UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (D) OF THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022

or

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (D) OF THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from _______to______

MARATHON DIGITAL HOLDINGS, INC.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: 702-945-2773

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 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

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. 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 (§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, 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 is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act) Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate market value of the common stock, no par value, held by non-affiliates of the registrant, based on the closing sale price of registrant’s common stock as quoted on the Nasdaq Capital Market on June 30, 2022 (the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter), was approximately $600,000 thousand. Accordingly, the registrant qualifies under the SEC’s revised rules as a “large accelerated filer.”

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer’s classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date 167,247,030 shares of common stock are issued and outstanding as of March 13, 2023.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Background of Restatement

As previously disclosed in the Current Report on Form 8-K filed by Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (the “Company” or “Marathon”) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on February 28, 2023, the Company’s Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, after consultation with the Company’s independent auditor, concluded that we will restate our previously issued consolidated financial statements.

The Company and its Audit Committee formally concluded on March 15, 2023 that the restatement of financial statements and amendment of certain information of prior periods presented in this Annual Report on Form 10-K was necessary to correct for the following: (i) Revenue Recognition – Principal versus Agent, (ii) Impairment of Digital Assets, (iii) NYDIG Digital Assets Fund III, LP – Consolidation Gross versus Net Presentation, (iv) NYDIG Digital Assets Fund III, LP – Financial Statement Reclassification (v) Disposal of Assets (vi) Other Adjustments, and (vii) the income tax adjustments due to the forementioned errors.

Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statements and Information

This Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 includes the following information:

For a more detailed description of the financial impact of the restatement, see NOTE 2 – RESTATEMENT OF CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENT and “Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statements” under ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS,contained in this Form 10-K. For the impact of these adjustments on the Unaudited Quarterly Financial Data, see NOTE 16 – QUARTERLY FINANCIAL DATA (UNAUDITED). All amounts in this Annual Report on Form 10-K affected by the restatement adjustments reflect such amounts as restated.

Internal Control Considerations

In connection with the Company’s review of its financial statements leading to the restatement, the Company identified additional material weaknesses in its internal controls over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the financial statements will not be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis. Therefore, the Company’s management concluded that material weaknesses remain in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting and that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2022. See ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES, for additional information and discussion related to material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting and our related remediation activities.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MARATHON DIGITAL HOLDINGS, INC.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K and other written and oral statements made from time to time by us may contain so-called “forward-looking statements,” all of which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “expects,” “plans,” “will,” “forecasts,” “projects,” “intends,” “estimates,” and other words of similar meaning. One can identify them by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements are likely to address our growth strategy, financial results and product and development programs. One must carefully consider any such statement and should understand that many factors could cause actual results to differ from our forward-looking statements. These factors may include inaccurate assumptions and a broad variety of other risks and uncertainties, including some that are known and some that are not. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and actual future results may vary materially.

These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including the risks in the section entitled “Risk Factors” and the risks set out below, any of which may cause our or our industry’s actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks include, by way of example and not in limitation:

This list is not an exhaustive list of the factors that may affect any of our forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are made based on management’s beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date the statements are made, and we undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States we do not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results.

Information regarding market and industry statistics contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K is included based on information available to us that we believe is accurate. It is generally based on industry and other publications that are not produced for purposes of securities offerings or economic analysis. We have not reviewed or included data from all sources. Forecasts and other forward-looking information obtained from these sources are subject to the same qualifications and the additional uncertainties accompanying any estimates of future market size, revenue and market acceptance of products and services. As a result, investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

As used in this annual report, the terms “we”, “us”, “our”, the “Company”, “Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc.”, “Marathon”) and “MARA” mean Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries, unless otherwise indicated.

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

I. CORPORATE OVERVIEW

I.A. HISTORY AND PIVOT TO BITCOIN MINING

Marathon is a digital asset technology company that produces or “mines” digital assets with a focus on the blockchain ecosystem and the generation of digital assets. Marathon’s strategy is to produce and hold bitcoin (after paying for cash operating costs of production) as a long term investment. Holding bitcoin is a strategy to act as a store of value, supported by a robust and public open source architecture, that is not linked to any country’s monetary policy and can therefore serve as a store of value outside of government control. We believe that bitcoin offers additional opportunity for appreciation in value with increasing adoption due to its limited supply. We may also explore opportunities to become involved in businesses ancillary to our bitcoin mining business as favorable market conditions and opportunities arise.

We were incorporated in the State of Nevada on February 23, 2010 under the name Verve Ventures, Inc. On December 7, 2011, we changed our name to American Strategic Minerals Corporation and were engaged in exploration and potential development of a uranium and vanadium minerals business. In June 2012, we discontinued our minerals business and began to invest in real estate properties in Southern California. In October 2012, we commenced our IP licensing operations, at which time the Company’s name was changed to Marathon Patent Group, Inc. We purchased digital asset mining machines and established a data center in Canada to mine digital assets in 2017. The Company ceased operating in Canada in 2020 and relocated all owned mining rigs from Canada to the U.S. The Company has since expanded its activities in the mining of bitcoin across the U.S. The Company changed its name to Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. on March 1, 2021. As of December 31, 2022, the Company is solely focused on the mining of bitcoin and ancillary opportunities within the Bitcoin ecosystem.

The term “Bitcoin” with a capital “B” is used to denote the Bitcoin protocol which implements a highly available, public, permanent, and decentralized ledger. The term “bitcoin” with a lower case “b” is used to denote the token, bitcoin.

I.B. CORPORATE INFORMATION

In 2022, we moved our corporate headquarters to Fort Lauderdale, FL and maintain an address at 101 SE 3^rd Avenue, Suite 1200, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301. We also maintain a West Coast office at 300 Spectrum Center Drive, Suite 950, Irvine, CA 92618. Our website is www.mara.com. As of February 20, 2023, we had 30 full-time employees and we expect this number to continue to grow in support of the increased scale of the business. We believe our employee relations to be good.

I.C. 2022 AND 2023 EVENTS

Effective March 31, 2022, Hugh Gallagher was appointed Chief Financial Officer of the Company.

On March 31, 2022, the Company amended its previously announced agreements with affiliates of Beowulf Energy LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (collectively and as applicable, “Beowulf”), and Two Point One, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“2P1”), pursuant to which Beowulf and 2P1 have been designing and developing a data center facility of up to 110-megawatts (the “Facility”) located next to, and supplied energy directly from, Beowulf’s power generation station in Hardin, MT. As part of the Company’s mandate to become carbon neutral by the end of the 2022 fiscal year, the Company, Beowulf and 2P1 agreed to terminate the Data Facility Services Agreement, the Power Purchase Agreement and the Ground Lease for the Facility as of August 15, 2022, and the Company redeployed its Hardin-installed mining rigs to renewable power facilities in the third quarter of 2022.

On July 28, 2022, the Company entered into a Revolving Credit and Security Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Silvergate Bank (the “Bank”) pursuant to which Silvergate agreed to loan the Company up to $100 million on a revolving basis pursuant to the terms of the Agreement and the $100 million principal amount revolving credit note issued by the Company in favor of the Bank under the Agreement (“Note”).

On February 6, 2023, the Company provided Silvergate Bank with the required 30-day notice stating the Company’s intent to prepay the outstanding balance on its term loan facility as well as the Company’s intent to terminate the term loan facility. The Company and Silvergate subsequently agreed to also terminate the revolving line of credit (“RLOC”) facility. On March 8, 2023, the term loan prepayment was completed, and the Company’s term loan and RLOC facilities with Silvergate Bank were terminated.

Effective September 14, 2022, the Company amended its Amended and Restated Bylaws to document the previously disclosed unanimous Board approval to reduce its quorum requirements to 33-1/3% of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock of the Company.

On September 22, 2022, Compute North Holdings, Inc. (along with its affiliated debtors, collectively, “Compute North”), filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code (11 U.S. Code section 101 et seq.). Compute North provided operating services to the Company and hosted our mining rigs in multiple facilities. On December 15, 2022, US Bitcoin Corp (“US Bitcoin”) replaced Compute North as the operator of the facilities in McCamey, TX, Granbury, TX and Kearney, NE as a result of the Compute North bankruptcy. We currently have arrangements in place with respect to the McCamey, Granbury and Kearney facilities. We no longer operate at South Souix City. On February 16, 2023, the Bankruptcy Court approved the Debtors Plan of Reorganization, pursuant to which Marathon’s claim has been fixed at $40,000 thousand as an unsecured claim to be paid out according to the timing and percentages within the approved Debtor’s plan.

In connection with a dispute concerning the settlement of certain restricted stock unit awards previously granted to Merrick D. Okamoto, former Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Company on October 12, 2022, the Company entered into a settlement agreement with Mr. Okamoto, pursuant to which the Company agreed to pay Mr. Okamoto $24,000 thousand. Mr. Okamoto agreed to a settlement and a broad release of known or unknown claims against the Company, which relate to the Company’s Amended 2018 Equity Incentive Plan or related restricted stock unit award agreements. The Company also entered into agreements in respect to seven other recipients of the same restricted stock unit awards including a director and our current Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer and Chairman. Payments related to these agreements totaled approximately $2,100 thousand in the aggregate.

Effective November 21, 2022, John Lee was appointed Chief Accounting Officer of the Company.

On January 27, 2023, the Company and FS Innovation, LLC (“FSI”) entered into a Shareholders’ Agreement (the “Agreement”) regarding formation of an Abu Dhabi Global Markets company (the “ADGM Entity”), whose purpose shall be to jointly (a) establish and operate one or more mining facilities for digital assets; and (b) mine digital assets (collectively, the “Business”). The initial project by the ADGM Entity shall consist of two digital asset mining sites comprising 250 MW in Abu Dhabi, and the initial equity ownership in the ADGM Entity shall be 80% FSI and 20% the Company, and capital contributions will be made, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions, during the 2023 development period in those proportions, consisting of both cash and in kind, in amounts of approximately $406,000 thousand in aggregate. FSI will appoint four directors to the board of the ADGM Entity, and the Company will appoint one director. Unless otherwise not permitted by applicable law, the digital assets mined by the ADGM Entity will be distributed to the Company and FSI twice a month in proportion to their respective equity interests in the ADGM Entity. There are market provisions in the Agreement with respect to financial and tax matters. The Agreement shall terminate at the earlier of the mutual written agreement of the parties, winding up of the ADGM Entity or the ownership by a shareholder of all of the outstanding equity interests in the ADGM Entity. The Agreement contains market terms on transfer of shares by a shareholder, preemptive rights and certain tag along and drag along rights upon a sale of the ADGM Entity. Furthermore, there are five year restrictive covenants which, inter alia, prevent Marathon from competing in the UAE with the Business or with the business of FSI or any of certain related parties and prevent FSI from competing in the U.S. with the business of Marathon.

II. BITCOIN BLOCKCHAIN

II A. OVERVIEW OF BITCOIN

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital asset that operates on a peer-to-peer network, allowing users to send and receive payments without the need for intermediaries such as banks. This is made possible through the use of blockchain technology, which is a distributed ledger that records and verifies all transactions on the network.

The Bitcoin blockchain is a public, transparent, and immutable record of all transactions that have ever occurred on the network. This ledger is maintained by a network of computers, known as nodes, that work together to verify and validate new transactions. Each transaction is cryptographically signed and added to the blockchain as a new block, which is then permanently recorded and cannot be altered or deleted.

One of the key advantages of the Bitcoin blockchain is that it allows for trustless, secure transactions without the need for a central authority. Because the blockchain is decentralized and transparent, all users can verify the legitimacy of a transaction without having to rely on a third party. This eliminates the need for intermediaries, which can be slow and expensive, and it also makes the network resistant to censorship and fraud.

Bitcoin’s decentralized and transparent nature makes it secure, efficient, and accessible, and gives it the potential to enable new forms of value exchange and innovation.

II B. OVERVIEW OF BITCOIN “HALVING” EVENTS

The Bitcoin halving is a phenomenon that occurs approximately every four years on the Bitcoin network. The halving is a key part of the Bitcoin protocol, and it serves to control the overall supply and reduce the risk of inflation in digital assets using a Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm. At a predetermined block, the mining reward is cut in half, hence the term “halving”. For bitcoin the reward was initially set at 50 bitcoin currency rewards per block. The Bitcoin blockchain has undergone halving three times since its inception as follows: (1) on November 28, 2012 at block height 210,000; (2) on July 9, 2016 at block height 420,000; (3) on May 11, 2020 at block height 630,000, when the reward was reduced to its current level of 6.25 bitcoin per block. The next halving for the Bitcoin blockchain is anticipated to occur on or around March 2024 at block height 840,000. This process will reoccur until the total amount of bitcoin currency rewards issued reaches 21,000 thousand and the theoretical supply of new bitcoin is exhausted, which is expected to occur around 2140.

Factors Affecting Profitability

Market Price of Bitcoin

Our business is heavily dependent on the price of bitcoin. The prices of digital assets, including bitcoin, have experienced substantial volatility, meaning that high or low prices may be based on speculation and incomplete information, may be subject to rapidly changing investor sentiment, and may be influenced by factors such as technology, regulatory void or changes, fraudulent actors, manipulation, and media reporting. Bitcoin (as well as other digital assets) may have value based on various factors, including their acceptance as a means of exchange by consumers and producers, scarcity, and market demand which are beyond our control.

