Item 1A.
Risk Factors.
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. Before making an investment decision, you should carefully consider the risks described below before deciding whether to invest in our common stock. Before you make a decision to buy our securities, in addition to the risks and uncertainties discussed above under “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements”, you should carefully consider the specific risks set forth herein. If any of these risks actually occur, it may materially harm our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations. As a result, the market price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Additionally, the risks and uncertainties described below are not the only risks and uncertainties that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may become material and adversely affect our business.
Risk Factor Summary
Below is a summary of the principal factors that make an investment in our common stock speculative or risky. This summary does not address all of the risks that we face. Additional discussion of the risks summarized in this risk factor summary, and other risks that we face, can be found below and should be carefully considered, together with other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and our other filings with the SEC before making an investment decision regarding our common stock.
We have a history of operating losses and may not be profitable in the future;
We need financing in the near term to support our ongoing operations. If we do not raise sufficient capital in the short term, we may be forced to cease operations, liquidate our assets and possibly seek bankruptcy protection or engage in a similar process;
The terms of the CSI Convertible Notes place restrictions on our operating and financial flexibility;
A small number of customers represent a significant percentage of our revenue, so any loss of key customers could have a material adverse effect on our business;
We have entered into transactions, and may in the future enter into further transactions, with related parties, potentially exposing us to heightened regulatory scrutiny, corporate governance risks, and reputational concerns;
We expect fluctuations in our financial results, making it difficult to project future results, and if we fail to meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors with respect to our results of operations, our stock price could decline;
We are reliant on module manufacturers to produce the modules which we then sell to our customers and any change in their management or business could have a negative effect on our operations;
We currently rely on semiconductor manufacturers to manufacture our semiconductors, and our failure to manage our relationship with our semiconductor manufacturers successfully could negatively impact our business;
We may not be able to successfully manage our growth, and if we are not able to grow efficiently, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed;
We rely upon third-party providers of cloud-based infrastructure to host our products. Any disruption in the operations of these third-party providers, limitations on capacity or interference with our use could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations;
Failure to stay on top of technology innovation could harm our business model;
The competitive position of our technology depends in part on its ability to operate with third-party products and services, and if we are not successful in maintaining and expanding the compatibility of our technology with such third-party products and services, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely impacted;
Our use and development of, and investment in, AI and blockchain technologies may not be successful and may present business, legal and reputational risks;
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If we enter into strategic alliances, partnerships, joint ventures or investments, we may not realize the anticipated strategic goals for any such transactions;
Declines in or problems with the WiSA Association membership could negatively affect our reputation;
If we or the third-parties with whom we work experience, or are unable to protect against cyber-attacks, ransomware, security incidents, or security breaches, or if unauthorized parties otherwise obtain access to or otherwise compromise our customers’ data, our data, or our platform and information technology systems, then our solution may be perceived as not being secure, our reputation may be harmed, demand for our platform and products may be reduced, and we may incur significant liabilities or additional expenses;
Interruptions or performance problems associated with technology and wireless technology outside of our control may adversely affect our business and results of operations;
Platform partnerships, strategic alliances and collaborations, or other similar arrangements may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and prospects;
If we fail to retain and motivate members of our management team or other key employees or fail to attract additional qualified personnel to support our operations, our business and future growth prospects would be harmed;
Acquisitions, strategic investments, partnerships and/or alliances could be difficult to identify, pose integration challenges, divert the attention of management, disrupt our business, dilute stockholder value, and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations;
We conduct international operations, which exposes us to significant risks;
We face intense competition in our industry, and we may not be able to compete successfully in our target markets;
A decline in discretionary consumer spending may adversely affect our industry, our operations and ultimately our profitability;
We typically provide service-level commitments under our subscription agreements. If we fail to meet these contractual commitments, we could be obligated to provide credits for future service or face subscription termination with refunds of prepaid amounts, which would lower our revenue and harm our business, financial condition and results of operations;
Indemnity provisions in various agreements to which we are a party potentially expose us to substantial liability for infringement, misappropriation or other violation of intellectual property rights, data protection and other losses;
Our business is subject to complex and evolving U.S. and non-U.S. laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection and security, technology protection, and other matters. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, and could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations, or otherwise harm our business;
Changes in government trade policies, including the imposition of tariffs and export restrictions, could have an adverse impact on our business operations and sales;
We may become involved in legal, regulatory, and administrative inquiries and proceedings, and unfavorable outcomes in litigation or other matters could negatively impact our business, financial conditions, and results of operations;
Changes in financial accounting standards may cause adverse and unexpected revenue fluctuations and impact our reported results of operations;
If our judgments or estimates relating to our critical accounting policies are based on assumptions that change or prove to be incorrect, our results of operations could fall below expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in our stock price;
Failure to protect our intellectual property rights could adversely affect our business;
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We may be subject to intellectual property rights claims by third parties, which are extremely costly to defend, could require us to pay significant damages and could limit our ability to use certain technologies;
We use open source software in our products and we expect to continue to incorporate open source software in our services in the future;
We rely on the availability of licenses to third-party technology that may be difficult to replace or that may cause errors or delay implementation of our technology and services should we not be able to continue or obtain a commercially reasonable license to such technology;
Cryptocurrency and other digital assets are an emerging asset class that carries unique risk, including the risk of financial loss;
Changes in the accounting treatment of cryptocurrency holdings could have significant accounting impacts, including increasing the volatility of our results;
Cryptocurrency price volatility may materially depress asset valuations, necessitating substantial cash reserves or liquidity buffers to maintain operational resilience. These risks are compounded by the lack of comprehensive regulation governing cryptocurrency trading platforms, which face material exposure to fraud, market manipulation, security breaches, and operational failures that could materially and adversely affect the value of our cryptocurrency holdings;
Cryptocurrency holdings are less liquid than our existing cash and cash equivalents and may not be able to serve as a source of liquidity for us to the same extent as cash and cash equivalents;
If we or our third-party service providers experience a security breach or cyberattack and unauthorized parties obtain access to our cryptocurrency, or if our private keys are lost or destroyed, or other similar circumstances or events occur, we may lose some or all of our cryptocurrency and our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected;
We will face significant risks relating to disruptions, forks, 51% attacks, hacks, network disruptions, or other adverse events or other compromises to the cryptocurrency blockchains, which could materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations;
The market price for our common stock is particularly volatile given our status as a relatively unknown company with a small and thinly traded public float, and lack of profits, which could lead to wide fluctuations in our share price;
We have in the past and may in the future be subject to short selling strategies that may drive down the market price of our common stock;
Our failure to meet the continued listing standards of Nasdaq could result in a delisting of our common stock;
In the event that our common stock is delisted from Nasdaq, U.S. broker-dealers may be discouraged from effecting transactions in shares of our common stock because they may be considered penny stocks and thus be subject to the penny stock rules;
Substantial future sales of shares of our common stock could cause the market price of our common stock to decline;
We do not intend to pay cash dividends on shares of our common stock for the foreseeable future;
We could issue “blank check” preferred stock without stockholder approval with the effect of diluting then current stockholder interests and impairing their voting rights; and provisions in our charter documents could discourage a takeover that stockholders may consider favorable; and
All of our warrants to purchase shares of our common stock are out-of-the money and may expire worthless.
