LiveOne, Inc.
For the period ended Dec 31, 2025. Filed Feb 13, 2026.
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Dec 31, 2025 · Filed Feb 13, 2026
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Item 1A. Risk Factors
We operate in a rapidly changing environment that involves a number of risks, which could materially affect our business, financial condition or future results, some of which are beyond our control. In addition to the other information set forth in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, the risks and uncertainties that we believe are most important for you to consider are discussed in Part I-Item 1A under the heading “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2025 (the “2025 Annual Report”). During the nine months ended December 31, 2025, there were no material changes to the risk factors that were disclosed in our 2025 Annual Report except as noted below.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
We rely on our largest OEM customer for a substantial percentage of our revenue. The loss of our largest OEM customer or the significant reduction of business or growth of business from such customer could significantly adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business is dependent, and we believe that it will continue to depend on our customer relationship with Tesla, which accounted for 7% of our consolidated revenue for the nine months ended December 31, 2025, and 52% of our consolidated revenue for the nine months ended December 31, 2024. Our existing agreement with Tesla governs our music services to certain of its car user base in North America, including our audio music streaming services. As of May 2025, Tesla has extended the term of our license agreement (the “license agreement”) until at least May 2026, and the license agreement is expected to continue to be renewed thereafter on its terms. Tesla has agreed to pay us for any grandfathered users for the term of the license agreement, however Tesla no longer pays us for any other users beginning December 2024. If we fail to maintain certain minimum service level requirements related to our service with Tesla or other obligations related to our technology or services, Tesla may terminate the license agreement to provide them with such service. Tesla may also terminate our license agreement for convenience at any time with prior notice to us. If Tesla terminates our license agreement, further modifies the services that we provide to Tesla under such agreement, requires us to renegotiate the terms of such agreement or we are unable to renew such agreement on mutually agreeable terms, no longer pays for and/or makes our music services available to Tesla’s paid grandfathered car user base, no longer makes an option for its car users to sign up for LiveOne, becomes a native music service provider, replaces our music services with one or more of our competitors and/or we experience a significant further reduction of business from Tesla, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be materially adversely affected.
In addition, revenue we generate from Tesla from grandfathered car users is indirectly subsidized by Tesla to its customers, which Tesla plans to carry indefinitely but is not obligated to do so, including its ability to reclassify or renegotiate with us the definition of a "paid grandfathered user" under the license agreement and/or make available, terminate and/or change our music services for convenience at any time with prior notice to us. Should our user revenue services no longer be subsidized by and/or made available by Tesla to its grandfathered customers or if Tesla reclassifies or renegotiates with us the definition of a paid grandfathered user or demands credit for past users that no longer meet such requirement, there can be no assurance that we will continue to maintain the same number of paid grandfathered users or receive the same levels of service revenue from such users in the future. There is no assurance that we would be able to replace Tesla or lost business with Tesla with one or more B2B customers that generate comparable revenue. Furthermore, there could be no assurance that Tesla will continue indefinitely to pay us for grandfathered car users.
Tesla has also integrated Spotify Premium to its cars’ in-dash touchscreen for its Model S, Model X and Model 3 vehicles. Tesla owners now have access to our music streaming services, as well as those of Spotify and TuneIn natively. There is no assurance that our music streaming services will be available in every current and/or future Tesla model. Furthermore, our current and future competitors like Spotify, Apple Music, Tesla (if it becomes a native music service provider) and others may have more well-established brand recognition, more established relationships with, and superior access to content providers and other industry stakeholders, greater financial, technical and other resources, more sophisticated technologies or more experience in the markets in which we compete. If we are unable to compete successfully for users against our competitors by maintaining and increasing our presence and visibility, the number of users of our network may fail to increase as expected or decline and our advertising sales, user revenues and other revenue streams will suffer.
We rely on our relationship with our largest OEM customer for a substantial percentage of our potential subscribers who are now eligible to convert to become direct customers of LiveOne. Our inability to convert a significant number of these subscribers could cause a significant reduction of our business and could significantly adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business is dependent, and we believe that it will continue to depend on our customer relationship with Tesla, our largest OEM customer. Commencing in October 2024, we began working with Tesla to convert Tesla’s connectivity package users to become direct subscribers (users) of our Premium or Plus service. The direct subscription to LiveOne allows such users for the first time to access their LiveOne music and LiveOne’s other service offerings directly across all of their devices. LiveOne’s music streaming button/icon, which allows users to directly connect their subscription to LiveOne, is expected to remain in Tesla’s music streaming services dashboard in perpetuity. As a result, we believe we now have a unique opportunity to convert as many of Tesla’s drivers as possible to a higher priced LiveOne subscription service creating a meaningful upside opportunity for our Company, and we are working in good faith with Tesla to convert as many of these drivers as possible.
We believe that with the full cooperation from Tesla, we can convert a substantial number of such users to become direct subscribers of LiveOne. However, there is no assurance that we would be able to convert a substantial number of such users to become direct subscribers of LiveOne and/or replace Tesla or lost business with Tesla with one or more other B2B customers that generate comparable revenue. If we fail to convert a significant number of these drivers as direct subscribers of LiveOne that could cause a significant reduction of our business and could significantly adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, even such drivers elect to directly pay for their subscription to LiveOne services, there can be no assurance that we will continue to maintain the same number of paid subscribers or receive the same levels of subscription service revenue and subscription revenue may substantially fluctuate accordingly. Accordingly, there could be no assurance that our revenue and/or EBITDA continues to grow at the same rate of growth as in our 2026 fiscal year or at all.
We have incurred significant operating and net losses since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future.
As reflected in our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere herein, we have a history of losses, incurred significant operating and net losses in each year since our inception, including net losses of $13.7 million and $20.4 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2025 and fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, respectively, and cash (used in) provided by operating activities of $(8.5) million and $6.4 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2025 and fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, respectively. As of December 31, 2025, we had an accumulated deficit of $279.3 million and a working capital deficit of $18.1 million.
We expect to continue to incur substantial and increased expenses as we continue to execute our business approach, including launching our potential B2B business deals for Slacker, expanding and developing our content and platform and potentially making other accretive acquisitions, and anticipate incurring additional losses until such time that we can generate significant increases to our revenues, and/or reduce our operating costs and losses. To date, we have financed our operations through cash generated from our business, the sale of equity and/or debt securities (including convertible securities), and after PodcastOne’s acquisition by us on July 1, 2020, also through our sale of PodcastOne’s and our equity and/or debt securities (including convertible securities). The size of our future net losses will depend, in part, on the rate of future expenditures and our ability to significantly grow our business and increase our revenues. We expect to continue to incur substantial and increased expenses as we grow our business. We also expect a continued increase in our expenses associated with our operations as a publicly-traded company. We may incur significant losses in the future for a number of other reasons, including unsuccessful acquisitions, costs of integrating new businesses, expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other unknown events. As a result of the foregoing, we expect to continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future and we may not be able to achieve or sustain profitability.
The likelihood of our success must be considered in light of the problems, expenses, difficulties, complications and delays frequently encountered by a growing company, the difficulties that may be encountered with integrating acquired companies and the highly competitive environment in which we operate. For example, while several companies have been successful in the digital music streaming industry and the online video streaming industry, companies have had no or limited success in operating a premium Internet network devoted to live music and music-related video content. We cannot assure you that our business will be profitable or that we will ever generate sufficient revenue to fully meet our expenses and support our anticipated activities.
Our ability to meet our total liabilities of $62.8 million as of December 31, 2025, and to continue as a going concern, is dependent on our ability to increase revenue, reduce costs, achieve a satisfactory level of profitable operations, obtain additional sources of suitable and adequate financing and further develop and execute on our business plan. We may never achieve profitability, and even if we do, we may not be able to sustain being profitable. As a result of the going concern uncertainty, there is an increased risk that you could lose the entire amount of your investment in our company, which assumes the realization of our assets and the satisfaction of our liabilities and commitments in the normal course of business.
Risks Related to Our Company
We may not have the ability to repay the amounts then due under our Debentures at maturity.
On May 19, 2025 (the “Closing Date”), we and PodcastOne, our majority owned subsidiary, entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement (the “SPA”) with certain institutional investors (each, a “Purchaser” and collectively, the “Purchasers”), pursuant to which (i) we sold to the Purchasers our Original Issue Discount Senior Secured Convertible Debentures (the “Initial Debentures”) in an aggregate principal amount of $16,775,000 for an aggregate cash purchase price of $15,250,000, and (ii) if certain conditions are satisfied as set forth in the SPA, including at least one of the Conditions (as defined below), we may sell at our option to the Purchasers our additional Original Issue Discount Senior Secured Convertible Debentures in an aggregate principal amount of $11,000,000 on substantially the same terms as the Initial Debentures (the “Additional Debentures” and collectively with the Initial Debentures, the “Debentures”). The Debentures are convertible into shares of our common stock at the holder’s option at a conversion price of $21.00 per share, subject to certain customary adjustments such as stock splits, stock dividends and stock combinations. We may sell to the Purchasers the Additional Debentures if within 15 months of the Closing Date either of the following conditions have been satisfied during such 15-month period (the “Conditions”): (x) the VWAP (as defined in the SPA) of our common stock has been equal to or greater than $42.00 per share (subject to certain customary adjustments such as stock splits, stock dividends and stock combinations) for 30 consecutive trading days, or (y) Free Cash Flow (as defined in the SPA) has been equal to or greater to $3,000,000 for three consecutive fiscal quarters, and has increased in each of the foregoing quarters from the immediately preceding fiscal quarter. The Initial Debentures mature on May 19, 2028 and accrue interest at 11.75% per year. Commencing with the calendar month of August 2025 (subject to the following sentence), the holders of the Initial Debentures will have the right, at their option, to require us to redeem an aggregate of up to $100,000 of the outstanding principal amount of the Debentures per month. Commencing from November 18, 2025, May 18, 2026 and May 18, 2027, the holders of the Initial Debentures will have the right, at their option, to require us to redeem an aggregate of up to $150,000, $250,000 and $300,000, respectively, of the outstanding principal amount of the Initial Debentures per month.