Halving

The halving is an important part of the Bitcoin ecosystem, and it is closely watched by miners, investors, and other participants in the digital asset market. Each halving event has historically been associated with significant price movements in the value of bitcoin.

Network Hash Rate and Difficulty

Generally, a bitcoin mining rig’s chance of solving a block on the Bitcoin blockchain and earning a bitcoin reward is a function of the mining rig’s hash rate, relative to the global network hash rate (i.e., the aggregate amount of computing power devoted to supporting the Bitcoin blockchain at a given time). As demand for bitcoin has increased, the global network hash rate has increased rapidly, and as more adoption of bitcoin occurs, we expect the demand for new bitcoin will likewise increase as more mining companies are drawn into the industry by this increased demand. Further, as more and increasingly powerful mining rigs are deployed, the network difficulty for Bitcoin has increased. Network difficulty is a measure of how difficult it is to solve a block on the Bitcoin blockchain, which is adjusted every 2016 blocks (every 2 weeks approximately) so that the average time between each block remains ten minutes. A high difficulty means that it will take more computing power to solve a block and earn a new bitcoin reward, which, in turn, makes the Bitcoin network more secure by limiting the possibility of one miner or mining pool gaining control of the network. Therefore, as new and existing miners deploy additional hash rate, the global network hash rate will continue to increase, meaning a miner’s share of the global network hash rate (and therefore its chance of earning bitcoin rewards) will decline if it fails to deploy additional hash rate at pace with the industry.

II C. OVERVIEW OF BITCOIN MINING

Bitcoin mining is the process by which new bitcoin are created and transactions on the Bitcoin network are verified. In order to mine bitcoin, mining rigs use specialized computer hardware to win a lottery, which allows them to add new blocks to the bitcoin blockchain and receive a reward in the form of newly minted bitcoin. The bitcoin mining process serves several important functions in the bitcoin ecosystem.

First, bitcoin mining helps to secure the Bitcoin network by verifying transactions and preventing fraud. When a user sends a transaction on the Bitcoin network, it is broadcast to the network and added to the pool of unconfirmed transactions known as the “mempool.” Mining rigs then compete in a sort of lottery required to add these transactions to the blockchain, which is the decentralized ledger that records all Bitcoin transactions. When a mining rig successfully adds a new block to the blockchain, the transactions included in that block are considered confirmed, and the mining rig receives a reward in the form of newly minted bitcoins.

Second, bitcoin mining helps to decentralize the Bitcoin network and distribute new bitcoin in a fair and transparent manner. Unlike traditional currencies, which are issued and controlled by central banks, bitcoin is a decentralized digital asset that is not controlled by any government or institution. Instead, new bitcoin are created and distributed through the mining process, which allows anyone with the necessary hardware and expertise to participate in the mining process and potentially earn rewards. This decentralized distribution of new bitcoin helps to ensure that the supply of the digital asset is controlled in a fair and transparent manner.

Third, bitcoin mining plays a key role in the maintenance and growth of the Bitcoin network. The mining process helps to support the infrastructure of the network by providing the computational power needed to verify transactions and add new blocks to the blockchain. As more people become interested in mining bitcoin, the network becomes more secure and efficient.

III. A. STRATEGIC FOCUS

The Company’s focus at the onset of 2022 was on growth execution and transition into a larger operation. This focus consisted of both the expansion of operations of our core bitcoin mining business (operating mining rigs at third-party owned and operated data centers) and operating MaraPool – our proprietary bitcoin mining pool which orchestrates the operation of our fleet of mining rigs. Key activities and milestones throughout 2022 included the following:

It was also a year of adaptation, as the Company had to overcome several operational and financial headwinds, including:

Our primary focus in 2023 will be the realization of the full energization of our fleet of nearly 200,000 bitcoin mining rigs and growing our total operational hashrate from 7.0 exahashes per second at year end 2022 to over 23 exahashes per second by the third quarter of 2023. We will also be focused on our first international expansion, a joint venture that will result in the formation of an Abu Dhabi Global Markets company whose purpose will be to operate one or more mining facilities for digital assets. The initial project will consist of two mining sites comprising 250 MW in Abu Dhabi and the Company will own 20% of this entity, which is expected to commence bitcoin mining operations in the second half of 2023. Additionally, we expect to operationalize a number of technology innovations developed by our technology team and partners including mining using immersion as well as new hardware and software solutions to optimize mining rig performance and the reliability of MaraPool operations.

III B. R&D PROCESS

We place a strong emphasis on research and development (R&D) as a key driver of innovation and growth. Our R&D process is designed to support the creation and development of new tools and processes that are an integral part of our overall business strategy and enhance our productivity as an advanced and sustainable bitcoin miner.

The first step in our R&D process is ideation, which is the process of generating and evaluating new ideas. We encourage our team members to come up with creative and innovative ideas, and we provide them with the resources and support they need to explore these ideas further.

Once we have identified a promising idea, the next step is to develop a prototype. This typically involves creating a small-scale version of the product or service, which can be tested and evaluated in order to identify potential issues and improve the design. We also conduct market research to understand the potential market for the product or service.

The final step in our R&D process is testing and validation. This involves conducting thorough testing of the prototype to identify any issues or flaws, and to ensure that it meets our quality standards. We also conduct market testing to gather feedback from real-world users, and we use this feedback to refine and improve the product or service.

Overall, our R&D process is designed to support the creation and development of innovative technology advancements that ensure we maintain our competitive advantages and improves our position as a leading bitcoin miner. We believe that this process is essential for driving growth and staying ahead of the competition, and we are committed to continuously improving and refining it to support our success.

III C. OUR STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS

We are committed to pursuing strategic investments that align with our vision and values. Our strategy is focused on identifying and partnering with companies that have the potential to generate long-term value for our stakeholders.

One key element of our investment strategy is to focus on companies that are at the forefront of emerging technologies and industries. We believe that these companies have the potential to drive significant innovation and growth, and we are committed to supporting their development through investments in both hardware and software companies

Another key aspect of our strategy is to prioritize investments in companies that are aligned with our values and mission. We believe that our stakeholders expect us to support businesses that operate in a responsible and sustainable manner, and we are committed to making investments that reflect these values.

Overall, our investment strategy is designed to support our growth and success, while propelling us to be the most advanced, agile, and efficient bitcoin miner. We are committed to making strategic investments that are aligned with our vision and values, and we believe that this approach will help us to achieve long-term success.

IV. OUR OPERATIONS

We deploy or are in the process of deploying our assets at various sites in the United States. All of our sites are currently hosted by third parties to whom we pay a fee. A summary of our current and anticipated operating locations follows:

On January 27, 2023, the Company and FSI entered into an Agreement regarding formation of an Abu Dhabi Global Markets company whose purpose shall be to jointly (a) establish and operate one or more mining facilities for digital assets; and (b) mine digital assets. The initial project by the ADGM Entity shall consist of two digital asset mining sites comprising 250 MW in immersion in Abu Dhabi, and the initial equity ownership shall be 80% FSI and 20% the Company. The facility is expected to be operational in the second half of 2023.

V. COMPETITION

In digital asset mining, companies and individuals use computing power to solve cryptographic algorithms to record and publish transactions to blockchain ledgers or provide transaction verification services to the Bitcoin network in exchange for digital asset rewards. The current reward for verifying a block on the Bitcoin blockchain is 6.25 bitcoin. Miners can range from individual enthusiasts to professional mining operations with dedicated data centers. Miners may organize themselves in mining pools. The Company competes or may in the future compete with other companies that focus all or a portion of their activities on owning or operating digital asset exchanges, developing programming for the blockchain, and mining activities. At present, the information concerning the activities of these enterprises is not readily available as the vast majority of the participants in this sector do not publish information publicly or the information may be unreliable.

Several public companies (traded in the U.S. and Internationally), such as the following, may be considered to compete with us:

While there is limited available information regarding our non-public competitors, we believe that our recent acquisition and ongoing deployment of miners positions us well among the publicly traded companies involved in the digital asset mining industry. The digital asset mining industry is a highly competitive and evolving industry and new competitors and/or emerging technologies could enter the market and affect our competitiveness in the future.

VI. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

We actively use specific hardware and software for our digital asset mining operations. In certain cases, source code and other software assets may be subject to an open source license, as much technology development underway in this sector is open source. For these works, we intend to adhere to the terms of any license agreements that may be in place.

We do not currently own any patents except as set forth below. We may in the future plan to seek further patents in connection with our existing and planned blockchain and digital asset related operations. We do expect to rely upon trade secrets, trademarks, service marks, trade names, copyrights and other intellectual property rights and expect to license the use of intellectual property rights owned and controlled by others. In addition, we have developed and may further develop certain proprietary software applications for purposes of our digital asset mining operation.

We have two patent applications pending with the USPTO:

US Application No. 17/751370

Systems And Methods For Decreasing Counterparty Settlement Risk

Marathon Digital Holdings

US Application No. 17/975229

Systems And Methods For Overclocking Mining Rigs

Marathon Digital Holdings

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

Certain factors may have a materially adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations, including the risk, factors, and uncertainties described under this Part I, Item 1A, and elsewhere in this Annual Report. This is not an exhaustive list, and there are other factors that may be applicable to our business that are not currently known to us or that we currently do not believe are material. Any of these risks could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, or prospects, which could cause the trading price of our common stock to decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment. You should carefully consider the risks, factors, and uncertainties described below, together with the other information contained in this Annual Report, as well as the risk, factors, uncertainties, and other information we disclose in other filings we make with the SEC before making an investment decision regarding our securities.

We may be classified as an inadvertent investment company.

We are not engaged in the business of investing, reinvesting, or trading in securities, and we do not hold ourselves out as being engaged in those activities. Under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), however, a company may be deemed an investment company under Section 3(a)(1)(C) of the 1940 Act if the value of its investment securities is more than 40% of its total assets (exclusive of government securities and cash items) on a consolidated basis.

We have commenced digital asset mining, the outputs of which are digital assets, which may be deemed a security in the future, although the SEC states that bitcoin, which is the only digital asset we currently mine, is not a security (https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-and-bulletins/ib_fundstrading). In the event that the digital assets other than bitcoin held by us exceed 40% of our total assets, exclusive of cash, we inadvertently become an investment company. An inadvertent investment company can avoid being classified as an investment company if it can rely on one of the exclusions under the 1940 Act. One such exclusion, Rule 3a-2 under the 1940 Act, allows an inadvertent investment company a grace period of one year from the earlier of (a) the date on which an issuer owns securities and/or cash having a value exceeding 50% of the issuer’s total assets on either a consolidated or unconsolidated basis and (b) the date on which an issuer owns or proposes to acquire investment securities having a value exceeding 40% of the value of such issuer’s total assets (exclusive of government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. We are putting in place policies that we expect will work to keep the investment securities held by us at less than 40% of our total assets, which may include acquiring assets with our cash, liquidating our investment securities or seeking a no-action letter from the SEC if we are unable to acquire sufficient assets or liquidate sufficient investment securities in a timely manner.

As Rule 3a-2 is available to a company no more than once every three years, and assuming no other exclusion were available to us, we would have to keep within the 40% limit for at least three years after we cease being an inadvertent investment company. This may limit our ability to make certain investments or enter into joint ventures that could otherwise have a positive impact on our earnings. In any event, we do not intend to become an investment company engaged in the business of investing and trading securities.

Classification as an investment company under the 1940 Act requires registration with the SEC. If an investment company fails to register, it would have to stop doing almost all business, and its contracts would become voidable. Registration is time consuming and restrictive and would require a restructuring of our operations, and we would be very constrained in the kind of business we could do as a registered investment company. Further, we would become subject to substantial regulation concerning management, operations, transactions with affiliated persons and portfolio composition, and would need to file reports under the 1940 Act regime. The cost of such compliance would result in the Company incurring substantial additional expenses, and the failure to register if required would have a materially adverse impact to conduct our operations. If we determine to mine digital assets other than bitcoin in the future, we will establish and disclose the process and framework we use to determine if such digital assets are securities under Section 2(a)(1) of the Securities Act and will address any specific risks in our policy and framework in making such a determination. This description would also include any policy/framework limitations and state these are risk-based judgments by us and not a legal standard or determination binding on any regulator.

Failure to effectively manage our growth could place strains on our managerial, operational and financial resources and could adversely affect our business and operating results.

Our growth has placed, and is expected to continue to place, a strain on our limited managerial, operational and financial resources and systems. Further, as our subsidiary companies’ businesses grow, we will be required to continue to manage multiple relationships. Any further growth by us or our subsidiary companies, or an increase in the number of our strategic relationships, may place additional strain on our managerial, operational and financial resources and systems. Although we may not grow as we expect, if we fail to manage our growth effectively or to develop and expand our managerial, operational and financial resources and systems, our business and financial results would be materially harmed.