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Risks Related to Our Growth and Financial Condition
We have a history of operating losses and may not be profitable in the future.
We have incurred net losses since inception and had an accumulated deficit of approximately $377.4 million as of December 31, 2025. As discussed below, while we have experienced revenue growth in recent periods, we are not certain whether or when we will obtain a high enough volume of sales to sustain or increase our growth or to achieve profitability in the future. We also expect our costs and expenses to increase in future periods, which could negatively affect our future results of operations if our revenue does not increase. In particular, we intend to continue to expend significant funds to further develop our platform, including by introducing new products and functionality, and to expand our inside and field sales teams and customer success team to drive new customer adoption, expand use cases and integrations, and support international expansion. We will also face increased compliance costs associated with growth and the expansion of our customer base. Our efforts to grow our business may be costlier than we expect, or the rate of our growth in revenue may be slower than we expect, and we may not be able to increase our revenue enough to offset our increased operating expenses. We may incur significant losses in the future for a number of reasons, including the other risks described herein, and unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications or delays, and other unknown events. If we are unsuccessful in implementing any initiatives to improve our revenues to achieve profitability, it will have a material adverse impact on our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition. There can be no assurance that the revenue that we generate will be able to support our operations or meet our working capital needs.
Our recent growth may not be indicative of our future growth. Our growth also makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and may increase the risk that we will not be successful.
Our revenue was $39.1 million and $2.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. Even if our revenue continues to increase, we expect that our revenue growth rate may decline in the future as a result of a variety of factors, including the maturation of our business. Overall growth of our revenue depends on a number of factors, including our ability to:
price our products effectively so that we are able to attract new customers and expand sales to our existing customers;
expand the functionality and use cases for the products we offer on our platform;
maintain and expand the rates at which customers purchase our products and services;
provide our customers with support that meets their needs;
continue to introduce our products to new markets outside of the United States;
successfully identify and acquire or invest in businesses, products or technologies that we believe could complement or expand our platform; and
increase awareness of our brand on a global basis and successfully compete with other companies.
Additional factors that may impact the growth of our revenue are described under Part I - Item 1. Business in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We may not successfully accomplish any of these objectives, and as a result, it is difficult for us to forecast our future results of operations. If the assumptions that we use to plan our business are incorrect or change in reaction to changes in our market, or if we are unable to maintain consistent revenue or revenue growth, our stock price could be volatile, and it may be difficult to achieve and maintain profitability. You should not rely on our revenue for any prior quarterly or annual periods as any indication of our future revenue or revenue growth.
In addition, we expect to continue to expend substantial financial and other resources on:
our technology infrastructure, including systems architecture, scalability, availability, performance and security;
our sales and marketing organization to engage our existing and prospective customers, increase brand awareness and drive adoption of our products;
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product development, including investments in our product development team and the development of new products and new functionality for our platform as well as investments in further optimizing our existing products and infrastructure;
acquisitions or strategic investments;
international expansion; and
general administration.
These investments may not result in increased revenue growth in our business. Additionally, we may encounter unforeseen operating expenses, difficulties, complications, delays, and other unknown factors that may result in losses in future periods. In future periods if our revenue growth does not meet our expectations or increase at a rate sufficient to offset the expected increase in our costs, our business, financial position and results of operations may be harmed, and we may not maintain profitability in the future.
We need financing in the near term to support our ongoing operations. If we do not raise sufficient capital in the short term, we may be forced to cease operations, liquidate our assets and possibly seek bankruptcy protection or engage in a similar process.
We are currently operating at a loss and our cash position is insufficient to fund operations in the near term. As such, we need additional financing to implement our business plan and to service our ongoing operations. We believe that current cash on hand is not sufficient to fund our immediate operational needs. If we are unable to obtain additional financing in the short term, we will be required to divest all or a portion of our business or otherwise liquidate, wind-up, restructure or curtail our operations and product development timeline. We intend to continue to make investments to support our business, which may require us to engage in equity or debt financings to secure additional funds. Additional financing may not be available on terms favorable to us, if at all. If adequate funds are not available on acceptable terms, we may be unable to invest in future growth opportunities, which could harm our business, operating results, and financial condition. If we incur additional debt, the debt holders would have rights senior to holders of common stock to make claims on our assets, and the terms of any debt could restrict our operations, including our ability to pay dividends on our common stock. Because our decision to issue securities in the future will depend on numerous considerations, including factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing, or nature of any future issuances of debt or equity securities. As a result, our stockholders bear the risk of future issuances of debt or equity securities reducing the value of our common stock and diluting their interests.
The terms of the CSI Convertible Notes place restrictions on our operating and financial flexibility.
On May 20, 2025, we completed our asset purchase (the “CSI Asset Purchase”) of technology assets, customer contracts, trademarks, and other intellectual property from CSI. In connection with the CSI Asset Purchase, we issued to CSI certain convertible promissory notes in an aggregate principal amount of $15.0 million (the “CSI Convertible Notes”), each due on the second anniversary (the “CSI Maturity Date”) of the closing (the “CSI Closing”) of the CSI Asset Purchase.
In the event we have cash on hand (inclusive of available revolving line(s) of credit and/or other similar instruments) of at least $30,000,000 on any last business day of any calendar month after the six-month anniversary of the CSI Closing, we will be required to repay $5,000,000 of the principal outstanding under the CSI Convertible Notes, and any accrued but unpaid interest thereon. Additionally, in the event we have cash on hand (inclusive of available revolving line(s) of credit and/or other similar instruments) of at least $30,000,000 on any last business day of any calendar month after the nine-month anniversary of the CSI Closing, we will be required to repay $5,000,000 of the principal outstanding under the CSI Convertible Notes, and any accrued but unpaid interest thereon.
The CSI Convertible Notes include customary event of default provisions. Upon the occurrence of an event of default, the CSI Convertible Notes and all amounts due thereunder shall become immediately due and payable in cash without notice. Additionally, upon the occurrence of an event of default, CSI is entitled, if permitted by applicable law, to do one or both of the following: (a) increase the rate of interest on the aggregate outstanding principal balance and any other amounts then owing by Company to CSI to 10% per annum, compounded annually, until paid in full; and (b) add any unpaid accrued interest to principal, and such sum shall bear interest therefrom until paid in full at 10% per annum, compounded annually.
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Our outstanding indebtedness and any future indebtedness we may incur, combined with our other financial obligations, could increase our vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and market conditions, limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry and impose a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have less debt or better debt servicing options. If we raise additional capital through debt financing, the terms of any new debt could further restrict our ability to operate our business.
Servicing our debt requires a significant amount of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flow from our business to pay our debt.
Our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay special interest, if any, on or to refinance the Convertible Notes depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive and other factors beyond our control. Our business may not continue to generate sufficient cash flow from operations to service our debt and make necessary capital expenditures. If we are unable to generate such cash flow, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring debt, or obtaining additional equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to refinance the Convertible Notes will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms, which could result in a default on our debt obligations.
