth have been developed internally and may not prove to be accurate. SCI’s operating results will likely fluctuate moving forward as we focus on growing our operations and as the market prices of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fluctuate. We may need to make business decisions that could adversely affect SCI’s operating results, such as modifications to its business structure or operations. In addition, we expect additional growth in this business, which could place significant demands on SCI’s and the Company’s management and other resources and require us to continue developing and improving our operational, financial and other internal controls. SCI may not be able to address these challenges in a cost-effective manner or at all. If we do not effectively manage SCI’s growth, it may not be able to execute on its business plan, respond to competitive pressures or take advantage of market opportunities, and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially harmed.

Given SCI’s early-stage status, without positive operating income, there is a substantial risk regarding SCI’s ability to succeed. You should consider our business and prospects in light of these risks and the risks and difficulties that we will encounter as we continue to develop our business model. We may not be able to address these risks and difficulties successfully, which would materially harm our business and operating results, and we could be forced to terminate our business, liquidate our assets and dissolve, and you could lose part or all of your investment.

Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile, and if our mined cryptocurrencies are converted into dollars when such values are low, we may not recognize the income from the conversion of the mined cryptocurrencies that we were expecting.

The fluctuating prices of cryptocurrencies represent significant uncertainties for SCI’s business. A variety of factors, known and unknown, may affect price and valuation, including, but not limited to (i) the supply of such cryptocurrencies; (ii) global blockchain asset demand, which can be influenced by the growth of retail merchants’ and commercial businesses’ acceptance of blockchain assets like cryptocurrencies as payment for goods and services, the security of online cryptocurrency exchanges and networks and digital wallets that hold blockchain assets, the perception that the use and holding of blockchain assets is safe and secure, and the regulatory restrictions on their use; (iii) investors’ expectations with respect to the rate of inflation; (iv) changes in the software, software requirements or hardware requirements underlying a blockchain network; (v) changes in the rights, obligations, incentives or rewards for the various participants in a blockchain network; (vi) currency exchange rates; (vii) fiat currency withdrawal and deposit policies of cryptocurrency exchanges and networks and liquidity on such exchanges and networks; (viii) interruptions in service from or failures of major cryptocurrency exchanges and networks; (ix) investment and trading activities of large subscribers, including private and registered investment funds, that may directly or indirectly invest in blockchain assets; (x) monetary policies of governments, trade restrictions, currency devaluations and revaluations; (xi) regulatory measures, if any, that affect the use of blockchain assets; (xii) the maintenance and development of the open-source software protocol of the cryptocurrency networks; (xiii) global or regional political, economic or financial events and situations; (xiv) expectations among blockchain participants that the value of blockchain assets will soon change; and (xv) a decrease in the price of blockchain assets that may have a material adverse effect on SCI’s financial condition and operating results. If our mined cryptocurrencies are converted into dollars when their values are low, we may not recognize the income from the conversion of the mined cryptocurrencies that we were expecting. Further, the extreme swings in value can make it difficult for us to develop reasonable financial plans and projections with respect to SCI’s business.

The Company’s business model is evolving and is subject to various uncertainties.

The likelihood of the Company’s success must be considered in light of our ability to generate revenues by providing relevant services to our partners in an uncertain industry or industries, including the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry in which we currently operate and the data center development industry in which we intend to operate, which, in the Company’s view, creates and will continue to create an uncertain business environment for the Company. As the Company’s business model evolves, it is possible that we will decide to modify our business strategy and commence operations in an entirely different industry than the ones in which the Company currently operates. The Company cannot offer any assurance that these or any other modifications will be successful or will not result in harm to our business. We may not be able to manage our growth effectively, which could damage our reputation, limit our growth, and negatively affect our operating results. Further, the Company cannot provide any assurance that it will successfully identify all emerging trends and growth opportunities in any particular business sector and the Company may lose out on business opportunities. Additionally, current global and regional economic conditions may have a material effect on the demand for the Company’s services, which could also materially affect the Company’s partners. Deterioration in the global macroeconomic environment or in certain regions could impact the Company’s financial condition and operations and, depending upon the severity and duration of these factors, the Company’s profitability and liquidity position could be negatively impacted. All such circumstances could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, prospects and/or operations.

SCI may not be able to continue to develop its technology and keep pace with technological developments, expand its mining operations or otherwise compete with other companies, some of whom have greater resources and experience.

We do not have the resources to compete with larger cryptocurrency mining entities at this time and may not be able to compete successfully against present or future competitors. The cryptocurrency industry has attracted various high-profile and well-established operators, some of which have substantially greater liquidity and financial resources than we do. With the limited resources we have available, we may experience great difficulties in expanding and improving our network of miners to remain competitive, and we may not be in a position to construct additional operational cryptocurrency mines.

Rapid technological change is a current feature of the cryptocurrency industry, including hosting and proprietary cryptocurrency mining, and we cannot provide assurance that we will be able to achieve the technological advances, in a timely manner or at all, that may be necessary for us to remain competitive or that certain of our equipment will not become obsolete. Our ability to anticipate and manage changes in technology standards on a timely basis will be a significant factor in our ability to remain competitive. We may not be successful, generally or relative to our competitors, in timely implementing new technology into our systems, 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 and failures. Further, if due to technological developments we need to replace our miners entirely to remain competitive in the market, there can be no assurance that we will be able to do so on a cost-effective basis or in a timely manner, particularly in light of the long production period to manufacture and assemble cryptocurrency miners, potential large-scale purchases of miners from existing competitors and new entrants into the industry. Furthermore, there can be no assurance 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, prospects, and operations may suffer, and there may be adverse effects on our financial condition and on the market prices of our securities.

In addition, competition from existing and future competitors, particularly the other North American companies that may have access to greater volumes of competitively priced energy, could result in our inability to secure acquisitions and partnerships that we may need to expand our business in the future. This competition from other entities with greater resources, experience and reputations may result in our failure to maintain or expand our business. If we are unable to expand and remain competitive, our business could be negatively affected which would have an adverse effect on the trading prices of our securities, which in turn would harm investors in our Company.

Regulatory changes or actions may alter the nature of an investment in us or restrict the use of cryptocurrencies in a manner that adversely affects our business, prospects, or operations.

As cryptocurrencies have grown in both popularity and market size, governments around the world have reacted differently to cryptocurrencies; certain governments have deemed them illegal, and others have allowed their use and trade without restriction, while in some jurisdictions, such as in the United States, subject the mining, ownership and exchange of cryptocurrencies to extensive, and in some cases overlapping, unclear and evolving regulatory requirements.

For example, in January 2023, the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation issued a joint statement effectively discouraging banks from doing business with clients in crypto-asset industries, which could potentially create challenges regarding access to financial services. In January 2023, the Federal Reserve also issued a policy statement broadening its authority to cover state-chartered institutions. Moreover, in January 2023, the White House issued a statement cautioning deepening ties between crypto-assets and the broader financial system. Meanwhile, the SEC has announced several actions aimed at curtailing activities it deems sales of unregistered securities.

However, also during January of 2023, the U.S. House of Representatives announced its first ever Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets and the intention to develop a regulatory framework for the use and trade of digital assets and related financial services products in the United States. Bipartisan leadership of the Senate Banking Committee announced a similar objective.

Given the difficulty of predicting the outcomes of ongoing and future regulatory actions and legislative developments, it is possible that they could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations.

Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining, as well as cryptocurrencies generally, may be made illegal in certain jurisdictions, including the ones we operate in, which could adversely affect our business prospects and operations.

Although we do not anticipate any material adverse regulations on Bitcoin mining in our jurisdictions of operation, it is possible that state or federal regulators may seek to impose harsh restrictions or total bans on cryptocurrency mining which may make it impossible for us to do business without relocating our mining operations, which could be very costly and time consuming. Further, although Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining, as well as cryptocurrencies generally, are largely unregulated in most countries (including the United States), regulators in certain jurisdictions may undertake new or intensify existing regulatory actions in the future that could severely restrict the right to mine, acquire, own, hold, sell, or use cryptocurrency or to exchange it for traditional fiat currency such as the United States dollar. Such restrictions may adversely affect us as the large-scale use of cryptocurrencies as a means of exchange is presently confined to certain regions globally. Such circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations and potentially the value of any Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies we or our hosted customers mine, and thus harm our investors.

Our interactions with a blockchain may expose us to specially designated nationals (“SDN”) or blocked persons and new legislation or regulation could adversely impact our business or the market for cryptocurrencies.

The Office of Financial Assets Control (“OFAC”) of the U.S. Department of Treasury requires us to comply with its sanction program and not conduct business with persons named on its SDN list. However, because of the pseudonymous nature of blockchain transactions we may inadvertently and without our knowledge engage in transactions with persons named on OFAC’s SDN list. Our Company’s policy prohibits any transactions with such SDN individuals, but we may not be adequately capable of determining the ultimate identity of the individual with whom we transact with respect to selling cryptocurrency assets. We are unable to predict the nature or extent of new and proposed legislation and regulation affecting the cryptocurrency industry, or the potential impact of the use of cryptocurrencies by SDN or other blocked or sanctioned persons, which could have material adverse effects on our business and our industry more broadly. Further, we may be subject to investigation, administrative or court proceedings, and civil or criminal monetary fines and penalties as a result of any regulatory enforcement actions, all of which could harm our reputation and affect the value of our securities.

Security breaches could result in a loss of our cryptocurrencies.

Security breaches including computer hacking or computer malware have been a consistent concern in the cryptocurrency industry. This could involve hacking in which an unauthorized person obtains access to the systems or information and can cause harm by the transmission of virus or the corruption of data. These breaches may occur due to an action by an outside party or by the error and negligence of an employee. We primarily rely on the Luxor mining pool and SCI’s cryptocurrencies are stored with exchanges such as Coinbase prior to selling them. If any breach were to occur of our security system, operations or third-party platforms, the result could cause a loss of our cryptocurrencies, loss of confidential or proprietary information, force the Company to cease operations or could cause damage to the reputation of the Company. If an actual or perceived attack were to occur, the market perception of the Company may be damaged, which could adversely affect potential and current investments in the Company and reduce demand for our securities and cause a reduction in our share prices.

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 irreversible, and stolen or incorrectly transferred cryptocurrencies may be irretrievable, and we may have extremely limited or no effective means of recovering any losses as a result of an incorrect transfer or theft. As a result, any incorrectly executed or fraudulent cryptocurrency transactions could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

The impact of geopolitical and economic events on the supply and demand for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is uncertain.

Geopolitical crises may motivate large-scale purchases of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which could rapidly increase the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This may increase the likelihood of a subsequent price decrease as crisis-driven purchasing behavior dissipates, adversely affecting the value of the cryptocurrencies that we or our hosted customers mine. Alternatively, as an emerging asset class with limited acceptance as a payment system or commodity, global crises and general economic downturn may discourage investment in cryptocurrencies as investors focus their investment on less volatile asset classes as a means of hedging their investment risk.

Cryptocurrencies, which are relatively new, are 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 securities. Political or economic crises may motivate large-scale acquisitions or sales of cryptocurrencies either globally or locally. Such events could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations and potentially the value of any cryptocurrencies that we or our hosted customers mine.

The failure of cryptocurrencies to become widely accepted and/or used as a medium of exchange and method of payment could adversely affect our business, prospects and financial condition.

The use of cryptocurrencies in the retail and commercial marketplace, despite sporadic adoption, is currently limited. A significant portion of cryptocurrency demand is generated by investors seeking a long-term store of value or speculators seeking to profit from the short- or long-term holding of the asset. Price volatility, slow processing speeds and high transaction costs undermine Bitcoin’s and other cryptocurrencies’ ability to be used as a medium of exchange, as retailers are less likely to accept it as a direct form of payment. Large-scale acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment has not, and may never, occur.

The relative lack of acceptance of cryptocurrencies in the retail and commercial marketplace, or a reduction of such use, limits the ability of end users to use them to pay for goods and services. Such lack of acceptance or a decline in acceptance could have a material adverse effect on the value of the cryptocurrencies that we or our hosted customers mine, the viability of cryptocurrency mining as a business, and our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our business strategy, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, operations and financial condition, as well as on the market value of our securities.