The further development and acceptance of digital asset networks and other digital assets, which represent a new and rapidly changing industry, are subject to a variety of factors that are difficult to evaluate. The slowing or stopping of the development or acceptance of digital asset systems may adversely affect an investment in us.

Digital assets such as bitcoins, that may be used, among other things, to buy and sell goods and services are a new and rapidly evolving industry of which the digital asset networks are prominent, but not unique, parts. The growth of the digital asset industry in general, and the digital asset networks of bitcoin in particular, are subject to a high degree of uncertainty. The factors affecting the further development of the digital asset industry, as well as the digital asset networks, include:

Significant contributors to all or any digital asset network could propose amendments to the respective network’s protocols and software that, if accepted and authorized by such network, could adversely affect an investment in us.

For example, with respect to Bitcoins network, a small group of individuals contribute to the Bitcoin Core project on GitHub.com. These individuals can propose refinements or improvements to the Bitcoin network’s source code through one or more software upgrades that alter the protocols and software that govern the Bitcoin network and the properties of Bitcoin, including the irreversibility of transactions and limitations on the mining of new bitcoin. Proposals for upgrades and discussions relating thereto take place on online forums. For example, there is an ongoing debate regarding altering the blockchain by increasing the size of blocks to accommodate a larger volume of transactions. Although some proponents support an increase, other market participants oppose an increase to the block size as it may deter miners from confirming transactions and concentrate power into a smaller group of miners. To the extent that a significant majority of the users and miners on the Bitcoin network install such software upgrade(s), the Bitcoin network would be subject to new protocols and software that may adversely affect an investment in the Shares. In the event a developer or group of developers proposes a modification to the Bitcoin network that is not accepted by a majority of miners and users, but that is nonetheless accepted by a substantial plurality of miners and users, two or more competing and incompatible blockchain implementations could result. This is known as a “hard fork.” In such a case, the “hard fork” in the blockchain could materially and adversely affect the perceived value of digital assets as reflected on one or both incompatible blockchains, which may adversely affect an investment in us.

The open-source structure of the Bitcoin network protocol means that the contributors to the protocol are generally not directly compensated for their contributions in maintaining and developing the protocol. A failure to properly monitor and upgrade the protocol could damage the Bitcoin network and an investment in us.

The Bitcoin network for example operates based on an open-source protocol maintained by contributors, largely on the Bitcoin Core project on GitHub. As an open source project, Bitcoin is not represented by an official organization or authority. As the Bitcoin network protocol is not sold and its use does not generate revenues for contributors, contributors are generally not compensated for maintaining and updating the Bitcoin network protocol. The lack of guaranteed financial incentive for contributors to maintain or develop the Bitcoin network and the lack of guaranteed resources to adequately address emerging issues with the Bitcoin network may reduce incentives to address the issues adequately or in a timely manner. Changes to a digital asset network which we are mining on may adversely affect an investment in us.

If a malicious actor or botnet obtains control in excess of 50% of the processing power active on any digital asset network, including the Bitcoin network, it is possible that such actor or botnet could manipulate the blockchain in a manner that adversely affects an investment in us.

If a malicious actor or botnet (a volunteer or hacked collection of computers controlled by networked software coordinating the actions of the computers) obtains a majority of the processing power dedicated to mining on any digital asset network, including the Bitcoin network, it may be able to alter the blockchain by constructing alternate blocks if it is able to solve for such blocks faster than the remainder of the miners on the blockchain can add valid blocks. In such alternate blocks, the malicious actor or botnet could control, exclude or modify the ordering of transactions, though it could not generate new digital assets or transactions using such control. Using alternate blocks, the malicious actor could “double-spend” its own digital assets (i.e., spend the same digital assets in more than one transaction) and prevent the confirmation of other users’ transactions for so long as it maintains control. To the extent that such malicious actor or botnet does not yield its majority control of the processing power or the digital asset community does not reject the fraudulent blocks as malicious, reversing any changes made to the blockchain may not be possible. Such changes could adversely affect an investment in us.

The approach towards and possible crossing of the 50% threshold indicate a greater risk that a single mining pool could exert authority over the validation of digital asset transactions. To the extent that the digital assets ecosystems do not act to ensure greater decentralization of digital asset mining processing power, the feasibility of a malicious actor obtaining in excess of 50% of the processing power on any digital asset network (e.g., through control of a large mining pool or through hacking such a mining pool) will increase, which may adversely impact an investment in us.

If the award of digital assets for solving blocks and transaction fees for recording transactions are not sufficiently high to incentivize miners, miners may cease expending hashrate to solve blocks and confirmations of transactions on the blockchain could be slowed temporarily. A reduction in the hashrate expended by miners on any digital asset network could increase the likelihood of a malicious actor obtaining control in excess of fifty percent (50%) of the aggregate hashrate active on such network or the blockchain, potentially permitting such actor to manipulate the blockchain in a manner that adversely affects an investment in us.

Bitcoin miners record transactions when they solve for and add blocks of information to the blockchain. When a miner solves for a block, it creates that block, which includes data relating to (i) the solution to the block, (ii) a reference to the prior block in the blockchain to which the new block is being added and (iii) all transactions that have occurred but have not yet been added to the blockchain. The miner becomes aware of outstanding, unrecorded transactions through the data packet transmission and propagation discussed above. Typically, bitcoin transactions will be recorded in the next chronological block if the spending party has an internet connection and at least one minute has passed between the transaction’s data packet transmission and the solution of the next block. If a transaction is not recorded in the next chronological block, it is usually recorded in the next block thereafter.

As the award of new digital assets for solving blocks declines, and if transaction fees are not sufficiently high, miners may not have an adequate incentive to continue mining and may cease their mining operations. For example, the current fixed reward on the Bitcoin network for solving a new block is six and one quarter (6.25). bitcoins per block; the reward decreased from twelve and one half (12.5) bitcoin in May 2020. It is estimated that it will halve again in March 2024, and then again in about four (4) years, and approximately every four (4) years thereafter until the last bitcoin has been mined, which is estimated to be in or around 2140. This reduction may result in a reduction in the aggregate hashrate of the Bitcoin network as the incentive for miners will decrease. Moreover, miners ceasing operations would reduce the aggregate hashrate on the Bitcoin network, which would adversely affect the confirmation process for transactions (i.e., temporarily decreasing the speed at which blocks are added to the blockchain until the next scheduled adjustment in difficulty for block solutions) and make the Bitcoin network more vulnerable to a malicious actor obtaining control in excess of fifty percent (50%) of the aggregate hashrate on the Bitcoin network. Periodically, the Bitcoin network has adjusted the difficulty for block solutions so that solution speeds remain in the vicinity of the expected ten (10) minute confirmation time targeted by the Bitcoin network protocol.

Marathon believes that from time to time there will be further considerations and adjustments to the Bitcoin network, and others regarding the difficulty for block solutions. More significant reductions in aggregate hashrate on digital asset networks could result in material, though temporary, delays in block solution confirmation time. Any reduction in confidence in the confirmation process or aggregate hashrate of any digital asset network may negatively impact the value of digital assets, which will adversely impact an investment in us.

To the extent that the profit margins of digital asset mining operations are not high, operators of digital asset mining operations are more likely to immediately sell their digital assets earned by mining in the digital asset exchange market, resulting in a reduction in the price of digital assets that could adversely impact an investment in us.

Over the past two years, digital asset mining operations have evolved from individual users mining with computer processors, graphics processing units and first-generation mining rigs. Currently, new processing power brought onto the digital asset networks is predominantly added by incorporated and unincorporated “professionalized” mining operations. Professionalized mining operations may use proprietary hardware or sophisticated machines. They require the investment of significant capital for the acquisition of this hardware, the leasing of operating space (often in data centers or warehousing facilities), incurring of electricity costs and the employment of technicians to operate the mining farms. As a result, professionalized mining operations are of a greater scale than prior miners and have more defined, regular expenses and liabilities. These regular expenses and liabilities require professionalized mining operations to more immediately sell digital assets earned from mining operations on the digital asset exchange market, whereas it is believed that individual miners in past years were more likely to hold newly mined digital assets for more extended periods. The immediate selling of newly mined digital assets greatly increases the supply of digital assets on the digital asset exchange market, creating downward pressure on the price of each digital asset.

The extent to which the value of digital assets mined by a professionalized mining operation exceeds the allocable capital and operating costs determines the profit margin of such operation. A professionalized mining operation may be more likely to sell a higher percentage of its newly mined digital assets rapidly if it is operating at a low profit margin—and it may partially or completely cease operations if its profit margin is negative. In a low profit margin environment, a higher percentage could be sold into the digital asset exchange market more rapidly, thereby potentially reducing digital asset prices. Lower digital asset prices could result in further tightening of profit margins, particularly for professionalized mining operations with higher costs and more limited capital reserves, creating a network effect that may further reduce the price of digital assets until mining operations with higher operating costs become unprofitable and remove mining power from the respective digital asset network. The network effect of reduced profit margins resulting in greater sales of newly mined digital assets could result in a reduction in the price of digital assets that could adversely impact an investment in us.

To the extent that any miners cease to record transactions in solved blocks, transactions that do not include the payment of a transaction fee will not be recorded on the blockchain until a block is solved by a miner who does not require the payment of transaction fees. Any widespread delays in the recording of transactions could result in a loss of confidence in that digital asset network, which could adversely impact an investment in us.

To the extent that any miners cease to record transaction in solved blocks, such transactions will not be recorded on the blockchain. Currently, there are no known incentives for miners to elect to exclude the recording of transactions in solved blocks; however, to the extent that any such incentives arise (e.g., a collective movement among miners or one or more mining pools forcing bitcoin users to pay transaction fees as a substitute for or in addition to the award of new bitcoins upon the solving of a block), actions of miners solving a significant number of blocks could delay the recording and confirmation of transactions on the blockchain. Any systemic delays in the recording and confirmation of transactions on the blockchain could result in greater exposure to double-spending transactions and a loss of confidence in certain or all digital asset networks, which could adversely impact an investment in us.

The acceptance of digital asset network software patches or upgrades by a significant, but not overwhelming, percentage of the users and miners in any digital asset network could result in a “fork” in the respective blockchain, resulting in the operation of two separate networks until such time as the forked blockchains are merged. The temporary or permanent existence of forked blockchains could adversely impact an investment in us.

Digital asset networks are open source projects and, although there is an influential group of leaders in, for example, the Bitcoin network community known as the “Core Developers,” there is no official developer or group of developers that formally controls the Bitcoin network. Any individual can download the Bitcoin network software and make any desired modifications, which are proposed to users and miners on the Bitcoin network through software downloads and upgrades, typically posted to the Bitcoin development forum on GitHub.com. A substantial majority of miners and Bitcoin users must consent to those software modifications by downloading the altered software or upgrade that implements the changes; otherwise, the changes do not become a part of the Bitcoin network. Since the Bitcoin network’s inception, changes to the Bitcoin network have been accepted by the vast majority of users and miners, ensuring that the Bitcoin network remains a coherent economic system; however, a developer or group of developers could potentially propose a modification to the Bitcoin network that is not accepted by a vast majority of miners and users, but that is nonetheless accepted by a substantial population of participants in the Bitcoin network. In such a case, and if the modification is material and/or not backwards compatible with the prior version of Bitcoin network software, a fork in the blockchain could develop and two separate Bitcoin networks could result, one running the pre-modification software program and the other running the modified version (i.e., a second “Bitcoin” network). Such a fork in the blockchain typically would be addressed by community-led efforts to merge the forked blockchains, and several prior forks have been so merged. This kind of split in the Bitcoin network could materially and adversely impact an investment in us and, in the worst-case scenario, harm the sustainability of the Bitcoin network’s economy.

Intellectual property rights claims may adversely affect the operation of some or all digital asset networks.

Third parties may assert intellectual property claims relating to the holding and transfer of digital assets and their source code. Regardless of the merit of any intellectual property or other legal action, any threatened action that reduces confidence in some or all digital asset networks’ long-term viability or the ability of end-users to hold and transfer digital assets may adversely affect an investment in us. Additionally, a meritorious intellectual property claim could prevent us and other end-users from accessing some or all digital asset networks or holding or transferring their digital assets. As a result, an intellectual property claim against us or other large digital asset network participants could adversely affect an investment in us.

Political or economic crises may motivate large-scale sales of digital assets, which could result in a reduction in some or all digital assets’ values and adversely affect an investment in us.

As an alternative to fiat currencies that are backed by central governments, digital assets such as bitcoins, which are relatively new, are subject to supply and demand forces based upon the desirability of an alternative, decentralized means of buying and selling goods and services, and it is unclear how such supply and demand will be impacted by geopolitical events. Nevertheless, political or economic crises may motivate large-scale acquisitions or sales of digital assets either globally or locally. Large-scale sales of digital assets would result in a reduction in their value and could adversely affect an investment in us.

Our ability to adopt technology in response to changing security needs or trends and reliance on third party, NYDIG, for custody poses a challenge to the safekeeping of our digital assets.