Unfavorable conditions in our industry or the global economy, or reductions in information technology spending, could limit our ability to grow our business and negatively affect our results of operations.
Our results of operations may vary based on the impact of unfavorable changes in our industry or the global economy on us or our customers and potential customers. Unfavorable conditions in the economy both in the United States and abroad, including conditions resulting from changes in gross domestic product growth in the United States or abroad, financial and credit market fluctuations, fluctuating inflation and interest rates, international trade relations, political turmoil, natural catastrophes, outbreaks of contagious diseases, warfare and terrorist attacks on the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific region or elsewhere, such as the war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East, could cause a decrease in business investments, including spending on information technology, disrupt the timing and cadence of key industry events, and negatively affect the growth of our business and our results of operations. Such catastrophic and disruptive events have and may adversely affect workforces, economies and financial markets globally, leading to a reduction in the ability of, or the inability of, customers, partners, suppliers, vendors or other parties to meet their contractual obligations, and for a period of time, a reduction in customer spending on technology, and such conditions have and may reoccur in the future. The war in Ukraine, conflicts in the Middle East and related political and economic responses such as sanctions imposed on Russia, may also exacerbate these issues and trends especially in these regions. In addition interest rates remain elevated, which may dampen economic growth and cause companies to moderate spending on information technology. These types of unfavorable conditions could disrupt the timing of and attendance at key industry events, which we rely upon in part to generate sales of our products. If those events are disrupted, our marketing investments, sales pipeline and ability to generate new customers and sales of our products could be negatively and adversely affected. Our competitors, many of which are larger and have greater financial resources than we do, may respond to challenging market conditions by lowering prices in an attempt to attract our customers and may be less dependent on key industry events to generate sales for their products. The increased pace of consolidation in certain industries may result in reduced overall spending on our products and solutions. We cannot predict the timing, strength, or duration of any economic slowdown, instability, or recovery, generally or how any such event may impact our business.
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Risks Related to Our Business, Operations and Industry
A small number of customers represent a significant percentage of our revenue, so any loss of key customers could have a material adverse effect on our business.
A small number of our customers represent a significant percentage of our revenue. Although we may have agreements with these customers, these agreements typically do not require any minimum purchases and do not prohibit customers from using competing technologies or customers from purchasing products and services from competitors. Because many of our markets are rapidly evolving, customer demand for our technologies and products can shift quickly.
As of December 31, 2025, the Company had two customers accounting for 65% and 32% of accounts receivable. As of December 31, 2024, the Company had three customers accounting for 68%, 12% and 11% of accounts receivable. The Company had two customers accounting for 51% and 26% of its net revenue for the year ended December 31, 2025. The Company had four customers accounting for 29%, 19%, 18% and 10% of its net revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024.
A loss of any of our key customers could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
We have entered into transactions, and may in the future enter into further transactions, with related parties, potentially exposing us to heightened regulatory scrutiny, corporate governance risks, and reputational concerns.
We have entered into transactions, and may in the future enter into further transactions, with related parties. Related-party transactions create the possibility of conflicts of interest with regard to management, including that: (i) our executive officers and directors that hold positions of responsibility with related parties may be aware of certain business opportunities that are appropriate for presentation to us as well as to such other related parties and may present such business opportunities to such other parties and (ii) our executive officers and directors that hold positions of responsibility with related parties may have significant duties with, and spend significant time serving, other entities and may have conflicts of interest in allocating time. Such conflicts could cause such executive officer or director to seek to advance his or her economic interests or the economic interests of certain related parties above ours. Further, the appearance of conflicts of interest created by related-party transactions could impair the confidence of our investors. Our board of directors (the “Board”) and the audit committee of our Board (the “Audit Committee”) regularly review these transactions. Notwithstanding this, it is possible that a conflict of interest could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Certain of our license agreements and other agreements were negotiated between related parties. Consequently, their terms, including fees payable to us, may not be as favorable to us as if they had been negotiated exclusively with an unaffiliated third party. There can be no assurance that our agreements with related parties will be viewed as fair or reasonable by investors, regulators, or other stakeholders. If these arrangements are challenged, renegotiated, terminated, or found to be inconsistent with applicable laws, accounting standards, or stock exchange requirements, we could incur financial losses, operational disruptions, or be required to restate financial results.
If we are unable to attract new customers, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be adversely affected.
To increase our revenue, we must continue to attract new customers. Our success will depend to a substantial extent on the widespread adoption of our platform and products as an alternative to existing solutions. Further, the adoption of SaaS business software may be slower in industries with heightened data security interests or business practices requiring highly-customizable application software. In addition, as our market matures, our products evolve, and competitors introduce lower cost or differentiated products that are perceived to compete with our platform and products, our ability to sell subscriptions for our products could be impaired. Similarly, our subscription sales could be adversely affected if customers or users within these organizations perceive that features incorporated into competitive products reduce the need for our products or if they prefer to purchase other products that are bundled with solutions offered by other companies that operate in adjacent markets and compete with our products. As a result of these and other factors, we may be unable to attract new customers, which may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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We rely on the cooperation of our customers to install our modules in their audio products.
Our modules are sold to our customers who are consumer electronics companies. Our customers install the modules into their products. Our customers’ audio products are sold to the public who must then install the audio system into their homes or businesses. We do not oversee installation of our products and therefore have no control over the result. If a module is not installed correctly in a customer product or an end consumer does not install their audio system correctly, our technology may not work properly, which could result in customer dissatisfaction or have a material adverse impact on our reputation, our business and our financial results.
We expect fluctuations in our financial results, making it difficult to project future results, and if we fail to meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors with respect to our results of operations, our stock price could decline.
Our results of operations have fluctuated in the past and may continue to fluctuate in the future due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control. As a result, our past results may not be indicative of our future performance. In addition to the other risks described herein, factors that may affect our results of operations include the following:
fluctuations in demand for, pricing and usage of our platforms, services and products, particularly around industry conferences;
our ability to attract new customers;
our ability to retain our existing customers;
timing and amount of our investments to expand the capacity of and with our third-party cloud infrastructure providers;
the investment in new products and features relative to investments in our existing infrastructure and products;
the timing of our customer purchases;
fluctuations or delays in purchasing decisions in anticipation of new products or enhancements by us or our competitors;
changes in customers’ budgets and in the timing of their budget cycles and purchasing decisions;
our ability to hire, train and maintain our direct sales force, engineers, and marketing employees;
our ability to control costs, including our operating expenses;
the amount and timing of payment for operating expenses, particularly research and development and sales and marketing expenses, including commissions;
the amount and timing of non-cash expenses, including stock-based compensation, goodwill impairments and other non-cash charges;
the amount and timing of costs associated with recruiting, training and integrating new employees and retaining and motivating existing employees;
the effects of acquisitions and their integration;
general economic conditions, both domestically and internationally, as well as economic conditions specifically affecting industries in which our customers participate, including those impacted by the war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East;
the effect of other economic factors, including inflation, pricing and currency fluctuations;
the impact of new accounting pronouncements;
changes in regulatory or legal environments that may cause us to incur, among other elements, expenses associated with compliance;
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changes in the competitive dynamics of our market, including consolidation among competitors or customers; and
significant security breaches of, technical difficulties with, or interruptions to, the delivery and use of our products and platform capabilities.
