Company: CIFRW
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001819989-25-000005
Chunk: 186

Company: Cipher Mining Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 186
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 volume and speed of transactions; 

•the ability to attract and retain developers and customers to use bitcoin for payment, store of value, unit of accounting, and other intended uses; 

•transaction congestion and fees associated with processing transactions on the Bitcoin network; 

•the identification of Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous person or persons who developed bitcoin, or the transfer of Satoshi’s bitcoin assets; 

•negative public perception of bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies or their reputation within the fintech influencer community or the general publicity around them; 

•development in mathematics, technology, including in digital computing, algebraic geometry, and quantum computing that could result in the cryptography being used by bitcoin becoming insecure or ineffective; and 

•laws and regulations affecting the Bitcoin network or access to this network, including a determination that bitcoin constitutes a security or other regulated financial instrument under the laws of any jurisdiction. 

Furthermore, bitcoin pricing may be the result of, and may continue to result in, speculation regarding future appreciation in the value of cryptocurrencies, inflating and making their market prices more volatile or creating “bubble” type risks for bitcoin. Some market observers have asserted that the bitcoin market is experiencing a “bubble” and have predicted that, in time, the value of bitcoin will fall to a fraction of its current value, or even to zero. Bitcoin has not been in existence long enough for market participants to assess these predictions with any precision, but if these observers are even partially correct, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, and operating results.

Rewards for successful production of bitcoin are negatively impacted by the bitcoin halving protocol expected every four years, and the supply of bitcoin is limited. 

The supply of bitcoin is limited and, once the 21 million bitcoin have been “unearthed”, the network will stop producing more. Currently, there are approximately 19.6 million, or approximately 93% of the total supply of, bitcoin in circulation. The halving is an event within the Bitcoin protocol where the bitcoin reward provided upon mining a block is reduced by 50%. Halvings are scheduled to occur once every 210,000 blocks, or roughly every four years. The latest halving occurred in April 2024, which revised the block reward to 3.125 bitcoin and the next halving expected in April 2028. 

Halving reduces the number of new bitcoin being generated by the network. While the effect is to slow the pace of the release of new coins, it has no impact