Over the term of the Debentures and at maturity, the outstanding principal amount of the Debentures and the Capchase Loan (as defined below), will become due and payable by us in installments. As of December 31, 2025, $0.1 million of the principal amount of the Capchase Loan is due and matures in fiscal 2026 and the principal amount of the Debentures is due and matures in fiscal 2029.
Our failure to repay any outstanding amount under the Debentures would constitute a default under such financing agreement. A default would increase the interest rate to the default rate under the Debentures or the maximum rate permitted by applicable law until such amount is paid in full. A default under the Debentures could also lead to a default under agreements governing our future indebtedness, including the Capchase Loan. A default under the Capchase Loan could also lead to a default under agreements governing our future indebtedness, including the Debentures. If the repayment of the related indebtedness were to be accelerated after any applicable notice or grace periods, we may not have sufficient funds to repay the Debentures loan and/or the Capchase Loan when due or make cash payments thereon as required prior to maturity. Furthermore, upon the occurrence and during the continuation of any event of default, the holders of the Debentures and Capchase shall have the right to, among other things, take possession of our and our subsidiaries’ assets and property constituting the collateral thereunder (including, without limitation, any securities of PodcastOne that we own) and the right to assign, sell, lease or otherwise dispose of all or any part of the collateral.
If wedo not comply with the provisions of the Debentures financing agreements, the Capchase Loan and/or the SX Settlement, such parties may terminate their obligations to us, accelerate our debt and/or require us to repay all outstanding amounts owed thereunder.
The Debentures financing agreements and the Capchase Loan contain provisions that limit our operating activities, including a covenant relating to the requirement to maintain a certain amount cash (as provided in the Debentures financing agreements). The Debentures are secured by all of our and our subsidiaries’ assets. If an event of default occurs and is continuing, the applicable lender may among other things, terminate its obligations thereunder, accelerate its debt and require us to repay all amounts thereunder. For example, on October 13, 2022, a judgement was ordered in favor of SoundExchange, Inc. (“SX”) against us and Slacker in the United States District Court Central District of California in the amount of approximately $9.8 million. On October 13, 2022, the court entered a judgment against the defendants for the amount of $9,765,397. In February 2023, we settled the dispute (the “SX Settlement Agreement”) to pay the outstanding amount in equal monthly payments subject to increase in the event we complete certain future financings, which agreement, as amended in January 2025, requires us and Slacker to pay SX the remaining sum on or before February 1, 2027, in 48 equal monthly payments. As of December 31, 2025, we owed $0.2 million to SX under the SX Settlement Agreement. If for any reason we and Slacker fail to comply with the terms of the SX Settlement Agreement, SX will have the right to declare a default under the SX Settlement Agreement and at its option require us to repay all outstanding amounts owed thereunder and/or enforce its consent judgment and/or pursue a new judgment against us and/or Slacker, which would materially adversely impact our business, operating results and financial condition. Our debt agreement with Capchase contains a covenant that if a material adverse change occurs in our financial condition, or if such senior secured lender reasonably believes the prospect of payment or performance of its loan is materially impaired, the lender at its option may immediately accelerate its debt and require us to repay all outstanding amounts owed thereunder. If for any reason we and Slacker fail to comply with the terms of the SX Settlement Agreement, our Debentures lenders, and which would then also allow Capchase to declare a default under their loan agreement with us, may declare an event of default and at its option may immediately accelerate their debt and require us to repay all outstanding amounts owed under the Debentures, which would materially adversely impact our business, operating results and financial condition. As of December 31, 2025, we were in compliance with covenants under the Debentures and the Capchase Loan.
Our debt agreements contain restrictive and financial covenants that may limit our operating flexibility, and our substantial indebtedness may limit cash flow available to invest in the ongoing needs of our business.
We have a significant amount of indebtedness. Our total outstanding consolidated indebtedness as of December 31, 2025 was $15.2 million, net of fees and discounts. While we have certain restrictions and covenants with our current indebtedness, we could in the future incur additional indebtedness beyond such amount including by issuing the Additional Debentures subject to Conditions. Our existing debt agreements with the Debentures and the Capchase Loan lenders contain certain restrictive covenants that limit our ability to merge with other companies or consummate certain changes of control, make certain investments, pay dividends or repurchase shares of our common stock, transfer or dispose of assets, or enter into various specified transactions. We therefore may not be able to engage in any of the foregoing transactions unless we obtain the consent of our senior secured lenders and/or repay the amount owed to such lenders. Our debt agreements also contain certain covenants, including maintaining a minimum cash amount at all times and are secured by substantially all of our and our subsidiaries’ assets. There is no guarantee that we will be able to generate sufficient cash flow or sales to pay the principal and interest owed under our debt agreements or to satisfy all of the covenants. We and/or our subsidiaries may also incur significant additional indebtedness in the future.
Our substantial debt combined with our other financial obligations and contractual commitments could have other significant adverse consequences, including:
| ● | requiring us to dedicate a substantial portion of cash flow from operations to the payment of interest on, and principal of, our debt, which will reduce the amounts available to fund working capital, capital expenditures, product development efforts and other general corporate purposes; |
We intend to satisfy our current and future debt service obligations with our existing cash and cash equivalents and funds from external sources, including equity and/or debt financing. However, we may not have sufficient funds or may be unable to arrange for additional financing to pay the amounts due under our existing debt. Funds from external sources may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all. In the event of an acceleration of amounts due under our debt instruments as a result of an event of default, including upon the occurrence of an event that would reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on our business, operations, properties, assets or condition or a failure to pay any amount due, we may not have sufficient funds or may be unable to arrange for additional financing to repay our indebtedness or to make any accelerated payments.
We depend upon third-party licenses for sound recordings and musical compositions and other content and an adverse change to, loss of, or claim that we do not hold any necessary licenses may materially adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.
To secure the rights to stream sound recordings and the musical compositions embodied therein, we enter into license agreements to obtain licenses from rights holders such as record labels, aggregators, artists, music publishers, performing rights organizations, collecting societies and other copyright owners or their agents, and pay substantial royalties or other consideration to such parties or their agents around the world. Though we work diligently in our efforts to obtain all necessary licenses to stream sound recordings and the musical compositions embodied therein, there is no guarantee that the licenses available to us now will continue to be available in the future at rates and on terms that are favorable or commercially reasonable or at all. The terms of these licenses, including the royalty rates that we are required to pay pursuant to them, may change as a result of changes in our bargaining power, changes in the industry, changes in the laws and regulations, or for other reasons. Increases in royalty rates or changes to other terms of these licenses may materially impact our business, operating results, and financial condition.
We enter into license agreements to obtain rights to stream sound recordings, including from the major record labels that hold the rights to stream a significant number of sound recordings, such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and SX, as well as others. If we fail to obtain these licenses or if any of such licenses are terminated or suspended, the size and quality of our catalog may be materially impacted and our business, operating results and financial condition could be materially harmed.
We generally obtain licenses for two types of rights with respect to musical compositions: mechanical rights and public performance rights. With respect to mechanical rights, for example, in the United States, the rates we pay are, to a significant degree, a function of a ratemaking proceeding conducted by an administrative agency called the Copyright Royalty Board. The rates that the Copyright Royalty Board set apply both to compositions that we license under the compulsory license in Section 115 of the Copyright Act of 1976 (the “Copyright Act”), and to a number of direct licenses that we have with music publishers for U.S. rights, in which the applicable rate is generally pegged to the statutory rate set by the Copyright Royalty Board. The most recent proceeding before the Copyright Royalty Board (the “Phonorecords III Proceedings”) set the rates for the Section 115 compulsory license for calendar years 2018 to 2022. The Copyright Royalty Board issued its initial written determination on January 26, 2018. The rates set by the Copyright Royalty Board may still be modified if a party appeals the determination and are also subject to further change as part of future Copyright Royalty Board proceedings. If any such rate change increases, our sound recordings and musical compositions license costs may substantially increase and impact our ability to obtain content on pricing terms favorable to us, and it could negatively harm our business, operating results and financial condition and hinder our ability to provide interactive features in our services or cause one or more of our services not to be economically viable. Based on management’s estimates and forecasts for the next two fiscal years, we currently believe that the proposed rates will not materially impact our business, operating results, and financial condition. However, the proposed rates are based on a variety of factors and inputs which are difficult to predict in the long-term. If Slacker’s business does not perform as expected or if the rates are modified to be higher than the proposed rates, its content acquisition costs could increase and impact its ability to obtain content on pricing terms favorable to us, which could negatively harm Slacker’s business, operating results and financial condition and hinder its ability to provide interactive features in its services, or cause one or more of Slacker’s services not to be economically viable.