The global economy, including credit and financial markets, has experienced extreme volatility and disruptions, including severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, declines in consumer confidence, declines in economic growth, increases in unemployment rates, fluctuating inflation and interest rates, and uncertainty about economic stability. For a discussion of certain of these economic, political, regulatory, and market risks, see “ Risks Related to our Growth and Financial Condition-Unfavorable conditions in our industry or the global economy, or reductions in information technology spending, could limit our ability to grow our business and negatively affect our results of operations ”. Any such volatility and disruptions may have adverse consequences on us or the third parties on whom we rely. If the equity and credit markets deteriorate, or do not improve, including as a result of political unrest or war, it may make any necessary debt or equity financing more difficult to obtain in a timely manner or on favorable terms, more costly or more dilutive. Increased inflation rates can adversely affect us by increasing our costs, including personnel costs.
Any of these and other factors, or the cumulative effect of some of these factors, may cause our results of operations to vary significantly. If our quarterly results of operations fall below the expectations of investors and securities analysts who follow our stock, the price of our common stock could decline substantially, and we could face costly lawsuits, including securities class action suits.
Our sales are subject to fluctuation as a result of our customers’ new product introduction timelines and end-user adoption of our customers’ retail products, both of which are outside of our control.
We, in conjunction with our customers, are launching a new technology to the retail and consumer market. The consumer adoption rate at retail is a critical component of our financial success and is currently an unknown component of our financial plans. The variability and unpredictability of these and other factors could result in our failing to meet or exceed financial expectations for a given period. As a result of these factors, our financial results for any single quarter or for periods of less than a year are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved for a full fiscal year.
We depend on the timely delivery of products from our vendors and purchases from our partners and customers.
We depend on manufacturers and component customers to deliver and purchase hardware and consumer electronics in quantities sufficient to meet customer demand. In addition, we depend on these manufacturers and customers to introduce new and innovative products and components to drive industry sales. Any material delay in the introduction or delivery, or limited allocations of products or offerings could result in reduced sales by us, which could have a material adverse impact on our financial results. Any reduction in allocation of components or new hardware platforms or other technological advances by vendors or our customers (in which our technology is part of their hardware offering) to third parties such as big box retailers, could also have a material adverse impact on our financial results.
We are reliant on module manufacturers to produce the modules which we then sell to our customers and any change in their management or business could have a negative effect on our operations.
Our revenue from the sale of modules to consumer electronics and speaker companies depends in large part upon the availability of our modules that implement our technologies. Our manufacturers incorporate our technologies into these modules, which are then incorporated in consumer entertainment products. We do not manufacture these modules, but rather depend on manufacturers to produce the modules which we then sell to our customers. We do not control the manufacturers. While we have a longstanding relationship with our manufacturers, there can be no assurance that our manufacturers will continue to timely produce our modules. Change in management of our manufacturers or a change in their operations could negatively affect our production and cause us to seek other manufacturers which we may not be able to obtain on the same or similar terms as our current manufacturers. This could have a negative effect on our operations.
We currently rely on semiconductor manufacturers to manufacture our semiconductors, and our failure to manage our relationship with our semiconductor manufacturers successfully could negatively impact our business.
We rely on a single contractor in Japan for the production of our transmit semiconductor chip and a single contractor in China for the production of our receive semiconductor chip. Our reliance on these semiconductor manufacturers reduces our control over the manufacturing process, exposing us to risks, including increase production costs and reduced product supply. If we fail to manage our relationships with these manufacturers effectively, or if a contract manufacturer experiences delays, disruptions, or decides to end-of-
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life components that it manufactures for us, our ability to ship products to our end-user customers could be impaired and our competitive position and reputation could be harmed. In addition, any adverse change in our manufacturers’ financial or business condition could disrupt our ability to supply quality products to our end-user customers. If we are required to change manufacturers, we may lose revenue, incur increased costs and damage our customer relationships. In addition, qualifying a new semiconductor manufacturer and commencing production can be an expensive and lengthy process. As a result of any of these aforementioned disruptions, we would experience a delay in our order fulfillment, and our business, operating results and financial condition would be adversely affected.
We may not be able to successfully manage our growth, and if we are not able to grow efficiently, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.
As usage of our products and services grows, we will need to devote additional resources to improving and maintaining our infrastructure and integrating with third-party applications. In addition, we will need to appropriately scale our internal business systems and our services organization, including customer support and professional services, to serve our growing customer base. Any failure of or delay in these efforts could result in impaired system performance and reduced customer satisfaction, resulting in decreased sales to new customers, lower dollar-based net retention rates or, the issuance of service credits or requested refunds, which would hurt our revenue growth and our reputation. Additionally, we have experienced inorganic growth through various acquisitions and may experience additional inorganic growth through future acquisitions. This growth may place a strain on our employees, management systems, operational, financial, and other resources. Further, any failure in optimizing our spend on third-party cloud services as we scale could negatively impact our gross margins. Even if we are successful in our expansion efforts, they will be expensive and complex, and require the dedication of significant management time and attention. We could also face inefficiencies or service disruptions as a result of our efforts to scale our internal infrastructure. We cannot be sure that the expansion of and improvements to our internal infrastructure will be effectively implemented on a timely basis, if at all, and such failures could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our ability to forecast our future results of operations is subject to a number of uncertainties, including our ability to effectively plan for and model future growth. We may encounter risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies in rapidly changing industries. If we fail to achieve the necessary level of efficiency in our organization as it grows, or if we are not able to accurately forecast future growth, our business, financial condition, and results of operations would be harmed.
We rely upon third-party providers of cloud-based infrastructure to host our products. Any disruption in the operations of these third-party providers, limitations on capacity or interference with our use could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We outsource substantially all of the infrastructure relating to our cloud solution to third-party hosting services. Customers of our cloud-based products need to be able to access our platform at any time, without interruption or degradation of performance, and we provide them with service-level commitments with respect to uptime. Our cloud-based products depend on protecting the virtual cloud infrastructure hosted by third-party hosting services by maintaining its configuration, architecture, features and interconnection specifications, as well as the information stored in these virtual data centers, which is transmitted by third-party internet service providers. Any limitation on the capacity of our third-party hosting services could impede our ability to onboard new customers or expand the usage of our existing customers, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, any incident affecting our third-party hosting services’ infrastructure that may be caused by cyber-attacks, natural disasters, fire, flood, severe storm, earthquake, power loss, telecommunications failures, outbreaks of contagious diseases, terrorist or other attacks, and other similar events beyond our control could negatively affect our cloud-based products. A prolonged service disruption affecting our cloud-based solution for any of the foregoing reasons would negatively impact our ability to serve our customers and could damage our reputation with current and potential customers, expose us to liability, cause us to lose customers or otherwise harm our business. We may also incur significant costs for using alternative equipment or taking other actions in preparation for, or in reaction to, events that damage the third-party hosting services we use.
