Company: ANY
Filing Date: 2025-03-28
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001628280-25-015457
Chunk: 48

Company: Sphere 3D Corp.
Filing Date: 2025-03-28
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 48
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, hackers or malware, government-mandated regulation, or fraud, may reduce confidence in cryptocurrency networks and result in greater volatility in cryptocurrency values. These potential consequences of a cryptocurrency exchange's failure could adversely affect an investment in us.

17

It may be illegal now, or in the future, to acquire, own, hold, sell, or use cryptocurrency, participate in blockchains or utilize similar cryptocurrency in one or more countries, the ruling of which would adversely affect us.

As cryptocurrency has grown in both popularity and market size, governments around the world have reacted differently to cryptocurrency; certain governments have deemed them illegal, and others have allowed their use and trade without restriction, while in some jurisdictions, such as in the United States, subject to extensive and evolving regulatory requirements. Until recently, little, or no regulatory attention has been directed toward cryptocurrency by U.S. federal and state governments, foreign governments, and self-regulatory agencies. As cryptocurrency has grown in popularity and in market size, the Federal Reserve Board, U.S. Congress, and certain U.S. agencies have begun to examine cryptocurrency in more detail.

One or more countries, including but not limited to China, which have taken harsh regulatory action in the past, may take regulatory actions in the future that could severely restrict the right to acquire, own, hold, sell, or use cryptocurrency or to exchange for fiat currency. In many nations, particularly in China, it is illegal to accept payment in cryptocurrency for consumer transactions and banking institutions are barred from accepting deposits of cryptocurrency. Such restrictions may adversely affect us as the large-scale use of cryptocurrency as a means of exchange is presently confined to certain regions globally. Such circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue our strategy at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, or operations, and potentially the value of Bitcoin that we mine or otherwise acquire or hold for our own account, and harm investors.

Investors may not have the same protections that exist for traditional stock exchanges.

Traditional stock exchanges have listing requirements and vet issuers, requiring them to be subjected to rigorous listing standards and rules, and monitor investors transacting on such platform for fraud and other improprieties. Depending on a ledger-based platform's controls and the other policies of the ledger-based platform on which a given cryptocurrency trades, such cryptocurrency may not benefit from the protections afforded to traditional stock exchanges. For ledger-based platforms that do not provide sufficient protections, there is a risk of fraud and manipulation. These factors may decrease