In the United States, public performance rights are generally obtained through intermediaries known as performing rights organizations (“PROs”), which negotiate blanket licenses with copyright users for the public performance of compositions in their repertory, collect royalties under such licenses, and distribute those royalties to copyright owners. The royalty rates available to Slacker today may not be available to it in the future. Licenses provided by two of these PROs, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (“ASCAP”) and Broadcast Music, Inc. (“BMI”), cover the majority of the music we stream and are governed by consent decrees relating to decades old litigations. In 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice indicated that it was formally reviewing the relevance and need of these consent decrees. Changes to the terms of or interpretation of these consent decrees up to and including the dissolution of the consent decrees, could affect our ability to obtain licenses from these PROs on reasonable terms, which could harm its business, operating results, and financial condition. In addition, an increase in the number of compositions that must be licensed from PROs that are not subject to the consent decrees, or from copyright owners that have withdrawn public performance rights from the PROs, could likewise impede Slacker’s ability to license public performance rights on favorable terms. As of December 31, 2025, we owed $10.8 million in aggregate royalty payments to such PROs.
In other parts of the world, including Europe, Asia, and Latin America, we obtain mechanical and performance licenses for musical compositions either through local collecting societies representing publishers or from publishers directly, or a combination thereof. We cannot guarantee that its licenses with collecting societies and its direct licenses with publishers provide full coverage for all of the musical compositions we make available to our users in such countries. In Asia and Latin America, we are seeing a trend of movement away from blanket licenses from copyright collectives, which is leading to a fragmented copyright licensing landscape. Publishers, songwriters, and other rights holders choosing not to be represented by collecting societies could adversely impact our ability to secure favorable licensing arrangements in connection with musical compositions that such rights holders own or control, including increasing the costs of licensing such musical compositions, or subjecting us to significant liability for copyright infringement.
With respect to podcasts and other non-music content, we produce or commission the content itself or obtain distribution rights directly from rights holders. In the former scenario, we employ various business models to create original content. In the latter scenario, we and/or PodcastOne negotiates licenses directly with individuals that enable creators to post content directly to our service after agreeing to comply with the applicable terms and conditions. We are dependent on those who provide content on our service complying with the terms and conditions of our license agreements as well as the PodcastOne Terms and Conditions of Use. However, we cannot guarantee that rights holders or content providers will comply with their obligations, and such failure to do so may materially impact our business, operating results, and financial condition.
There also is no guarantee that we have all of the licenses we need to stream content, as the process of obtaining such licenses involves many rights holders, some of whom are unknown, and myriad complex legal issues across many jurisdictions, including open questions of law as to when and whether particular licenses are needed. Additionally, there is a risk that rights holders, creators, performers, writers and their agents, or societies, unions, guilds, or legislative or regulatory bodies will create or attempt to create new rights that could require us to enter into license agreements with, and pay royalties to, newly defined groups of rights holders, some of which may be difficult or impossible to identify.
Even when we can enter into license agreements with rights holders, we cannot guarantee that such agreements will continue to be renewed indefinitely. For example, from time to time, our license agreements with certain rights holders and/or their agents may expire while we negotiate their renewals and, per industry custom and practice, we may enter into brief (for example, month-, week-, or even days-long) extensions of those agreements or provisional licenses and/or continue to operate on an at will basis as if the license agreement had been extended, including by our continuing to make music available. During these periods, we may not have assurance of long-term access to such rights holders’ content, which could have a material adverse effect on its business and could lead to potential copyright infringement claims. Furthermore, if we fail to timely make any royalty or license payments to such rights holders, they may elect to terminate or suspend our license agreements with them.
It also is possible that such agreements will never be renewed at all. The lack of renewal, or suspension or termination, of one or more of our license agreements, or the renewal of a license agreement on less favorable terms, also could have a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our failure to meet the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq could result in a delisting of our common stock and penny stock trading.
Our common stock is currently listed on Nasdaq, which has qualitative and quantitative listing criteria. In March 2025, we received a notice from the Listing Qualifications Department the Nasdaq Stock Market (“Nasdaq”), regarding the fact that the market price of our shares of common stock was below the $1.00 minimum bid price requirement for continued listing (the “Bid Price Rule”), which listing deficiency we cured in September 2025. There can be no assurance that we be able to continue to meet all of the other criteria necessary for Nasdaq to allow us to remain listed, including maintaining minimum levels of shareholders’ equity or market values of our common stock. If we fail to satisfy the applicable continued listing requirement and continue to be in non-compliance after notice and the applicable grace period ends, Nasdaq may commence delisting procedures against our Company (during which we may have additional time of up to six months to appeal and correct our non-compliance). At that time, we may appeal the relevant delisting determination to a hearings panel pursuant to the procedures set forth in the applicable Nasdaq Listing Rules. However, there can be no assurance that, if we do appeal the delisting determination by Nasdaq to the panel, that such appeal would be successful.
On January 15, 2025, the SEC approved an amendment to the Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c), which limits the conditions under which a listed company can use a reverse stock split to meet Nasdaq’s minimum price criteria. In particular, the amendment provides that if a company executes a reverse stock split to regain compliance with the Listing Rule but its stock price falls below $1.00 per share within one year after a company has completed a reverse split, the company will not be granted a new compliance period to address the bid price deficiency. Instead, Nasdaq will move forward with delisting proceedings. We implemented a reverse stock split on September 26, 2025 to regain compliance with the Bid Price Rule. If within 12 months of such date we fail to be in compliance with the Bid Price Rule, we would not be eligible for a new compliance period; instead, Nasdaq would proceed with delisting our shares of common stock, and we would not be able to implement a reverse stock split within such 12-month period to regain compliance with the Bid Price Rule. Furthermore, if in the future we need to implement a reverse stock split, the amendment to such Listing Rule may cause our board of directors to choose a higher reverse stock split ratio than it otherwise would have deemed appropriate and would make it more difficult for us to maintain our Nasdaq listing if our stock price dropped below the Bid Price Rule listing requirements in the future. If we need to seek to implement a reverse stock split in the future in order to remain listed on Nasdaq, the announcement or implementation of such a reverse stock split could negatively affect the price of our common stock.
If our common stock is ultimately delisted from Nasdaq, our common stock would likely then trade only in the over-the-counter market and the market liquidity of our common stock could be adversely affected and their market price could decrease. If our common stock were to trade on the over-the-counter market, selling our common stock could be more difficult because smaller quantities of shares would likely be bought and sold, transactions could be delayed, and we could face significant material adverse consequences, including: a limited availability of market quotations for our securities; reduced liquidity with respect to our securities; a determination that our shares are a “penny stock,” which will require brokers trading in our securities to adhere to more stringent rules, possibly resulting in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities; a reduced amount of news and analyst coverage for our Company; and a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future. These factors could result in lower prices and larger spreads in the bid and ask prices for our common stock and would substantially impair our ability to raise additional funds and could result in a loss of institutional investor interest and fewer development opportunities for us.
In addition to the foregoing, if our common stock are ultimately delisted from Nasdaq and they trade on the over-the-counter market, the application of the “penny stock” rules could adversely affect the market price of our common stock and increase the transaction costs to sell those shares. The SEC has adopted regulations which generally define a “penny stock” as an equity security that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to specific exemptions. If our common stock are ultimately delisted from Nasdaq and then trade on the over-the-counter market at a price of less than $5.00 per share, our common stock would be considered a penny stock. The SEC’s penny stock rules require a broker-dealer, before a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from the rules, to deliver a standardized risk disclosure document that provides information about penny stocks and the risks in the penny stock market. The broker-dealer must also provide the customer with current bid and offer quotations for the penny stock, the compensation of the broker-dealer and the salesperson in the transaction, and monthly account statements showing the market value of each penny stock held in the customer’s account. In addition, the penny stock rules generally require that before a transaction in a penny stock occurs, the broker-dealer must make a special written determination that the penny stock is a suitable investment for the purchaser and receive the purchaser’s agreement to the transaction. If applicable in the future, these rules may restrict the ability of brokers-dealers to sell our common stock and may affect the ability of investors to sell their shares, until our common stock is no longer considered a penny stock.
We rely on key members of management, particularly our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Robert Ellin, and our Chief Financial Officer, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary, Ryan Carhart, and the loss of their services or investor confidence in them could adversely affect our success, development and financial condition.
Our success depends, to a large degree, upon certain key members of our management, particularly our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Robert Ellin, and our Chief Financial Officer, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary, Ryan Carhart. Each of Messrs. Ellin and Carhart have extensive knowledge about our business and our operations, and the loss of either of them or any other key member of our senior management (including senior management of Slacker and PodcastOne) would likely have a material adverse effect on our business and operations. We do not currently have an effective employment agreement with Mr. Ellin. We do not currently maintain a key-person insurance policy for either of Messrs. Ellin or Carhart or any other member of our management. Our executive team’s expertise and experience in acquiring, integrating and growing businesses, particularly those focused on live music and events, have been and will continue to be a significant factor in our growth and ability to execute our business strategy. The loss of Mr. Ellin, Mr. Carhart or any of our other executive officers or key employees could slow the growth of our business or have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Conversion of our Series A Preferred Stock will dilute the ownership interest of our existing stockholders, including holders who had previously converted their convertible notes, or may otherwise depress the price of our common stock.