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In the event that our service agreements with our third-party hosting services are terminated, or there is a lapse of service, elimination of services or features that we utilize, interruption of internet service provider connectivity or damage to such facilities, we could experience interruptions in access to our platform as well as significant delays and additional expense in arranging or creating new facilities and services and/or re-architecting our cloud solution for deployment on a different cloud infrastructure service provider, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Failure to stay on top of technology innovation could harm our business model.
Our revenue growth will depend upon our success in new and existing markets for our technologies. The markets for our technologies and products are defined by:
rapid technological change;
new and improved technology and frequent product introductions;
consumer demands; evolving industry standards; and
technology and product obsolescence.
Our future success depends on our ability to enhance our technologies and products and to develop new technologies and products that address the market needs in a timely manner. Technology development is a complex, uncertain process requiring high levels of innovation, highly skilled engineering and development personnel, and the accurate anticipation of technological and market trends. We may not be able to identify, develop, acquire, market, or support new or enhanced technologies or products on a timely basis, if at all.
The competitive position of our technology depends in part on its ability to operate with third-party products and services, and if we are not successful in maintaining and expanding the compatibility of our technology with such third-party products and services, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely impacted.
The competitive position of our technology depends in part on its ability to operate with products and services of third parties, technology services, and infrastructure, including but not limited to, in connection with our strategic partnerships and collaborations and other similar arrangements where applicable. Our customers may change the features of their technologies and audio systems may advance technologically. As such, we must continuously modify and enhance our technology to adapt to changes in, or to be integrated or otherwise compatible with, hardware, technology, networking, browser, and database technologies. In the future, one or more technology companies may choose not to support the operation of their hardware, technology, or infrastructure, or our technology may not support the capabilities needed to operate with such hardware, technology, or infrastructure. In addition, to the extent that a third-party were to develop technology or services that compete with ours, that provider may choose not to support one or more of our offerings. We intend to facilitate the compatibility of our technology with various third-party hardware, technology, and infrastructure by maintaining and expanding our business and technical relationships. If we are not successful in achieving this goal, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely impacted.
Our use and development of, and investment in, AI and blockchain technologies may not be successful and may present business, legal and reputational risks.
We are making investments in AI and blockchain products, technologies and companies to, among other things, develop new products and processes or features for our existing products and processes, which is costly. As AI and blockchain are highly complex and rapidly evolving technologies in the early stages of commercial use, there are significant risks involved in the development and use of, and investment in, AI and blockchain, and there can be no assurance that our development or use of, or investment in, AI or blockchain technologies (including potentially for use in digital asset trading in the future) will be successful, gain market acceptance, enhance our products or services or augment our business or results of operations. Additionally, our competitors may be developing their own AI and blockchain products and technologies, which may be superior in features, functionality or cost to our offerings.
Moreover, our AI-related product initiatives and offerings, or our use of AI in internal business operations, may give rise to risks related to accuracy, reliability, bias, discrimination, harmful content generation, intellectual property infringement, the ability to obtain intellectual property protection, misappropriation or leakage of information, defamation, data privacy and cybersecurity, including due to the actions of the underlying AI model providers. The use of these tools may impact the quality and availability of our offerings, and may give rise to ethical concerns. Any of these factors could adversely affect our business, reputation or results of operations.
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The introduction of AI and blockchain technologies into new or existing offerings may also result in new or expanded liabilities related to enhanced governmental or regulatory scrutiny, which could result in increased investigations, enforcement actions, litigation and compliance costs. For example, states, countries and supranational bodies, including the EU and throughout the U.S., have passed or proposed new rules and regulations related to the development and use of AI technology, which cover, among other things, algorithmic accountability, privacy and transparency. Regulatory environments related to blockchain technologies across foreign, federal, state and local jurisdictions also are rapidly evolving. Governmental authorities are likely to continue to issue new laws, rules and regulations governing blockchain technologies some of which may conflict with each other or with existing obligations under applicable law. These laws, rules and regulations may require us to incur significant costs and operational resources to comply. Additionally, existing laws and regulations may be interpreted in ways that may affect our use of AI or blockchain technologies. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with such requirements could have an adverse impact on our business, reputation or results of operations. Because AI and blockchain technologies are highly complex and rapidly developing, it is not possible to predict all of the legal, reputational, operational or technological risks that may arise relating to our use and development of, and investment in, AI and blockchain technologies.
If we enter into strategic alliances, partnerships, joint ventures or investments, we may not realize the anticipated strategic goals for any such transactions.
From time to time, we may enter into strategic alliances, partnerships or joint ventures, or make investments or other financial or commercial arrangements, as a means to accelerate our entry into new markets, provide new solutions or enhance our existing capabilities. Entering into strategic alliances, partnerships, joint ventures or investments or other financial or commercial arrangements entails risks, including: (i) difficulties in developing or expanding the business of newly formed alliances, partnerships, joint ventures or businesses in which we invest; (ii) exercising influence over the activities of joint ventures or business in which we invest in which we do not have a controlling interest; (iii) potential conflicts with or among our partners; (iv) the possibility that our partners could take action without our approval or prevent us from taking action; and (v) the possibility that our partners suffer reputational harm during the pendency of the partnership, become bankrupt or otherwise lack the financial resources to meet their obligations.
In addition, there may be a long negotiation period before we enter into a strategic alliance, partnership or joint venture or make an investment or other financial or commercial arrangement or a long preparation period before we commence providing trading venues and solutions and/or realizing the anticipated benefits from or begin earning revenues pursuant to such arrangement, as applicable. We typically incur significant business development expenses, and management’s attention may be diverted from the operation of our existing business, during the discussion and negotiation period with no guarantee of consummation of the proposed transaction. Even if we succeed in developing a strategic alliance, partnership or joint venture with a new partner or investing in a business or other financial or commercial arrangement, we may not be successful in maintaining the relationship.
We cannot assure you that we will be able to enter into strategic alliances, partnerships or joint ventures or invest in businesses or enter into financial or commercial arrangements on terms that are favorable to us, or at all, or that any strategic alliance, partnership or joint venture we have entered into or may enter into or investment we have or may make will be successful. In particular, these arrangements may not generate the expected number of new clients or increased trading volumes or revenues or other benefits we seek. Unsuccessful strategic alliances, partnerships, joint ventures or investments could harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Declines in or problems with the WiSA Association membership could negatively affect our reputation.
Our wholly owned subsidiary, WiSA, LLC, operates the “WiSA Association,” which is an association comprised of brands, manufacturers, and influencers within the consumer electronics industry, with the purpose of promoting a standardized method of interoperability between wireless audio components using our technology. We rely significantly on the WiSA Association to uphold the standards and criteria of interoperable audio products. If we lose members or new technology is developed that is easier to incorporate than ours, the WiSA Association may fail to maintain its active status and the sales of our modules could diminish as well. In addition, failure of our members to adhere to our policies designed to provide interoperability between audio systems could undermine the integrity of our brand.
Failure to effectively develop and expand our sales and marketing capabilities could harm our ability to increase our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our products.
