Bitcoin miner Gryphon going public via deal to buy cannabis software company Akerna

Gryphon Digital Mining is going public in a deal to buy Akerna Corp. in an all-stock transaction.

Privately-held Gryphon, which claims to be a carbon neutral bitcoin miner, will buy the publicly-traded cannabis software company, which in turn will sell its software business to POSaBIT Systems Corporation. The latter is a cannabis infrastructure payments provider.  

The deal comes amid tough times for miners, which have seen margins squeezed amid higher energy costs and lower bitcoin prices. Several, including Core Scientific, have filed for bankruptcy.

Upon completion of the deal, Gryphon equity holders are expected to own approximately 92.5% of the combined company and current Akerna equityholders are expected to own approximately 7.5%. The combined company is expected to continue to be publicly traded on Nasdaq.