The history of digital asset exchanges has shown that exchanges and large holders of digital assets must adapt to technological change in order to secure and safeguard their digital assets. We rely on NYDIG’s 100% cold storage custody solution held in a purpose-built physically-secure environment based on established, industry best practices to safeguard our digital assets from theft, loss, destruction or other issues relating to hackers and technological attack. We believe that it may become a more appealing target of security threats as the size of our bitcoin holdings grow. To the extent that either NYDIG or we are unable to identify and mitigate or stop new security threats, our digital assets may be subject to theft, loss, destruction or other attack, which could adversely affect an investment in us. To the extent that NYDIG is no longer, due to the current banking crisis, able to safeguard our assets, we would be at risk of loss if safeguarding protocols fail.

Security threats to us could result in, a loss of our digital assets, or damage to the reputation and our brand, each of which could adversely affect an investment in us.

Security breaches, computer malware and computer hacking attacks have been a prevalent concern in the digital asset exchange markets, for example since the launch of the Bitcoin network. Any security breach caused by hacking, which involves efforts to gain unauthorized access to information or systems, or to cause intentional malfunctions or loss or corruption of data, software, hardware or other computer equipment, and the inadvertent transmission of computer viruses, could harm our business operations or result in loss of our digital assets. Any breach of our infrastructure could result in damage to our reputation which could adversely affect an investment in us. Furthermore, we believe that, as our assets grow, it may become a more appealing target for security threats such as hackers and malware.

We rely on NYDIG’s 100% cold storage custody solution held in a purpose-built physically-secure environment based on established, industry best practices to safeguard our digital assets from theft, loss, destruction or other issues relating to hackers and technological attack. Nevertheless, NYDIG’s security system may not be impenetrable and may not be free from defect or immune to acts of God, and any loss due to a security breach, software defect or act of God will be borne by the Company.

The security system and operational infrastructure may be breached due to the actions of outside parties, error or malfeasance of an employee of ours, or otherwise, and, as a result, an unauthorized party may obtain access to our, private keys, data or bitcoins. Additionally, outside parties may attempt to fraudulently induce employees of ours to disclose sensitive information in order to gain access to our infrastructure. As the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems change frequently, or may be designed to remain dormant until a predetermined event and often are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. If an actual or perceived breach of our security system occurs, the market perception of the effectiveness of our security system could be harmed, which could adversely affect an investment in us.

In the event of a security breach, we may be forced to cease operations, or suffer a reduction in assets, the occurrence of each of which could adversely affect an investment in us.

A loss of confidence in our security system, or a breach of our security system, may adversely affect us and the value of an investment in us.

We will take measures to protect us and our digital assets from unauthorized access, damage or theft; however, it is possible that the security system may not prevent the improper access to, or damage or theft of our digital assets. A security breach could harm our reputation or result in the loss of some or all of our digital assets. A resulting perception that our measures do not adequately protect our digital assets could result in a loss of current or potential shareholders, reducing demand for our Common Stock and causing our shares to decrease in value.

Digital asset transactions are irrevocable and stolen or incorrectly transferred digital assets may be irretrievable. As a result, any incorrectly executed digital asset transactions could adversely affect an investment in us.

Digital asset transactions are not, from an administrative perspective, reversible without the consent and active participation of the recipient of the transaction or, in theory, control or consent of a majority of the processing power on the respective digital asset network. Once a transaction has been verified and recorded in a block that is added to the blockchain, an incorrect transfer of digital assets or a theft of digital assets generally will not be reversible, and we may not be capable of seeking compensation for any such transfer or theft. Although our transfers of digital assets will regularly be made to or from vendors, consultants, services providers, etc. it is possible that, through computer or human error, or through theft or criminal action, our digital assets could be transferred from us in incorrect amounts or to unauthorized third parties. To the extent that we are unable to seek a corrective transaction with such third party or are incapable of identifying the third party which has received our digital assets through error or theft, we will be unable to revert or otherwise recover incorrectly transferred Company digital assets. To the extent that we are unable to seek redress for such error or theft, such loss could adversely affect an investment in us.

The limited rights of legal recourse against us, and our lack of insurance protection expose us and our shareholders to the risk of loss of our digital assets for which no person is liable.

The digital assets held by us are not insured. Therefore, a loss may be suffered with respect to our digital assets which is not covered by insurance and for which no person is liable in damages which could adversely affect our operations and, consequently, an investment in us.

We may not have adequate sources of recovery if our digital assets are lost, stolen or destroyed.

If our digital assets are lost, stolen or destroyed under circumstances rendering a party liable to us, the responsible party may not have the financial resources sufficient to satisfy our claim. For example, as to a particular event of loss, the only source of recovery for us might be limited to the extent identifiable, other responsible third parties (e.g., a thief or terrorist), any of which may not have the financial resources (including liability insurance coverage) to satisfy a valid claim of ours. Furthermore, bitcoin is not subject to FDIC or SIPC protection so the protection afforded to depositors at banking institutions.

The sale of our digital assets to pay expenses at a time of low digital asset prices could adversely affect an investment in us.

We may sell our digital assets to pay expenses on an as-needed basis, irrespective of then-current prices. Consequently, our digital assets may be sold at a time when the prices on the respective digital asset exchange market are low, which could adversely affect an investment in us.

Regulatory changes or actions may restrict the use of bitcoins or the operation of the Bitcoin network in a manner that adversely affects an investment in us.

Until recently, little or no regulatory attention has been directed toward bitcoin and the Bitcoin network by U.S. federal and state governments, foreign governments and self-regulatory agencies. As bitcoin has grown in popularity and in market size, the Federal Reserve Board, U.S. Congress and certain U.S. agencies (e.g., the CFTC, the Commission, FinCEN and the Federal Bureau of Investigation) have begun to examine the operations of the Bitcoin network, bitcoin users and the bitcoin exchange market.

Digital assets currently face an uncertain regulatory landscape in not only the United States but also in many foreign jurisdictions such as the European Union, China and Russia. While certain governments such as Germany, where the Ministry of Finance has declared bitcoin to be “Rechnungseinheiten” (a form of private money that is recognized as a unit of account, but not recognized in the same manner as fiat currency), have issued guidance as to how to treat bitcoin, most regulatory bodies have not yet issued official statements regarding intention to regulate or determinations on regulation of bitcoin, the Bitcoin network and bitcoin users.

The effect of any future regulatory change on us, bitcoins, or other digital assets is impossible to predict, but such change could be substantial and adverse to us and could adversely affect an investment in us.

It may be illegal now, or in the future, to acquire, own, hold, sell or use digital assets in one or more countries, and ownership of, holding or trading in our securities may also be considered illegal and subject to sanction.

Although currently digital assets are not regulated or are lightly regulated in most countries, including the United States, one or more countries such as China and Russia may take regulatory actions in the future that severely restricts the right to acquire, own, hold, sell or use digital assets or to exchange digital assets for fiat currency. Such an action may also result in the restriction of ownership, holding or trading in our securities. Such restrictions may adversely affect an investment in us.

If regulatory changes or interpretations of our activities require our registration as a money services business (“MSB”) under the regulations promulgated by FinCEN under the authority of the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act, we may be required to register and comply with such regulations. If regulatory changes or interpretations of our activities require the licensing or other registration of us as a money transmitter (or equivalent designation) under state law in any state in which we operate, we may be required to seek licensure or otherwise register and comply with such state law. In the event of any such requirement, to the extent Marathon decides to continue, the required registrations, licensure and regulatory compliance steps may result in extraordinary, non-recurring expenses to us. We may also decide to cease Marathon’s operations. Any termination of certain Company operations in response to the changed regulatory circumstances may be at a time that is disadvantageous to investors.

To the extent that the activities of Marathon cause it to be deemed an MSB under the regulations promulgated by FinCEN under the authority of the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act, Marathon may be required to comply with FinCEN regulations, including those that would mandate Marathon to implement anti-money laundering programs, make certain reports to FinCEN and maintain certain records.

To the extent that the activities of Marathon cause it to be deemed a “money transmitter” (“MT”) or equivalent designation, under state law in any state in which Marathon operates, Marathon may be required to seek a license or otherwise register with a state regulator and comply with state regulations that may include the implementation of anti-money laundering programs, maintenance of certain records and other operational requirements. Currently, the NYSDFS has finalized its “BitLicense” framework for businesses that conduct “virtual currency business activity,” the Conference of State Bank Supervisors has proposed a model form of state level “virtual currency” regulation and additional state regulators including those from California, Idaho, Virginia, Kansas, Texas, South Dakota and Washington have made public statements indicating that virtual currency businesses may be required to seek licenses as money transmitters. In July 2016, North Carolina updated the law to define “virtual currency” and the activities that trigger licensure in a business-friendly approach that encourages companies to use virtual currency and blockchain technology. Specifically, the North Carolina law does not require miners or software providers to obtain a license for multi-signature software, smart contract platforms, smart property, colored coins and non-hosted, non-custodial wallets. Starting January 1, 2016, New Hampshire requires anyone who exchanges a digital asset for another currency must become a licensed and bonded money transmitter. In numerous other states, including Connecticut and New Jersey, legislation is being proposed or has been introduced regarding the treatment of bitcoin and other digital assets. Marathon will continue to monitor for developments in such legislation, guidance or regulations.

Such additional federal or state regulatory obligations may cause Marathon to incur extraordinary expenses, possibly affecting an investment in the Shares in a material and adverse manner. Furthermore, Marathon and its service providers may not be capable of complying with certain federal or state regulatory obligations applicable to MSBs and MTs. If Marathon is deemed to be subject to and determines not to comply with such additional regulatory and registration requirements, we may act to dissolve and liquidate Marathon. Any such action may adversely affect an investment in us.

Current interpretations require the regulation of bitcoins under the CEA by the CFTC, we may be required to register and comply with such regulations. To the extent that we decide to continue operations, the required registrations and regulatory compliance steps may result in extraordinary, non-recurring expenses to us. We may also decide to cease certain operations. Any disruption of our operations in response to the changed regulatory circumstances may be at a time that is disadvantageous to investors.

Current and future legislation, CFTC and other regulatory developments, including interpretations released by a regulatory authority, may impact the manner in which bitcoins are treated for classification and clearing purposes. In particular, bitcoin derivatives are not excluded from the definition of “commodity future” by the CFTC. We cannot be certain as to how future regulatory developments will impact the treatment of bitcoins under the law.

Bitcoins have been deemed to fall within the definition of a commodity and, we may be required to register and comply with additional regulation under the CEA, including additional periodic report and disclosure standards and requirements. Moreover, we may be required to register as a commodity pool operator and to register us as a commodity pool with the CFTC through the National Futures Association. Such additional registrations may result in extraordinary, non-recurring expenses, thereby materially and adversely impacting an investment in us. If we determine not to comply with such additional regulatory and registration requirements, we may seek to cease certain of our operations. Any such action may adversely affect an investment in us. No CFTC orders or rulings are applicable to our business.

If regulatory changes or interpretations require the regulation of bitcoins under the Securities Act and Investment Company Act by the Commission, we may be required to register and comply with such regulations. To the extent that we decide to continue operations, the required registrations and regulatory compliance steps may result in extraordinary, non-recurring expenses to us. We may also decide to cease certain operations. Any disruption of our operations in response to the changed regulatory circumstances may be at a time that is disadvantageous to investors. This would likely have a material adverse effect on us and investors may lose their investment.

Current and future legislation and the Commission rulemaking and other regulatory developments, including interpretations released by a regulatory authority, may impact the manner in which bitcoins are treated for classification and clearing purposes. The Commission’s July 25, 2017 Report expressed its view that digital assets may be securities depending on the facts and circumstances. As of the date of this prospectus, we are not aware of any rules that have been proposed to regulate bitcoins as securities. We cannot be certain as to how future regulatory developments will impact the treatment of bitcoins under the law. Such additional registrations may result in extraordinary, non-recurring expenses, thereby materially and adversely impacting an investment in us. If we determine not to comply with such additional regulatory and registration requirements, we may seek to cease certain of our operations. Any such action may adversely affect an investment in us.

To the extent that digital assets including bitcoins and other digital assets we may own are deemed by the Commission to fall within the definition of a security, we may be required to register and comply with additional regulation under the 1940 Act, including additional periodic reporting and disclosure standards and requirements and the registration of our Company as an investment company. Additionally, one or more states may conclude bitcoins and other digital assets we may own are a security under state securities laws which would require registration under state laws including merit review laws which would adversely impact us since we would likely not comply. As stated earlier in this prospectus, some states including California define the term “investment contract” more strictly than the Commission. Such additional registrations may result in extraordinary, non-recurring expenses of our Company, thereby materially and adversely impacting an investment in our Company. If we determine not to comply with such additional regulatory and registration requirements, we may seek to cease all or certain parts of our operations. Any such action would likely adversely affect an investment in us and investors may suffer a complete loss of their investment.

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

Current IRS 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 bitcoin passes from one person to another, usually by means of bitcoin transactions (including off-blockchain transactions), it preserves the right to apply capital gains treatment to those transactions which may adversely affect an investment in our Company.