Proposed development of a cryptocurrency, as well as the eventual likely development of government-backed digital currencies and the development of cryptocurrencies by other tech companies, may adversely affect the value of Bitcoin and other existing, or even future, cryptocurrencies.

In May 2019, Facebook, now named Meta, announced its plans for a cryptocurrency then called Libra and later called Diem, which faced significant objections and concerns from governments, legislators and regulators. Following such objections and concerns, Diem’s development was abandoned, and its assets (including both the technology and intellectual property) sold to Silvergate Capital Corp., the holding company for Silvergate Bank, based in La Jolla, California, on January 31, 2022. Silvergate Capital Corp. was understood to be seeking to introduce a new digital currency using these recently purchased assets by the end of 2022. While that did not happen, Silvergate’s efforts could encourage other financial institutions or even other technology companies and other entities to develop their own cryptocurrencies, which could negatively impact the value of existing cryptocurrencies. Further, in the event that government-backed digital currencies, which regulators in several countries are already considering or even developing, are developed and widely adopted, that could be likely to have a negative impact on the existing currencies including larger widespread adoption and potentially impacting the market share by non-government digital currency. Additional cryptocurrencies are introduced to the market frequently, and although some have gained popularity as some features have been different than Bitcoin, Bitcoin remains the market leader. As cryptocurrency adoption grows, the likelihood increases that additional cryptocurrency will be introduced and gain popularity against Bitcoin, potentially negatively impacting the value of Bitcoin and perhaps other cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies face significant scaling and adoption obstacle issues which may lessen the demand for our services over time.

Cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, face significant scaling and adoption issues, which may lessen the demand for our services over time. The current limitations of transaction throughput, high transaction fees, and extended processing times hinder widespread adoption and reduce the feasibility of cryptocurrencies as a daily payment method. As the industry attempts to address these challenges through protocol upgrades, second-layer solutions, and alternative consensus mechanisms, there is no guarantee that such solutions will be widely adopted or successful in resolving these issues. Should the scaling and adoption challenges persist or worsen, the demand for cryptocurrencies may decline, negatively impacting our mining operations and revenue. Furthermore, the emergence of new cryptocurrencies employing alternative, more scalable technologies could lead to a shift in market preferences, diminishing the value of the cryptocurrencies we mine and potentially affecting our business prospects and profitability

Because our most of our and our hosted customers’ miners are designed specifically to mine Bitcoin and may not be readily adaptable to mining other cryptocurrencies, a sustained decline in Bitcoin’s value could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We and our hosted customers have invested substantial capital in acquiring miners designed specifically to mine Bitcoin as efficiently and as rapidly as possible on our assumption that we will be able to use them to mine Bitcoin and generate revenue from our operations. Therefore, our mining and hosting operations focus primarily on mining Bitcoin, and our revenue is largely based on the value of Bitcoin. Accordingly, if the value of Bitcoin declines and fails to recover, for example, because of the development and acceptance of competing blockchain platforms or technologies, including competing cryptocurrencies which our miners or our customers’ miners may not be able to mine, the revenue we generate from our operations will likewise decline. Moreover, we may not be able to successfully repurpose our operations in a timely manner, if at all, if we or our customers decide to switch to mining a different cryptocurrency (or to another purpose altogether) following a sustained decline in Bitcoin’s value or if Bitcoin is replaced by another cryptocurrency. This could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, operations and financial condition, as well as on the market value of our securities.

The Dorothy Facility is subject to a five-year ground lease, and if we are unable to renew its term, we may be unable to fully realize the anticipated benefits of the ongoing development of the site.

The Dorothy Facility is subject to a ground lease with an initial term of five years, followed by five one-year renewal options, unless terminated earlier. The long-term success of our plans for the Dorothy Facility is largely based on our ability to maintain the lease in effect and to renew it going forward. If we fail to maintain the lease or renew it once its initial term expires and the landlord us to vacate the premises, we will likely incur significant costs in relocating our operations, if we could do so at all, and our operations would be interrupted during such relocation. Further, if we fail to renew the lease on terms favorable to us, and our costs are increased, then we may not realize the anticipated benefits of our investment in the facility or any future development of its remaining available capacity. Any disruptions or changes our present relationship with the landlord for the Dorothy Facility could disrupt our business and our results of operations negatively.

The properties included in our mining and hosting facility network may experience damages, including damages that are not covered by insurance.

Our current mining operation for Project Sophie is, and any future mines or hosting facility we establish will be, subject to a variety of risks relating to physical condition and operation, including:

For example, the currently operating Sophie facility, or the future Dorothy facility could be rendered inoperable, temporarily or permanently, as a result of a fire or other natural disaster or by a terrorist or other attack on the mine. The security and other measures we take to protect against these risks may not be sufficient. Additionally, our mines could be materially adversely affected by a power outage, loss of access to the electrical grid, or loss by the grid of cost-effective sources of electrical power generating capacity. Given the power requirement, it would not be feasible to run miners on back-up power generators in the event of a power outage. Our insurance covers the replacement cost of any lost or damaged miners but does not cover any interruption of our mining activities; our insurance therefore may not be adequate to cover the losses we suffer as a result of any of these events. In the event of an uninsured loss, including a loss in excess of insured limits, at any of the mines in our network, such mines may not be adequately repaired in a timely manner or at all and we may lose some or all of the future revenues anticipated to be derived from such mines. The potential impact on our business is currently magnified because we are currently operating only a single mine.

SCI’s reliance on a third-party mining pool service provider for our mining revenue payouts may have a negative impact on SCI’s operations. The same may be true in the case of SCI’s likely hosted customers.

We and many Bitcoin miners use a third–party mining pool to receive our mining rewards from the network. Cryptocurrency mining pools allow miners to combine their computing 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 pool’s overall mining power, used to generate each block. Should the pool operator’s system suffer downtime due to a cyber-attack, software malfunction, or similar issues, it will negatively impact our ability to mine and receive revenue. Furthermore, we and many other Bitcoin miners are dependent on the accuracy of the mining pool operator’s recordkeeping 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 its own recordkeeping to determine our proportion of a given reward. We and other miners have little means of recourse against the mining pool operator if we determine that the proportion of the reward that the mining pool operator pays out to us is incorrect, other than leaving the pool. If we are unable to consistently obtain accurate proportionate rewards from our mining pool operator, we may experience reduced reward for our efforts, which would have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

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 and our hosted customers 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 and from hosting customers engaged in 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 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 and financial condition.

The Bitcoin reward for successfully uncovering a block will halve several times in the future, and Bitcoin’s 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. While Bitcoin prices have had a history of fluctuations around the halving of its rewards, there is no guarantee that the price change will be favorable or would compensate for the reduction in mining reward. If a corresponding and proportionate increase in the trading prices of Bitcoin or a proportionate decrease in mining difficulty does not follow these anticipated halving events, the revenue we and our hosted customers earn from our Bitcoin mining operations could see a corresponding decrease, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and operations.

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 the cryptocurrencies that we mine.

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. If less than a significant majority of users and miners on the cryptocurrency network consent to the proposed modification, however, 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 a specific cryptocurrency 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. We may not, however, be able to secure or realize the economic benefit of the new asset. Our business may be adversely impacted by forks in an applicable cryptocurrency network.

In addition, historically, speculation over a new “hard fork” in the Bitcoin protocol has resulted in Bitcoin price volatility and future hard forks may occur at any time. A hard fork could lead to a disruption of networks and our information technology systems could be affected by cybersecurity attacks, replay attacks or security weaknesses, any of which can further lead to temporary or even permanent loss of its assets. Such disruption and loss could cause us to be exposed to liability, even in circumstances where we have no intention of supporting an asset compromised by a hard fork. Additionally, a hard fork may result in a scenario where users running the previous protocol will not recognize blocks created by those running the new protocol, and vice versa. This may render our cryptocurrency mining hardware, or that of our hosted customers, incompatible with the new protocol. Such changes may have a material effect on our operations, financial position and financial performance.

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. If we can’t acquire sufficient numbers of new miners or access sufficient capital to fund our expenditures, our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely materially affected. While a business strategy focused on hosting could mitigate some of this risk, the fact that hosted clients are ultimately exposed to similar such risk allows for the continued possibility that this could have an adverse effect on our business operations, strategy and financial performance.

Climate change, and the regulatory and legislative developments related to climate change, may materially adversely affect our business and financial condition.

The potential physical impacts of climate change on our operations are highly uncertain and would be particular to the geographic circumstances in areas in which we operate or in which our third-party providers operate. These may include changes in rainfall and storm patterns and intensities, water shortages, changing sea levels and changing temperatures. The impacts of climate change may materially and adversely impact the cost, production and financial performance of our operations. Further, any impacts to our business and financial condition as a result of climate change are likely to occur over a sustained period of time and are therefore difficult to quantify with any degree of specificity. For example, extreme weather events may result in adverse physical effects on portions of our infrastructure, which could disrupt our supply chain and ultimately our business operations.

In addition, a number of governments or governmental bodies have introduced or are contemplating legislative and regulatory changes in response to the potential impact of climate change. Companies across many industries are facing increasing scrutiny related to their environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) practices. Investor advocacy groups, certain institutional investors, investment funds and other influential investors are also increasingly focused on ESG practices and in recent years have placed increasing importance on the non-financial impacts of their investments. Given the very significant amount of electrical power required to operate cryptocurrency miners, as well as the environmental impact of mining for the rare earth metals used in the production of mining servers, the cryptocurrency mining industry may become a target for future environmental and energy regulation, and any such regulation may not distinguish between cryptocurrency mining powered partially by renewable energy, as is much of SCI’s business, and cryptocurrency mining using traditional (i.e. fossil fuel) sources of energy. Legislation and increased regulation regarding climate change could impose significant costs on us and our suppliers, including costs related to increased energy requirements, capital equipment, environmental monitoring and reporting, and other costs to comply with such regulations. Any future climate change regulations could also negatively impact our ability to compete with companies situated in areas not subject to such limitations. Furthermore, increased public awareness and concern regarding environmental risks, including global climate change, may result in increased public scrutiny of our business and our industry, and our management team may divert significant time and energy away from our operations and towards responding to such scrutiny and reassuring our employees. Given the political significance and uncertainty around the impact of climate change and how it should be addressed, we cannot predict how legislation and regulation will affect our financial condition, operating performance and ability to compete. Any of the foregoing could result in a material adverse effect on our business, prospects and financial condition.

Our business could be harmed by prolonged power and internet outages, shortages, or capacity constraints.

Our operations require a significant amount of electrical power and access to high-speed internet to be successful. If we are unable to secure sufficient electrical power, or if we lose internet access for a prolonged period, we may be required to reduce our operations or cease them altogether. If this occurs, our business and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

We are subject to risks associated with our need for significant electrical power.

Our operations have required significant amounts of electrical power, and, as we continue to expand our mining fleet and begin to operate our Dorothy Facility, we anticipate our demand for electrical power will continue to grow. The fluctuating price of electricity we require for our operations, and to power our expansion, may inhibit our profitability. If we are unable to continue to obtain sufficient electrical power on a cost-effective basis, we may not realize the anticipated benefits of our significant capital investments.

Additionally, our operations could be materially adversely affected by prolonged power outages. Although certain critical functions of our facilities may be powered by backup generators on a temporary basis, it would not be feasible or cost-effective to run miners on back-up power generators for extended periods of time. Therefore, we may have to reduce or cease our operations in the event of an extended power outage, or as a result of the unavailability or increased cost of electrical power. If this were to occur, our business and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Changing environmental regulation and public energy policy may expose our business to new risks.

