Ecoark to Utilize Excess Natural Gas to Power Cryptocurrency Mining as Part of ESG Strategy
Beta project targets commencement in May 2021 in West Texas
SAN ANTONIO, April 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ecoark Holdings, Inc. ("Ecoark" or the “Company”) (OTC: ZEST) announces that it expects to begin beta testing an environmentally conscious cryptocurrency mining approach in May 2021 as a part of the Company’s environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) strategy.
Ecoark established a strategic initiatives team in February 2021 to focus on and analyze innovative and valuable ways to deploy capital. This team is led by Brad Hoagland, Chief Financial Officer of Ecoark, and includes senior leaders from across the Company. As its first initiative, the team focused on opportunities related to ESG technologies for hydrocarbon emissions and reductions in energy waste. The Company formulated an approach to pursue regionally constrained energy that is otherwise lost due to a lack of commercial infrastructure to economically process and/or transport the natural gas to market.
This approach is expected to drive significant molecule value through the energy intensive process of cryptocurrency mining. Ecoark’s strategy is anticipated to incubate green energy project development and growth by balancing regional power grid demands during times of heightened use, including during the recent Texas winter storm that left millions without power. We expect that Ecoark’s modularized infrastructure approach will allow the Company to become an industry first, “Spot Midstream” company, allowing for the creation of a mobile natural gas market hub anywhere in the world, within weeks of deployment.
“By redirecting power back to the grid when green sources of energy production are unable to supply the required load, we alleviate grid pressure and help fill gaps that currently hinder the growth of green energy technologies,” said Brad Hoagland, CFA, the Company’s CFO.
“We are extremely excited to be launching our first strategic project focused on improving our sustainability and ESG profile, while enhancing our returns and deploying capital in a highly efficient manner,” continued Mr. Hoagland. “We plan to mine a diversified basket of higher margin, established cryptocurrencies. Our strategy entails reselling cryptocurrency back into the market, as permitted by applicable laws, and redeploying the capital raised towards accretive growth projects within this sector.”
Ecoark is currently in discussions with several public midstream companies to relieve pipeline capacity constraints and allow additional third-party molecules to be transported, thereby creating additional revenue synergies. The Company’s approach is unique as it is not targeting individual well head flare gas due to the unpredictability of gas production uptime, personnel requirements to service non-centrally located assets, lack of oversite and control, surface use issues, and gas quality issues.
About Ecoark Holdings, Inc.
Founded in 2011, Ecoark is a diversified holding company. The company has three wholly owned subsidiaries: Zest Labs, Inc. (“Zest Labs”), Banner Midstream Corp (“Banner Midstream”) and Trend Discovery Holdings (“Trend Discovery”). Zest Labs, offers the Zest Fresh™ solution, a breakthrough approach to quality management of fresh food, is specifically designed to help substantially reduce the amount of food loss the U.S. experiences each year. Banner Midstream is engaged in oil and gas exploration, production, and drilling operations on over 30,000 cumulative acres of active mineral leases in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Banner Midstream also provides transportation and logistics services and procures and finances equipment to oilfield transportation services contractors. Trend Discovery invests in a select number of early-stage startups each year as part of the fund’s Venture Capital strategy; we are open-minded investors with a founder-first mentality. Trend Discovery LP has an audited track record of uncorrelated outperformance of the S&P 500 since inception.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the Company’s plans to begin beta testing of the new environmentally conscious cryptocurrency mining approach, the expected benefits of using this approach, including increased future returns and future green energy project development and growth, the Company’s expected future role as an industry first, “Spot Midstream” company, the Company’s plans with respect to cryptocurrency mining, future sales of cryptocurrency and expected use of proceeds from such sales. The words “believe,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “could,” “target,” “potential,” “is likely,” “will,” “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions concerning future events. Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other important factors, many of which are outside management’s control. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the results of beta testing, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our Company and the national and global economy, changes in applicable laws, regulations, or executive and administrative orders, certain cryptocurrencies being deemed securities for regulatory purposes, volatility in cryptocurrency markets, fluctuations in natural gas prices, and the possibility of adverse economic, business, and/or competitive factors. Additional risks and uncertainties are identified and discussed in Ecoark’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020, as updated and supplemented by the Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2020, as amended, the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2020, and the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2020, and the registration statement on Form S-3 filed on October 16, 2020, as amended by Amendment No. 1 filed on December 22, 2020, and Amendment No. 2 filed on December 28, 2020. Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Additional factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.
ZEST FRESH™ and Zest Labs™ are trademarks of Zest Labs, Inc.
Contact:
Investor Relations:
John Mills
ICR
646-277-1254