As of February 12, 2026, the shares of our Series A Preferred Stock (together with any accrued dividends) are convertible into approximately 395,436 shares of our common stock at a price of $21.00 per share of common stock, and our outstanding Debentures are convertible into approximately 799,000 shares of our common stock at a price of $21.00 per share of common stock. The conversion of some or all of the shares of our Series A Preferred Stock and/or Debentures into shares of our common stock will dilute the ownership interests of our existing stockholders. In addition, any sales in the public market of the shares of our common stock issuable upon such conversion and/or any anticipated conversion of the Series A Preferred Stock and/or Debentures into shares of our common stock could adversely affect prevailing market prices of our common stock.
Risks Related to Our Cryptocurrency Assets Treasury Strategy
Risk Related to Our Cryptocurrency Assets Treasury Strategy and Holdings
Our Crypto Assets Treasury Strategy exposes us to various risks associated with cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin and other forms of Crypto are highly volatile assets. In the 24 months preceding the filing date of this Quarterly Report, Bitcoin has traded below $30,000 per Bitcoin and above $120,000; Ethereum has traded below $2,600 and above $4,800 per Ethereum, and Solana has traded below $100 and above $290 per Solana, respectively on Coinbase. The trading price of Bitcoin and other Crypto has significantly decreased during prior periods, and such declines may occur again in the future. Notwithstanding this volatility, we do not currently intend to hedge our Crypto holdings and have not adopted a hedging strategy with respect to our Crypto. However, we may from time to time engage in hedging strategies as part of our treasury management operations if deemed appropriate.
Crypto does not pay interest or dividends.
Crypto does not pay interest or other returns and we can only generate cash from our Crypto holdings if we sell our Crypto or implement strategies to create income streams or otherwise generate cash by using our Crypto holdings. Even if we pursue any such strategies, we may be unable to create income streams or otherwise generate cash from our Crypto holdings, and any such strategies may subject us to additional risks.
Our Crypto holdings may significantly impact our financial results and the market price of our common stock.
Our crypto holdings may significantly affect our financial results and if we continue to increase our overall holdings of crypto in the future, they will have an even greater impact on our financial results and the market price of our common stock. See “— Our historical financial statements do not reflect the potential variability in earnings that we may experience in the future relating to our crypto holdings” below.
Our Crypto Assets Treasury Strategy has not been tested over an extended period of time or under different market conditions.
We only recently adopted our Crypto Assets Treasury Strategy and will need to continually examine the risks and rewards of this new strategy. This new strategy has not been tested over an extended period of time or under different market conditions. For example, although we believe Bitcoin, due to its limited supply, has the potential to serve as a hedge against inflation in the long term, the short-term price of bitcoin declined in recent periods during which the inflation rate increased. Some investors and other market participants may disagree with our bitcoin treasury strategy or actions we undertake to implement it. If Crypto prices were to decrease or our Crypto Assets Treasury Strategy otherwise proves unsuccessful, our financial condition, results of operations, and the market price of our common stock could be materially adversely affected.
We are subject to counterparty risks, including in particular risks relating to our custodian*.*
Although we have implemented various measures that are designed to mitigate our counterparty risks, including by storing substantially all of the Crypto we own in custody accounts at U.S.-based, institutional-grade custodians and attempting to negotiated contractual arrangements intended to establish that our property interest in custodially-held bitcoin may not be subject to claims of our custodian’s creditors, applicable insolvency law is not fully developed with respect to the holding of digital assets in custodial accounts. If our custodially-held Crypto was nevertheless considered to be the property of our custodian’s estate in the event that any such custodian were to enter bankruptcy, receivership or similar insolvency proceedings, we could be treated as a general unsecured creditor of such custodians, inhibiting our ability to exercise ownership rights with respect to such Crypto and this may ultimately result in the loss of the value related to some or all of such bitcoin. Even if we are able to prevent our Crypto from being considered the property of a custodian’s bankruptcy estate as part of an insolvency proceeding, it is possible that we would still be delayed or may otherwise experience difficulty in accessing our bitcoin held by the affected custodian during the pendency of the insolvency proceedings. Any such outcome could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and the market price of our common stock. There can be no assurance that our property interest in the Crypto held by our custodian will not be subject to the claims of the custodian’s creditors in the event the custodian enters bankruptcy, receivership or similar insolvency proceedings. Additionally, the Crypto we may hold with our custodian and transact with our trade execution partners is not guaranteed by Anchorage Digital Bank National Association and does not enjoy the same protections as are available to cash or securities deposited with or transacted by institutions subject to regulation by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.
The broader digital assets industry is subject to counterparty risks, which could adversely impact the adoption rate, price, and use of Crypto.
A series of recent high-profile bankruptcies, closures, liquidations, regulatory enforcement actions and other events relating to companies operating in the digital asset industry, including the filings for bankruptcy protection by Three Arrows Capital, Celsius Network, Voyager Digital, FTX Trading and Genesis Global Capital, the closure or liquidation of certain financial institutions that provided lending and other services to the digital assets industry, including Signature Bank and Silvergate Bank, SEC enforcement actions against Coinbase, Inc. and Binance Holdings Ltd., the placement of Prime Trust, LLC into receivership following a cease-and-desist order issued by Nevada’s Department of Business and Industry, and the filing and subsequent settlement of a civil fraud lawsuit by the New York Attorney General against Genesis Global Capital, its parent company Digital Currency Group, Inc., and former partner Gemini Trust Company, have highlighted the counterparty risks applicable to owning and transacting in digital assets. Although these bankruptcies, closures, liquidations and other events have not resulted in any loss or misappropriation of our bitcoin, nor have such events adversely impacted our access to our Crypto, they have, in the short-term, likely negatively impacted the adoption rate and use of Crypto. Additional bankruptcies, closures, liquidations, regulatory enforcement actions or other events involving participants in the digital assets industry in the future may further negatively impact the adoption rate, price, and use of Crypto, limit the availability to us of financing collateralized by Crypto, or create or expose additional counterparty risks.
Changes in our ownership of Crypto could have accounting, regulatory and other impacts.
While we currently own Bitcoin or may own other forms of Crypto directly, we may investigate other potential approaches to owning Crypto, including indirect ownership (for example, through ownership interests in a fund that owns bitcoin or other forms of Crypto). If we were to own all or a portion of our Crypto in a different manner, the accounting treatment for our Crypto, our ability to use our Crypto as collateral for additional borrowings, and the regulatory requirements to which we are subject, may correspondingly change. For example, the volatile nature of Crypto may force us to liquidate our holdings to use it as collateral, which could be negatively effected by any disruptions in the Crypto market, and if liquidated, the value of the collateral would not reflect potential gains in market value of Crypto, all of which could negatively affect our business and implementation of our Crypto strategy.
Changes in the accounting treatment of our Crypto holdings could have significant accounting impacts, including increasing the volatility of our results.
In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-08, which we intend on adopting, and which requires us to measure in-scope crypto assets (including our Crypto holdings) at fair value in our statement of financial position, and to recognize gains and losses from changes in the fair value of our bitcoin in net income each reporting period. ASU 2023-08 requires us to provide certain interim and annual disclosures with respect to our bitcoin holdings. Due in particular to the volatility in the price of bitcoin, we expect the adoption of ASU 2023-08 to have a material impact on our financial results in future periods, increase the volatility of our financial results, and affect the carrying value of our bitcoin on our balance sheet, and could have adverse tax consequences, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our financial results and the market price of our common stock.
We may use our cash and cash equivalents to purchase cryptocurrencies, the price of which has been, and will likely continue to be, highly volatile.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and other Crypto are highly volatile assets, and fluctuations in the price of such Crypto are likely to influence our financial results and the market price of our common stock. Our financial results and the market price of our common stock would be adversely affected, and our business and financial condition would be negatively impacted, if the price of bitcoin decreased substantially, including as a result of:
| ● | decreased user and investor confidence in Crypto, including due to the various factors described herein; |
| ● | investment and trading activities such as (i) trading activities of highly active retail and institutional users, speculators, miners and investors, or of the U.S. or state governments, (ii) actual or expected significant dispositions of Crypto by large holders, and (iii) actual or perceived manipulation of the spot or derivative markets for Crypto or spot Crypto ETPs; |
| ● | negative publicity, media or social media coverage, or sentiment due to events in or relating to, or perception of, bitcoin or the broader digital assets industry, for example, (i) public perception that Crypto can be used as a vehicle to circumvent sanctions, including sanctions imposed on Russia or certain regions related to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, or to fund criminal or terrorist activities, such as the purported use of digital assets by Hamas to fund its terrorist attack against Israel in October 2023; (ii) expected or pending civil, criminal, regulatory enforcement or other high profile actions against major participants in the Crypto ecosystem, including the SEC’s enforcement actions against Coinbase, Inc. and Binance Holdings Ltd.; (iii) additional filings for bankruptcy protection or bankruptcy proceedings of major digital asset industry participants, such as the bankruptcy proceeding of FTX Trading and its affiliates; and (iv) the actual or perceived environmental impact of Crypto and related activities, including environmental concerns raised by private individuals, governmental and non-governmental organizations, and other actors related to the energy resources consumed in the bitcoin mining process; |
| ● | changes in consumer preferences and the perceived value or prospects of Crypto; |
| ● | competition from other digital assets that exhibit better speed, security, scalability, or energy efficiency, that feature other more favored characteristics, that are backed or held in large amounts by governments, including the U.S. government, or reserves of fiat currencies, or that represent ownership or security interests in physical assets; |
| ● | a decrease in the price of other digital assets, including stablecoins, or the crash or unavailability of stablecoins that are used as a medium of exchange for bitcoin purchase and sale transactions, such as the crash of the stablecoin Terra USD in 2022, to the extent the decrease in the price of such other digital assets or the unavailability of such stablecoins may cause a decrease in the price of Crypto or adversely affect investor confidence in digital assets generally; |
| ● | disruptions, failures, unavailability, or interruptions in service of trading venues for bitcoin, such as, for example, the announcement by the digital asset exchange FTX Trading that it would freeze withdrawals and transfers from its accounts and subsequent filing for bankruptcy protection and the recent SEC enforcement action brought against Binance Holdings Ltd., which initially sought to freeze all of its assets during the pendency of the enforcement action; |
| ● | further reductions in mining rewards of bitcoin, including block reward halving events, which are events that occur after a specific period of time that reduce the block reward earned by “miners” who validate bitcoin transactions, or increases in the costs associated with bitcoin mining, including increases in electricity costs and hardware and software used in mining, that may cause a decline in support for the bitcoin network; |
| ● | transaction congestion and fees associated with processing transactions on the Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana or other networks; |
| ● | changes in national and international economic and political conditions, including, without limitation, the adverse impact attributable to the economic and political instability caused by the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the economic sanctions adopted in response to the conflict, and the potential broadening of the Israel-Hamas war to other countries in the Middle East, as well as expectations regarding changes to the regulatory environment, including for the U.S. digital asset industry. |
***Bitcoin,***Ethereum, Solana and other digital assets are novel assets, and are subject to significant legal, commercial, regulatory and technical uncertainty.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana (collectively, “Crypto”) and other digital assets are relatively novel and are subject to significant uncertainty, which could adversely impact their price. The application of state and federal securities laws and other laws and regulations to digital assets is unclear in certain respects, and it is possible that regulators in the United States or foreign countries may interpret or apply existing laws and regulations in a manner that adversely affects the price of bitcoin, Ethereum or Solana.