The loss or destruction of a private key required to access a digital asset may be irreversible. Our loss of access to our private keys or our experience of a data loss relating to our Company’s digital assets could adversely affect an investment in our Company.

Digital assets are controllable only by the possessor of both the unique public key and private key relating to the local or online digital wallet in which the digital assets are held. We are required by the operation of digital asset networks to publish the public key relating to a digital wallet in use by us when it first verifies a spending transaction from that digital wallet and disseminates such information into the respective network. We safeguard and keep private the private keys relating to our digital assets by relying on NYDIG’s 100% cold storage custody solution held in a purpose-built physically-secure environment based on established, industry best practices to safeguard our digital assets from theft, loss, destruction or other issues relating to hackers and technological attack; to the extent a private key is lost, destroyed or otherwise compromised and no backup of the private key is accessible, we will be unable to access the digital assets held by it and the private key will not be capable of being restored by the respective digital asset network. Any loss of private keys relating to digital wallets used to store our digital assets could adversely affect an investment in us.

If the award of digital assets for solving blocks and transaction fees for recording transactions are not sufficiently high to cover expenses related to running data center operations, it may have adverse effects on an investment in us.

If the award of new digital assets for solving blocks declines and transaction fees are not sufficiently high, we may not have an adequate incentive to continue our mining operations, which may adversely impact an investment in us.

As the number of digital assets awarded for solving a block in the blockchain decreases, the incentive for miners to continue to contribute processing power to the respective digital asset network will transition from a set reward to transaction fees. Either the requirement from miners of higher transaction fees in exchange for recording transactions in the blockchain or a software upgrade that automatically charges fees for all transactions may decrease demand for digital assets and prevent the expansion of the digital asset networks to retail merchants and commercial businesses, resulting in a reduction in the price of digital assets that could adversely impact an investment in us.

In order to incentivize miners to continue to contribute processing power to any digital asset network, such network may either formally or informally transition from a set reward to transaction fees earned upon solving for a block. This transition could be accomplished either by miners independently electing to record in the blocks they solve only those transactions that include payment of a transaction fee or by the digital asset network adopting software upgrades that require the payment of a minimum transaction fee for all transactions. If transaction fees paid for digital asset transactions become too high, the marketplace may be reluctant to accept digital assets as a means of payment and existing users may be motivated to switch from one digital asset to another digital asset or back to fiat currency. Decreased use and demand for bitcoins that we have accumulated may adversely affect their value and may adversely impact an investment in us.

Fluctuations in the price of bitcoin may significantly influence the market price of our bitcoin holdings and therefore the price of our class A common stock

To the extent investors view the value of our class A common stock as linked to the value or change in the value of our bitcoin, fluctuations in the price of bitcoin may significantly influence the market price of our class A common stock.

Our bitcoin holdings could subject us to regulatory scrutiny

As noted above, several bitcoin investment vehicles have attempted to list their shares on a U.S. national securities exchange to permit them to function in the manner of an ETF with continuous share creation and redemption at NAV. To date the SEC has declined to approve any such listing, citing concerns over the surveillance of trading in markets for the underlying bitcoin as well as concerns about fraud and manipulation in bitcoin trading markets. Even though we do not function in the manner of an ETF and do not offer continuous share creation and redemption at NAV, it is possible that we nevertheless could face regulatory scrutiny from the SEC, as a company with securities traded on The Nasdaq Capital Market.

In addition, as digital assets, including bitcoin, have grown in popularity and market size, there has been increasing focus on the extent to which digital assets can be used to launder the proceeds of illegal activities or fund criminal or terrorist activities, or entities subject to sanctions regimes. While we have implemented and maintain policies and procedures reasonably designed to promote compliance with applicable anti-money laundering and sanctions laws and regulations and take care to only acquire our bitcoin through entities subject to anti money laundering regulation and related compliance rules in the United States, if we are found to have purchased any of our bitcoin from bad actors that have used bitcoin to launder money or persons subject to sanctions, we may be subject to regulatory proceedings and further transactions or dealings in bitcoin may be restricted or prohibited.

Due to the unregulated nature and lack of transparency surrounding the operations of many bitcoin trading venues, they may experience fraud, security failures or operational problems, which may adversely affect the value of our bitcoin

Bitcoin trading venues are relatively new and, in some cases, unregulated. Furthermore, there are many bitcoin trading venues which do not provide the public with significant information regarding their ownership structure, management teams, corporate practices and regulatory compliance. As a result, the marketplace may lose confidence in bitcoin trading venues, including prominent exchanges that handle a significant volume of bitcoin trading.

Negative perception, a lack of stability in the broader bitcoin markets and the closure or temporary shutdown of bitcoin trading venues due to fraud, business failure, hackers or malware, or government-mandated regulation may reduce confidence in bitcoin and result in greater volatility in the prices of bitcoin. To the extent investors view our common stock as linked to the value of our bitcoin holdings, these potential consequences of a bitcoin trading venue’s failure could have a material adverse effect on the market value of our common stock.

The price of bitcoin may be influenced by regulatory, commercial, and technical factors that are highly uncertain

Bitcoin and other digital assets are relatively novel and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that may adversely impact their price. For example, the application of securities laws and other regulations to such assets is unclear in certain respects, and it is possible that regulators in the United States or foreign countries may create new regulations or interpret laws in a manner that adversely affects the price of bitcoin. The growth of the digital assets industry in general, and the use and acceptance of bitcoin in particular, may also impact the price of bitcoin and is subject to a high degree of uncertainty. The pace of worldwide growth in the adoption and use of bitcoin may depend, for instance, on public familiarity with digital assets, ease of buying and accessing bitcoin, institutional demand for bitcoin as an investment asset, consumer demand for bitcoin as a means of payment, and the availability and popularity of alternatives to bitcoin. Even if growth in bitcoin adoption occurs in the near or medium-term, there is no assurance that bitcoin usage will continue to grow over the long-term. Because bitcoin has no physical existence beyond the record of transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain, a variety of technical factors related to the Bitcoin blockchain could also impact the price of bitcoin. For example, malicious attacks by “miners” who validate bitcoin transactions, inadequate mining fees to incentivize validating of bitcoin transactions, hard “forks” of the Bitcoin blockchain into multiple blockchains, and advances in quantum computing could undercut the integrity of the Bitcoin blockchain and negatively affect the price of bitcoin. The liquidity of bitcoin may also be reduced and damage to the public perception of bitcoin may occur, if financial institutions were to deny banking services to businesses that hold bitcoin, provide bitcoin-related services or accept bitcoin as payment, which could also decrease the price of bitcoin.

We are subject to an extensive, highly evolving and uncertain regulatory and business landscape and any adverse changes to, or our failure to comply with, any laws and regulations, and adverse business reactions from counterparties could adversely affect our brand, reputation, business, operating results, and financial condition.

Our business is subject to extensive laws, rules, regulations, policies, orders, determinations, directives, treaties, and legal and regulatory interpretations and guidance, as well as counterparty risk in the markets in which we operate, including regulatory aspects from financial services, federal energy and other regulators, the SEC, the CFTC, credit, crypto asset custody, exchange, and transfer, cross-border and domestic money and crypto asset transmission, consumer and commercial lending, usury, foreign currency exchange, privacy, data governance, data protection, cybersecurity, fraud detection, antitrust and competition, bankruptcy, tax, anti-bribery, economic and trade sanctions, anti-money laundering, and counter-terrorist financing, as well as the same regulatory risks applicable to counterparties, most notably hosting businesses, as well as the recent economic issues and bankruptcies befalling some in this industry. Many of these legal and regulatory regimes were adopted prior to the advent of the internet, mobile technologies, crypto assets, and related technologies. As a result, some applicable laws and regulations do not contemplate or address unique issues associated with the crypto economy, are subject to significant uncertainty, and vary widely across U.S. federal, state, and local and international jurisdictions. These legal and regulatory regimes, including the laws, rules, and regulations thereunder, evolve frequently and may be modified, interpreted, and applied in an inconsistent manner from one jurisdiction to another, and may conflict with one another. Moreover, the complexity and evolving nature of our business and the significant uncertainty surrounding the regulation of the crypto economy requires us to exercise our judgment as to whether certain laws, rules, and regulations apply to us, and it is possible that governmental bodies and regulators may disagree with our conclusions. To the extent we have not complied with such laws, rules, and regulations, we could be subject to significant fines, revocation of licenses, limitations on our products and services, reputational harm, and other regulatory consequences, each of which may be significant and could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.

Additionally, various governmental and regulatory bodies, including legislative and executive bodies, in the United States and in other countries may adopt new laws and regulations, the direction and timing of which may be influenced by changes in the governing administrations and major events in the crypto economy. For example, following the failure of several prominent crypto trading venues and lending platforms, such as FTX, Celsius Networks, Voyager and Three Arrows Capital in 2022 (even though these do not directly affect our business), the U.S. Congress expressed the need for both greater federal oversight of the crypto economy and comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation. In the near future, various governmental and regulatory bodies, including in the United States, may introduce new policies, laws, and regulations relating to crypto assets and the crypto economy generally, and crypto asset platforms in particular. The failures of risk management and other control functions at other companies that played a role in these events could accelerate an existing regulatory trend toward stricter oversight of crypto asset platforms and the crypto economy.

Due to our business activities, we may be subject to ongoing examinations, oversight, and reviews and currently are, and expect in the future, to be subject to investigations and inquiries, by U.S. federal and state regulators, many of which have broad discretion to audit and examine our business. Moreover, new laws, regulations, or interpretations may result in additional litigation, regulatory investigations, and enforcement or other actions, including preventing or delaying us from offering certain products or services offered by our competitors or could impact how we offer such products and services. Adverse changes to, or our failure to comply with, any laws and regulations have had, and may continue to have, an adverse effect on our reputation and brand and our business, operating results, and financial condition.

We may have further restrictions on our liquidity due to unique risks which we could face in 2023.

The risks to our liquidity outlook would include the following:

If we or our third-party service providers experience a security breach or cyberattack and unauthorized parties obtain access to our bitcoin, we may lose some or all of our bitcoin and our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected

Security breaches and cyberattacks are of particular concern with respect to our bitcoin. Bitcoin and other blockchain-based digital assets have been, and may in the future be, subject to security breaches, cyberattacks, or other malicious activities. A successful security breach or cyberattack could result in a partial or total loss of our bitcoin in a manner that may not be covered by insurance or indemnity provisions of the custody agreement with a custodian who holds our bitcoin. Such a loss could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Variability in intellectual property laws may adversely affect our intellectual property position.

Intellectual property laws, and patent laws and regulations in particular, have been subject to significant variability either through administrative or legislative changes to such laws or regulations or changes or differences in judicial interpretation, and it is expected that such variability will continue to occur. Additionally, intellectual property laws and regulations differ among states, and countries. Variations in the patent laws and regulations or in interpretations of patent laws and regulations in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our intellectual property and may change the impact of third-party intellectual property on us. Accordingly, we cannot predict the scope of patents that may be granted to us, the extent to which we will be able to enforce our patents against third parties, or the extent to which third parties may be able to enforce their patents against us.

We may seek to internally develop additional new inventions and intellectual property, which would take time and be costly. Moreover, the failure to obtain or maintain intellectual property rights for such inventions would lead to the loss of our investments in such activities.

We may in the future seek to engage in commercial business ventures or seek internal development of new inventions or intellectual property. These activities would require significant amounts of financial, managerial and other resources and would take time to achieve. Such activities could also distract our management team from its present business initiatives, which could have a material and adverse effect on our business. There is also the risk that such initiatives may not yield any viable new business or revenue, inventions or technology, which would lead to a loss of our investment in such activities.

In addition, even if we are able to internally develop new inventions, in order for those inventions to be viable and to compete effectively, we would need to develop and maintain, and we would be heavily reliant upon, a proprietary position with respect to such inventions and intellectual property. However, there are significant risks associated with any such intellectual property we may develop principally including the following:

We cannot be certain that patents will be issued as a result of any future patent applications, or that any of our patents, once issued, will provide us with adequate protection from competing products. For example, issued patents may be circumvented or challenged, declared invalid or unenforceable or narrowed in scope. In addition, since publication of discoveries in scientific or patent literature often lags behind actual discoveries, we cannot be certain that we will be the first to make our additional new inventions or to file patent applications covering those inventions. It is also possible that others may have or may obtain issued patents that could prevent us from commercializing our products or require us to obtain licenses requiring the payment of significant fees or royalties in order to enable us to conduct our business. As to those patents that we may acquire, our continued rights will depend on meeting any obligations to the seller and we may be unable to do so. Our failure to obtain or maintain intellectual property rights for our inventions would lead to the loss of our investments in such activities, which would have a material adverse effect on us.

Moreover, patent application delays could cause delays in recognizing revenue from our internally generated patents and could cause us to miss opportunities to license patents before other competing technologies are developed or introduced into the market. We are not actively pursuing any commercialization opportunities or internally generated patents.

We are highly dependent on the continued services of our small team of executives.

We are dependent upon the efforts and services of our small executive team. While we have a preliminary plan for succession of certain key executive, the loss of any one of our key executives could have an adverse effect on our operations.

