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JOINT VENTURE
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2023
Equity Method Investments and Joint Ventures [Abstract]  
JOINT VENTURE JOINT VENTURE
In May 2021, the Company and a subsidiary of Talen Energy Corporation (“Talen”) (each a “Member” and collectively the “Members”) entered into a joint venture, Nautilus Cryptomine LLC (“Nautilus”), to develop, construct and operate up to 300 MW of zero-carbon bitcoin mining in Pennsylvania (the “Joint Venture”). In connection with the Joint Venture, Nautilus simultaneously entered into (i) a ground lease (the “Nautilus Ground Lease”), which includes an electricity supply component, with a related party of Talen, (ii) a Facility Operations Agreement (the “FOA”) with a related party of the Company and (3) a Corporate Services Agreement (the “CSA”) with a related party of Talen. Each Member originally held a 50% interest in the Joint Venture. The Company capitalized a portion of the interest on funds borrowed to finance its investments in Nautilus prior to Nautilus commencing its principal operations. Capitalized interest costs were $0 and $0.9 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, respectively, and $0 and $1.6 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022, respectively. During the nine months ended September 30, 2023, the Company received bitcoin distributions from Nautilus with a fair value of $11.7 million. The Company received no bitcoin distributions in 2022.
In August 2022, the Members entered into an amended and restated Joint Venture agreement (the “A&R Agreement”) whereby, among other changes, the unit ownership will be determined by infrastructure contributions while distributions of mined bitcoin will be determined by each Member’s respective hashrate contributions. Members are allowed to make contributions of miners up to the effective electrical capacity of their owned infrastructure percentage. Each party retains access to 50% of the electricity supply outlined in the Nautilus Ground Lease. Additionally, the Company’s scheduled capital contributions were amended such that the Company would retain a 33% ownership interest in the Joint Venture if such capital contributions were funded. With the change in ownership percentage, governance rights were amended to
provide for greater Talen board participation, among other changes. As allowed under the A&R Agreement, the Company structured its capital contributions to achieve a targeted a 25% ownership interest in Nautilus.
In March 2023, the Company entered into a second amended and restated limited liability company agreement for Nautilus (the “Second A&R Nautilus Agreement”). Under the Second A&R Nautilus Agreement, the Company holds a 25% equity interest in Nautilus and Talen holds a 75% equity interest in Nautilus, each subject to adjustment based on relative capital contributions. Distributions are made periodically in accordance with each Member’s respective hashrate contributions after deducting primarily each Member’s share of power and operational costs. Pursuant to the terms of the Second A&R Nautilus Agreement, the Nautilus Cryptomine Facility initially requires 200 MW of electric capacity. Prior to May 13, 2024, the Company may elect to expand the energy requirement of the Nautilus Cryptomine Facility by up to 50 MW, funded solely by the Company. If the Company makes such an election, the Talen Member may, within twelve months thereof, elect to expand the energy requirement of the Nautilus Cryptomine Facility by up to an additional 50 MW, funded solely by the Talen Member, for a total capacity of up to 300 MW. Upon such election, Nautilus will call additional capital for expansion and enter into an additional energy supply agreement with Talen Member or its affiliate for the additional capacity, subject to any regulatory approvals and third-party consents.
In March 2021, TeraCub executed an agreement for the purchase of bitcoin miners from MinerVA Semiconductor Corp. (“MinerVA”) for a total of 30,000 MV7 miners, with originally scheduled monthly deliveries of miners each between November 2021 and January 2022, for an aggregate price of $118.5 million (the “MinerVA Purchase Agreement”). Concurrently with the execution of the Joint Venture agreement, TeraWulf assigned the MinerVA Purchase Agreement to Nautilus. Prior to December 31, 2022, total payments of $40.5 million were made under the MinerVA Purchase Agreement. Production delays at MinerVA’s factory impacted the initial pricing and delivery schedule. Accordingly, Nautilus and MinerVA have deemed all payments made to date to apply to the initial approximate 9,000 miners shipped or to be shipped. As of the date at which these financial statements were available to be issued, Nautilus had not amended the MinerVA Purchase Agreement.
