Bitcoin mining firm Iris Energy is facing claims from its lender alleging that it has defaulted on $103 million of equipment loans held by two special-purpose vehicles , the company said on Monday.
The reason for the notice of default, which the lender sent to the miner on Nov. 4, is that the company failed to engage in"good faith restructuring discussions" for the debt in question, according to a Monday. Because Iris failed to engage in such discussions, the lender is claiming it defaulted on payments originally scheduled for Oct. 25, the Monday filing said.
. The company said at that time that if discussions to restructure the debt fail to lead to an agreement by Nov. 8, it would not be able to meet the debt obligations held by the two SPVs. The two loans in question – which as of Sept. 30 had principal amounts of $32 million and $71 million – are secured by 1.6 exahash/second and 2.0 EH/s of mining machines respectively, the company said. The debt is held by two wholly-owned non-recourse SPVs, meaning in the event of default, the lender will be able to seize any Iris Energy assets other than the collateral.
Iris Energy is one of several bitcoin mining firms struggling to repay their debt obligations during this bear market that has seen rewards dwindle alongside soaring energy costs. September saw the first Chapter 11 bankruptcy from a major player,
irisenergyco egreechee Why do you at no point mention the lender NYDIG facing $100mm of principal loss from this deal on top of the mountain of defaults from the rest of the miner loan book? egreechee