We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and may identify additional material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, which may result in material misstatements of our financial statements or cause us to fail to meet our periodic reporting obligations.

We are required to comply with certain provisions of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Section 404 requires that we document and test our internal control over financial reporting and issue management’s assessment of our internal control over financial reporting. Management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022. In making this assessment, we used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control — Integrated Framework. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Based on our assessment, as of December 31, 2022, we concluded that our internal control over financial reporting contained material weaknesses. To remediate these material weaknesses, our management has been implementing and continues to implement measures designed to ensure that control deficiencies contributing to the material weakness are remediated, such that these controls are designed, implemented, and operating effectively.

We believe that these actions will remediate the material weakness. However, the remediation cannot be deemed successful until the applicable controls operate for a sufficient period of time and our management has concluded, through testing, that these controls are operating effectively. If we fail to comply with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the accuracy and timeliness of the filing of our annual and quarterly reports may be materially adversely affected and could cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our common stock. In addition, a material weakness in the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting could result in an increased chance of fraud and the loss of customers, reduce our ability to obtain financing and require additional expenditures to comply with these requirements, each of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We have unresolved SEC Staff Comments.

As stated in Item 1B of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we have unresolved SEC Staff Comments. While we have restated our financial statements based on comments received to date, these comments remain unresolved and are subject to further review and comment by the Staff. We believe we have addressed all of the Staff concerns; however, until the Staff has completed its review, we have no assurance that unresolved comments, or additional comments from the Staff, will not result in the need for additional restatements of our previously-issued financial statements. This is not a likely result, in our view, but if this were the case, we could be subject to a further restatement.

We rely on third party hosting, which, among other things, often requires us to give the hosting company, a first lien on the mining rigs installed on the site and creates business risk for us.

We do not self-host our mining rigs and rely upon third party hosting facilities to power our mining rigs. We are dependent upon the financial viability of our hosting parties, and in 2022, several large publicly traded hosting companies have met with severe financial issues, including bankruptcies. Furthermore, in most hosting contracts, there is a requirement that the miner agree to permit the hosting company to place a lien on the actual mining machines being hosted. If the hosting company files for bankruptcy, it may take months for the liens to be lifted, while the bankruptcy court and parties litigate these contracts and resolves issues as to ownership of assets and related areas. In these contracts, we also are often required to make significant deposits against future mining fees. If the hosting party utilizes the deposits, we could risk loss of the deposits and be left with an unsecured claim in the bankruptcy. Lastly, as the bankruptcy process includes an automatic stay in favor of the debtor company, until the stay is lifted or a bankruptcy plan approved, we may not be able to move our mining rigs to a different location, even if the debtor rejects our hosting contract.

Bitcoin prices are very volatile and this may affect our ability to effectively manage growth plans and our profitability.

The price of bitcoin is extremely volatile and in fiscal 2022 was in a range between approximately $15,600 and $48,100. The cost to mine a bitcoin is independent of the then current price of bitcoin, so when prices are low, the cost per coin to mine may consume much of our available cash which means that there is less capital with which to invest in future company growth. Similarly, when prices are low, our profitability is decreased on a dollar for dollar basis correlated to the then price of bitcoin. Given the volatility of bitcoin, these factors render us unable to accurately predict in advance what our growth plans may be and accurately forecast any revenue and profitability projections for any reporting period.

We have commenced doing business overseas, and different countries have differing degrees of political, legal and fiscal stability. This exposes us to a wide range of political developments that could result in changes to contractual terms, laws and regulations. In addition, we and our joint arrangements and associates face the risk of litigation and disputes worldwide.

Developments in politics, laws and regulations can and do affect our operations. Potential impacts include: forced divestment of assets; expropriation of property; cancellation or forced renegotiation of contract rights; additional taxes including windfall taxes, restrictions on deductions and retroactive tax claims; antitrust claims; changes to trade compliance regulations; price controls; local content requirements; foreign exchange controls; changes to environmental regulations; changes to regulatory interpretations and enforcement; and changes to disclosure requirements. Any of these, individually or in aggregate, could have a material adverse effect on our earnings, cash flows and financial condition.

From time to time, social and political factors play a role in unprecedented and unanticipated judicial outcomes that could adversely affect us. Non-compliance with policies and regulations could result in regulatory investigations, litigation and, ultimately, sanctions. Certain governments and regulatory bodies have, in our opinion, exceeded their constitutional authority by: attempting unilaterally to amend or cancel existing agreements or arrangements; failing to honour existing contractual commitments; and seeking to adjudicate disputes between private litigants. Additionally, certain governments have adopted laws and regulations that could potentially force us to violate other countries’ laws and regulations, therefore potentially subjecting us to both criminal and civil sanctions. Such developments and outcomes could have a material adverse effect on our earnings, cash flows and financial condition.

Our future success depends on our ability to expand our organization to match the growth of our activities.

As our operations grow, the administrative demands and scaling demands upon us will grow, and our success will depend upon our ability to meet those demands. Both the parent company and each of our subsidiaries require certain financial, managerial and other resources, which could create challenges to our ability to successfully manage our subsidiaries and operations and impact our ability to assure compliance with our policies, practices and procedures. These demands include, but are not limited to, increased executive, accounting, management, legal services, staff support and general office services. We may need to hire additional qualified personnel to meet these demands, the cost and quality of which is dependent in part upon market factors outside of our control. Further, we will need to effectively manage the training and growth of our staff to maintain an efficient and effective workforce, and our failure to do so could adversely affect our business and operating results. Currently, we have limited personnel in our organization to meet our organizational and administrative demands.

Risks Relating to Marathon’s Stock

Exercise or conversion of warrants and other convertible securities will dilute shareholder’s percentage of ownership.

We have issued convertible securities, options and warrants to purchase shares of our Common Stock to our officers, directors, consultants and certain shareholders. In the future, we may grant additional options, warrants and convertible securities. The exercise, conversion or exchange of options, warrants or convertible securities, including for other securities, will dilute the percentage ownership of our shareholders. The dilutive effect of the exercise or conversion of these securities may adversely affect our ability to obtain additional capital. The holders of these securities may be expected to exercise or convert such options, warrants and convertible securities at a time when we would be able to obtain additional equity capital on terms more favorable than such securities or when our Common Stock is trading at a price higher than the exercise or conversion price of the securities. The exercise or conversion of outstanding warrants, options and convertible securities will have a dilutive effect on the securities held by our shareholders. We have in the past, and may in the future, exchange outstanding securities for other securities on terms that are dilutive to the securities held by other shareholders not participating in such exchange.

Our Common Stock may be delisted from The Nasdaq Capital Market (“Nasdaq”) if we fail to comply with continued listing standards.

Our Common Stock is currently traded on Nasdaq under the symbol “MARA”. If we fail to meet any of the continued listing standards of Nasdaq, our Common Stock could be delisted from Nasdaq. The continued listing standards include specifically enumerated criteria, such as:

Our stock price is volatile.

The market price of our Common Stock is likely to be highly volatile and could fluctuate widely in price in response to various factors, many of which are beyond our control, including the following:

In addition, the securities markets have from time to time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that are unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These market fluctuations may also materially and adversely affect the market price of our Common 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 Financial Accounting Standards Board 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 investors.

We have never paid nor do we expect in the near future to pay cash dividends.

We have never paid cash dividends on our capital stock and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our Common Stock for the foreseeable future. While it is possible that we may declare a dividend after a large settlement, investors should not rely on such a possibility, nor should they rely on an investment in us if they require income generated from dividends paid on our capital stock. Any income derived from our Common Stock would only come from rise in the market price of our Common Stock, which is uncertain and unpredictable.

Offers or availability for sale of a substantial number of shares of our Common Stock may cause the price of our Common Stock to decline.

If our stockholders sell substantial amounts of our Common Stock in the public market upon the expiration of any statutory holding period or lockup agreements, under Rule 144, or issued upon the exercise of outstanding warrants or other convertible securities, it could create a circumstance commonly referred to as an “overhang” and in anticipation of which the market price of our Common Stock could fall. The existence of an overhang, whether or not sales have occurred or are occurring, also could make more difficult our ability to raise additional financing through the sale of equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price that we deem reasonable or appropriate. The shares of our restricted Common Stock will be freely tradable upon the earlier of: (i) effectiveness of a registration statement covering such shares and (ii) the date on which such shares may be sold without registration pursuant to Rule 144 (or other applicable exemption) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (“Securities Act”).

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

The Company received Staff comments during 2022 which are material and still under review as set forth below. We additionally have described below certain comments more recently received which relate to certain restatement items in this Form 10-K in order to provide complete disclosure and not imply that the restated items set forth below have been fully resolved.

● Revenue recognition. The Staff commented on the Company’s revenue recognition policy in its capacity as a pool operator and in its capacity as a pool participant, with specific attention on the Company’s previous net recognition of revenue as an operator of a pool. The Company has, in the restated financial results, revised its revenue to include gross revenue earned as pool operator with any amounts remitted to third party pool participants as cost of revenue. The Staff further commented on the Company’s accounting convention to recognize its noncash (bitcoin) revenue using fair value that is not at contract inception. The Company has evaluated the difference between its current accounting policy and fair value at contract inception and has determined that any differences in revenue are not material for all periods stated.

● Impairment of bitcoin. The Staff objected to the Company’s calculation of impairment of bitcoin using a daily closing price. The Company has, in the restated financial results, revised its calculation to calculate impairment of bitcoin using the intraday low price of bitcoin.

● Accounting for investment fund. The Staff commented on whether the Company should have consolidated an investment fund in which the Company was the sole limited partner and, if so, whether its accounting for the income and expenses of the investment fund were appropriately classified within the Company’s Statements of Other Comprehensive Income (Loss). The Company has since determined it would consolidate the NYDIG Fund and updated its classification of income and expenses of the investment fund within the Statements of Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) as part of the restated financial results.

● Statements of Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) Presentation. The Staff has commented on the classification and inclusion of certain items in loss from operation versus in other income (expense). These items include realized gain (loss) on sales of digital assets, interest income, impairment on digital assets and patents, and gain on sale of equipment. The Company has since revised its presentation prospectively, and in the restated financial results.

● Embedded leases in Hosting and Power Arrangements. The Staff has asked the Company for a comprehensive analysis around whether each of its server hosting arrangements contain embedded leases. The Company has provided such analysis and included any required disclosure as a result of such analysis in the Notes to its Consolidated Financial Statements.

● Investments. The Staff has requested fulsome analysis of the Company’s accounting for various Simple Agreements on Future Equity (“SAFEs”) and its investment in equity of certain investees. The Company has provided such analysis and has included impacts of any change in accounting for such investments in the restated financial results.

● Risk factors. The Staff has requested further disclosure on material risks due to regulations, ability to obtain financing, reputational harm, and depreciation of digital assets prices. The Company has considered such risks and has made the disclosures accordingly.

● Bitcoin as collateral. The Staff has raised several comments on the Company’s accounting for bitcoin used as collateral within the Company’s lending arrangements. The Company continues to respond to the Staff’s comments based on its application of U.S. GAAP and has not changed its classification of such bitcoin used as collateral as Digital assets, restricted.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

The Company leases office space at the following locations under operating lease agreements:

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Compute North Bankruptcy

On September 22, 2022, Compute North Holdings, Inc. (currently d/b/a Mining Project Wind Down Holdings, Inc.) and certain of its affiliates (collectively, “Compute North”) filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Compute North provided operating services to the Company and hosted our mining rigs at multiple facilities. We delivered miners to Compute North, which then installed the mining rigs at those facilities, operated and maintained the mining rigs, and provided energy to keep the miners operating. During the course of the chapter 11 cases, Compute North sold substantially all of their assets in a series of 363 sale transactions, including Compute North’s ownership interests in non-debtor entities that own or partially-own facilities that house our miners.

On November 23, 2022, the Company and certain of its affiliates timely filed proofs of claim asserting various claims against Compute North, including: (i) claims arising under hosting agreements between the Company and Compute North LLC; (ii) claims arising under that certain Senior Promissory Note, dated as of July 1, 2022, by and between the Company, as Lender, and Compute North LLC, as Borrower; (iii) claims arising from the breach of a letter of intent between us and Compute North LLC; and (iv) claims for daily lost revenue, profits and other damages against Compute North.

On December 20, 2022, the Bankruptcy Court approved a stipulation among and between the Company, Compute North, Generate Lending, LLC and certain affiliates (“Generate”), and MVP Logistics, LLC (“MVP”), whereby Compute North, Generate, and MVP agreed to allow the Company to retrieve our uninstalled miners located at relevant facilities and reject all Compute North’s agreements with us. Compute North also agreed to release all its claims against the Company regarding certain disputed invoices for warehousing and logistics.

On February 9, 2023, the Bankruptcy Court approved a settlement stipulation between the Company and Compute North, pursuant to which the proofs of claim filed by the Company and certain of its affiliates were resolved, and the Company received a single allowed unsecured claim against Compute North LLC in the amount of $40,000,000 and its Preferred Equity Interests in Compute North Holdings, Inc. in the amount of 39,597 shares of Series C Preferred Stock was confirmed. In exchange, the Company agreed to vote in favor of Compute North’s chapter 11 plan.