The U.S. federal government, states, regulatory agencies, and foreign countries may also enact new laws and regulations, or pursue regulatory, legislative, enforcement or judicial actions, that could materially impact the price of bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana or other forms of Crypto or the ability of individuals or institutions such as us to own or transfer Crypto. For example, the U.S. executive branch, SEC, the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation, among others have been active in recent years, and in the U.K., the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, or FSMA 2023 became law. It is not possible to predict whether, or when, any of these developments will lead to Congress granting additional authorities to the SEC, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), or other regulators, or whether, or when, any other federal, state or foreign legislative bodies will take any similar actions. It is also not possible to predict the nature of any such additional authorities, how additional legislation or regulatory oversight might impact the ability of digital asset markets to function or the willingness of financial and other institutions to continue to provide services to the digital assets industry, nor how any new regulations or changes to existing regulations might impact the value of digital assets generally and bitcoin specifically. The consequences of increased regulation of digital assets and digital asset activities could adversely affect the market price of bitcoin, Crypto we intend to own, and in turn adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
Moreover, the risks of engaging in a crypto reserve treasury strategy are relatively novel and have created, and could continue to create, complications due to the lack of experience that third parties have with companies engaging in such a strategy, such as increased costs of director and officer liability insurance or the potential inability to obtain such coverage on acceptable terms in the future.
The growth of the digital assets industry in general, and the use and acceptance of bitcoin in particular, may also impact the price of bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana or other forms of Crypto and is subject to a high degree of uncertainty. The pace of worldwide growth in the adoption and use of bitcoin may depend, for instance, on public familiarity with digital assets, ease of buying, accessing or gaining exposure to bitcoin, institutional demand for bitcoin as an investment asset, the participation of traditional financial institutions in the digital assets industry, consumer demand for bitcoin as a means of payment, and the availability and popularity of alternatives to bitcoin. Even if growth in bitcoin usage occurs in the near or medium-term, there is no assurance that bitcoin usage will continue to grow over the long-term.
Because Crypto has no physical existence beyond the record of transactions on the appliable blockchain, a variety of technical factors related to the applicable blockchain could also impact the price of such Crypto. For example, malicious attacks by miners, inadequate mining fees to incentivize validating of bitcoin transactions, hard “forks” of the applicable Crypto blockchain into multiple blockchains, and advances in digital computing, algebraic geometry, and quantum computing could undercut the integrity of such blockchain and negatively affect the price of such Crypto. The liquidity of Crypto may also be reduced and damage to the public perception of Crypto may occur, if financial institutions were to deny or limit banking services to businesses that hold Crypto, provide Crypto -related services or accept Crypto as payment, which could also decrease the price of Crypto. Similarly, the open-source nature of the Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana blockchains means the contributors and developers of such blockchains are generally not directly compensated for their contributions in maintaining and developing the blockchains, and any failure to properly monitor and upgrade such blockchains could adversely affect such blockchains and negatively affect the price of such Crypto.
Recent actions by U.S. banking regulators have reduced the ability of Crypto-related services providers to gain access to banking services and liquidity of Crypto may also be impacted to the extent that changes in applicable laws and regulatory requirements negatively impact the ability of exchanges and trading venues to provide services for bitcoin and other digital assets.
In addition, while the current administration has expressed support regarding the development and use of digital assets as the industry has anticipated, the specific regulatory frameworks are still to be developed. Expectations around U.S. digital asset policy, including potential sentiments that the U.S. government is not moving quickly enough or not meeting policy expectations, may adversely affect the price of Crypto.
Our historical financial statements do not reflect the potential variability in earnings that we may experience in the future from holding or selling significant amounts of Crypto.
The price of bitcoin and other forms of Crypto has historically been subject to dramatic price fluctuations and is highly volatile. We determine the fair value of our bitcoin based on quoted (unadjusted) prices on the Coinbase exchange, and upon our adoption of ASU 2023-08, we would be required to measure our bitcoin holdings at fair value in our statement of financial position, and to recognize gains and losses from changes in the fair value of our bitcoin in net income each reporting period, which may create significant volatility in our reported earnings and decrease the carrying value of our digital assets, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on the market price of our common stock. Conversely, any sale of Crypto at prices above our carrying value for such assets creates a gain for financial reporting purposes even if we would otherwise incur an economic or tax loss with respect to such transaction, which also may result in significant volatility in our reported earnings.
Due in particular to the volatility in the price of Crypto, we expect our early adoption of ASU 2023-08 to increase the volatility of our financial results and it could significantly affect the carrying value of our bitcoin or other forms of Crypto on our balance sheet.
Because we intend to increase our overall holdings of bitcoin and/or purchase additional Crypto in future periods, we expect that the proportion of our total assets represented by our Crypto holdings will increase in the future. As a result, for all future periods, volatility in our earnings may be significantly more than what we experienced in prior periods.
Our Crypto Assets Treasury Strategy subjects us to enhanced regulatory oversight.
As noted elsewhere in this Item 1A. Risk Factors, several spot bitcoin ETPs have received approval from the SEC to list their shares on a U.S. national securities exchange with continuous share creation and redemption at NAV. Even though we are not, and do not function in the manner of, a spot bitcoin ETP, it is possible that we nevertheless could face regulatory scrutiny from the SEC or other federal or state agencies due to our bitcoin holdings.
In addition, there has been increasing focus on the extent to which digital assets can be used to launder the proceeds of illegal activities, fund criminal or terrorist activities, or circumvent sanctions regimes, including those sanctions imposed in response to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. While we have implemented and maintain policies and procedures reasonably designed to promote compliance with applicable anti-money laundering and sanctions laws and regulations and take care to only acquire our Crypto through entities subject to anti-money laundering regulation and related compliance rules in the United States, if we are found to have purchased any of our Crypto from bad actors that have used Crypto to launder money or persons subject to sanctions, we may be subject to regulatory proceedings and any further transactions or dealings in Crypto by us may be restricted or prohibited.
We may consider issuing debt or other financial instruments that may be collateralized by our Crypto holdings. We may also consider pursuing strategies to create income streams or otherwise generate funds using our Crypto holdings. These types of bitcoin-related transactions are the subject of enhanced regulatory oversight. These and any other bitcoin-related transactions we may enter into, beyond simply acquiring and holding Crypto, may subject us to additional regulatory compliance requirements and scrutiny, including under federal and state money services regulations, money transmitter licensing requirements and various commodity and securities laws and regulations.
Additional laws, guidance and policies may be issued by domestic and foreign regulators following the filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by FTX Trading, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, in November 2022. U.S. and foreign regulators have also increased enforcement activity thereafter, and regulatory requirements continue to evolve in response to FTX Trading’s collapse as well as changes in government policies regarding cryptocurrencies. Changes in the regulatory environment, including changing interpretations and the implementation of new or varying regulatory requirements by the government or any new legislation affecting Crypto, as well as enforcement actions involving or impacting our trading venues, counterparties and custodians, may impose significant costs or significantly limit our ability to hold and transact in Crypto.
In addition, private actors that are wary of Crypto or the regulatory concerns associated with Crypto may in the future take further actions that may have an adverse effect on our business or the market price of our common stock.
Due to the currently unregulated nature and lack of transparency surrounding the operations of many Crypto trading venues, Crypto trading venues may experience greater fraud, security failures or regulatory or operational problems than trading venues for more established asset classes, which may result in a loss of confidence in Crypto trading venues and adversely affect the value of our Crypto.
