Sphere 3D Faces $2.2M Tariff Claim, 77% of Cash

An Aug. 24 filing shows U.S. Customs and Border Protection may assess about $2.2 million in supplemental tariffs on Bitcoin mining equipment imported by a Sphere 3D subsidiary in 2022. The company has described the allegation as meritless and plans to file a protest.

The filing states Customs treated the equipment as Chinese-origin goods while seller-supplied import documents included a certificate of origin and a certificate of manufacture asserting the miners were not of Chinese origin. The $2.2 million figure excludes statutory interest and the final amount payable remains uncertain.

The filing does not identify the procedural trigger for the claim, the specific entries or miner models at issue, the subsidiary or seller involved, or Customs’ detailed origin analysis. It also does not state whether any portion of the alleged tariff has been accrued, paid, or bonded.

Sphere 3D’s June 30 balance sheet, its first after combining with Cathedra Bitcoin, showed just over $2.8 million in cash, about $200,000 in working capital and roughly $5.9 million in current liabilities. The company reported holding 20.5 Bitcoin, valued at nearly $1.2 million on that date. The potential $2.2 million tariff equals about 77% of the cash balance and roughly 11 times the reported working capital.

Earlier filings show Sphere 3D used more than $9 million in operating cash in the first half of the year, with about $5.3 million in proceeds from Bitcoin sales and roughly $2.4 million in net financing proceeds. After June 30 the company received approximately $1.7 million through its at-the-market equity program; an ATM prospectus gives Sphere 3D capacity to sell up to $10.3 million of shares, subject to actual share sales.

Federal customs rules generally give importers 180 days to file a protest after a relevant liquidation, reliquidation or other protestable CBP decision. Sphere 3D indicated it will contest the assessment but did not disclose the notice that triggered its procedural deadline or the specific protest deadline.

A separate 2022 disclosure noted a shipment of 4,000 S19j Pro miners arriving in July 2022 and held pending supplier documentation, with about 540 released in August. That earlier filing referenced FuFu Technologies (BitFuFu) in a purchase-agreement context. The current filing does not connect those shipments, that vendor or the S19j Pro models to the 2026 CBP action, and there is no public record tying them to the present dispute.

Sphere 3D continues to trade under the ticker ANY. An approved name change to DarkHorse Technologies and a proposed DRK ticker remain pending. The filing repeats the company’s intent to challenge Customs’ assessment through the available protest process.