Company: CIFRW
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001819989-25-000005
Chunk: 182

Company: Cipher Mining Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 182
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 several high-profile bankruptcies in the digital assets industry, as well as recent bank failures, which have disrupted investor confidence in cryptocurrencies and led to a rapid escalation of oversight of the digital asset industry. For further details, see “—Risks Related to Our Business, Industry and Operations—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.” Established banks and financial institutions may be reluctant to provide products and services to the digital asset industry participants due to heightened concerns about the ability to comply with the heightened risks and regulatory scrutiny of banking institutions that provide such products or services.

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A number of companies and individuals or businesses associated with cryptocurrencies may have had and may continue to have their existing bank accounts closed or services discontinued with financial institutions. We also may be unable to maintain these services for our business. 

The difficulty that many businesses that provide bitcoin or other cryptocurrency-related services have and may continue to have in finding banks and financial institutions willing to provide them services may decrease the usefulness of cryptocurrencies as a payment system and harm public perception of cryptocurrencies. Similarly, the usefulness of cryptocurrencies as a payment system and the public perception of cryptocurrencies could be damaged if banks or financial institutions were to close the accounts of businesses providing bitcoin or other cryptocurrency-related services. This could occur as a result of compliance risk, cost, government regulation or public pressure. The risk applies to securities firms, clearance and settlement firms, national stock and commodities exchanges, the over-the-counter market and the Depository Trust Company. Such factors would have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, and operating results. 

Cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, face significant scaling obstacles that can lead to high fees or slow transaction settlement times and any mechanisms of increasing the scale of cryptocurrency settlement may significantly alter the competitive dynamics in the market. 

Cryptocurrencies face significant scaling obstacles that can lead to high fees or slow transaction settlement times, and attempts to increase the volume of transactions may not be effective. Scaling cryptocurrencies, and particularly bitcoin, is essential to the widespread acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, which is necessary to the growth and development of our business.

Many cryptocurrency networks face significant scaling challenges. For example, cryptocurrencies are limited with respect to how many transactions can occur per second. In this respect, bitcoin may be particularly affected as it relies on the “proof of