Our ability to increase our customer base, achieve broader market acceptance of our products, including recognition of the WiSA Association products, and platform capabilities will depend to a significant extent on our ability to expand our sales and marketing organization and increase our business development resources, including the vertical and geographic distribution of our sales force and our teams of account executives focused on new accounts and responsible for renewal and growth of existing accounts.
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Our business requires that our sales personnel have particular expertise and experience in interoperability of audio systems, and the latest wireless audio technology. We may not achieve revenue growth from expanding our sales force if we are unable to hire, develop and retain talented sales personnel with appropriate experience, if our new sales personnel are unable to achieve desired productivity levels in a reasonable period of time or if our sales and marketing programs are not effective.
If we fail to maintain and enhance our brand, our ability to expand our customer base will be impaired and our business, financial condition and results of operations may suffer.
We believe that maintaining and enhancing our brand is important to support the marketing and sale of our existing and future products to new customers and expand sales of our platform and products to existing customers. We also believe that the importance of brand recognition will increase as competition in our market increases. Successfully maintaining and enhancing our brand will depend largely on the effectiveness of our marketing efforts, our ability to provide reliable products that continue to meet the needs of our customers at competitive prices, our ability to maintain our customers’ trust, our ability to continue to develop new functionality and use cases, and our ability to successfully differentiate our products and platform capabilities from competitive products. Our brand promotion activities may not generate customer awareness or yield increased revenue, and even if they do, any increased revenue may not offset the expenses we incur in building our brand. If we fail to successfully promote and maintain our brand, our business, financial condition and results of operations may suffer.
If we or the third-parties with whom we work experience, or are unable to protect against cyber-attacks, ransomware, security incidents, or security breaches, or if unauthorized parties otherwise obtain access to or otherwise compromise our customers’ data, our data, or our platform and information technology systems, then our solution may be perceived as not being secure, our reputation may be harmed, demand for our platform and products may be reduced, and we may incur significant liabilities or additional expenses.
We collect, receive, store, process, generate, use, transfer, disclose, make accessible, protect, secure, dispose of and share personal, confidential, and proprietary information and other information (collectively, sensitive information) necessary to provide our services, to operate our business, for legal and marketing purposes, and for other business-related purposes.
Our platform and products involve the storage and transmission of data, including personal information, and security breaches or unauthorized access to our platform and products, or those of the third-parties with whom we work, could result in the unauthorized, unlawful, or accidental acquisition, modification, destruction, loss, alteration, encryption, disclosure of, or access to sensitive information including our customers’ data. Consequently, we may be subject to significant litigation, indemnity obligations, fines, penalties, disputes, investigations and other liabilities.
We have previously and may in the future become the target of cyber-attacks by third parties, including without limitation nation-state actors, seeking to gain unauthorized access to and exfiltrate our or our customers’ data, including confidential and personal information, or to disrupt our ability to provide our services. In addition, many of our employees work remotely and utilize network connections, computers and devices outside our premises or network, which may pose additional data security risks (including, for example, the increasing number of phishing and malicious emails we continue to receive). The reliability and continuous availability of our platform is critical to our success.
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We use third-parties, including sub-processors, to help us deliver services to our customers. These vendors, such as cloud infrastructure providers, store or process personal and confidential information for us or our customers. We use third-party technology, systems and services in a variety of contexts, including, without limitation, cloud infrastructure, encryption and authentication technology, employee email, content delivery to customers, back-office support, credit card processing and other functions. While we have taken steps designed to protect the confidential and personal information that we have access to, our security measures or those of the third-parties with whom we work that store or otherwise process certain of our and our customers’ data on our behalf could be breached or we could suffer a loss of our or our customers’ data. Our ability to monitor these third-parties’ data security is limited, and they may not have adequate information security measures in place. Cyber-attacks, computer malware, viruses, employee mistakes or malfeasance, social engineering (including through deep fakes and spear phishing), malicious code, denial-of-service attacks, credential harvesting and general hacking have become more prevalent in our industry, particularly against cloud services, and have become enhanced or facilitated by AI. Ransomware attacks, including those from organized criminal threat actors, nation-states and nation-state supported actors, are prevalent and can lead to significant interruptions, delays, or outages in our operations, loss of data (including customer data), loss of income, significant extra expenses to restore data or systems, reputational loss and the diversion of funds. To alleviate the financial, operational and reputational impact of a ransomware attack it may be preferable to make extortion payments, but we may be unwilling or unable to do so (including, for example, if applicable laws or regulations prohibit such payments). Similarly, supply chain attacks have increased in frequency and severity, and we cannot guarantee that third parties and infrastructure in our supply chain have not been compromised or that they do not contain exploitable defects or bugs that could result in a breach of or disruption to our platform, systems and networks or the systems and networks of third parties that support us and our services. Despite the security controls we have in place, such attacks are very difficult to avoid.
There can be no assurance that any security measures that we or the third-parties with whom we work have implemented will be effective against current or future security threats. While we have developed systems and processes designed to protect the integrity, confidentiality, and security of our and our customers’ data, our security measures or those of the third-parties with whom we work could fail and result in unauthorized access to or disclosure, modification, misuse, loss or destruction of such data.
Third parties may also conduct attacks designed to temporarily deny customers access to our cloud services. Any security breach or other security incident, or the perception that one has occurred, could result in a loss of customer confidence in the security of our platform and damage to our brand, reduce the demand for our products, disrupt normal business operations, require us to spend material resources to investigate or correct the breach and to prevent future security breaches and incidents, expose us to legal liabilities, including litigation, regulatory enforcement, and indemnity obligations, and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. These risks are likely to increase as we continue to grow and process, store, and transmit increasingly large amounts of data.
In addition, we do not directly control content that our customers store in our products. If our customers use our products for the collection, transmission or storage of personal information and our security measures are or are believed to have been breached as a result of third-party action, employee error, malfeasance or otherwise, our reputation could be damaged, our business may suffer, and we could incur significant liability. Our remediation efforts may not be successful. We employ a shared responsibility model where our customers are responsible for using, configuring, and otherwise implementing security measures related to our platform, services, and products.
As part of this shared responsibility security model, we make certain security features available to our customers that can be implemented at our customers’ discretion, or identify security areas or measures for which our customers are responsible. In certain cases our customers may choose not to implement, or may incorrectly implement, those features or measures, misuse our services, or otherwise experience their own vulnerabilities, policy violations, credential exposure, or security incidents. Even if we are not the cause of a resulting customer security issue or incident, our customer relationships, reputation, and business may be adversely impacted.
We also process, store and transmit our own data as part of our business and operations. This data includes personal, confidential or proprietary information. We may expend significant resources, fundamentally change our business activities and practices, or modify our operations or information technology in an effort to protect against security incidents and to mitigate, detect, and remediate actual and potential vulnerabilities.
We take steps designed to detect, mitigate, and remediate vulnerabilities in our information systems (such as our hardware and/or software, including that of third parties with whom we work). We may not, however, detect and remediate all such vulnerabilities on a timely basis. Among other things, our applications, systems, networks, software, other computer assets and physical facilities could be breached or could otherwise malfunction or fail, or the sensitive information that we store could be otherwise compromised due to employee error or malfeasance, if, for example, third parties fraudulently induce our employees or our members to disclose information or user names and/or passwords, or otherwise compromise the security of our networks, systems and/or physical facilities. Additionally,
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from time to time employees or service providers may inadvertently misconfigure resources or misdirect certain communications, leading to security vulnerabilities or incidents that we must then expend effort and incur expenses to correct.
