Gryphon and Sphere 3D merger scrapped but carbon-neutral mining continues

Despite the canceled merger between Gryphon Digital Mining and Sphere 3D, the two firms still intend on building out carbon-neutral Bitcoin mining operations.

A Monday joint statement from the two crypto mining companies revealed that scrapping the merger was a mutual decision “due to changing market conditions, the passage of time, and the relative financial positions of the companies.” The cancellation will, apparently, not stop either company from moving forward with plans on building carbon-neutral Bitcoin (BTC) mining facilities.

The merger was announced last June and would have seen the two companies become one under the Gryphon name. It also would have made Gryphon a publicly-traded company by virtue of the fact that Canada-based Sphere 3D is already trading under the ANY ticker on NASDAQ.

Gryphon claims to be the first carbon-negative miner by acquiring 500,000 carbon offset credits. Neither Sphere 3D nor Gryphon responded to comments on how they achieved net neutrality.

The firms already have a close working relationship about which Gryphon CEO Rob Chang said he looks forward to “the mutual success of both companies.” Gryphon manages Sphere’s mining fleet of 1,000 devices, and Sphere expects to grow that fleet by 59,000 devices by June of this year. Gryphon controls 7,200 of its own devices collocated by blockchain infrastructure provider Core Scientific.

Last July, Gryphon purchased 7,200 Antminer mining rigs worth about $48 million, which helped boost its hashing power by about 720 petahashes per second (PH/s).

Related: Core Scientific strikes digital gold: Revenue up 800%, gross profit up 2500%

The environmental impact of Bitcoin mining has been the focus of regulators around the world. Operating carbon-neutral facilities could help stave off some of the criticisms caused by Bitcoin mining such as increased noise pollution and energy grid failures.

One of America’s largest hashing power contributors, New York state, is considering a moratorium on mining to give its environmental agency time to explore the impact mining has on the environment.