Our and our hosted customers’ Bitcoin mining operations require a substantial amount of power and can only be successful, and ultimately profitable, if the costs incurred, including for electricity, are lower than the revenue we generate from operations. As a result, any mine we or our hosted customers establish can only be successful if we can obtain sufficient electrical power for that mine on a cost-effective basis, and our establishment of new mines requires us to find locations where that is the case. For instance, our plans and strategic initiatives for the Dorothy Facility are based, in part, on our understanding of current environmental and energy regulations, policies, and initiatives enacted by federal and Texas regulators. If new regulations are imposed, or if existing regulations are modified, the assumptions we made underlying our plans and strategic initiatives may be inaccurate, and we may incur additional costs to adapt our planned business, if we are able to adapt at all, to such regulations.

In addition, there continues to be a lack of consistent climate legislation, which creates economic and regulatory uncertainty for our business because the cryptocurrency mining industry, with its high energy demand, may become a target for future environmental and energy regulation. New legislation and increased regulation regarding climate change could impose significant costs on us and our suppliers, including costs related to increased energy requirements, capital equipment, environmental monitoring and reporting, and other costs to comply with such regulations. Further, any future climate change regulations could also negatively impact our ability to compete with companies situated in areas not subject to such limitations.

For example, in September 2022, the White House issued a report regarding the Climate and Energy Implications of Crypto-Assets in the United States. The report states that the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency should initiate a process to solicit data and develop environmental performance and energy conservation standards for crypto-asset technologies, including mining equipment. Should such measures prove ineffective at achieving the Administration’s environmental goals, the report calls for the Administration to explore executive actions and legislation to limit or eliminate the use of high energy intensity consensus mechanisms for crypto-asset mining in the United States.

We may be affected by price fluctuations in the wholesale and retail power markets.

While the majority of our power and hosting arrangements contain fixed power prices, some also contain certain price adjustment mechanisms in case of certain events. Furthermore, a portion of our power and hosting arrangements includes merchant power prices, or power prices reflecting market movements. Market prices for power, generation capacity and ancillary services, are unpredictable. Over the past year, the market prices for power have generally been increasing, driven in part by the price increases in various commodities, including natural gas. Depending upon the effectiveness of any price risk management activity undertaken by us, an increase in market prices for power, generation capacity, and ancillary services may adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, and operating results. Long- and short-term power prices may fluctuate substantially due to a variety of factors outside of our control, including, but not limited to:

If we are unable to secure power supply at prices or on terms acceptable to us, it would have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, and operating results.

If federal or state legislatures or agencies initiate or release tax determinations that change the classification of cryptocurrencies as property for tax purposes (in the context of when such cryptocurrencies are held as an investment), such determination could have a negative tax consequence on us.

Current Internal Revenue Service guidance indicates that digital assets such as Bitcoin should be treated and taxed as property, and that transactions involving the payment of 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 cryptocurrency passes from one person to another, it preserves the right to apply capital gains treatment to those transactions which may adversely affect our results of operations.

Risks Related to our Company Generally

Our confidentiality agreements with employees and others may not adequately prevent disclosure of our trade secrets and other proprietary information, which could limit our ability to compete.

While we are currently in the process of applying for patents with respect to SCI’s business, presently we rely on trade secrets to protect our proprietary technology and processes. Despite such protection, however, it is possible that a third party may copy or otherwise obtain and use our U.S. Patent and Trademark Office-registered or other proprietary information without our authorization, and trade secrets can be difficult to protect. Policing unauthorized use of our intellectual property and trade secrets is difficult, particularly in light of the global nature of the Internet and because the laws of other countries may afford us little or no effective protection of our intellectual property. Potentially expensive litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others or to defend against claims of infringement or invalidity. Additionally, we enter into confidentiality and intellectual property assignment agreements with our employees, consultants and other advisors. These agreements generally require that the other party keep confidential and not disclose to third parties’ confidential information developed by the party under such agreements or made known to the party by us during the course of the party’s relationship with us. Our employees, consultants and other advisors, however, may not honor these agreements and enforcing a claim that a party illegally obtained and is using our trade secrets is difficult, expensive and time-consuming and the outcome is unpredictable. Our failure to obtain and maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive position.

We rely on highly skilled personnel and the continuing efforts of our executive officers and, if we are unable to retain, motivate or hire qualified personnel, our business may be severely disrupted. In addition, increased labor costs and the unavailability of skilled workers could hurt our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our performance largely depends on the talents, knowledge, skills, know-how and efforts of highly skilled individuals and in particular, the expertise held by our Chief Executive Officer, Michael Toporek of SHI, and Chief Executive Officer, John Belizaire of SCI. His absence, were it to occur, would materially and adversely impact development and implementation of our projects and businesses. Our future success depends on our continuing ability to identify, hire, develop, motivate and retain highly skilled personnel for all areas of our organization. Our continued ability to compete effectively depends on our ability to attract, among others, new technology developers and to retain and motivate our existing contractors. If one or more of our executive officers or other key personnel are unable or unwilling to continue in their present positions, we may not be able to replace them readily, if at all. In such case, our business may be severely disrupted, and we may incur additional expenses to recruit and retain new officers or other key personnel. In addition, if any of our executives or key personnel joins a competitor or forms a competing company, we may lose customers.

In addition, we compete with other businesses in our industries and other similar employers to attract and retain qualified personnel with the technical skills and experience required to successfully operate our businesses. The demand for skilled workers is high and the supply is limited, and a shortage in the labor pool of skilled workers or other general inflationary pressures or changes in applicable laws and regulations could make it more difficult for us to attract and retain personnel and could require us to enhance our wage and benefits packages, which could increase our operating costs.

Brookstone XXIV currently has a controlling interest in the Company due to the number of shares of common stock that it beneficially owns and its designation of two of our directors.

As of March 28, 2023 , Brookstone XXIV owned approximately 15.2% of the Company’s outstanding shares of Common Stock and has designated two directors that sit on our nine-member Board. Accordingly, Brookstone XXIV has the ability to exert a significant degree of influence or actual control over our management and affairs and, as a practical matter, will control corporate actions requiring stockholder approval, irrespective of how our other stockholders may vote, including the election of directors, amendments to our articles of incorporation, as amended (“Articles of Incorporation”) and our bylaws (“Bylaws”), and the approval of mergers and other significant corporate transactions, including a sale of substantially all of our assets, and Brookstone XXIV may vote its shares in a manner that is adverse to the interests of our minority stockholders. This concentration of voting control could deprive holders of our Common Stock of an opportunity to receive a premium for their shares of our Common Stock as part of a sale of the Company. Further, Brookstone XXIV’s control position might adversely affect the market prices of our securities to the extent investors perceive disadvantages in owning shares of a company with a controlling stockholder.

Brookstone XXIV and its director designees may acquire interests and positions that could present potential conflicts with our and our stockholders’ interests.

Brookstone XXIV and its director designees may make investments in companies and may, from time to time, acquire and hold interests in businesses that compete directly or indirectly with us. Brookstone XXIV and its director designees may also pursue, for their own accounts, acquisition opportunities that may be complementary to our business, and as a result, those acquisition opportunities might not be available to us. As part of our sale of 3,750,000 shares of our Common Stock to Brookstone XXIV in October 2016 and as required by Brookstone XXIV as a condition to purchasing the shares, our Board renounced, to the extent permitted by applicable law, the Company’s expectancy with respect to being offered an opportunity to participate in any business opportunity that is discovered by or presented to a director designee (a “Business Opportunity”), whether in such director designee’s capacity as a director of the Company or otherwise. Accordingly, the interests of Brookstone XXIV and the designated directors with respect to a Business Opportunity may supersede ours, and Brookstone XXIV or its affiliates or the Brookstone XXIV-designated directors may be involved with businesses that compete with us and may pursue opportunities for the sole benefit of Brookstone XXIV and its affiliates without our involvement, for which we have limited recourse. Such actions on the part of Brookstone XXIV or its director designees could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

In addition, Michael Toporek, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, serves as the Managing General Partner of Brookstone XXIV. As a result of the potential conflicts inherent in his serving in both roles, it is possible that Mr. Toporek could make decisions that benefit Brookstone XXIV at the expense of the Company.

Insiders continue to have substantial control over the Company.

As of March 28, 2023 , the Company’s directors and executive officers held the current right to vote approximately 18.7% of the Company’s outstanding voting stock. Of this total, 15.2% was owned or controlled by Brookstone XXIV, for which Michael Toporek, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, also serves as Managing General Partner. In addition, the Company’s directors and executive officers have the right to acquire additional shares of our Common Stock by exercising their equity awards under our equity compensation plans, which could increase their voting percentage significantly. As a result, Mr. Toporek acting alone, and/or many of the Company’s officers and directors acting together, may have the ability to exert significant control over the Company’s decisions and control the management and affairs of the Company, and also to determine the outcome of matters submitted to stockholders for approval, including the election or removal of a director, and any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of the Company’s assets. Accordingly, this concentration of ownership may harm the future market prices of our securities by:

We are subject to complex environmental, health and safety laws and regulations that may expose us to significant liabilities for penalties, damages or costs of remediation or compliance.

We are subject to various federal, state, local and foreign environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. These laws and regulations govern matters such as: the emission and discharge of hazardous materials into the ground, air or water; the generation, use, storage, handling, treatment, packaging, transportation, exposure to, and disposal of hazardous and biological materials, including recordkeeping, reporting and registration requirements; and the health and safety of our employees. We may incur significant additional costs beyond those currently contemplated to comply with these regulatory requirements. Further, if we fail to comply with these requirements we may be exposed to fines, penalties and/or interruptions in our operations that could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. Certain environmental laws may impose strict, joint and several liability for costs required to clean up and restore sites where hazardous substances have been disposed or otherwise released into the environment, even under circumstances where the hazardous substances were released by prior owners or operators, or the activities conducted and from which a release emanated complied with applicable law.

Further, existing regulations, particularly in the environmental area, could be revised or reinterpreted, or 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, any of which could result in significant additional costs. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

General Risk Factors

We are heavily dependent on our senior management, and a loss of a member of our senior management team could cause the market prices of our securities to suffer.

If we lose the services of Michael Toporek, our Chief Executive Officer and a member of our board of directors, John Belizaire, SCI’s Chief Executive Officer and member of our board of directors, Philip Patman, Jr., our Chief Financial Officer, and/or certain key employees, we may not be able to find appropriate replacements on a timely basis, and our business could be adversely affected. We do not currently maintain key life insurance policies on these officers or key employees. Our existing operations and continued future development depend to a significant extent upon the performance and active participation of these individuals and certain key employees. We may not be successful in retaining the services of these individuals, and if we were to lose any of these individuals, we may not be able to find appropriate replacements on a timely basis and our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

We may incur losses and liabilities in the course of business that could prove costly to defend or resolve.

Companies that operate in one or more of the businesses that we operate face significant legal risks. There is a risk that we could become involved in litigation wherein an adverse result could have a material adverse effect on our business and our financial condition. There is a risk of litigation generally in conducting a commercial business, and we are, at times, involved in commercial disputes with third parties, such as customers, distributors and vendors. These risks often may be difficult to assess or quantify and their existence and magnitude often remain unknown for substantial periods of time. We may incur significant legal expenses in defending against litigation.

We may become subject to claims of infringement or misappropriation of the intellectual property rights of others, which could prohibit us from selling our products, require us to obtain licenses from third parties or to develop non-infringing alternatives, and subject us to substantial monetary damages and injunctive relief.

We may receive notices from third parties that the manufacture, use or sale of any products we develop infringes upon one or more claims of their patents. Moreover, because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending applications, unknown to us, that may later result in issued patents that materially and adversely affect our business. Third parties could also assert infringement or misappropriation claims against us with respect to our future product offerings, if any. We cannot be certain that we have not infringed the intellectual property rights of any third parties. Any infringement or misappropriation claim could result in significant costs, substantial damages and our inability to manufacture, market or sell any of our product offerings that are found to infringe another person’s patent. Even if we were to prevail in any such action, the litigation could result in substantial cost and diversion of resources that could materially and adversely affect our business. If a court determined, or if we independently discovered, that our product offerings violated third-party proprietary rights, there can be no assurance that we would be able to re-engineer our product offerings to avoid those rights or obtain a license under those rights on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. As a result, we could be prohibited from selling products that are found to infringe upon the rights of others. Even if obtaining a license were feasible, it may be costly and time-consuming. A court could also enter orders that temporarily, preliminarily, or permanently enjoin us from making, using, selling, offering to sell or importing our products that are found to infringe on third parties’ intellectual property rights, or could enter orders mandating that we undertake certain remedial actions. Further, a court could order us to pay compensatory damages for any such infringement, plus prejudgment interest, and could in addition treble the compensatory damages and award attorneys’ fees. Any such payments could materially and adversely affect our business and financial condition.