We may have contractual and other legal obligations, or we may voluntarily choose, to notify relevant stakeholders of security incidents. For instance, most jurisdictions have enacted laws, such as the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), requiring companies to notify individuals, regulatory authorities, and others of security breaches involving certain types of data. Such mandatory contractual and legal disclosures are costly, could lead to negative publicity, may cause our customers to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our security measures and require us to expend significant capital and other resources to respond to and/or alleviate problems caused by the actual or perceived security breach, and any failure to provide appropriate notice may violate the terms of our customer contracts. Applicable laws, our contracts and our representations require us to implement and maintain industry-standard or reasonable measures to safeguard personal information or confidential information. A security breach could lead to claims by our customers, or other relevant stakeholders, that we have failed to comply with such legal or contractual obligations. As a result, we could be subject to legal action or our customers could end their relationships with us. Further, our contracts may not contain limitations of liability, and even where they do, there can be no assurance that any limitations of liability would be enforceable or adequate or would otherwise protect us from liabilities or damages.
The costs to respond to a security breach and/or mitigate any security vulnerabilities that may be identified could be significant, our efforts to address these problems may not be successful, and these problems could result in unexpected interruptions, delays, cessation of service, negative publicity, and other harm to our business and our competitive position. We could be required to fundamentally change our business activities and practices in response to a security breach or related regulatory actions or litigation, which could have an adverse effect on our business.
Additionally, we cannot be certain that our insurance coverage will be adequate or sufficient for fines, judgments, settlements, penalties, costs, attorney fees and other impacts that arise out of privacy or security incidents or breaches. If the impacts of a privacy or security incident or breach, or the successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceeds our available insurance coverage, or results in changes to our insurance policies (including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements), it could have an adverse effect on our business. In addition, we cannot be sure that our existing insurance coverage, cyber coverage and coverage for errors and omissions will continue to be available on acceptable terms or that our insurers will not deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceed available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, could adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations. Our risks are likely to increase as we continue to expand, grow our customer base, and process, store, and transmit increasingly large amounts of sensitive information.
Real or perceived errors, failures or bugs in our modules could adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects.
Because our modules are complex, undetected errors, failures or bugs may occur. Our module is installed and used in numerous audio systems of different brands with different operating systems, system management software, and equipment and networking configurations, which may cause errors or failures of our technology. Despite our testing, errors, failures or bugs may not be found in our modules until it is released to our customers. Moreover, our customers could incorrectly implement or inadvertently misuse our modules, which could result in customer dissatisfaction and adversely impact the perceived quality or utility of our products as well as our brand.
Any of these real or perceived errors, compatibility issues, failures or bugs in our modules could result in negative publicity, reputational harm, loss of competitive position or claims by customers for losses sustained by them. In such an event, we may be required, or may choose, for customer relations or other reasons, to expend additional resources to correct the problem. Alleviating any of these problems could require significant expenditures of our capital and other resources and could cause interruptions or delays in the use of our solutions, which could cause us to lose existing or potential customers and could adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects.
Interruptions or performance problems associated with technology and wireless technology outside of our control may adversely affect our business and results of operations.
We may in the future experience performance issues due to a variety of factors, including wireless technology disruptions, human or software errors. If a wireless connection is compromised, our products will not work as designed and our business could be negatively affected. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these performance problems within an acceptable period or a connection problem may be out of our control and could deter customers from purchasing wireless audio components.
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We expect to continue to make significant investments to maintain and improve the performance of our modules. To the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints, upgrade our systems as needed and continually develop our technology to accommodate actual and anticipated changes in technology, our business, operating results and financial condition may be adversely affected.
Platform partnerships, strategic alliances and collaborations, or other similar arrangements may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and prospects.
We expect to continue to enter into platform partnerships, strategic alliances and collaborations, and other similar arrangements as part of our long-term business strategy. These types of arrangements involve significant investments of both time and resources, and there can be no assurances that they will be successful. They may present significant challenges and risks, including that they may not advance our business strategy, we may get an unsatisfactory return on our investment or lose some or all of our investment, they may distract management and divert resources from our core business, including our business development and product development efforts, they may expose us to unexpected liabilities, they may conflict with our increased sales hiring and direct sales strategy, or we may choose a partner that does not cooperate as we expect them to and that fails to meet its obligations or that has economic, business, or legal interests or goals that are inconsistent with ours.
As our platform partnerships, strategic alliances and collaborations, and other similar arrangements come to an end or terminate, we may be unable to renew or replace them on comparable terms, or at all. When we enter into these types of arrangements, our partners may be required to undertake some portion of sales, marketing, implementation services, engineering services, or technology configuration that we would otherwise provide. In such cases, our partner may be less successful than we would have otherwise been absent the arrangement and our ability to influence, or have visibility into, the sales, marketing, and related efforts of our partners may be limited. In the event we enter into an arrangement with a particular partner, we may be less likely (or unable) to work with one or more direct competitors of our partner with which we would have worked absent the arrangement. We may have interests that are different from our partners and/or which may affect our ability to successfully collaborate with a given partner. Similarly, one or more of our partners in a platform partnership, strategic alliance or collaboration, or other similar arrangements may independently suffer a bankruptcy or other economic hardship that negatively affects its ability to continue as a going concern or successfully perform on its obligation under the arrangement. Moreover, we cannot guarantee that the partners with whom we have strategic relationships will continue to devote the resources necessary to expand our reach and increase our distribution. In addition, customer satisfaction with our products provided in connection with these arrangements may be less favorable than anticipated, negatively impacting anticipated revenue growth and results of operations of arrangements in question. Further, some of our strategic partners offer competing products and services or work with our competitors. As a result of these and other factors, many of the companies with which we have or are seeking joint ventures, channel sales relationships, platform partnerships, or strategic alliances may choose to pursue alternative technologies and develop alternative products and services in addition to or in lieu of our technology, either on their own or in collaboration with others, including our competitors. If we are unsuccessful in establishing or maintaining our relationships with these partners, our ability to compete in a given marketplace or to grow our revenue would be impaired, and our results of operations may suffer. Even if we are successful in establishing and maintaining relationships with our partners, we cannot assure you that these relationships will result in increased customer usage of our technology or increased revenue. Additionally, if our partners’ brand, reputation, or products are negatively impacted in any way, that could impact our expected outcomes in those markets.
Further, winding down platform partnerships, strategic alliances and collaborations, and other similar arrangements can result in additional costs, litigation, and negative publicity. Any of these events could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.
If we fail to offer high-quality support, our reputation could suffer.
Our customers rely on our customer support personnel to resolve issues and realize the full benefits that our platform provides. High-quality support is also important for the renewal and expansion of our subscriptions with existing customers. The importance of our support function will increase as we expand our business and pursue new customers. If we do not help our customers quickly resolve issues and provide effective ongoing support, our ability to maintain and expand our subscriptions to existing and new customers could suffer, and our reputation with existing or potential customers could suffer.
