Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Description of Business

v3.24.1
Description of Business
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
Description of Business [Abstract]  
Description of Business

Note 1 – Description of Business

 

Gryphon Digital Mining, Inc. (“Gryphon”), which originally began operations as Ivy Crypto, Inc., was incorporated under the provisions and by the virtue of the provisions of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware on October 22, 2020, with its office located in Las Vegas, Nevada. Gryphon operates a digital asset (commonly referred to as cryptocurrency) mining operation using specialized computers equipped with application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips (known as “miners”) to solve complex cryptographic algorithms in support of the Bitcoin blockchain (in a process known as “solving a block”) in exchange for cryptocurrency rewards (primarily Bitcoin). Gryphon became a publicly held entity in February 2024 upon the completion of a reverse merger transaction (the “Merger”) with Akerna Corp., herein referred to as we, us, our, the Company or Akerna. These consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, including disclosures for certain activities up to and including the effective date (the “Effective Date”) of the Merger, or February 9, 2024, are exclusively attributable to the operations of Akerna. 

 

Akerna was formed upon completion of the mergers between MTech Acquisition Corp. (“MTech”) and MJ Freeway, LLC (“MJF”) on June 17, 2019 as contemplated by the Merger Agreement dated October 10, 2018, as amended (the “Formation Mergers”). Akerna provided software as a service (“SaaS”) solutions within the cannabis industry that enabled regulatory compliance and inventory management through several wholly-owned subsidiaries including MJF, Trellis Solutions, Inc. (“Trellis”), Ample Organics, Inc. (“Ample”), Last Call Analytics (“LCA”), solo sciences, inc. (“Solo”), Viridian Sciences, Inc. (“Viridian”), and The NAV People, Inc. d.b.a. 365 Cannabis (“365 Cannabis”). Our common stock, $0.0001 par value (“Common Stock”) was traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market (the “Nasdaq”) under the symbol “KERN” through February 9, 2024.

 

During the fourth quarter of 2022, we committed to a number of significant actions that collectively represented a strategic shift in our business strategy and a complete exit from the SaaS business serving the cannabis industry. The shift was effectuated in a two-part exit strategy whereby we (i) disposed of our component SaaS business units in advance of (ii) the Merger with Gryphon, an entity unaffiliated with the SaaS and cannabis industries (see below and Note 4).

 

Prior to the aforementioned shift in strategy, we implemented a restructuring initiative (the “Restructuring”) in May 2022 whereby we reduced our headcount by 59 employees and incurred and paid $0.6 million of associated costs in an effort to minimize costs and streamline the organization. There were no remaining obligations under the Restructuring after December 31, 2022.

 

During 2023, we disposed of 365 Cannabis, LCA and Ample (the “Disposal Group”) through a series of sale transactions. As a result of these transactions, the Disposal Group met the criteria to be considered “discontinued operations” as that term is defined in accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”). Accordingly, the assets and liabilities of these entities are classified and reflected on our consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2022 as attributable to “discontinued operations” and their results of operations are classified as “discontinued operations” in the consolidated statements of operations for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Certain financial disclosures including major components of the assets and liabilities and results of operations of the Disposal Group are provided in Note 15. We effectively abandoned our operations for Trellis, Solo and Viridian during the year ended December 31, 2023 after all contractual commitments were satisfied with the customers and vendors of those businesses. The results of operations of these business units are reflected in these consolidated financial statements for all periods presented as a component of continuing operations. We committed to the sale of MJF (the “Sale Transaction”) during 2023; however, the required stockholder approval and certain other consents required to complete the Sale Transaction were not obtained until January of 2024. Accordingly, the assets and liabilities and results of operations of MJF are reflected in these consolidated financial statements for all periods presented as a component of continuing operations. The Sale Transaction closed on February 9, 2024 (see Note 4).

 

On January 27, 2023, we entered into an agreement and plan of merger, as amended on April 28, 2023 and June 14, 2023 (the “Merger Agreement”) with Gryphon and Akerna Merger Co. (“Akerna Merger”). Required approval of the Merger Agreement by the stockholders of Akerna and Gryphon as well as approval by Nasdaq of the continued listing of Gryphon after the closing of the Merger was obtained in January 2024. On February 9, 2024, concurrent with the closing of the Sale Transaction, Akerna Merger merged with and into Gryphon, with Gryphon surviving the Merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Akerna. Following the closing of the Merger, the former Gryphon and Akerna stockholders immediately before the Merger owned approximately 92.5 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively, of the outstanding capital stock on a fully diluted basis which effectively resulted in a change in control of the Company. Upon completion of the Merger, Akerna changed its name to Gryphon and its common stock began trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol “GRYP.”

 

Additional disclosures regarding the Merger and Sale Transaction and their impact on the results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2023 are more fully described in Note 4.