If we are unable to protect our information systems against service interruption or failure, misappropriation of data or breaches of security, our operations could be disrupted, we could be subject to costly government enforcement actions and private litigation and our reputation may be damaged.

Our business involves the collection, storage and transmission of personal, financial or other information that is entrusted to us by our customers and employees. Our information systems also contain the Company’s proprietary and other confidential information related to our business. Our efforts to protect such information may be unsuccessful due to the actions of third parties, computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins, catastrophic events, employee error or malfeasance or other attempts to harm our systems. As the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service or sabotage systems, change frequently and often are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or timely implement adequate preventative measures. We could also experience a loss of critical data and delays or interruptions in our ability to manage inventories or process transactions. Some of our commercial partners, such as those that help us maintain our website, may receive or store information provided by us or our users through our website. If these third parties fail to adopt or adhere to adequate information security practices or fail to comply with our policies in this regard, or in the event of a breach of their networks, our customers’ or employees’ information may be improperly accessed, used or disclosed.

If our systems are harmed or fail to function properly, we may need to expend significant financial resources to repair or replace systems or to otherwise protect against security breaches or to address problems caused by breaches. If we experience a significant security breach or fail to detect and appropriately respond to a significant security breach, we could be exposed to costly legal actions against us in connection with such incidents, which could result in orders or judgments forcing us to pay damages or fines or to take certain actions with respect to our information systems. Any incidents involving unauthorized access to or improper use of user information, or incidents that are a violation of our online privacy policies, could harm our brand reputation and diminish our competitive position. Any of these events could have a material and adverse effect on our business, reputation or financial results. Our insurance policies carry coverage limits, which may not be adequate to reimburse us for losses caused by security breaches.

Our risk management process may not identify all risks that we are subject to and will not eliminate all risk.

Our Enterprise Risk Management (“ERM”) process seeks to identify and address significant risks. Our ERM process uses the most recent integrated risk framework in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission to assess, manage and monitor risks. We believe that risk-taking is an inherent aspect of the pursuit of our growth and performance strategy. Our goals are to proactively manage risks in a structured approach in conjunction with strategic planning, with the intent to preserve and enhance shareowner value, and to manage prudently, rather than wholly avoiding, risks. We can mitigate risks and their impact on the Company, however, only to a limited extent, and no ERM process can identify all risks that we may face. Therefore, there may be risks that we are currently unaware of, that may develop in the future or that we currently consider immaterial. Further, our management of risks may prove inadequate. The emergence of risks of which we were unaware or are unable to manage could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

The Company’s officers and directors are indemnified against certain conduct that may prove costly to defend.

Our Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws generally provide broad indemnification to our officers and directors against judgments, fines, amounts paid in settlement and expenses, including attorneys’ fees actually incurred in connection with most actions or proceedings to which they are or are threatened to be made a party that relates to their service as an officer or director, except as limited as set forth therein. We are also obligated to advance expenses as they are incurred by a director or officer in defending an action or proceeding prior to final disposition upon receipt of an undertaking by the applicable person to repay such advanced amount if the advancement is ultimately found to not be permitted by law or otherwise.

In addition, the Nevada Revised Statutes (the “NRS”) provides that no director or officer is individually liable for damages as a result of an act or failure to act in his or her capacity as a director or officer except if (i) the presumption that such director or officer acted in good faith, on an informed basis and with a view to the interests of the Company is rebutted, and (ii) it is proven that such director’s or officer’s act or failure to act constituted a breach of his or her fiduciary duties as a director or officer, and such breach involved intentional misconduct, fraud or a knowing violation of law. Consequently, subject to the applicable provisions of the NRS and to certain limited exceptions in the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws, the Company’s officers and directors will not be liable to the Company or to its stockholders for monetary damages resulting from their conduct as an officer or director. As a result, we may have to spend significant resources indemnifying our officers and directors or paying for damages caused by their conduct.

The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources and divert management’s attention.

As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act), the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and other applicable securities rules and regulations. The Exchange Act requires, among other things, that we file annual and current reports with the SEC with respect to our business and operating results. Compliance with these rules and regulations increases our legal and financial compliance costs, makes some activities more difficult, time-consuming, or costly, and increases demand on our systems and resources. As a result of disclosure of information in this Report and in filings required of a public company, our business and financial condition is more visible, which we believe may result in threatened or actual litigation, including by competitors and other third parties. If such claims are successful, our business and operating results could be harmed, and even if the claims do not result in litigation or are resolved in our favor, these claims, and the time and resources necessary to resolve them, could divert resources of our management and harm our business and operating results.

Risks Related to our Securities

The market price of our securities are likely be volatile, which may cause investment losses for our shareholders.

The market price of our securities has been and is likely to continue to be volatile, and investors in our securities may experience a decrease, which could be substantial, in the value of their securities or the loss of their entire investment in the Company for a number of reasons, including reasons unrelated to our operating performance or prospects. The market price of our securities could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to a broad and diverse range of factors, including those described elsewhere in this “Risk Factors” section as well as the following:

Further, broad market and industry factors may have a material adverse effect on the market price of our securities regardless of our actual operating performance.

In addition, stock markets have experienced in the past and may in the future experience a high level of price and volume volatility, and the market prices of equity securities of many companies have experienced in the past and may in the future experience wide price fluctuations not necessarily related to the operating performance of such companies. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our securities.

Finally, our relatively small public float and daily trading volume have in the past caused, and may in the future result in, significant volatility in the price of our securities. As of December 31, 2022, we had approximately 14,195,402 shares of our common stock outstanding held by non-affiliates and 3,055,190 shares of our Series A Preferred Stock outstanding held by non-affiliates. Our daily trading volume for the year ended December 31, 2022, averaged approximately 119,105 shares of common stock and 18,645 shares of Series A Preferred Stock.

Because there has been limited precedent set for financial accounting of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency assets, the determination that we have made for how to account for cryptocurrency assets transactions may be subject to change.

Because there has been limited precedent set for the financial accounting of cryptocurrencies and related revenue recognition and no official guidance has yet been provided by the FASB or the SEC, it is unclear how companies may in the future be required to account for cryptocurrency transactions and assets and related revenue recognition. A change in regulatory or financial accounting standards could result in the necessity to change our accounting methods and restate our financial statements. Such a restatement could adversely affect the accounting for our newly mined cryptocurrency rewards and more generally negatively impact our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. Such circumstances would have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our new strategy at all, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations as well as and potentially the value of any cryptocurrencies we hold or expect to acquire for our own account and harm our investors.

If we are not able to comply with the applicable continued listing requirements or standards of Nasdaq, Nasdaq could delist our common stock or Series A Preferred Stock or broker-dealers may be discouraged from effecting transactions in shares of our securities.

Our common stock became listed and commenced trading on Nasdaq on March 23, 2020, and our Series A Preferred Stock commenced trading on Nasdaq on August 19, 2021. In order to maintain such listings, we must satisfy minimum financial and other continued listing requirements and standards, including those regarding director independence and independent committee requirements, minimum stockholders’ equity, minimum share price and certain corporate governance requirements. We have been given notice by NASDAQ that by virtue of our common stock trading below the $1.00 minimum bid price requirement, we will be subject to delisting unless prior to June 21, 2023, the closing bid price exceeds $1.00 for twenty consecutive trading days. While the Company may seek to satisfy this requirement by a reverse stock split, there can be no assurances that we will be able to comply with such applicable listing standards. If we fail to do so, Nasdaq may delist our common stock and Series A Preferred Stock, which would likely have an adverse impact on the market price and liquidity of such securities.

In addition, our shares of common stock have in the past constituted, and may again in the future constitute, “penny stock” within the meaning of Section 3(a)(51) of the Exchange Act and Rule 3a-51-1 thereunder, and so will be subject to the “penny stock” rules adopted under Section 15(g) (now 15(h)) of the Exchange Act. The penny stock rules generally apply to companies whose common stock is not listed on a national securities exchange and trades at less than $5.00 per share, other than companies that have had average revenue of at least $6,000,000 for the last three years or that have tangible net worth of at least $5,000,000 ($2,000,000 if the company has been operating for three or more years). These rules require, among other things, that brokers who trade penny stocks to persons other than “established customers” complete certain documentation, make suitability inquiries of investors, and provide investors with certain information concerning trading in the security, including a risk disclosure document and quote information under certain circumstances. Many brokers have decided not to trade penny stocks because of the requirements of the penny stock rules and, as a result, the number of broker-dealers willing to act as market makers in such securities is limited. If our common stock is subject to the penny stock rules for any significant period, it could have an adverse effect on the market, if any, for our common stock. If the common stock is subject to the penny stock rules, investors will find it more difficult to dispose of their shares of our common stock.

Raising additional funds through debt or equity financing could be dilutive and may cause the market price of our securities to decline. We still may need to raise additional funding which may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. Failure to obtain additional capital may force us to delay, limit or terminate our product development efforts or other operations.

To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, your ownership interest may be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a shareholder. Furthermore, any additional fundraising efforts may divert our management from their day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our products and services. In addition, the sale of a significant number of our shares of common stock, either by us or by our shareholders (in particular Brookstone, our largest shareholder) could depress the price of our securities.

We may continue to seek funds through equity or debt financings, collaborative or other arrangements with corporate sources, or through other sources of financing. Additional funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. Any failure to raise capital as and when needed, as a result of insufficient authorized shares or otherwise, could have a negative impact on our financial condition and on our ability to pursue our business plans and strategies.

Item 1B: Unresolved Staff Comments

Not applicable.

Item 2: Properties

We lease approximately 3,478 square feet of office, in Albany, New York, which houses the corporate offices of SHI. The current lease agreement expires on December 31, 2024.

SCI leases approximately 19,000 square feet of space in four buildings in East Wenatchee, Washington. The space is currently used for hosted operations. The current lease agreements expire for one building on June 30, 2024, for another on November 30, 2024, and for the remaining two buildings on July 31, 2023.

On March 4, 2021, Soluna SW, LLC acquired a 3.2-acre tract of real property located in Murray, Kentucky on which it has built an energy-efficient cryptocurrency mining facility that includes 22 buildings for the Company’s miners.

On February 24, 2023, Soluna DV Services, LLC entered into a lease agreement for a 33.19-acre tract of land in Briscoe County, Texas. The Agreement is for an Initial Term that expires on the date five years from the Service Date with the right to extend the term of the Agreement for five additional one year terms.

We believe these facilities are generally well-maintained and adequate for the Company’s current needs and for expansion, if required.

Item 3: Legal Proceedings

At any point in time, we may be involved in various lawsuits or other legal proceedings. Such lawsuits could arise from the sale of products or services or from other matters relating to our regular business activities, compliance with various governmental regulations and requirements, or other transactions or circumstances.