Crypto trading venues are relatively new and, in many cases, currently unregulated. Even if regulated, such venues may not be complying with such regulations. Furthermore, there are many Crypto trading venues that do not provide the public with significant information regarding their ownership structure, management teams, corporate practices and regulatory compliance. As a result, the marketplace may lose confidence in Crypto trading venues, including prominent exchanges that handle a significant volume of Crypto trading and/or are subject to regulatory oversight, in the event one or more Crypto trading venues cease or pause for a prolonged period the trading of bitcoin or other digital assets, or experience fraud, significant volumes of withdrawal, security failures or operational problems.
In 2019 there were reports claiming that 80-95% of bitcoin trading volume on trading venues was false or non-economic in nature, with specific focus on currently unregulated exchanges located outside of the United States. The SEC also alleged as part of its June 2023, complaint that Binance Holdings Ltd. committed strategic and targeted “wash trading” through its affiliates to artificially inflate the volume of certain digital assets traded on its exchange. Such reports and allegations may indicate that the bitcoin market is significantly smaller than expected and that the United States makes up a significantly larger percentage of the bitcoin market than is commonly understood. Any actual or perceived false trading in the bitcoin or other Crypto markets, and any other fraudulent or manipulative acts and practices, could adversely affect the value of our Crypto. Negative perception, a lack of stability in the broader Crypto markets and the closure, temporary shutdown or operational disruption of Crypto trading venues, lending institutions, institutional investors, institutional miners, custodians, or other major participants in the Crypto ecosystem, due to fraud, business failure, cybersecurity events, government-mandated regulation, bankruptcy, or for any other reason, may result in a decline in confidence in bitcoin and the broader digital assets ecosystem and greater volatility in the price of Crypto. For example, in 2022, each of Celsius Network, Voyager Digital, Three Arrows Capital, FTX Trading, and BlockFi filed for bankruptcy, following which the market prices of bitcoin and other digital assets significantly declined. In addition, in June 2023, the SEC announced enforcement actions against Coinbase, Inc., and Binance Holdings Ltd., two providers of large trading venues for digital assets, which similarly was followed by a decrease in the market price of bitcoin and other digital assets. These were followed in November 2023, by an SEC enforcement action against Kraken, another large trading venue for digital assets. As the price of our common stock is affected by the value of our bitcoin and/or Crypto holdings, the failure of a major participant in the Crypto ecosystem could have a material adverse effect on the market price of our common stock.
The concentration of our bitcoin holdings enhances the risks inherent in our Crypto Assets Treasury Strategy.
As of the date of this Quarterly Report, we held an aggregate 16.6636 bitcoins, which we acquired for $2 million, inclusive of fees and expenses, and we intend to increase our overall holdings of bitcoin and/or purchase additional Crypto in the future. The concentration of our bitcoin holdings limits the risk mitigation that we could take advantage of by purchasing a more diversified portfolio of treasury assets, and the absence of diversification enhances the risks inherent in our bitcoin acquisition strategy. Any future significant declines in the price of bitcoin would have a more pronounced impact on our financial condition than if we used our cash to purchase a more diverse portfolio of assets.
The emergence or growth of other digital assets, including those with significant private or public sector backing, could have a negative impact on the price of bitcoin and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
As a result of our Crypto Assets Treasury Strategy, the majority of our cash is now concentrated in our bitcoin holdings. Accordingly, the emergence or growth of digital assets other than bitcoin may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition. While bitcoin is the largest digital asset by market capitalization as of the date of this Quarterly Report, there are numerous alternative digital assets and many entities, including the U.S. government, consortiums and financial institutions, are researching and investing resources into private or permissioned blockchain platforms or digital assets that do not use proof-of-work mining like the bitcoin network. For example, in late 2022, the Ethereum network transitioned to a “proof-of-stake” mechanism for validating transactions that requires significantly less computing power than proof-of-work mining. The Ethereum network has completed another major upgrade since then and may undertake additional upgrades in the future. If the mechanisms for validating transactions in Ethereum and other alternative digital assets are perceived as superior to proof-of-work mining, those digital assets could gain market share relative to bitcoin.
Other alternative digital assets that compete with bitcoin in certain ways include “stablecoins,” which are designed to maintain a constant price because of, for instance, their issuers’ promise to hold high-quality liquid assets (such as U.S. dollar deposits and short-term U.S. treasury securities) equal to the total value of stablecoins in circulation. Stablecoins have grown rapidly as an alternative to bitcoin and other digital assets as a medium of exchange and store of value, particularly on digital asset trading platforms. As of the date of this Quarterly Report, two of the ten largest digital assets by market capitalization are U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins.
Additionally, central banks in some countries have started to introduce digital forms of legal tender. For example, China’s CBDC project was made available to consumers in January 2022, and governments including the European Union and Israel have been discussing the potential creation of new CBDCs. Whether or not they incorporate blockchain or similar technology, CBDCs, as legal tender in the issuing jurisdiction, could also compete with, or replace, bitcoin and other digital assets as a medium of exchange or store of value. As a result, the emergence or growth of these or other digital assets could cause the market price of bitcoin to decrease, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, and operating results.
Historically, the Crypto markets have been characterized by significant volatility in price, limited liquidity and trading volumes compared to sovereign currencies markets, relative anonymity, a developing regulatory landscape, potential susceptibility to market abuse and manipulation, compliance and internal control failures at exchanges, and various other risks inherent in its entirely electronic, virtual form and decentralized network. During times of market instability, we may not be able to sell our bitcoin or Crypto at favorable prices or at all. For example, a number of bitcoin trading venues temporarily halted deposits and withdrawals in 2022. As a result, our bitcoin or other Crypto holdings may not be able to serve as a source of liquidity for us to the same extent as cash and cash equivalents. Further, Crypto we intend to hold with our custodian and transact with our trade execution partners does not enjoy the same protections as are available to cash or securities deposited with or transacted by institutions subject to regulation by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Additionally, we may be unable to enter into term loans or other capital raising transactions collateralized by our Crypto or otherwise generate funds using our Crypto holdings, including in particular during times of market instability or when the price of Crypto has declined significantly. If we are unable to sell our Crypto, enter into additional capital raising transactions using Crypto as collateral, or otherwise generate funds using our Crypto holdings, or if we are forced to sell our Crypto at a significant loss, in order to meet our working capital requirements, our business and financial condition could be negatively impacted.
If we or our third-party service providers experience a security breach or cyberattack and unauthorized parties obtain access to our bitcoin or other forms of Crypto, or if our private keys are lost or destroyed, or other similar circumstances or events occur, we may lose some or all of our bitcoin or other Crypto and our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
All of the bitcoin we own is held in custody accounts at Anchorage Digital, regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Security breaches and cyberattacks are of particular concern with respect to our bitcoin and other forms of Crypto we intend on holding in the future. Bitcoin and other blockchain-based cryptocurrencies and the entities that provide services to participants in the bitcoin ecosystem have been, and may in the future be, subject to security breaches, cyberattacks, or other malicious activities. For example, in October 2021 it was reported that hackers exploited a flaw in the account recovery process and stole from the accounts of at least 6,000 customers of the Coinbase exchange, although the flaw was subsequently fixed and Coinbase reimbursed affected customers. Similarly, in November 2022, hackers exploited weaknesses in the security architecture of the FTX Trading digital asset exchange and reportedly stole over $400 million in digital assets from customers. A successful security breach or cyberattack could result in:
| ● | a partial or total loss of our bitcoin or Crypto in a manner that may not be covered by insurance or the liability provisions of the custody agreements with the custodians who hold our bitcoin or Crypto; |
| ● | harm to our reputation and brand; |
Further, any actual or perceived data security breach or cybersecurity attack directed at other companies with digital assets or companies that operate digital asset networks, regardless of whether we are directly impacted, could lead to a general loss of confidence in the broader bitcoin blockchain ecosystem or in the use of the Crypto network to conduct financial transactions, which could negatively impact us.
We face riskrelating to the custody of our bitcoin and other forms of Crypto, including the loss or destruction of private keys required to access our Crypto and cyberattacks or other data loss relating to our Crypto holdings.
We currently hold our bitcoin with Anchorage Digital, a regulated custodian that has a duty to safeguard our private keys, which may include holdings of other forms of Crypto in the future. Our keys are generated and processed on hardware security modules (HSMs), strengthened with custom logic. Transactions are only processed upon joint approval by our Company and Anchorage Digital. There is no manual access to keys, as asset keys are generated and managed inside our HSMs for their entire lifetimes and never leave the HSM unencrypted. Our custodial services contracts do not restrict our ability to reallocate our bitcoin with our custodian. In the future, our bitcoin holdings may be concentrated with a single custodian from time to time. In light of the significant amount of bitcoin we hold and other forms of Crypto when we anticipate holding, we continually seek to engage additional custodians to achieve a greater degree of diversification in the custody of our Crypto as the extent of potential risk of loss is dependent, in part, on the degree of diversification. If there is a decrease in the availability of digital asset custodians that we believe can safely custody our Crypto, for example, due to regulatory developments or enforcement actions that cause custodians to discontinue or limit their services in the United States, we may need to enter into agreements that are less favorable than our current agreements or take other measures to custody our bitcoin or other forms of Crypto, and our ability to seek a greater degree of diversification in the use of custodial services would be materially adversely affected. In addition, holding our bitcoin or other forms of Crypto with a regulated custodian could affect the availability of receiving digital assets that may result from “forks” of the bitcoin blockchain if our custodian is unable to support or otherwise provide us with such digital assets, thereby reducing the amount of digital assets we may hold as a result. While our custodian carries insurance policies to cover losses for commercial crimes, cyber and cold storage, the policy limits vary per provider and would be shared among all of their customers, and subject to various limitations and exclusions (such as if a loss arises due to our failure to protect our login credentials and devices). The insurance that covers losses of our Crypto holdings may cover only a small fraction of the value of the entirety of our Crypto holdings, and there can be no guarantee that such insurance will be maintained as part of the custodial services we have or that such coverage will cover losses with respect to our Crypto. Moreover, our use of a custodian exposes us to the risk that the bitcoin our custodian holds on our behalf could be subject to insolvency proceedings and we could be treated as a general unsecured creditor of the custodian, inhibiting our ability to exercise ownership rights with respect to such bitcoin. Any loss associated with such insolvency proceedings is unlikely to be covered by any insurance coverage we maintain related to our Crypto.
