A Bitcoin mining firm, Quantum Leap SE, is considering an investment in new mining technology. The new investment would require initial funding of 40 million today and further expenditure on Nvidia Servers of 10m in each of the years 6 and 7. The net cash inflow for the years 1 to 4 is 20.34 million per year. Some equipment could be sold at the end of year 5 when the mining ends and together with the cash flows from operations would produce a net cash flow of 40.85 million. (350 points)

a. Evaluate the investment using four investment appraisal criteria and explain your recommendation.

b. The required rate of return of Quantum Leap is 12 per cent and has been known to use a payback period of 2 years in the past.

c. However, the firm's managers believe that this payback period may be too short. Can you suggest any improvements to the payback criteria or other elements of this analysis?