We have been named as a party in the December 19, 2019 United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Demand Letter regarding the Malta Rocket Fuel Area Superfund Site (“Site”) located in Malta and Stillwater, New York, in connection with an alleged release of hazardous materials into the environment. The EPA is seeking reimbursement of response costs from all named parties in the amount of approximately $358 thousand plus interest in connection with the investigation and disposal activities associated with the various drum caches discovered at the Site, issuance of the Explanation of Significant Differences (“ESD”) of the Site, and implementation of the work contemplated by the ESD. We consider the likelihood of a material adverse outcome with respect to this matter to be remote and do not currently anticipate that any expense or liability that we may incur as a result of this matter in the future will be material to the Company’s business or financial condition. Further, we are not presently involved in any other litigation that we believe is likely, individually or in the aggregate, to have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

NYDIG filed a complaint against Soluna MC Borrowing 2021-1 LLC (“Borrower”) and Soluna MC LLC (“Guarantor”, and together with Borrower, “Defendants”) in Marshall Circuit Court of the Commonwealth of Kentucky on December 29, 2022 regarding a series of loans made by NYDIG to Borrower pursuant to a master equipment finance agreement that were secured by certain assets of Borrower and guaranteed by Guarantor pursuant to a written guaranty agreement executed by Guarantor. The Court issued on February 15, 2023, an agreed order granting NYDIG’s motion for writ of possession which, among other things, ordered parties to provide NYDIG access to the collateral described therein and preserved the rights of NYDIG to pursue a deficiency judgment against the Defendants. Also on February 15, 2023, the Defendants filed their answer and affirmative defenses in this proceeding. The Defendants believe that NYDIG has liquidated some of the collateral securing the loans and anticipate that NYDIG will complete the liquidation of collateral and continue to prosecute the complaint to obtain a judgment against the Defendants. Additionally, NDYIG has stated its intention to pursue SCI, the parent company of Guarantor, under a piercing of the corporate veil claim relating to Defendants’ debts and liabilities under the loan documents. SCI denies any such liability and has filed a complaint for a declaratory judgment against NYDIG in the Eighth Judicial District Court in Clark County, Nevada on March 16, 2023, seeking a declaratory judgment as to such matter.

Item 4: Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

PART II

Item 5: Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market Information

Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the trading symbol “SLNH.” The Company’s preferred stock is listed on Nasdaq Capital Market under the trading symbol “SLNHP.”

Holders

We have one class of common stock, par value $.001, and are authorized to issue 75,000,000 shares of common stock. Each share of the Company’s common stock is entitled to one vote on all matters submitted to shareholders. As of December 31, 2022, there were 18,694,206 shares of common stock issued and outstanding. As of March 28, 2023, there were approximately 162 shareholders of record of the Company’s common stock. The number of shareholders of record does not reflect the number of persons whose shares are held in nominee or “street” name accounts through brokers. 

Dividends

As of December 31, 2022, we had 3,061,245 shares of our of 9.0% Series A Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock outstanding, which pursuant to the Certificate of Designations, Preferences and Rights of 9.0% Series A Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock (“Series A Preferred Stock”), of the Company entitle such holders to dividends, when, as and if declared by the board of directors of the Company (the “Board of Directors”) (or a duly authorized committee of the Board of Directors), payable monthly in arrears on the final day of each month, beginning August 31, 2021. During the year ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Board declared and paid the Company aggregate dividends on the shares of Series A Preferred Stock of approximately $3.9 million and $630 thousand, respectively. The Board of Directors had not declared any Series A Preferred Stock dividends beginning October 2022 through the date of this report, as such the Company has accumulated approximately $1.7 million of dividends in arrears on the Series A Preferred Stock through December 31, 2022.

The Company’s Series B Preferred Stock includes a 10% accruing dividend compounded daily for 12 months from the original issue date of July 20, 2022, that may be paid in cash or stock at the Company’s option at the earlier of (i) the date the Series B Preferred Stock is converted, or (ii) the Series B Dividend Termination Date. As of December 31, 2022, the Company has accrued $236 thousand for dividend payable for the Series B preferred stock. In addition, under the Securities Purchase Agreement relating the Series B Preferred Stock the holder has certain consent rights to future equity offerings and rights of first refusal for three years from the original issue date. The Company can obtain a waiver of such rights if it pays to the holder an amount equal to 10% of the capital raised in such offerings (payable in cash or at the option of the Company in the same securities issued in such offering), until the holder has received, an aggregate of $10,000,000 less any profit the holder has received from ownership of the shares, whether through dividends or other distributions, payments of fees, or gains on the sale of the preferred stock.

The Company does not intend to pay dividends on our common stock and do not anticipate or contemplate paying cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. We currently intend to use all available funds to develop our business. We can give no assurance that we will ever have excess funds available to pay dividends. Any future determination as to the payment of dividends will depend upon critical requirements and limitations imposed by our credit agreements, if any, and such other factors as our Board of Directors may consider.

Item 6: Selected Financial Data

Not applicable.

Item 7: Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our Consolidated Financial Statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report. This discussion contains forward-looking statements, which involve risk and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including those discussed in Item 1A: “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report.

SHI currently conducts our business through our wholly-owned subsidiary, SCI. SCI is engaged in the mining of cryptocurrency through data centers that can be powered by renewable energy sources. Recently, SCI has built, and intends to continue to develop and build, modular data centers that are currently used for cryptocurrency mining and that in the future can be used for computing intensive, batchable applications, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, with the goal of providing a cost-effective alternative to battery storage or transmission lines. Headquartered in Albany, New York, the Company uses technology and intentional design to solve complex, real-world challenges. We operate in an environment which is consistently evolving based on the increase of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. We look to bring in additional investment for our robust pipelines and attract top-tier Bitcoin miners to host at Project Dorothy and into future pipelines in order to generate the highest return on investment. As discussed further in this Annual Report, we operate in two business segments: Cryptocurrency Mining and Data Center Hosting.

Recent Developments and Trends

We used the net proceeds of our debt financing in 2022, common and preferred stock offerings, and securities purchase agreement in December 2022 primarily for the construction of Project Dorothy, which is anticipated to launch in fiscal year 2023, additional miners for our cryptocurrency mining facilities in Kentucky to continue to expand our growth in those facilities, and operational expenses for our SHI parent and SCI business unit.

Industry Trends

During 2022, we observed several companies in the Bitcoin ecosystem experience significant challenges and initiate bankruptcy proceedings due to the significant decline in the price of Bitcoin and other national and global macroeconomic factors. We anticipate this trend will likely continue as companies attempt to shift their business models to operate on significantly compressed margins. The dramatic increase in the price of Bitcoin observed in the market during prior years caused many companies to over-leverage themselves, thus operating in an unsustainable way given the recent instability in the price of Bitcoin. Soluna looks to continue to build and develop at Project Dorothy and to demonstrate the cost effectiveness of our business model and generate growth opportunities by increasing our project pipelines. We are continuously evaluating strategic opportunities which we may decide to undertake as part of our strategic growth initiatives; however, we can offer no assurances that any strategic opportunities which we decide to undertake will be achieved on the schedule or within the budget we anticipate, if at all, in our competitive and evolving industry. See Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” of this Annual Report for additional discussion regarding potential impacts our competitive and evolving industry may have on our business.

Miner Purchases and Deployments

As of December 31, 2022, we had purchased, received and/or deployed the following miners:

Results of Operations

Results of Operations for the Year Ended December 31, 2022 Compared to the Year Ended December 31, 2021.

The following table summarizes changes in the various components of our net loss during the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021.

Cryptocurrency Mining Revenue: Cryptocurrency revenue consists of revenue recognized from SCI’s cryptocurrency mining operations. Cryptocurrency mining revenue was approximately $24.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, respectively, compared to $10.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, respectively. We maintained our facility in Washington (Project Edith) and in 2021 added two new mining site operations in Murray, Kentucky (Project Sophie) and Calvert City, Kentucky (Project Marie), however only Project Edith and Project Sophie sites were operational in the first nine months of fiscal year 2021, and operations for Project Sophie site did not begin to ramp up until the fourth quarter of 2021. Megawatts deployed increased from approximately 2 megawatts at the beginning of 2021 and increased slowly in fiscal year 2021 to 20 megawatts for the Project Marie facility and 25 megawatts for the Project Sophie facility for the year ended December 31, 2022. This growth in capacity and expected hashrate contributed to the growth in the business for the year-ended December 31, 2022.

Data Hosting Revenue: In August 2021, SCI began cryptocurrency hosting services in which SCI provided energized space and operating services to third-party mining companies who located their mining hardware at one of SCI’s mining locations, in which SCI would receive a fee per miner installed, revenue share and if additional services were rendered, an additional service fee was charged to the outside parties. In August of 2022, the Company saw a decline in data hosting revenue per month due to a change in contract terms in which the Company changed to charging a lower flat fee per month as compared to the previous fees charged by miner; the electricity expense is now treated as a pass-through item and thus does not get recognized as revenue. This change resulted in less risk for the Company, and higher margins. The Company still receives a profit share component from the hosting contract. The data hosting revenues for the year ended December 2022 and 2021 is primarily attributed to the Project Marie mining site. The Company’s data hosting revenue was approximately $4.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, respectively, compared to $3.4 million in data hosting revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Cost of Cryptocurrency Revenue: Cost of cryptocurrency revenue includes direct utility costs, site overhead expenses, depreciation expenses, as well as operations management overhead costs that relate to the operations of SCI’s cryptocurrency mining facilities in Washington and facilities in Kentucky. Going forward, cost of cryptocurrency revenue will include any additional SCI cryptocurrency mining facilities that are part of the Company’s future pipeline.

Cost of cryptocurrency mining revenue, exclusive of depreciation costs, was approximately $14.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, respectively, compared to approximately $3.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, respectively. Depreciation costs associated with cryptocurrency revenue was approximately $18.7 million year ended December 31, 2022, respectively, compared to $2.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, respectively. As noted above, SCI’s ramp up for cryptocurrency mining operations happened throughout 2021 and the first quarter of 2022. Project Sophie mining site did not energize until the fourth quarter of 2021. Therefore, there was a significant variance in cryptocurrency mining revenue and associated costs for the year ended December 31, 2022 when compared to December 31, 2021. As the Company began increasing its capacity, the associated costs began to increase. As noted above, depreciation costs associated with cryptocurrency mining revenue began to significantly increase as miners and equipment were being installed into operations and depreciated over their useful life.

Cost of Data Hosting Revenue: Cost of data hosting revenue includes utility charges, site overhead expenses, and other charges. These expenses are allocated based on the cost driving activity.

Cost of data hosting revenue was approximately $3.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to $2.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. As noted above, SCI began hosting services in August 2021, in which expenses were allocated based on the cost driving activity, and as operations began to increase, the Company incurred higher cost of revenue. As noted in the data hosting revenue, the Company changed contract terms in August 2022, and as a result, the cost of revenue began declining in the third and fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the previous year.

General and Administrative Expenses:

General and administrative expenses include cash and non-cash compensation, benefits and related costs in support of our general corporate functions, including general management, finance and accounting, human resources, marketing, information technology, corporate development, and legal services.

General and administrative expenses, exclusive of depreciation and amortization for the year ended December 31, 2022, increased by $10.0 million or 109%, to $19.2 million from $9.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. This increase was a result of expenses incurred in the year ended December 31, 2022, that had significant fluctuations compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, related to the hiring of new employees for the Soluna Callisto transactions (i.e.: salary, stock-based compensation and future pipeline expenses), as well as from changes in a number of our traditional general and administrative expenses.

Salaries, benefits and other employee related expenses increased by $4.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. Approximately $3.7 million related to salary and fringe benefits for new employees of Soluna Callisto in connection with the October 2021 acquisition and the subsequent hires, as compared to payroll expenses associated with SCI for just over 2 months as of December 31, 2021, in which there was only 16 SCI employees. As of December 31, 2022, SCI had 25 employees. Approximately $1.2 million related to additional hires for supporting a larger corporate organization for SHI including more accounting functionality, compliance and financial planning. Employee recruitment expense increased approximately $180 thousand due to growing the Company and hiring of temporary help for some of the plant locations. Also, travel and business expenses of employees increased $356 thousand due the growth of Company for fiscal year 2022, expanding services and potential pipeline projects. Salaries, benefits and other employee related expenses was offset with a decrease in bonuses of $244 thousand due to cost constraints as of the end of the year for fiscal 2022.

Stock-based compensation costs included within G&A expenses increased by $1.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, due to grants of restricted stock units and options granted to members of our board of directors, executives and employees, including the new employees hired by SCI.

Consulting and professional services increased by $959 thousand million during the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 due to required valuations of complex transactions, advisory fees for complex accounting research matters, and pipeline development project costs, in which the Company involves multiple consultants to help build out future plans.