We may be subject to regulatory developments related to cryptocurrency assets and crypto cryptocurrency markets, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
As bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and other digital assets are relatively novel and the application of state and federal securities laws and other laws and regulations to digital assets is unclear in certain respects, it is possible that regulators in the United States or foreign countries may interpret or apply existing laws and regulations in a manner that adversely affects the price of bitcoin. The U.S. federal government, states, regulatory agencies, and foreign countries may also enact new laws and regulations, or pursue regulatory, legislative, enforcement or judicial actions, that could materially impact the price of bitcoin or the ability of individuals or institutions such as us to own or transfer bitcoin. For examples, see “Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and other digital assets are novel assets, and are subject to significant legal, commercial, regulatory and technical uncertainty” elsewhere in these Risk Factors.
If bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and/or other cryptocurrency are determined to constitute a security for purposes of the federal securities laws, the additional regulatory restrictions imposed by such a determination could adversely affect the market price of bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and/or other cryptocurrency and in turn adversely affect the market price of our common stock. See “Regulatory change reclassifying bitcoin as a security could lead to our classification as an “investment company” under the 1940 Act, and could adversely affect the market price of Crypto and the market price of our common stock” elsewhere in these Risk Factors. Moreover, the risks of us engaging in a cryptocurrency assets treasury strategy have created, and could continue to create, complications due to the lack of experience that third parties have with companies engaging in such a strategy, such as increased costs of director and officer liability insurance or the potential inability to obtain such coverage on acceptable terms in the future.
Ourcryptocurrency treasury strategy exposes us to risk of non-performance by counterparties
Our Crypto Assets Treasury Strategy exposes us to the risk of non-performance by counterparties, whether contractual or otherwise. Risk of non-performance includes inability or refusal of a counterparty to perform because of a deterioration in the counterparty’s financial condition and liquidity or for any other reason. For example, our execution partners, custodian, or other counterparties might fail to perform in accordance with the terms of our agreements with them, which could result in a loss of bitcoin, a loss of the opportunity to generate funds, or other losses.
Our primary counterparty risk with respect to our bitcoin and other forms of Crypto are custodian performance obligations under the custody agreement we have entered into with Anchorage Digital or custody agreements or arrangements we may enter into. A series of recent high-profile bankruptcies, closures, liquidations, regulatory enforcement actions and other events relating to companies operating in the digital asset industry, the closure or liquidation of certain financial institutions that provided lending and other services to the digital assets industry, SEC enforcement actions against other providers, or placement into receivership or civil fraud lawsuit against digital asset industry participants have highlighted the perceived and actual counterparty risk applicable to digital asset ownership and trading. Although these bankruptcies, closures and liquidations have not adversely impacted our bitcoin or our intent to hold other forms of Crypto (which was only recently acquired), legal precedent created in these bankruptcy and other proceedings may increase the risk of future rulings adverse to our interests in the event one or more of our custodians becomes a debtor in a bankruptcy case or is the subject of other liquidation, insolvency or similar proceedings.
While our custodian is subject to regulatory regimes intended to protect customers in the event of a custodial bankruptcy, receivership or similar insolvency proceeding, no assurance can be provided that our custodially-held Crypto will not become part of the custodian’s insolvency estate if one or more of our custodians enters bankruptcy, receivership or similar insolvency proceedings. Additionally, if we pursue any strategies to create income streams or otherwise generate funds using our Crypto holdings, we would become subject to additional counterparty risks. Although no such strategies are contemplated at this time, we will need to carefully evaluate market conditions, including price volatility as well as service provider terms and market reputations and performance, among others, prior to implementing any such strategy, all of which could effect our ability to successfully implement and execute on any such future strategy. These risks, along with any significant non-performance by counterparties, including in particular the custodian with which we custody substantially all of our Crypto, could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, and operating results.
Our custodially-held Crypto may become part of the custodian’s insolvency estate if one or more of our custodians enters bankruptcy, receivership or similar insolvency proceedings.
If our custodially-held Crypto are considered to be the property of our custodians’ estates in the event that any such custodians were to enter bankruptcy, receivership or similar insolvency proceedings, we could be treated as a general unsecured creditor of such custodians, inhibiting our ability to exercise ownership rights with respect to such Crypto and this may ultimately result in the loss of the value related to some or all of such Crypto. A series of recent high-profile bankruptcies, closures, liquidations, regulatory enforcement actions and other events relating to companies operating in the digital asset industry, including the filings for bankruptcy protection by Three Arrows Capital, Celsius Network, Voyager Digital, FTX Trading and Genesis Global Capital, the closure or liquidation of certain financial institutions that provided lending and other services to the digital assets industry, including Signature Bank and Silvergate Bank, SEC enforcement actions against Coinbase, Inc. and Binance Holdings Ltd., the placement of Prime Trust, LLC into receivership following a cease-and-desist order issued by Nevada’s Department of Business and Industry, and the filing and subsequent settlement of a civil fraud lawsuit by the New York Attorney General against Genesis Global Capital, its parent company Digital Currency Group, Inc., and former partner Gemini Trust Company, have highlighted the counterparty risks applicable to owning and transacting in digital assets. Although these bankruptcies, closures, liquidations and other events have not resulted in any loss or misappropriation of our Crypto, nor have such events adversely impacted our access to our Crypto, they have, in the short-term, likely negatively impacted the adoption rate and use of Crypto. Additional bankruptcies, closures, liquidations, regulatory enforcement actions or other events involving participants in the digital assets industry in the future may further negatively impact the adoption rate, price, and use of Crypto, limit the availability to us of financing collateralized by Crypto, or create or expose additional counterparty risks. Any loss associated with such insolvency proceedings is unlikely to be covered by any insurance coverage we maintain related to our Crypto. Even if we are able to prevent our Crypto from being considered the property of a custodian’s bankruptcy estate as part of an insolvency proceeding, it is possible that we would still be delayed or may otherwise experience difficulty in accessing our Crypto held by the affected custodian during the pendency of the insolvency proceedings. Any such outcome could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and the market price of our common stock.
Holders of our Debentures and Capchase, our lender, may foreclose on any crypto assets pursuant to the terms of the applicable debt agreements.
In May 2025, we and PodcastOne, our majority owned subsidiary, entered into the SPA with the Selling Stockholders, pursuant to which we sold to the Selling Stockholders the Initial Debentures. The Initial Debentures are secured by substantially all of our and our subsidiaries’ assets, including any cryptocurrency purchased by us pursuant to our Crypto Assets Treasury Strategy. In addition, in August 2023, we entered into a loan agreement with Capchase pursuant to which we borrowed $1.7 million to further develop and acquire certain podcasts acquired by PodcastOne and for general working capital. Such Capchase loan is subordinated to the Initial Debentures and is also secured by substantially all of our assets, including any cryptocurrency purchased by us pursuant to our Crypto Assets Treasury Strategy. If we do not comply with the provisions of the Initial Debentures and/or Capchase loan debt agreements, the holders of the Debentures and/or Capchase may terminate their obligations to us, accelerate our debt and/or require us to repay all outstanding amounts owed thereunder, and will each have the right to foreclose on any crypto assets held by us, including with our custodians and/or Arca. Additionally, any credit and security agreement that we may enter into in the future will likely contain similar covenants and will therefore be secured by substantially all of our and our subsidiaries’ assets, including any crypto currency purchased by us pursuant to our Crypto Assets Treasury Strategy. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in our 2025 Annual Report, and under similar headings in our subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.
A temporary or permanent blockchain“fork”*** to bitcoin or other crypto assets could adversely affect our business.***
Blockchain protocols, including bitcoin, are open source. Any user can download the software, modify it, and then propose that bitcoin or other blockchain protocols users and miners adopt the modification. When a modification is introduced and a substantial majority of users and miners consent to the modification, the change is implemented and the bitcoin or other blockchain protocol networks, as applicable, remain uninterrupted. However, if less than a substantial majority of users and miners consent to the proposed modification, and the modification is not compatible with the software prior to its modification, the consequence would be what is known as a “fork”,i.e., “split” of the impacted blockchain protocol network and respective blockchain, with one prong running the pre-modified software and the other running the modified software. The effect of such a fork would be the existence of two parallel versions of the bitcoin or other blockchain protocol network, as applicable, running simultaneously, but with each split network’s crypto asset lacking interchangeability. A “hard fork” – where there is disagreement among the users about the rules of the network – can have a significant negative impact on value of the crypto asset.
