Bitcoin miner Gryphon to make case for more time to avoid Nasdaq delisting

Nasdaq has warned Gryphon Digital Mining, a small-cap company that brands itself as a carbon-neutral bitcoin miner, that it could be delisted for its noncompliance with the exchange’s minimum market value requirement. In fact, this is just one of the company’s listing violations. Gryphon will try to pursuade an exchange panel to give it another chance in April.

On March 13, Gryphon received another notice of noncompliance with the Nasdaq’s minimum market value requirement of $35 million, as noted in a company SEC filing. According to MarketWatch, Gryphon’s current market capitalization stands at $14.3 million.

The company was first notified of its noncompliance six months ago, in mid-September. The deadline to resolve the issue expired on March 12. Nasdaq concluded that the company’s failure to comply with the requirement is grounds for delisting.

However, Gryphon still has a chance to maintain its listing. According to the filing, the company intends to present a compliance plan and request an extension during a hearing panel scheduled for April 15. Until then, its shares will continue trading on the Nasdaq.

The minimum market value requirement is not the only listing rule Gryphon is in violation of. On March 5, Nasdaq threatened to delist the company for its noncompliance with the exchange's minimum share price of $1 per share, as reported by Gryphon.

Gryphon brands itself as a carbon-neutral bitcoin miner, as it uses clean energy sources for its operations. At the end of last year, the company announced its expansion into a new business: providing AI data centers with power.

According to Gryphon, the first step in this new strategy was the purchase of “hundreds of existing natural gas wells” from Canada’s Erikson National Energy. The company argued that access to low-cost energy sources would provide competitive advantages in bitcoin mining and enable it to sell electricity to tech giants, whose consumption is soaring due to AI and data centers. However, the deal was canceled within months after being signed. During due diligence, Gryphon found that it needed only some of the Erikson assets, as it stated in late February. In March, the company announced it had scrapped the deal entirely.

The next step was the purchase of a Captus Energy industrial site in Canada, which has access to natural gas, a grid connection, non-potable water resources, and dual high-speed fiber connection providers. Gryphon announced the acquisition in November. According to the company’s estimates, this asset, at full capacity, could generate over $5 billion in revenue.

Over the last 12 months, Gryphon stock is down almost 87%. Last week, on March 12-13, it hit an all-time low, having dropped to $0.194 per share, before clawing back some of the losses on March 14 to close at $0.20 per share. In premarket trading today, March 17, it has been mostly flat.

According to MarketWatch, the lone analyst who covers Gryphon has a “hold” recommendation with a target price of $16 per share, 80 times the current market price.