Legal fees increased by approximately $1.5 million during year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 due to legal expenses of approximately $1.2 million in relation to Project Dorothy. This included legal costs around the agreements with the affiliated parties, the power purchase agreement, and Spring Lane agreements. In addition there was an increase of approximately $500 thousand in relation to general corporate matters associated with the growth of the business, higher fees for annual filing and additional corporate filings such as 8Ks, and the special proxy meetings that occurred during the fiscal year 2022, offset with declines of approximately $200 thousand in legal fees for other SCI operations in Kentucky.

Insurance expenses increased by approximately $661 thousand during the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, due to an increase in general business insurance, as well as directors and officers insurance of $221 thousand. Also, there were project level insurance costs of $440 thousand for Project Marie in Kentucky that was related to the NYDIG financing.

Audit and tax fees increased by $609 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. This was due to increased fees for the fiscal year 2021 audit, as well as to the nature of the Company’s operations changing from an instrumentation business to a cryptocurrency mining business.

Office and general information and technology expenses increased by approximately $437 thousand during the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, due to an increase in general office expense of about $115 thousand and software license expenses of $322 thousand, as the company was working on developing and growing new technology to help build a stronger and more efficient internal infrastructure.

The company incurred operations and management expenses paid to Soluna BC for the year ended December 31, 2021, which were not paid for the year ended December 31, 2022. These amounts in 2021 totaled $1.0 million, as the operation and management fee agreements creating these expenses ended on October 21, 2021.

Depreciation and Amortization associated with general and administrative expenses: Depreciation and amortization expense for the year ended December 31, 2022, totaled approximately $9.5 million, respectively, compared to $1.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. This increase was mainly related to amortization expense related to the strategic pipeline contract that was acquired in October 2021, as well as small increases in depreciation expenses related to general and administrative items.

Impairment on Equity Investment: During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company fully impaired the equity method investment of $750 thousand due to current projections with the equity investment in HEL.

Impairment on Fixed Assets: During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company concluded that there were impairment indicators on property, plant and equipment associated with the S-9 and L3 miners in storage. As a result, a quantitative impairment analysis was required throughout the fiscal year of 2022. As such, the Company reassessed its estimates and forecasts throughout the fiscal year of 2022, to determine the fair values of the S-9 and L3 miners held in storage. As a result of the analysis, as of year ended December 31, 2022, the Company concluded the carrying amount of the property, plant and equipment associated with the S-9 and L3 miners exceeded their fair value, which resulted in impairment charges of $2.0 million on the consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2022.

In addition, the Company assessed the active miners in operations and determined that based on Bitcoin pricing and other market factors, there has been a decline in the market value of the active miners in the Company’s operations. As a result, a quantitative impairment analysis was required throughout the fiscal year of December 31, 2022. As such, the Company reassessed its estimates and forecasts throughout the fiscal year of December 31, 2022, to determine the undiscounted cash flows to determine whether the miners would be recoverable. It was determined based on the analysis, that the undiscounted cash flow with residual value was less than the net book value as of December 31, 2022, confirming the existence of a triggering event, and therefore required an impairment to be recognized. Based on the fair value of the active miners compared to the net book value, the Company decided to recognize an impairment of approximately $39.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2022.

As of December 31, 2022, the Company had M20 miners and M21 miners in service at the Sophie location. Of these miners a portion of the miners was planned to be sold in the near future. The remaining M20 and M21 miners were to be disposed of as they had no value and were not being used. Prior to year-end, the Company had a business opportunity to sell the non-disposed miners which received Board approval, and therefore all the remaining assets were classified as assets held for sale. As a result, a quantitative impairment analysis was required as of December 31, 2022. The Company was not generating positive cash inflows and there had been a significant decline in the market value of miners based on the hashrate index. As a result of the fair value analysis as of December 31, 2022, the Company concluded the carrying amount of the property, plant and equipment associated with the M20 and M21 miners exceeded its fair value of $295 thousand, which resulted in impairment charges of approximately $1.8 million on the consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2022.

As of December 31, 2022, the Company has equipment held at vendor including switchgears, transformers, busways and bus plugs. The Company had discussions with a potential buyer and approval of its Board of Directors for sale of the switchgears held at vendor. There has not been a final sale, but the Company has received a purchase order for the switchgear, subject to inspection of the equipment and final sale. Because the sale of the equipment held at vendor would mean the equipment is not being used for its intended purpose, the Company performed a fair value analysis as of December 31, 2022, and concluded the carrying amount of the equipment held at vendor exceeded its fair value of $916 thousand, which resulted in an impairment charge of $1.9 million on the consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Due to the close of operations for Project Marie that occurred subsequent to year-end, the Company will dispose of approximately $1.7 million worth of leasehold improvements and general electrical upgrades and equipment which were attached to the facility which could not be salvaged for any value with the operations ceasing. As the NYDIG repossession and potential foreclosure were conditions that existed prior to year-end, the Company impaired the $1.7 million of assets as of year-end. Also, the Company will have equipment held for sale for the first quarter of 2023, in which based on a fair value analysis compared to the Company’s net book value of the equipment still held, would cause an impairment of approximately $700 thousand, therefore total impairment for the Project Marie assets not attached with the collateralized NYDIG assets was approximately $2.4 million for year-ended December 31, 2022.

Operating Loss: Operating loss increased to $84.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, from $4.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2021. This $80.3 million loss increase for the year ended December 31, 2022, was the result of the non-cash impairments of fixed assets of $47.4 million, additional depreciation and amortization expense of $24.5 million and increases in general, and administrative expenses, exclusive of depreciation and amortization of $10.0 million for items not incurred in the prior year related to the significant growth in the SCI operations, which led to increased revenue and costs in the year ended December 31, 2022.

Interest Expense: Interest expense for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $8.4 million primarily related to $6.7 million of interest expense in relation to the October Secured Notes issued on October 25, 2021 and certain promissory notes issued in each of February, March, and April 2022 and repaid as part of the offering of Series A preferred stock in June 2022. Interest expense of $1.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, respectively was also incurred under the NYDIG facility and due to its December 2022 default. Interest expense for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $1.9 million and mainly related to the interest expense in relation to the Notes that were issued at the end of October 2021.

Loss on Debt Extinguishment and Revaluation: During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, the Company entered into the Addendum and Addendum Amendment in which per guidance in ASC 470 the October Secured Notes were treated as a debt extinguishment in our consolidated financial statements. The Company incurred a loss on the fair value valuation of approximately of approximately $12.9 million for the debt extinguishment and revaluation of debt through September 31, 2022. The Company did a fair value assessment of the Notes as of December 31, 2022 and recognized a gain from previous valuation of $1.8 million; therefore, the net loss for extinguishment and revaluation for the year ended December 31, 2022 was approximately $11.1 million. The Company did not incur a loss on debt for the year ended December 31, 2021. See Note 9.

Loss on Sale of Fixed Assets: The Company incurred a $4.1 million loss for the year ended December 31, 2022, in connection with the disposal of miners and equipment with a net book value of approximately $6.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 in which the Company received proceeds of $2.8 million for year ended December 31, 2022. There were no such disposals on equipment for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Income Tax Benefit (Expense) from Continuing Operations: Income tax benefit from continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $1.3 million, compared to an income tax expense from continuing operations of $44 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase in income tax benefit for the year ended December 31, 2022 was mainly related to deferred tax amortization impact of acquiring an asset in a transaction that is not a business combination when the amount paid exceeds the tax basis on the acquisition date. As such, the Company is required to adjust the value of the strategic contract pipeline by approximately $10.9 million at inception date on (October 29, 2021), which was recorded as a deferred tax liability. This amount will be amortized over the life of the asset. For the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company amortized $2.2 million, respectively. Income tax benefit from continuing operations was offset by a $295 thousand deferred tax expense incurred in the second quarter of 2022 related to increasing the Company’s valuation allowance associated with the deferred tax asset, as well as a $503 thousand deferred tax state adjustment. Income tax expense for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $44 thousand and was primarily a result a change in the valuation allowance for the year offset with temporary timing differences. Our effective income tax rate for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 were 1.0% and 1.0%.

Net Loss from Continuing Operations: Net loss from continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $107.0 million, compared to net loss from continuing operations of $6.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase in loss for the year ended December 31, 2022 were the result of the factors noted above, including expenses not incurred in the prior year period, such as a full year of amortization expense for the strategic pipeline contract intangible, depreciation on miners installed, impairments on fixed assets, and revaluation of debt and interest costs, the cost of utilities to operate the Company’s two facilities in Kentucky, and noncash compensation expense related to equity awards, partially offset by increases in cryptocurrency mining revenue and data hosting revenue.

Net Income from Discontinued Operations: As of December 31, 2022, the Company’s MTI Instruments business was reported as discontinued operations up to the date of the sale on April 11, 2022. For the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company’s net income from discontinued operations was $7.9 million compared to $1.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. This was primarily due to the $7.7 million gain on the sale of MTI Instruments offset with MTI Instruments only having approximately three months of operations prior to the sale on April 11, 2022, compared to a full year of operations in 2021.

Net Loss: Net loss for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $99.0 million, compared to net loss of approximately $5.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, respectively, primarily as a result of the factors noted above as related to net loss from continuing operations, as the Company continues to grow and build out its operations for the future.

Net Loss attributable to non-controlling interest: Net loss attributable to non-controlling interest for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $380 thousand in relation to the Company’s DVSL entity. There was no comparable balance for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Non-GAAP Measures

In addition to financial measures calculated in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”), we also use “Adjusted EBITDA.” Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure defined as net income (loss) from continuing operations before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) adjusted to eliminate the effects of certain non-cash, non-recurring items, that we believe do not reflect our ongoing strategic business operations. Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA results in a performance measurement that represents a key indicator of the Company’s business operations of cryptocurrency mining and hosting customers engaged in cryptocurrency mining.

We believe Adjusted EBITDA can be an important financial measure because it allows management, investors, and the Board to evaluate and compare our operating results, including our return on capital and operating efficiencies, from period-to-period by making such adjustments. Non-GAAP financial measures are subject to material limitations as they are not in accordance with, or a substitute for, measurements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. For example, we expect that stock-based compensation costs, which is excluded from the non-GAAP financial measures, will continue to be a significant recurring expense over the coming years and is an important part of the compensation provided to certain employees, officers, and directors. Similarly, we expect that depreciation and amortization of fixed assets will continue to be a recurring expense over the term of the useful life of the assets.

Adjusted EBITDA is provided in addition to and should not be considered to be a substitute for, or superior to net income, the comparable measure calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Further, Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to revenue growth, net income, diluted earnings per share or any other performance measure calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP, or as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities as a measure of our liquidity. Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider such measures either in isolation or as substitutes for analyzing our results as reported under U.S. GAAP.

Reconciliations of Adjusted EBITDA to net income from continuing operations, the most comparable U.S. GAAP financial metric, for historical periods are presented in the table below:

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Several key indicators of our liquidity are summarized in the following table:

The significant losses generated by the Company’s cryptocurrency mining and hosting operations were due to ERCOT delays, power price spikes in Kentucky and decline in market price of miners due to the substantial decline in the U.S. dollar value of Bitcoin. The Company had a consolidated accumulated deficit of approximately $221.8 million as of December 31, 2022. As of December 31, 2022, the Company had negative working capital of approximately $24.9 million, a line of credit outstanding of $350 thousand, $13.0 million outstanding principal in notes payable that may be converted to common stock, and a subsidiary of the Company that defaulted on equipment financing and has a current outstanding loan of $10.5 million. The Company had outstanding commitments as of December 31, 2022, related to SCI for $0.9 million in capital expenditures, and approximately $1.1 million of cash available to fund its operations.

Based on business developments, including changes in production levels, staffing requirements, and network infrastructure improvements, we will require additional capital equipment in the foreseeable future. With the Company’s shift in focus of the business, and the sale of the MTI Instruments business that occurred in April 2022, the Company has now exited the instrumentation business and is focused on developing and monetizing green, zero-carbon computing and cryptocurrency mining facilities, as well as facilities capable of hosting customers engaged in cryptocurrency mining.