On February 16, 2023, the Bankruptcy Court confirmed Compute North’s chapter 11 plan (the “Plan”), pursuant to which Compute North will liquidate its remaining assets and distribute proceeds arising therefrom in accordance with the waterfall set forth in the Plan. In its disclosure statement filed on December 19, 2022, the Compute North Debtors projected that holders of allowed general unsecured claims could recover anywhere between 8% to 65% on their claims, while holders of preferred equity interests are expected to recover nothing on their interests. At this time, the Company cannot predict the quantum of its potential recovery on account of its allowed general unsecured claim and preferred equity interests or the timing of when it would receive any distributions under the Plan on account of its claims and interests.

Derivative Complaints

On February 18, 2022, a shareholder derivative complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, against current and former members of the Company’s board of directors and senior management. The complaint is based on allegations substantially similar to the allegations in the December 2021 putative class action complaint, related to the Company’s disclosure of an SEC investigation previously made by the Company on November 15, 2021. On March 4, 2022, the complaint was served on the Company. On April 4, 2022, the defendants moved to dismiss the complaint.

On May 5, 2022, a second shareholder derivative complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, against current and former members of the Company’s board of directors and senior management. The second shareholder derivative complaint is based on allegations substantially similar to the allegations in the February 18, 2022 derivative complaint. On May 11, 2022, the defendants moved to dismiss the second shareholder derivative complaint.

On June 1, 2022, the Court entered an order consolidating the two derivative actions. A June 13, 2022 scheduling order provided for plaintiffs to file a consolidated complaint and for renewed motions to dismiss the consolidated shareholder derivative complaint. On November 22, 2022, before a consolidated complaint was due, plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed both actions without prejudice. On November 23, 2022, both actions were closed.

Putative Class Action Complaint

On December 17, 2021, a putative class action complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, against the Company and present and former senior management. The complaint alleges securities fraud related to the disclosure of an SEC investigation previously made by the Company on November 15, 2021. Plaintiff Tad Schlatre served the complaint on the Company on March 1, 2022. On September 12, 2022, the court appointed Carlos Marina as lead plaintiff. On October 21, 2022, lead plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the complaint without prejudice.

Information Subpoena

On October 6, 2020, the Company entered into a series of agreements with multiple parties to design and build a data center for up to 100-megawatts in Hardin, MT. In conjunction therewith, the Company filed a Current Report on Form 8-K on October 13, 2020. The 8-K discloses that, pursuant to a Data Facility Services Agreement, the Company issued 6,000,000 shares of restricted Common Stock, in transactions exempt from registration under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. During the quarter ended September 30, 2021, the Company and certain of its executives received a subpoena to produce documents and communications concerning the Hardin, Montana data center facility described in our Form 8-K dated October 13, 2020. We understand that the SEC may be investigating whether or not there may have been any violations of the federal securities law. We are cooperating with the SEC.

On January 14, 2021, Plaintiff Michael Ho (“Plaintiff” or “Ho”) filed a Civil Complaint for Damages and Restitution (“Complaint”) against the Company and 10 Doe Defendants. The Complaint alleges six causes of action against the Company, (1) Breach of Written Contract; (2) Breach of Implied Contract; (3) Quasi-Contract; (4) Services Rendered; (5) Intentional Interference with Prospective Economic Relations; and (6) Negligent Interference with Prospective Economic Relations, which is the one plead against “all Defendants” and is most likely to involve later named defendants. The claims arise from the same set of facts, Ho alleges that the Company profited from commercially sensitive information he shared with the Company and then it refused to compensate him for his role in securing the acquisition of a supplier of energy for the Company. On February 22, 2021, the Company responded to Mr. Ho’s Complaint with a general denial and the assertion of applicable affirmative defenses. Then, on February 25, 2021, the Company removed the action to the United States District Court in the Central District of California, where the action remains pending. The Company filed a motion for summary judgment/adjudication of all causes of action. On February 11, 2022, the Court granted the motion and dismissed Ho’s 2nd, 5th and 6th causes of action. Discovery is substantially closed. The Court held a pre-trial conference on February 24, 2022, where it vacated the March 3, 2022 trial date and ordered the parties to meet and confer on a new trial date. The Court discussed the various theories of damages maintained by the parties. In its ruling on the summary judgment motion and at the pre-trial conference on February 24, 2022, the Court noted that a jury is more likely to accept $150,000 as an appropriate damages amount if liability is found, as opposed to the various theories espoused by Ho that result in multi-million-dollar recoveries. Due to outstanding issues of fact and law, it is impossible to predict the outcome at this time; however, after consulting legal counsel, the Company is confident that it will prevail in this litigation, since it did not have a contract with Mr. Ho and he did not disclose any commercially sensitive information under any mutual nondisclosure agreement that was used to structure any joint venture with energy providers. The trial has been rescheduled for the week of May 8, 2023.

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 currently quoted on The NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “MARA”.

Holders

As of March 13, 2023, there were 254 holders of record of 167,247,030 shares of the Company’s Common Stock.

Securities Authorized for Issuance under Equity Compensation Plans

2012, 2014, 2017 and 2018 Equity Incentive Plans

The following table gives information about the Company’s common stock that may be issued upon the exercise of options granted to employees, directors and consultants under its 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2018 Equity Incentive Plans as of December 31, 2022. On August 1, 2012, our board of directors and stockholders adopted the 2012 Equity Incentive Plan, pursuant to which 96,154 shares of our common stock are reserved for issuance as awards to employees, directors, consultants, advisors and other service providers. On September 16, 2014, our board of directors adopted the 2014 Equity Incentive Plan, subsequently approved by the shareholders on July 31, 2015, pursuant to which up to 125,000 shares of our common stock, stock options, restricted stock, preferred stock, stock-based awards and other awards are reserved for issuance as awards to employees, directors, consultants, advisors and other service providers. On September 6, 2017, our board of directors adopted the 2017 Equity Incentive Plan, subsequently approved by the shareholders on September 29, 2017, pursuant to which up to 625,000 shares of our common stock, stock options, restricted stock, preferred stock, stock-based awards and other awards are reserved for issuance as awards to employees, directors, consultants, advisors and other service providers. On January 1, 2018, our board of directors adopted the 2018 Equity Incentive Plan, subsequently approved by the shareholders on March 7, 2018, pursuant to which up to 2,500,000 shares of our common stock, stock options, restricted stock, preferred stock, stock-based awards and other awards are reserved for issuance as awards to employees, directors, consultants, advisors and other service providers. On January 15, 2021, the Company’s shareholders approved an increase in the number of shares authorized for issuance under the 2018 Equity Incentive Plan by 5,000,000 shares, which increase took effect automatically. As of March 13, 2023, the 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2018 Equity Incentive Plans had outstanding grants and remaining unissued shares, taking into account issuance of restricted stock to officers and directors, as follows:

Equity Compensation Plan Information

Recent Repurchases of Securities

None.

ITEM 6. RESERVED

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis is intended as a review of significant factors affecting our financial condition and results of operations for the periods indicated. The discussion should be read in conjunction with our Consolidated Financial Statements and the notes presented herein. In addition to historical information, the following Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ significantly from those expressed, implied, or anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors discussed herein and any other periodic reports filed and to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This report and other documents that we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission contain forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about our future performance, our business, our beliefs, and our management’s assumptions. Statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Words such as “expect,” “outlook,” “forecast,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “project,” “intend,” “plan,” “continue,” “sustain”, “on track”, “believe,” “seek,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “may,” “assume,” and variations of such words and similar expressions are often used to identify such forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward- looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, assumptions, and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those described in our reports that we file or furnish with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those indicated or anticipated by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Except to the extent required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements after the date they are made, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise.

Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statements

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS has been amended and restated to give effect to the restatement, as more fully described in NOTE 2 – RESTATEMENT OF CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENT to our accompanying audited Consolidated Financial Statements contained in this Form 10-K. For further detail regarding the Restatement, see EXPLANATORY NOTE and Part II, ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES contained in this Form 10-K.

Business Overview

The Company was incorporated in the State of Nevada on February 23, 2010 under the name Verve Ventures, Inc. On December 7, 2011, the Company changed its name to American Strategic Minerals Corporation and were engaged in exploration and potential development of a uranium and vanadium minerals business. In June 2012, the Company discontinued the minerals business and began to invest in real estate properties in Southern California. In October 2012, the Company discontinued its real estate business and the Company commenced IP licensing operations, at which time the Company’s name was changed to Marathon Patent Group, Inc. The Company commenced mining bitcoin in 2018 and changed its name to Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. on March 1, 2021. As of December 31, 2022, the Company is solely focused on the mining of bitcoin and ancillary opportunities within the Bitcoin ecosystem under the name Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc.

Significant crypto market developments and impacts to the Company

The year ended December 31, 2022 was a challenging year for the crypto sector in general, as macroeconomic conditions (including higher inflation and a rising interest rates environment as compared to recent years) resulted in weaker equity markets and a general “risk off” sentiment that had a negative impact on bitcoin prices. This challenging set of circumstances was exacerbated by a series of unforeseen events which hit the sector, including:

The Company’s operating results, Consolidated Balance Sheets and stock price were adversely impacted by this series of events and the overall unfavorable macroeconomic climate in 2022. The resulting declines in financial performance and operational challenges faced by the Company in 2022 were primarily evident in the following areas:

Operating results:

Fair value of digital assets and impacts to loan collateral and primary lender:

On March 1, 2023, Silvergate Bank filed disclosures with the SEC regarding its troubled financial condition, including doubts about its ability to continue operating as a going concern, and notice to postpone the filing of its Annual Report on Form 10-K with the SEC due to a material decline in its client deposits and inadequate capitalization. This has led to leading crypto business clients leaving the bank, creating both a credit void as well as reputational risk for crypto clients. On March 8, 2023, Silvergate announced its intention to wind down operations and voluntarily liquidate the bank.

On February 6, 2023, the Company provided Silvergate Bank with the required 30-day notice stating the Company’s intent to prepay the outstanding balance on its term loan facility as well as the Company’s intent to terminate the term loan facility. The Company and Silvergate Bank subsequently agreed to terminate the RLOC facility. On March 8, 2023, the Company prepaid the term loan and terminated the RLOC facility with Silvergate Bank.

We anticipate that businesses in this and related business sectors may continue to experience economic volatility and operational challenges, and the first half of 2023 will likely continue to be a period of challenge and uncertainty in the industry. We are continuously monitoring the economic environment in which we operate and evaluating strategic opportunities which we may decide to undertake as part of our strategic growth initiatives; however, we offer no assurances that any strategic opportunities we choose to pursue will be successful or achieved on a time scale or within the budget we anticipate, if at all, in our competitive and evolving industry. See ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS for additional discussion regarding potential impacts our competitive and evolving industry may have on our business.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

The following accounting policies relate to the significant areas involving management’s judgments and estimates in the preparation of our financial statements, and are those that we believe are the most critical to aid your understanding and evaluation of this management discussion and analysis:

Digital assets

Digital assets (bitcoin) are included in current and other assets in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets. Digital assets awarded to the Company through its mining activities are accounted for in accordance with the Company’s revenue recognition policy below.

Digital assets are accounted for as intangible assets with indefinite useful lives and are recorded at cost less impairment in accordance with ASC 350 – “Intangibles-Goodwill and Other” (“ASC 350”). An intangible asset with an indefinite useful life is not amortized but assessed for impairment annually, or more frequently, when events or changes in circumstances occur indicating that it is more likely than not that the indefinite-lived asset is impaired. Whenever the exchange-traded price of digital assets declines below its carrying value, the Company has determined that it is more likely than not that an impairment exists and records impairment equal to the amount by which the carrying value exceeds the fair value at that point in time. The Company has deemed the price of digital assets to be a level two input under the ASC 820 - “Fair Value Measurement” (“ASC 820”) hierarchy as there are multiple observable inputs (exchanges) that provide slightly differing benchmarks of digital asset value. Subsequent reversal of impairment losses is not permitted.

Purchases of digital assets by the Company are included within investing activities in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows, while digital assets awarded to the Company through its mining activities are included as a reconciling item within operating activities on the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows. The sales of digital assets are included within investing activities in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows and any realized gains or losses from such sales are included in other income (expense) in the Consolidated Statements of Other Comprehensive Income (Loss). 

Digital assets loan receivable

When the Company loans digital assets to a borrower for a specific period of time in exchange for a fee akin to interest, the Company first evaluates whether to derecognize such loaned digital assets based on an evaluation of relevant control and asset derecognition considerations that include whether:

If the Company concludes derecognition is appropriate, the Company derecognizes the loaned digital assets it no longer controls and recognizes a right to receive back in the future the loaned digital assets.