In June 2021, Nautilus entered into two Non-fixed Price Sales and Purchase Agreements for the purchase of bitcoin miners from Bitmain Technologies Limited (“Bitmain”) for a total of 30,000 S19j Pro miners, with originally scheduled monthly deliveries of 5,000 miners each between January 2022 and March 2022 under one agreement (the “Q1 2022 Bitmain Agreement’) and 5,000 miners each between April 2022 and September 2022 under a second agreement (the “Q2 2022 Bitmain Agreement” and, together, the “Bitmain Purchase Agreements”). During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company paid Bitmain $22.8 million and was reimbursed by Talen for 50% of that amount. As of December 31, 2022, the Q1 2022 Bitmain Agreement was concluded with all parties performing under the contract. In September 2022, the Q2 2022 Bitmain Agreement was cancelled whereby each Member received a $31.2 million credit with Bitmain to use at the respective Member’s discretion (the “Bitmain Credit”). See Note 12. The Company recorded a distribution from the Joint Venture whereby equity in net assets of investee was reduced and property, plant and equipment, net was correspondingly increased by the $31.2 million distributed credit in the consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2022.
In December 2022, the Company entered into a Payment Netting Agreement with Nautilus, Talen and the related party FOA and CSA agreement counterparties whereby certain amounts were owed by Nautilus to each of the FOA and CSA counterparties, including for the termination of the FOA agreement. These amounts were offset to arrive at a net result whereby the Company owed the related party FOA counterparty (see Note 16) approximately $2.2 million. This amount is recorded in equity in net assets of investee in the consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2022.
The Company’s direct payments to MinerVA and Bitmain, among others, on behalf of Nautilus for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, are included in investments in joint venture related to direct payments made on behalf of joint venture
in the consolidated statement of cash flows. A reconciliation of amounts included within this footnote to captions in the consolidated statements of cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and 2022 follows (in thousands):
Nine Months Ended
September 30,
2023 2022
Payment of TeraWulf 50% share of Bitmain deposits
$— $(11,402)
Investments in joint venture related to direct payments made on behalf of joint venture— (11,402)
Direct investments in joint venture and payments made on plant and equipment contributed to joint venture(2,845)(26,395)
Investments in joint venture, including direct payments made on behalf of joint venture$(2,845)$(37,797)
Payment of Talen 50% share of Bitmain deposits
$— $(11,402)
Other reimbursable payments— (339)
Reimbursable payments for deposits on plant and equipment made on behalf of joint venture or a joint venture partner$— $(11,741)
Talen reimbursement of 50% share of Bitmain deposits
$— $11,402 
Other reimbursable payments— 314 
Reimbursement of payments for deposits on plant and equipment made on behalf of joint venture or a joint venture partner$— $11,716 
Nautilus is a VIE accounted for using the equity method of accounting. The table below summarizes the Company’s interest in Nautilus and the Company’s maximum exposure to loss as a result of its involvement with the VIE as of September 30, 2023 (in thousands, except for percentages):
% Initial
Investment		Additional
Investment, Net		Net loss
Inception
to Date		Company’s
Variable
Interest in
Entity		Commitment to
Future
Additional
Contributions
(1)		Company’s
Maximum
Exposure to Loss
in Entity (2)
EntityOwnership
Nautilus25.0 %$18,000 $117,420 $29,863 $105,557 $— $105,557 
(1)The Members may mutually agree on changes to the Nautilus facility, which could increase the amount of contributions the Company is required to provide. The Members may seek alternate financing for the Nautilus facility, which could reduce the amount of investments each Member may be required to provide.
(2)The maximum exposure at September 30, 2023 is determined by adding the Company’s variable interest in the entity and any explicit or implicit arrangements that could require the Company to provide additional financial support. The amount represents the contractually required capital contributions of the Company which were required for the initial phase of the Nautilus facility buildout.