We plan to continue funding operations from our current cash position and our projected 2023 cash flows pursuant to management’s plans. If necessary, we may also seek to supplement our resources by increasing credit facilities to fund operational working capital and capital expenditure requirements. We expect to fund growth, including additional development and build-outs of data centers through project-level capital raising and equity sale activities, to the extent that we can successfully raise capital through sales of additional debt or equity securities, as well as a variety of project specific funding options. Any additional financing, if required, may not be available to us on acceptable terms or not at all.

As shown in the accompanying financial statements, the Company did not generate sufficient revenue to generate net income and has negative working capital as of December 31, 2022. In addition, the Company has seen a decline in the price of Bitcoin during the second and third quarter of fiscal year 2022, which has had and could continue to have material and negative impacts to our operations, although has slowly been increasing in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2022 and into the first quarter of 2023. These factors, among others, indicate that there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern within one year after issuance of the financial statements as of December 31, 2022, or March 31, 2023.

Further, various macroeconomic factors could adversely affect our business and the results of our operations and financial condition, including changes in inflation, interest rates and overall economic conditions. For instance, inflation could negatively impact the Company by increasing our labor costs, through higher wages and higher interest rates. If inflation or other factors were to significantly increase our business costs, our ability to develop our current projects may be negatively affected. Interest rates, the liquidity of the credit markets and the volatility of the capital markets could also affect the operation of our business and our ability to raise capital in order to fund our operations. If our revenue estimates are off either in timing or amount, or if cash generated from operations is insufficient to satisfy the operational working capital and capital expenditure requirements, the Company plans to implement additional steps to ensure liquidity including, but not limited to, the deferral of planned capital spending and/or delaying existing or pending product development initiatives; alternatively, the Company may be required to obtain credit facilities or other loans, if available, to fund these initiatives. However, the Company is actively monitoring this situation and the possible effects on our financial condition, liquidity, operations, suppliers, and the industry.

Operating Activities

Net cash used in operating activities from continuing operations was approximately $6.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. Cash was used in operations by a net loss from continuing operations of $107.0 million, less non-cash items of $97.7 million, consisting primarily of $28.2 million of amortization and depreciation expense for the year for the intangible asset acquired in 2021 and significant additions in fixed assets, approximately $3.9 million in stock-based compensation expense, $4.1 million in loss on sale of fixed assets, $47.4 million in impairment of fixed assets, $750 thousand for impairment on equity investment, $11.1 million on loss on debt extinguishment and revaluation, and $6.5 million for amortization of deferred financing costs and discount on notes payables issued during the year, offset with $1.4 million in deferred income tax benefits.

Net cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations was approximately $4.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2021. Cash was provided from operations by a net loss of $6.4 million, less non-cash items of $7.8 million, consisting primarily of $3.7 million of amortization and depreciation expense for the year for the intangible asset acquired and significant additions in fixed assets, approximately $2.0 million in stock-based compensation expense, and $1.9 million for amortization of deferred financing costs and discount on notes payables issued during the year. The change in asset and liabilities of $3.3 million consisted primary of increases in accounts payable and accrued liabilities of $5.0 million offset by $2.2 million with increases in accounts receivable, prepaids and other assets, and other long- term assets.

Net cash provided by operating activities from discontinued operations was $369 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to $917 thousand for net cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2021, respectively. The relative changes in assets and liabilities were comparable between the two periods.

Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities from continuing operations during the year ended December 31, 2022 was approximately $54.7 million compared to $57.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. For the year ended December 31, 2022, we had $63.7 million worth of capital expenditures, less a net change in deposits on equipment of $6.4 million, and $2.6 million in proceeds from the sale of equipment. For the year ended December 31, 2021, we had $45.8 million in capital expenditures and $9.9 million additions for net change in deposits on equipment, and $1.6 million of cash purchased on intangible assets in relation to the asset acquisition in the prior year.

Net cash provided by investing activities from discontinued operations during the year ended December 31, 2022 was approximately $9.1 million compared to net cash used in investing activities from discontinued operations of $37 thousand during the year ended December 31, 2021. The change represented the net cash proceeds from the sale of MTI Instruments of $9.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Financing Activities

Net cash provided by financing activities was approximately $42.9 million during year ended December 31, 2022, which consisted primarily of $14.7 million in net proceeds from the sale of Series A and Series B Preferred Stock, $23.9 million in net proceeds from notes and short-term debt issuances, and $2.3 million in net proceeds from a common offering and securities purchase offering. Proceeds of $779 thousand were also received in relation to common stock warrant exercises. During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company made cash dividend payments of approximately $3.8 million to holders of its Series A Preferred Stock. Also, in the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company had a contribution of $4.8 million from its non-controlling interest in DVSL.

In the year ended December 31, 2021, net cash provided by financing activities was approximately $59.3 million, which consisted of the common stock capital raise and preferred stock raises that totaled approximately $40.7 in net proceeds. The Company also received proceeds from a notes issuance of $15 million less costs associated of $1.3 million. The Company also exercised warrants totaling approximately $4.6 million and had stock option exercises of approximately $100 thousand. The Company borrowed $1.0 million under their line of credit and made cash dividend payments to preferred stockholders of around $630 thousand.

On June 9, 2022, we entered into an At-the-Market Issuance Sales Agreement (the “Sales Agreement”) with Univest Securities, LLC (“Univest”) pursuant to which we may sell, at our option, up to an aggregate of $10 million in shares of Series A Preferred Stock, with a $25.00 liquidation preference per share (the “ATM Shares”) through Univest, as sales agent. Sales of the ATM Shares made pursuant to the Sales Agreement, if any, will be made under the Company’s previously filed and currently effective shelf Registration Statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-261427) and related prospectus supplement thereto. As of December 31, 2022, no ATM Shares have been sold pursuant to the Sales Agreement. Moreover, prior to any sales under the Sales Agreement, the Company will deliver a placement notice to Univest that will set the parameters for such sale of the ATM Shares, including the number of ATM Shares to be sold, the time period during which sales are requested to be made, any limitation on the number of ATM Shares that may be sold in any one trading day and any minimum price below which sales may not be made. Subject to the terms and conditions of the Sales Agreement, Univest may sell the ATM Shares, if any, only by methods deemed to be an “at the market” offering as defined in Rule 415 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) including, without limitation, sales made directly through the Nasdaq or any other trading market on which the ATM Shares are listed or quoted or to or through a market maker. In addition, subject to the terms and conditions of the Sales Agreement, with the Company’s prior written consent, Univest may also sell ATM Shares by any other method permitted by law, or as may be required by the rules and regulations of Nasdaq or such other trading market on which the Company’s common stock is listed or quoted, including, but not limited to, in negotiated transactions. Univest will use commercially reasonable efforts consistent with its normal trading and sales practices to sell the ATM Shares in accordance with the terms of the Sales Agreement and any applicable placement notice. The Company cannot provide any assurances that Univest will sell any ATM Shares pursuant to the Sales Agreement, and as noted above, none were during 2022.

Debt

On September 15, 2021, the Company entered into a $1.0 million unsecured line of credit with KeyBank, that will, among other things, allow the Company to request loans and to use the proceeds of such loans for working capital and other general corporate purposes. The line of credit bears interest at a rate of Prime + 0.75% per annum (6.25% interest rate as of September 30, 2022). Accrued interest is due monthly and principal is due in full following KeyBank’s demand. As of December 31, 2021, the entire line of credit of $1.0 million was drawn and outstanding. As of December 31, 2022, $650 thousand of the line has been paid down; therefore $350 thousand of the line of credit remains outstanding. The Company has been repaying weekly principal on the KeyBank facility each week since the beginning of September 2022. The Company does not plan to draw down on the line of credit in the foreseeable future. In addition, future drawdown may require pre-approval by KeyBank.

On October 25, 2021, the Company issued to certain institutional investors secured convertible notes in the aggregate principal amount of approximately $16.3 million for an aggregate purchase price of $15.0 million. The notes are convertible, subject to certain conditions, at any time at the option of the investors, into an aggregate of 1,776,073 shares of the Company’s common stock. On July 19, 2022, the Company entered into the Addendum with the Noteholders to amend the terms the October Secured Notes. Pursuant to the Addendum, a portion of the October Secured Notes would be converted and may be redeemed in three tranches, with each tranche of $1,100,000 required to be converted into common stock in each case at the then in effect conversion price of the October Secured Notes, with such price, prior to each conversion, to be reduced (but not increased) to a 20% discount to the 5-day VWAP of the Company’s common stock. In addition, the Noteholders may require the Company to redeem up to $2,200,000 worth of October Secured Notes in connection with each tranche at a rate of $1.20 for every $1.00 owed, less the amount of October Secured Notes converted during such tranche, not including the required conversion amount if the Noteholders are unable to convert out of such amount of the October Secured Notes in each tranche. The Company is also required to deposit up to $1,950,000 in an escrow account in connection with each tranche to satisfy any redemptions, except with respect to the first tranche as provided in the Addendum Amendment. The Addendum also provides the right for the Company to pause the commencement of the conversion of the second and third tranches each for 45 days in the event the Company pursues an equity financing. Since inception, the Company has converted down approximately $3.8 million on the convertible debt. On September 13, 2022, the Company entered into the Addendum Amendment with the Noteholders to amend the terms to extend the maturity date to April 15, 2023, and increase the principal amount of the October Secured Notes by approximately $520 thousand for a total outstanding principal amount of approximately $13 million. The events of default stated in the Notice of Acceleration and Repossession defined below with NYDIG constituted a cross-default under the terms of secured convertible notes issued to the Noteholders. In addition to such cross-default, the failure of the Company pursuant to the Addendum dated as of July 19, 2022, to escrow an aggregate amount of $950,000 for the benefit of the Noteholders by December 21, 2022, constitutes an event of default under the Notes. Due to the defaults noted, the Company did not enter into the second and third tranche of conversions. As such, beginning on November 30, 2022, the Company has been accruing interest of 18% per annum on the outstanding principal amount due to the default which amounted to $202 thousand as of December 31, 2022. On March 10, 2023, the Company entered into a Second Addendum Amendment with the Noteholders, in which the Company paid approximately $617 thousand through the Company’s restricted escrow accounts and contemporaneously with the payment, the Noteholders waived all existing events of default arising under the convertible notes.

On January 14, 2022, the Company effected an initial drawdown under the Master Equipment Finance Agreement with NYDIG in the aggregate principal amount of approximately $4.6 million that bore interest at 14%. On January 26, 2022, the Company had a subsequent drawdown of $9.6 million. On December 20, 2022, Soluna MC Borrowing 2021-1 LLC (“Borrower”) received a Notice of Acceleration and Repossession (the “NYDIG Notice”) from NYDIG with respect to the Master Agreement, by and between Borrower and NYDIG. The obligations of Borrower under the Master Agreement and reflected in the NYDIG Notice are ring-fenced to Borrower and its direct parent company, Soluna MC LLC. The Company is not a party to any guaranty, collateral agreement or other support agreement with or for the benefit of NYDIG. As such, the principal balance of $10.5 million as of December 31, 2022 became due immediately and the Borrower shall bear interest, at a rate per annum equal to 2.0% plus the rate per annum otherwise applicable to such obligations set forth in the Master Agreement. As of December 31, 2022, the Borrower incurred accrued interest and penalty of approximately $274 thousand.

