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Core Scientific Files for Bankruptcy Protection, Firm Plans to Continue Mining Bitcoin to Pay Down Debt

December 21, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Stock price for troubled Bitcoin miner Core Scientific surges 200%

December 16, 2022 Coin Telegraph

$72M

After a flurry of bad news throughout 2022, the miner has been offered a lifeline that could enable it to see out the current crypto winter.

Bitcoin (BTC) miner Core Scientific’s stock has soared nearly 200% in the past four days, following the positive reception for a Dec. 14 financing proposal from a current creditor that is hoping the firm can avoid bankruptcy.

Shares for the embattled miner were sitting just over 13 cents on Dec. 12, before climbing to nearly 40 cents as the market closed on Dec. 15 — a gain of 198%.

*A five-day chart showing Core Scientific’s share price on Nasdaq. Source: TradingView*

According to financial media firm Marketbeat, traders acquired 6,572 call options on Dec. 15, 136% more than the average volume of 2,780, indicating that many are bullish on the stock and are betting that the price will continue rising.

Some members of the Bitcoin community were also acquiring shares, hoping for a huge return if the financing plan goes through and the firm can survive through the bear market.

Bought a slug of $CORZ at the close. If the financing goes through and they can survive through the bear market, this trade could become an absolute MONSTER. DYOR. For your reference: pic.twitter.com/eHF4NXjcvH
— CR (@CashRocket) December 14, 2022

The rally could be the start of a turnaround, or just a dead cat bounce. Core Scientific was hit with a run of bad news throughout 2022 and despite recent gains the price is still 95% lower than it was at the start of the year.

On Dec. 14 financial services platform B. Riley wrote a letter to Core’s shareholders and lenders, outlining a $72 million financing plan that it believes is sufficient to prevent the miner from being forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Should the deal be accepted, the first $40 million would be funded “immediately, with zero contingencies,” while the rest of the funds would be issued if Core agrees to suspend payments to equipment lenders until the price of Bitcoin is back above $18,500 — a price the leading cryptocurrency has been below since Nov. 9.

B. Riley suggests the financing will provide Core with two years of operating cash, and notes that their analyst forecasts that the miner can generate annual earnings of approximately $165 million at a Bitcoin price of $18,000, with an extra $20 million for each $1,000 price increase.

Core was hit hard by the broader market downturn and filed a report on Oct. 26 citing a low BTC price, high electricity rates and a refusal from bankrupt crypto lender Celsius to repay a $2.1 million loan as reasons why it might default on some of its debts.

The bad news continued on Nov. 22, when the miner admitted in a quarterly report that its cash reserves may be depleted by the end of 2022 and it did not believe it would be able to raise funds through financing or capital markets given the current market conditions.

B. Riley may purchase up to $100M stake in Bitcoin miner Iris Energy

September 23, 2022 Coin Telegraph

B. Riley

Iris Energy’s filing suggested the company planned to use proceeds from the sale to fund growth initiatives including purchasing mining hardware and developing data centers.

Australia-based crypto mining firm Iris Energy has signed a deal with B. Riley giving the capital market company the option to purchase up to 25 million of its shares.

According to a Friday filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Iris Energy inked an agreement with B. Riley Principal Capital II related to the “potential offer and sale” of up to 25 million of the Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm’s ordinary shares, worth $100 million. The filing states B. Riley has a 24-month timeframe to complete the purchase starting “as soon as practicable” after the effective date of the registration statement.

Because Iris Energy qualifies as a “foreign private issuer” under U.S. securities laws, the firm said it intended to follow “most Nasdaq corporate governance listing standards” while also adhering to Australian law. The company already expected to issue 198,174 shares to B. Riley “as consideration for its irrevocable commitment” to purchase more shares.

According to Iris Energy’s filing, the company planned to use proceeds from the sale to fund growth initiatives including purchasing mining hardware and developing data centers:

“As of the date of this prospectus, we cannot specify with certainty all of the particular uses, and the respective amounts we may allocate to those uses, for any net proceeds we receive. Accordingly, we will have broad discretion in the way we use these proceeds.”

The crypto mining company’s shares were listed on Nasdaq in November 2021 following a $200-million funding round. B. Riley Securities, an affiliate of the capital market firm, also acted as a joint book-running manager with Cowen for Stronghold Digital Mining’s plan to list roughly 6 million shares on the Nasdaq in an initial public offering in October 2021.

Other mining firms based in North America seem to have experienced financial difficulties amid the market downturn. Core Scientific and Bitfarms sold some of their BTC holdings in July, and Compute North filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Thursday. However, crypto mining firm CleanSpark inked a $33-million deal to purchase Mawson's Bitcoin mining facility in September.

B. Riley

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