Due to the change in Member ownership percentage and governance rights under the A&R Agreement, Talen determined it controlled the Joint Venture from an accounting perspective and thereby was required to fair value the identifiable assets and liabilities of the Joint Venture for its internal accounting purposes. Under the CSA, Talen is responsible for maintaining the books and records of the Joint Venture and elected to push down the fair value adjustments to Nautilus’ books and records. During the nine months ended September 30, 2023, Talen elected to push down an additional fair value adjustment to Nautilus’ books and records. The Company accounts for the Joint Venture as an equity method investment and the change in ownership percentage does not impact the Company’s method of accounting or basis. Therefore, there is a basis difference between the books and records of Nautilus and the Company’s accounting basis in the Joint Venture. The
condensed results of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 and 2022 and the condensed financial position as of September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022 of Nautilus are summarized below (in thousands):
Three Months Ended
September 30, (1)		Nine Months Ended
September 30, (1)
2023202220232022
Condensed statement of operations information:  
Revenue$29,106 $— $70,929 $— 
Operating expense27,619 2,909 67,646 6,654 
Net income (loss)$1,487 $(2,909)$3,283 $(6,654)
September 30, 2023 (1) December 31, 2022 (1)
Condensed balance sheet information:  
Current assets$14,876 $28,986 
Noncurrent assets182,977 154,552 
Total assets$197,853 $183,538 
Current liabilities$13,981 $12,864 
Noncurrent liabilities27,641 — 
Equity156,231 170,674 
Total liabilities and equity$197,853 $183,538 
(1)The condensed statement of operations information for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 and 2022 and the condensed balance sheet information as of September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022 reflect the impact of the Talen-estimated fair value measurements of Nautilus which, resulting from the application of ASC 805 “Business Combinations,” have been pushed down to the books and records of Nautilus by Talen, as discussed above. The Company’s basis in the assets and liabilities of Nautilus continue to be recorded at historical value on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.
In March 2022, the Company entered into an exchange agreement with Nautilus and the Nautilus co-venturer whereby the Company purchased 2,469 of Nautilus’ Bitmain S19j Pro miners (the “Nautilus Miners”) to be received under the Bitmain Purchase Agreements in exchange for an option to either (1) deliver miners that are not less favorable in all material respects to those of the Nautilus Miners (the “Exchange Miners”) by July 1, 2022 or (2) incur a pro forma adjustment to Nautilus’ distributions such that the Nautilus co-venturer is made whole as though the miners had not been transferred to the Company. If the Exchange Miners were not delivered by September 30, 2022, the Nautilus co-venturer would have been entitled to elect to distribute in-kind a number of miners then in possession of Nautilus comparable to the then-undelivered Exchange Miners. During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Nautilus Miners were received and recorded at fair value to property, plant and equipment, net in the amount of $16.0 million with a corresponding recognition of an exchange miner liability of the same amount. The A&R Agreement removed the Company’s obligation to deliver the Exchange Miners to the Joint Venture. Accordingly, the Company derecognized the miner exchange liability and recorded a $16.8 million reduction in equity in net assets of investee in the consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2022 and recorded a loss on nonmonetary miner exchange of $0.8 million in the consolidated statement of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022.
In September 2022, the Company, as allowed under the A&R Agreement and because its Lake Mariner Facility was operational, transferred 2,500 Bitmain S19j Pro miners from Nautilus to its Lake Mariner Facility. Accordingly, the Company recorded the miners at an estimated fair value of $4.8 million, determined based on a contemporaneous observed market price for identical assets, in property, plant and equipment, net and the Company reduced the equity in net assets of investee balance by $16.3 million, the book value of the miners in Nautilus’ books and records, in the consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2022 and recorded a loss of $11.5 million as a component of equity in net loss of investee, net of tax in the consolidated statements of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022.
In February, March and April 2023, the Company, as allowed under the A&R Agreement, transferred control of approximately 4,900 MinerVA miners from Nautilus to its Lake Mariner Facility, including certain miners that have yet to be shipped from MinerVA. Accordingly, the Company recorded the miners at an estimated fair value of $6.9 million, determined based on a contemporaneous observed market price for similar assets, in property, plant and equipment, net and the Company reduced the equity in net assets of investee balance by $20.5 million, the book value of the miners in Nautilus’ books and records, in the consolidated balance sheet as of September 30, 2023 and recorded a loss of $0 and $13.6 million as a component of equity in net loss of investee, net of tax in the consolidated statements of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, respectively.As contemplated in the A&R Agreement, members are allowed to make contributions of miners up to the effective electrical capacity of their owned infrastructure percentage. During the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company contributed to Nautilus certain miners with a fair value, determined based on miner vendor contracts, of $36.7 million and $11.6 million, respectively. Accordingly, as of September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022, the Company increased the equity in net assets of investee balance by $36.7 million and $11.6 million, respectively, and reduced the property, plant and equipment, net balance by the same amounts in the consolidated balance sheets.