On May 3, 2022, SCI entered into the Contribution Agreement with Spring Lane, pursuant to which Spring Lane agreed, pursuant to the terms and conditions of such agreement, to the Spring Lane Commitment. We anticipate that these capital contributions, once deployed into the projects, will help develop up to three behind-the-meter (BTM) projects designed to convert wasted renewable energy into clean computing services such as Bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence. The Contribution Agreement outlines the framework for the Spring Lane Commitment; however, neither we nor Spring Lane are obligated to complete any projects under such agreement and any actual capital contributions are subject to various conditions precedent, including the receipt of requisite lender and other consents, acceptance by Spring Lane of specific projects and negotiations of agreements regarding those projects, including milestones and structure. In partial consideration of the amendment to the October notes discussed above, the investors agreed to release certain collateral covered by their security agreement to permit the Company to proceed forward with the initial first 25 MW phase of Project Dorothy, which has been extensively funded by Spring Lane, which the Company expects to complete in the near future. On August 5, 2022, the Company entered into the Dorothy Contribution Agreement with Spring Lane for an initial funding of up to $12.5 million for Project Dorothy. SCI completed a final tranche of a series of project-level agreements for $7.5 million on March 10, 2023 of capital to fund the first 25 MW of Project Dorothy and corporate expenses from funds managed by Spring Lane Capital. Concurrently with the Sale for $7.5 million, the Company, Spring Lane, Devco and the Project Company entered into (a) the Fourth Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of the Project Company, dated as of March 10, 2023, which is an amendment and restatement of the Third Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of the Project Company dated as of March 3, 2023, and (b) the Amended and Restated Contribution Agreement, dated as of March 10, 2023 an amendment and restatement of the Contribution Agreement dated as of August 5, 2022. The Fourth Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement provides for certain updates in respect of Spring Lane’s majority ownership. The Amended and Restated Contribution Agreement reflects updated pro rata member funding percentages as a result of the Sale as well as updated contribution caps for each of the Company and Spring Lane. For clarity, these agreements have primarily only an indirect effect on the second 25 MW of Project Dorothy, in which the Company continues to indirectly wholly own.

The COVID-19 Pandemic

In response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Company has implemented procedures to support flexible working arrangements for its workforce based on business needs. While these measures have been necessary and appropriate, they may result in additional costs and may adversely impact the Company’s business and financial performance. As the Company’s response to the pandemic evolves, the Company may incur additional costs and will potentially experience adverse impacts to its business, each of which are uncertain at this time.

Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates

The prior discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. Note 2 of the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K includes a summary of our most significant accounting policies. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires management to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, expenses, and related disclosure of assets and liabilities. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments, including those related to revenue recognition, income taxes and share-based compensation. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. Periodically, our management reviews our critical accounting estimates with the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors.

The significant accounting policies that we believe are most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our consolidated financial statements include the following:

Revenue Recognition, Accounts Receivable, and Allowance for Doubtful Accounts.

Cryptocurrency revenue consists of revenue recognized from SCI’s cryptocurrency mining facility. Revenue is recognized at the cryptocurrency’s realized cash value based upon the rates at cryptocurrency exchanges where we are registered. Cryptocurrencies are earned when the miners solve complex computations and cryptocurrency is issued as a result. The mined cryptocurrency is immediately paid to the Coinbase wallet. Cryptocurrency is converted to U.S. dollars on a daily basis. Also, the Company has entered into customer hosting contracts whereby the Company provides electrical power to cryptocurrency mining customers, and the customers pay a stated amount per megawatt-hour (“MWh”) (“Contract Capacity”) as well as a share of the coins mined. The fee is paid monthly in advance. The actual monthly amounts are calculated after the close of each month and reconciled to the monthly advance.

Trade accounts receivable are stated at the invoiced amount billed to customers and do not bear interest. An allowance for doubtful accounts, if necessary, represents our best estimate of the amount of probable credit losses in our existing accounts receivable. We determine the allowance based on historical write-off experience and current exposures identified. We review our allowance for doubtful accounts monthly. We review past due balances over 90 days and over a specified amount individually for collectability. We review all other balances on a pooled basis by type of receivable. We charge off account balances against the allowance when we believe it is probable the receivable will not be recovered. We do not have any off-balance-sheet credit exposure related to our customers.

Asset Acquisition.

As the discussed above, on October 29, 2021, we closed the Soluna Callisto acquisition, pursuant to an Agreement and Plan of Merger dated as of August 11, 2021, by and among the Company, SCI and Soluna Callisto. The purpose of the transaction was for SCI to acquire substantially all of the assets (other than those assets physically located in Morocco) formerly held by HEL, which assets consisted of Soluna Callisto’s existing pipeline of certain cryptocurrency mining projects that HEL previously transferred to Soluna Callisto, and to provide SCI with the opportunity to directly employ or retain the services of four individuals whose services it had retained through HEL prior to the merger. As a result of the merger, each share of common stock of Soluna Callisto issued and outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the merger, other than shares owned by the Company or any of our subsidiaries, was cancelled and converted into the right to receive a proportionate share of up to 2,970,000 shares (the “Merger Shares”) of the Company’s common stock payable upon the achievement of certain milestones within five years after the effective date in the merger, as set forth in the merger agreement and the schedules thereto (the “Merger Consideration”).

In connection with the Soluna Callisto acquisition, effective as of October 29, 2021, pursuant to the terms of a termination agreement dated as of August 11, 2021 by and among the Company, SCI, and HEL, on November 5, 2021, SCI paid HEL $725,000 and SHI issued to HEL 150,000 shares of SHI common stock (the “Termination Shares”). SCI also reimbursed HEL $75,000 for transaction-related fees and expenses. SHI included the termination costs as part of asset acquisition per ASC 805-50. Based on the closing price of the SHI common stock on Nasdaq on November 5, 2021, SHI has valued the aggregate termination consideration at approximately $1.9 million.

The acquisition was accounted for, for purposes of GAAP, using the asset acquisition method of accounting under the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 805-50. SHI determined that it acquired in the acquisition a group of similar identifiable assets (primarily, the “strategic pipeline contract” of certain cryptocurrency mining projects), which it classified as an intangible asset for accounting purposes. As a result, SHI’s acquisition of the set of assets and activities that it acquired will constitute an asset acquisition, as opposed to a business acquisition, under ASC 805. ASC 805-50 provides that assets acquired in an asset acquisition are measured based on the costs of the acquisition, which is the consideration that the acquirer transfers to the seller and includes direct transaction costs related to the acquisition. SHI includes Soluna Callisto’s results of operations in our results of operations beginning on the effective date of the of the acquisition, October 29, 2021.

Fair Value Measurement.

The estimated fair value of certain financial instruments, including cash, accounts receivable and short-term debt approximates their carrying value due to their short maturities and varying interest rates. “Fair value” is the price that would be received to sell an asset or transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. The Company utilizes valuation techniques that maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs. Based on the observability of the inputs used in the valuation methods, the Company is required to provide the following information according to the fair value accounting standards. These standards established a fair value hierarchy as specified that ranks the quality and reliability of the information used to determine fair values. Financial assets and liabilities are classified and disclosed in one of the following three categories:

The fair value hierarchy also requires an entity to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value. Assets and liabilities measured at fair value are classified in their entirety based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement.

The Company had Warrants included within the SPA agreement as noted in Note 9. The Warrants are considered freestanding equity-classified instruments due to their detachable and separately exercisable features and meet the indexation criteria within derivative accounting. Accordingly, the Warrants are presented as a component of Stockholders’ Equity in accordance with derivative accounting.

Following the debt extinguishment on July 19, 2022 as noted further in Note 9, the Convertible Notes will be recorded at fair value upon issuance (e.g., upon execution of the Addendum) per guidance within ASC 480, and at each subsequent reporting period, with changes in fair value reported in earnings.

Consistent with the guidance in purchase accounting, the value of the Strategic Pipeline Contract as of the acquisition date was estimated using an expected value approach, which probability-weights various future outcomes and uses certain Level 3 inputs.

The Company’s equipment miners are classified in Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy due to the quoted market prices for similar assets.

As of December 31, 2022, and 2021, the fair values of cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, prepaid expenses and other current assets, accounts payable, and accrued expenses approximated their carrying values because of the short-term nature of these instruments.

Share-Based Payments.

We grant options to purchase our common stock and award restricted stock to our employees and directors under our equity incentive plans. The benefits provided under these plans are share-based payments and we account for stock-based awards exchanged for employee service in accordance with the appropriate share-based payment accounting guidance. Stock-based compensation represents the cost related to stock-based awards granted to employees and directors. We measure stock-based compensation cost at grant date based on the estimated fair value of the award and recognize the cost as expense on a straight-line basis in accordance with the vesting of the options (net of estimated forfeitures) over the option’s requisite service period. We estimate the fair value of stock-based awards on the grant date using a Black-Scholes valuation model. We use the fair value method of accounting with the modified prospective application, which provides for certain changes to the method for valuing share-based compensation. The valuation provisions apply to new awards and to awards that are outstanding on the effective date and subsequently modified.

The determination of the fair value of share-based payment awards on the date of grant using an option-pricing model is affected by our stock price as well as assumptions regarding a number of complex and subjective variables. These variables include our expected stock price volatility over the term of the awards, actual and projected employee stock option exercise behaviors, risk-free interest rate, and expected dividends.

Theoretical valuation models and market-based methods are evolving and may result in lower or higher fair value estimates for share-based compensation. The timing, readiness, adoption, general acceptance, reliability, and testing of these methods is uncertain. Sophisticated mathematical models may require voluminous historical information, modeling expertise, financial analyses, correlation analyses, integrated software and databases, consulting fees, customization, and testing for adequacy of internal controls.

For purposes of estimating the fair value of stock options granted using the Black-Scholes model, we use the historical volatility of our stock for the expected volatility assumption input to the Black-Scholes model, consistent with the accounting guidance. The risk-free interest rate is based on the risk-free zero-coupon rate for a period consistent with the expected option term at the time of grant. The expected option term is calculated based on our historical forfeitures and cancellation rates.

Income Taxes.

We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. (federal and state). As part of the process of preparing our consolidated financial statements, we calculate income taxes for each of the jurisdictions in which we operate. This involves estimating actual current taxes due together with assessing temporary differences resulting from differing treatment for tax and accounting purposes that are recorded as deferred tax assets and liabilities, loss carryforwards, and tax credit carryforwards, for which income tax benefits are expected to be realized in future years. Deferred tax assets are reported net of a valuation allowance when it is more likely than not that a tax benefit will not be realized. The effect on deferred taxes of a change in tax rates is recognized in the period that includes the enactment date.

Significant management judgment is required in determining our provision for income taxes, our deferred tax assets and liabilities, and any valuation allowance recorded against our net deferred tax assets. We considered all available evidence, both positive and negative, such as historical levels of income and future forecasts of taxable income amongst other items in determining our valuation allowance. In addition, our assessment requires us to schedule future taxable income in accordance with accounting standards that address income taxes to assess the appropriateness of a valuation allowance, which further requires the exercise of significant management judgment.

We account for taxes in accordance with the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes. Under this method, we must recognize the tax benefit from an uncertain tax position only if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on examination by the taxing authorities, based on the technical merits of the position. The tax benefits recognized in the financial statements from such a position are measured based on the largest benefit that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon ultimate resolution. The impact of our reassessment of our tax positions for these standards did not have a material impact on its results of operations, financial condition, or liquidity.

We are also currently subject to audit in various jurisdictions, and these jurisdictions may assess additional income tax liabilities against us. Developments in an audit, litigation, or in applicable laws, regulations, administrative practices, principles, and interpretations could have a material effect on our operating results or cash flows in the period or periods in which such developments occur, as well as for prior and in subsequent periods.

Tax laws, regulations, and administrative practices in various jurisdictions may be subject to significant change, with or without notice, due to economic, political, and other conditions, and significant judgment is required in evaluating and estimating our provision and accruals for these taxes. There are many transactions that occur during the ordinary course of business for which the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Our effective tax rates could be affected by numerous factors, such as intercompany transactions, earnings being lower than anticipated in jurisdictions where we have lower statutory rates and higher than anticipated in jurisdictions where we have higher statutory rates, the applicability of special tax regimes, losses incurred in jurisdictions for which we are not able to realize the related tax benefit, changes in foreign currency exchange rates, entry into new businesses and geographies, changes to our existing businesses and operations, acquisitions and investments and how they are financed, changes in our stock price, changes in our deferred tax assets and liabilities and their valuation, and changes in the relevant tax, accounting, and other laws, regulations, administrative practices, principles, and interpretations.