The digital asset loan receivable is recorded at the fair value of the underlying loaned digital assets. Any difference between the fair value of the loaned digital assets and their pre-transfer carrying amount (i.e., derecognition amount) is recognized as a gain in the Consolidated Statements of Other Comprehensive Income (Loss). Throughout the loan period, the digital asset loan receivable continues to be measured at the fair value of the underlying loaned digital asset with changes recorded in operating income (loss) in current period earnings. When the digital assets on loan are returned to the Company, the receivable is derecognized and such loaned digital assets are re-recorded on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets at the pre-derecognition carrying value of the digital asset loan receivable with no gain or loss realized at the derecognition of the loan.

At loan commencement and throughout the loan period, the Company considers and accounts for the credit risk of the borrower using the principles in Topic 326 – “Financial Instruments - Credit Losses” (“Topic 326”) to measure any credit impairment. The digital asset loan receivable is presented net of any allowance for credit losses. The Company utilizes the probability of default (“PD”) loss given default (“LGD”) approach to estimating the allowance for credit loss (“ACL”) at origination and subsequent reporting periods. In order to apply the PD LGD approach, management considers the lifetime of the digital asset loan receivable, the reasonable and supportable forecast period, and the PD LGD. The Company uses each instrument’s life of loan period for estimating current expected credit losses, unadjusted by any prepayment risk as any risk would be immaterial to either the repayment in kind or the accrued loan fee receivable.

Revenues from contracts with customers

The Company recognizes revenue in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 606 – “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” (“ASC 606”). The core principle of the revenue standard is that a company should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the company expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The following five steps are applied to achieve that core principle:

In order to identify the performance obligations in a contract with a customer, a company must assess the promised goods or services in the contract and identify each promised good or service that is distinct. A performance obligation meets ASC 606’s definition of a “distinct” good or service (or bundle of goods or services) if both of the following criteria are met: The customer can benefit from the good or service either on its own or together with other resources that are readily available to the customer (i.e., the good or service is capable of being distinct), and the entity’s promise to transfer the good or service to the customer is separately identifiable from other promises in the contract (i.e., the promise to transfer the good or service is distinct within the context of the contract).

If a good or service is not distinct, the good or service is combined with other promised goods or services until a bundle of goods or services is identified that is distinct.

The transaction price is the amount of consideration to which an entity expects to be entitled in exchange for transferring promised goods or services to a customer. The consideration promised in a contract with a customer may include fixed amounts, variable amounts, or both. When determining the transaction price, an entity must consider the effects of all of the following:

Variable consideration is included in the transaction price only to the extent that it is probable that a significant reversal in the amount of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur when the uncertainty associated with the variable consideration is subsequently resolved. The transaction price is allocated to each performance obligation on a relative standalone selling price basis. The transaction price allocated to each performance obligation is recognized when that performance obligation is satisfied, at a point in time or over time as appropriate.

The Company’s ongoing major or central operation is to provide computing power to collectives of third-party bitcoin miners (such collectives, “mining pools”) as a participant (“Participant”) and bitcoin transaction verification services to the bitcoin network through a Company-operated mining pool as the operator and a participant (“Operator”) (such activity as Participant and Operator, collectively, “mining”). The Company currently mines in a self-operated pool, which was previously open to third-party pool participants from September 2021 until May 2022.

Operator

As an Operator, the Company provides transaction verification services. Transaction verification services are an output of the Company’s ordinary activities; therefore, the Company views the transaction requestor as a customer and accounts for the transaction fees it earns as revenue from contracts with customers under ASC 606. The bitcoin network is not an entity such that it may meet the definition of a customer; however, the Company has concluded it is appropriate to apply ASC 606 by analogy to block rewards earned from the network. A contract exists under ASC 606 at the point the Company successfully validates a transaction to the distributed ledger. At this point, the performance obligation to validate the requested transaction has been satisfied and a contract is deemed to exist.

The Company also, from time to time, engages unrelated third-party mining enterprises (“pool participants”) to contribute computing power, and in exchange, remits transaction fees and block rewards to pool participants on a pro rata basis according to each respective pool participant’s contributed computing power (hash rate). The Company determined that it controls the service of providing transaction verification services to the network and requester as the Company’s wallet as Operator is recorded on the distributed ledger as the transaction verifier of record, the pool participants enter into contracts with the Company and not the network or requester, and the Company delegates mining work to pool participants. Therefore, the Company records all of the transaction fees and block rewards earned from transactions assigned to MaraPool as revenue, and the portion of the transaction fees and block rewards remitted to MaraPool participants as cost of revenues.

ASC 606-10-32-21 requires entities to measure the estimated fair value of noncash consideration at contract inception, which is the same the time the block reward and transaction fee is earned and the performance obligation to the requester and the network is fulfilled by successfully validating the applicable block of transactions. For reasons of operational practicality, the Company applies an accounting convention to use the daily quoted closing U.S. dollar spot rate of bitcoin each day to determine the fair value of bitcoin earned as transaction fees and block rewards in the Company’s wallet during that day. This accounting convention does not result in materially different revenue recognition from using the fair value of the bitcoin earned at contract inception (i.e., the moment a block is earned) and has been consistently applied in all periods presented.

Participant

As a Participant, the Company has entered into digital asset mining pools by executing contracts, with the mining pool operators to provide computing power to the mining pool. The contracts are terminable at any time by either party and the Company’s enforceable right to compensation only begins when the Company provides computing power to the mining pool operator. In exchange for providing computing power, the Company is entitled to a fractional share of the fixed block award and transaction fees the mining pool operator receives, for successfully adding a block to the blockchain. The Company’s fractional share of the block reward and transaction fee is based on the proportion of computing power the Company contributed to the mining pool operator to the total computing power contributed by all mining pool participants in solving the block.

Providing computing power on rigs to solve complex cryptographic algorithms in support of blockchain mining (in a process known as “solving a block”) is the primary output of the Company’s ordinary activities. The provision of providing such computing power is the only performance obligation in the Company’s contracts with mining pool operators. The transaction consideration the Company receives is non-cash (i.e., bitcoin) and entirely variable as it is unknown at each contract inception whether the Company will earn any consideration during the period, and if it does become entitled to consideration, how much consideration it will be entitled to.

In accordance with FASB ASC 606-10-32-11 and 32-12, the Company constrains the variable consideration to which it is entitled and does not recognize revenue for such amounts until it receives confirmation of the amount, usually via the settlement of the fractional share of block reward and transaction fee in the Company’s digital wallet (i.e., at that point, the variability is resolved and there is no longer the reasonable possibility of significant reversal of revenue). Before settlement occurs, estimation of the variable consideration to which the Company is entitled, which depends on inputs unknowable to the Company, carries the risk of a significant revenue reversal from mis-estimation. Settlement of consideration typically occurs within 24 hours of when a block is won unless such block is won over a weekend or holiday, in which case settlement can take up to 72 hours.

The Company uses its accounting convention to recognize revenue using the daily quoted closing U.S. dollar spot rate of bitcoin on the day the transaction fees and block rewards are settled in the Company’s wallet. However, this accounting convention does not result in materially different revenue recognition from using the fair value of the bitcoin earned at contract inception and has been consistently applied in all periods presented.

There is currently no definitive guidance under GAAP or alternative accounting framework for the accounting for digital assets recognized as revenue or held, and management expects to exercise significant judgment in determining the appropriate accounting treatment. In the event authoritative guidance is enacted by the FASB, the Company may be required to change its policies, which could have an effect on the Company’s consolidated financial position and results from operations.

Property and Equipment

The Company has long-lived assets that consist primarily of property and equipment stated at cost, net of accumulated depreciation and impairment, as applicable. The depreciation charge is calculated on a straight-line basis and depends on the estimated useful lives of each type of asset and, in certain circumstances, estimates of fair values and residual values. The Company’s property and equipment is composed of bitcoin miners which are largely homogeneous and have approximately the same useful lives. Accordingly, the Company utilizes the group method of depreciation for its bitcoin miners. The Company updates the estimated useful lives of its asset group of bitcoin mining rigs periodically as information on the operations of the mining rigs indicates changes are required. The Company assesses and adjusts the estimated useful lives of its mining rigs when there are indicators that the productivity of the mining assets are higher or lower than the assigned estimated useful lives.

Impairment tests for items of property and equipment other than mining rigs are performed annually and the recoverable amounts in property equipment are determined based on the higher of value-in-use or fair value less costs to sell.

Impairment of long-lived assets

Management reviews long-lived assets that consist primarily of bitcoin mining rigs, and other long-lived assets such as patents held, for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. Recoverability of assets to be held and used is measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of an asset to undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated by the asset. If such assets are considered to be impaired, the impairment to be recognized is measured by the amount by which the carrying amount of the assets exceeds the fair value of the assets. The Company determines the amount of impairment to record based on the fair value of the asset following the fair value measurement framework in ASC 820.

Income taxes

The primary objectives of accounting for income taxes are to recognize the amount of income taxes payable or refundable for the current year, and deferred tax liabilities and assets for the future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in our financial statements or tax returns. The Company accounts for income taxes in accordance with ASC 740 - “Income Taxes” (“ASC 740”), using the asset and liability method. Under this method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are calculated based on enacted tax rates and are recognized for the expected future tax consequences of temporary differences between the financial reporting and tax basis of assets and liabilities, and for operating losses and tax credit carryforwards. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in operations in the period that includes the enactment date. Management must make assumptions, judgments and estimates to determine our income tax benefit or expense and our deferred tax assets and liabilities. We recognize tax positions when they are more likely than not of being sustained. Recognized tax positions are measured at the largest amount of benefit greater than 50 % likely of being realized. Each period, we evaluate tax positions and adjust related tax assets and liabilities in light of changing facts and circumstances.

We record a valuation allowance to reduce our deferred tax assets to the net amount that we believe is more likely than not to be realized. Accordingly, the need to establish such allowance is assessed periodically by considering matters such as future reversals of existing taxable temporary differences, projected future taxable income, tax planning strategies and results of recent operations.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See NOTE 3 – SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES to our Consolidated Financial Statements for a discussion of recent accounting standards and pronouncements.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We provide investors with a reconciliation from net loss to the non-GAAP measure known as adjusted EBITDA as a component of Management’s Discussion and Analysis. For each period in question, we define adjusted EBITDA as (a) GAAP net income (loss) plus (b) adjustments to add back the impacts of (1) depreciation and amortization, (2) interest expense, (3) income tax expense (benefit) and (4) adjustments for non-cash and non-recurring items which currently include (i) stock compensation expense, (ii) impairments of patents and (iii) impairment losses related to the Compute North bankruptcy.

Adjusted EBITDA is not a measurement of financial performance under GAAP and, as a result, this measure may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. 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 GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA is not meant to be considered in isolation and should be read only in conjunction with our Interim Reports on Form 10-Q and our Annual Reports on Form 10-K as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Management uses both adjusted EBITDA and the supplemental information provided herein as a means of understanding, managing, and evaluating business performance and to help inform operating decision making. We rely primarily on our Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements to understand, manage, and evaluate our financial performance and use the non-GAAP financial measures only supplementally.

Operations Summary

During the first quarter of 2022, the Company announced its intention of exiting the facility in Hardin, MT (“Hardin”). On July 28, 2022, the Company terminated its power purchase agreements and commenced the acceleration of its exit from Hardin. This exit was completed in September 2022. The Company had deployed approximately 30,000 mining rigs at Hardin. During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company recorded accelerated hosting and depreciation costs related to this early exit from the Hardin facility. In addition to the accelerated depreciation expense, upon exiting the facility the Company determined that the useful lives of the remaining mining rigs formerly deployed at Hardin should be reduced from 36 months to 24 months.

In late 2021, the Company contracted with a joint venture among Compute North and affiliates of NextEra Energy for hosting services in McCamey, TX and expected its mining rigs to begin coming online during the second quarter of 2022. King Mountain Upton Wind, LLC (“King Mountain”) had filed a petition on April 5, 2022 seeking a declaratory order to confirm its status as an exempt wholesale generator (“EWG”). In the Petition, King Mountain stated that it proposed to share ownership of interconnection facilities that are currently eligible facilities within the meaning of section 32(a)(2) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA) as tenants-in common with a retail energy customer. However, the approval of this petition was delayed until July 15, 2022, when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) found that King Mountain would retain its status as an EWG notwithstanding a proposal to share ownership of the Interconnection Facilities as tenants-in-common with a retail energy customer. As a result, the bulk of the Company’s rigs did not come online until the early part of the fourth quarter. On December 15, 2022, US Bitcoin Corp (“US Bitcoin”) replaced Compute North as a joint venture partner (and the operator of the facility) as a result of the Compute North bankruptcy.

In July 2022, the Company expanded certain hosting arrangements with Compute North in Granbury, TX. On December 15, 2022, US Bitcoin Corp replaced Compute North as the operator of this facility as a result of the Compute North Bankruptcy.

During the third and fourth quarters of 2022 the Company entered into a series of agreements to secure additional hosting capacity with Applied Digital as the partner at Garden City, TX, Ellendale, ND, and Jamestown, ND. These sites are expected to come online in phases during the first and second quarters of 2023.

Results of Operations – Year ended December 31, 2022 compared to December 31, 2021 (Restated)

Financial Summary Table: