By Chris Wack

Sphere 3D Corp. shares were up 44% to $4.95 after the company said it entered into an agreement with Hertford Advisors Ltd., a privately held company that provides turnkey mining solutions, to provide a six-month exclusive right to assume all of Hertford's rights to a number of bitcoin mining agreements.

Volume for the stock was 90 million shares at 1:05 p.m. EDT, compared to its 65-day average volume of 7.2 million shares. The stock hit its 52-week high of $5.61 earlier in the session.

The company said it has successfully assumed and executed the first bitcoin agreement directly with the manufacturer for the purchase of up to 60,000 new bitcoin mining machines, with deliveries beginning in November and continuing over the course of the next 10 months.

Sphere 3D will issue common shares to Hertford, as well as shares of a new series of preferred stock, based upon the achievement of certain milestones. Those milestones include the assumption of two additional contracts, outside of the 60,000-miner agreement, for the purchase of up to an additional 160,000 miners, and the right to complete negotiations to secure a long-term contract for a 200,000-square-foot crypto mining facility to be supplied with up to 1 gigawatt of carbon-neutral power and 1 gigawatt of power from the grid as backup.

Write to Chris Wack at chris.wack@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

08-06-21 1338ET