The bitcoin has been subject to “forks” that resulted in the creation of new networks, including bitcoin cash ABC, bitcoin cash SV, bitcoin diamond, bitcoin gold and others. Some of these forks have caused fragmentation among platforms as to the correct naming convention for forked crypto assets. Due to the lack of a central registry or rulemaking body, no single entity has the ability to dictate the nomenclature of forked crypto assets, causing disagreements and a lack of uniformity among platforms on the nomenclature of forked crypto assets, and which results in further confusion to customers as to the nature of assets they hold on platforms, and which can negatively impact the value of the crypto assets. In addition, several of these forks were contentious and as a result, participants in certain communities may harbor ill will towards other communities. As a result, certain community members may take actions that adversely impact the use, adoption, and price of bitcoin, or any of their forked alternatives.
We intend to recognize forked and airdropped assets consistent with our custodians. We may not immediately or ever have the ability to withdraw a forked or airdropped bitcoin by virtue of bitcoins that we hold with our custodians. Future forks may occur at any time. A fork can lead to a disruption of networks and our information technology systems, cybersecurity attacks, replay attacks, or security weaknesses, any of which can further lead to temporary or even permanent loss of our and our assets.
We may not be able to successfully implement our Crypto Assets Treasury Strategy, and our efforts in this area may not achieve the intended results.
We have recently announced a new strategic initiative to launch our Crypto Assets Treasury Strategy. As part of this strategy, we have purchased our initial bitcoin holdings as part of our plan to build a robust cryptocurrency treasury as a core pillar of initiative. While we believe this strategic move may provide substantial future growth and other opportunities to our Company, this initiative is at an early stage and the cryptocurrency assets treasury strategy is still nascent, unproven and rapidly evolving. There is no assurance that we will be able to successfully implement our plans or generate meaningful revenues, profits or capital or assets appreciation from this strategy. The success of our strategy depends on a number of factors, many of which are outside of our control, including the long-term viability of bitcoin and other digital assets, their adoption, usage and price appreciation, competition from other companies who have adopted a similar strategy, technological and regulatory developments, ability to acquire meaning cryptocurrency assets and our ability to acquire the necessary technical and financial expertise.
We have also engaged Arca to provide discretionary investment management services for our digital asset treasury account(s) pursuant to an investment management agreement. Under this arrangement, Arca manages our account in accordance with agreed investment guidelines, which currently involve a derivatives overlay strategy on a long bitcoin or ether position, seeking to generate in-kind returns through the sale of call options and other structured option strategies. Arca has full investment discretion within the investment guidelines but does not act as custodian of our assets. Our digital assets are held by Anchorage Digital, a qualified custodian, which executes transactions as instructed by Arca and provides account statements directly to us. We pay Arca a management fee and a performance fee as set forth in the investment management agreement, and these fees are paid directly from our account with the custodian. This arrangement subjects us to a number of risks, including those related to the volatility of digital assets and derivatives, the performance of Arca’s investment strategy, the concentration of our holdings in bitcoin or ether, the acts, omissions, financial condition, or operational failures of the custodian or other counterparties, potential liquidity constraints, and operational and cybersecurity risks. In addition, our ability to continue executing this strategy may be adversely affected if our agreement with Arca or our custodial relationship with Anchorage Digital is terminated or otherwise disrupted.
Currently we have limited experience with the cryptocurrency assets treasury strategy, and there can be no assurance that our strategic initiative will be successful or that we will be able to achieve our strategic objectives in this area in a timely manner or at all. If we are unable to successfully execute our strategy or if the digital assets market fails to grow as expected, our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and other digital assets are novel assets, and are subject to significant legal, commercial, regulatory and technical uncertainty.
The U.S. federal government, states, regulatory agencies, and foreign countries may also enact new laws and regulations, or pursue regulatory, legislative, enforcement or judicial actions, that could materially impact the price of bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana or other forms of Crypto or the ability of individuals or institutions such as us to own or transfer Crypto. For example, the U.S. executive branch, SEC, the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation, among others have been active in recent years, and in the U.K., the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, or FSMA 2023 became law. It is not possible to predict whether, or when, any of these developments will lead to Congress granting additional authorities to the SEC, CFTC, or other regulators, or whether, or when, any other federal, state or foreign legislative bodies will take any similar actions. It is also not possible to predict the nature of any such additional authorities, how additional legislation or regulatory oversight might impact the ability of digital asset markets to function or the willingness of financial and other institutions to continue to provide services to the digital assets industry, nor how any new regulations or changes to existing regulations might impact the value of digital assets generally and bitcoin specifically. The consequences of increased regulation of digital assets and digital asset activities could adversely affect the market price of bitcoin, Crypto we intend to own, and in turn adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
Moreover, the risks of engaging in a crypto reserve treasury strategy are relatively novel and have created, and could continue to create, complications due to the lack of experience that third parties have with companies engaging in such a strategy, such as increased costs of director and officer liability insurance or the potential inability to obtain such coverage on acceptable terms in the future.
The growth of the digital assets industry in general, and the use and acceptance of bitcoin in particular, may also impact the price of bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana or other forms of Crypto and is subject to a high degree of uncertainty. The pace of worldwide growth in the adoption and use of bitcoin may depend, for instance, on public familiarity with digital assets, ease of buying, accessing or gaining exposure to bitcoin, institutional demand for bitcoin as an investment asset, the participation of traditional financial institutions in the digital assets industry, consumer demand for bitcoin as a means of payment, and the availability and popularity of alternatives to bitcoin. Even if growth in bitcoin usage occurs in the near or medium-term, there is no assurance that bitcoin usage will continue to grow over the long-term.
Because Crypto has no physical existence beyond the record of transactions on its respective blockchain, a variety of technical factors related to the blockchain could also impact the price of Crypto. For example, malicious attacks by miners, inadequate mining fees to incentivize validating of bitcoin transactions, hard “forks” of the bitcoin blockchain into multiple blockchains, and advances in digital computing, algebraic geometry, and quantum computing could undercut the integrity of the blockchain and negatively affect the price of Crypto. The liquidity of Crypto may also be reduced and damage to the public perception of bitcoin may occur, if financial institutions were to deny or limit banking services to businesses that hold Crypto, provide Crypto-related services or accept Crypto as payment, which could also decrease the price of Crypto. Similarly, the open-source nature of the blockchain means the contributors and developers of the blockchain are generally not directly compensated for their contributions in maintaining and developing the blockchain, and any failure to properly monitor and upgrade the blockchain could adversely affect the blockchain and negatively affect the price of Crypto.
The liquidity of Crypto may also be impacted to the extent that changes in applicable laws and regulatory requirements negatively impact the ability of exchanges and trading venues to provide services for Crypto and other digital assets.
Disruptions in the crypto asset markets, including the bitcoin market, could materially and adversely affect the value of the digital assets we hold or intend to hold.
The value of our digital assets, including bitcoin, is subject to significant volatility due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. The crypto asset markets have historically experienced, and may in the future experience, extreme price fluctuations, periods of illiquidity, adverse rulings by market manipulation, security breaches, fraud, business failures, and significant declines in trading volume. Events such as the failure of major market participants, the collapse of trading venues or custodians, changes in market structure, hacks or other cybersecurity incidents, loss of confidence among market participants, regulatory investigations, or the imposition of restrictive legal or regulatory requirements in the United States or other jurisdictions could disrupt the functioning of the markets for bitcoin and other crypto assets. Any such disruption could reduce liquidity in such digital assets and result in sudden and significant declines in market value. Because our strategy involves holding bitcoin or other digital assets directly, as well as entering into derivatives or other transactions linked to their value, any sustained disruption or deterioration in these markets could have a material adverse effect on the value of our holdings, the price of our common stock, our results of operations, and our financial condition.
Regulatory change reclassifying bitcoin or other forms of Crypto as a security could lead to our classification as an“investment company”*** under the 1940 Act, and could adversely affect the market price of bitcoin or other forms of Crypto and the market price of our common stock.***
While senior SEC officials have stated their view that bitcoin is not a “security” for purposes of the federal securities laws, a contrary determination by the SEC could lead to our classification as an “investment company” under the 1940 Act, if the portion of our assets consists of investments in bitcoin exceeds 40% safe harbor limits prescribed in the 1940 Act, which would subject us to significant additional regulatory controls that could have a material adverse effect on our business and operations and may also require us to change the manner in which we conduct our business.
We monitor our assets and income for compliance under the 1940 Act and seek to conduct our business activities in a manner such that we do not fall within its definitions of “investment company” or that we qualify under one of the exemptions or exclusions provided by the 1940 Act and corresponding SEC regulations. If bitcoin is determined to constitute a security for purposes of the federal securities laws, we would take steps to reduce the percentage of bitcoin that constitute investment assets under the 1940 Act. These steps may include, among others, selling bitcoin that we might otherwise hold for the long term and deploying our cash in non-investment assets, and we may be forced to sell our bitcoin at unattractive prices. We may also seek to acquire additional non-investment assets to maintain compliance with the 1940 Act, and we may need to incur debt, issue additional equity or enter into other financing arrangements that are not otherwise attractive to our business. Any of these actions could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Moreover, we can make no assurance that we would successfully be able to take the necessary steps to avoid being deemed to be an investment company in accordance with the safe harbor. If we were unsuccessful, and if bitcoin is determined to constitute a security for purposes of the federal securities laws, then we would have to register as an investment company, and the additional regulatory restrictions imposed by 1940 Act could adversely affect the market price of bitcoin and in turn adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
The text of this filing, as the company filed it with the SEC, without its images or exhibits. This is not investment advice.