If we fail to retain and motivate members of our management team or other key employees or fail to attract additional qualified personnel to support our operations, our business and future growth prospects would be harmed.
Our success and future growth depend largely upon the continued services of our executive officers, particularly Nathaniel Bradley, our Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of EOS Holdings, and Brett Moyer, our Chief Financial Officer, as well as our other key employees in the areas of research and development and sales and marketing functions. From time to time, there may be changes in our
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executive management team or other key employees resulting from the hiring or departure of these personnel. We do not maintain “key person” insurance for our executive officers or any of our other key employees.
Our executive officers and other key employees are employed on an at-will basis, which means that these personnel could terminate their employment with us at any time, for any reason and without notice. The loss of one or more of our executive officers, or the failure by our executive team to effectively work with our employees and lead our company, could harm our business. We also are dependent on the continued service of our existing software engineers because of the complexity of our products and platform capabilities.
In addition, to execute our growth plan, we must attract and retain highly qualified personnel. Competition for these personnel is intense, especially for engineers experienced in designing and developing SaaS applications, those experienced with AI and machine learning, and experienced sales professionals. If we are unable to attract such personnel in cities where we are located, we may need to hire in other locations which may add to the complexity and costs of our business operations. We have experienced, and we expect to continue to experience, difficulty in hiring and retaining employees with appropriate qualifications. Many of the companies with which we compete for experienced personnel have greater resources than we have. If we hire employees from competitors or other companies, their former employers may attempt to assert that these employees or we have breached their legal obligations, resulting in a diversion of our time and resources. In addition, prospective and existing employees often consider the value of the equity awards they receive in connection with their employment. If the value or perceived value of our equity awards declines, experiences significant volatility, or increases such that prospective employees believe there is limited upside to the value of our equity awards, it may adversely affect our ability to recruit and retain key employees. If we fail to attract new personnel or fail to retain and motivate our current personnel, our business and future growth prospects would be harmed.
Acquisitions, strategic investments, partnerships and/or alliances could be difficult to identify, pose integration challenges, divert the attention of management, disrupt our business, dilute stockholder value, and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We have in the past and may in the future seek to acquire or invest in businesses, joint ventures, products and platform capabilities, or technologies that we believe could complement or expand our services and platform capabilities, enhance our technical capabilities, or otherwise offer growth opportunities. Any such acquisition or investment may divert the attention of management and cause us to incur various expenses in identifying, investigating and pursuing suitable opportunities, whether or not the transactions are completed, and may result in unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures. In particular, we may encounter difficulties assimilating or integrating the businesses, technologies, products and platform capabilities, personnel internal controls or operations of any acquired companies, particularly if the key personnel of an acquired company choose not to work for us, their software is not easily adapted to work with our platform, or we have difficulty retaining the customers of any acquired business due to changes in ownership, management or otherwise. These transactions may also disrupt our business, divert our resources, and require significant management attention that would otherwise be available for development of our existing business. Any such transactions that we are able to complete may not result in any synergies or other benefits we had expected to achieve, which could result in impairment charges that could be substantial. In addition, we may not be able to find and identify desirable acquisition targets or business opportunities or be successful in entering into an agreement with any particular strategic partner. These transactions could also result in dilutive issuances of equity securities or the incurrence of debt, which could adversely affect our results of operations. In addition, if the resulting business from such a transaction fails to meet our expectations, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected or we may be exposed to unknown risks or liabilities.
We conduct international operations, which exposes us to significant risks.
Our headquarters are located in Pennsylvania, but we also have employees in Taiwan and Korea and representatives in China and Japan. Operating in international markets requires significant resources and management attention and subjects us to regulatory, economic and political risks in addition to those we already face in the United States. In addition, we invest time and resources in understanding the regulatory framework and political environments of our customers overseas in order to focus our sales efforts. Because such regulatory and political considerations are likely to vary across jurisdictions, this effort requires additional time and attention from our sales team and could lead to a sales cycle that is longer than our typical process for sales in the United States. We also may need to hire additional employees and otherwise invest in our international operations in order to reach new customers. Because of our limited experience with international operations as well as developing and managing sales in international markets, our international efforts may not be successful.
In addition, we will face risks in doing business internationally that could adversely affect our business, including:
the potential impact of currency exchange fluctuations;
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the difficulty of staffing and managing international operations and the increased operations, travel, shipping and compliance costs associated with having customers in numerous international locations;
potentially greater difficulty collecting accounts receivable and longer payment cycles;
the need to offer customer support in various languages;
challenges in understanding and complying with local laws, regulations and customs in foreign jurisdictions;
export controls and economic sanctions administered by the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security and the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control;
compliance with various anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and United Kingdom Bribery Act of 2010;
tariffs and other non-tariff barriers, such as quotas and local content rules;
more limited protection for our intellectual property in some countries;
adverse or uncertain tax consequences as a result of international operations;
currency control regulations, which might restrict or prohibit our conversion of other currencies into U.S. dollars;
restrictions on the transfer of funds;
deterioration of political relations between the United States and other countries; and
political or social unrest or economic instability in a specific country or region in which we operate, which could have an adverse impact on our operations in that location.
Also, we expect that due to costs related to our international efforts and the increased cost of doing business internationally, we will incur higher costs to secure sales to international customers than the comparable costs for domestic customers. As a result, our financial results may fluctuate as we expand our operations and customer base worldwide.
Our failure to manage any of these risks successfully could harm our international operations and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.
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Risks Related to our Industry and Competition
If we fail to adapt and respond effectively to rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards, changing regulations, or to changing customer needs, requirements or preferences, our platform and products may become less competitive.
Our ability to attract new users and customers and increase revenue from existing customers depends in large part on our ability to enhance and improve our existing products, increase adoption and usage of our products, and introduce new products and capabilities. The market in which we compete is relatively new and subject to rapid technological change, evolving industry standards, and changing regulations, as well as changing customer needs, requirements and preferences. The success of our business will depend, in part, on our ability to adapt and respond effectively to these changes on a timely basis. For example, some of our products use AI, and machine learning, and we are making investments in expanding our AI capabilities, which will require significant investment in infrastructure and personnel. However, AI technologies are complex and rapidly evolving in a changing competitive market and market acceptance of AI technologies remains uncertain. If we were unable to enhance our products and platform capabilities to keep pace with rapid technological and regulatory change, or if new technologies emerge that are able to deliver competitive products at lower prices, more efficiently, more conveniently, or more securely than our products, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
The markets in which we participate are competitive, and if we do not compete effectively, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.
With the introduction of new technologies and market entrants, we expect that the competitive environment will remain intense going forward. Some of our actual and potential competitors have been acquired by other larger enterprises and have made or may make acquisitions or may enter into partnerships or other strategic relationships that may provide more comprehensive offerings than they individually had offered or achieve greater economies of scale than us. In addition, new entrants not currently considered to be competitors may enter the market through acquisitions, partnerships or strategic relationships. As we look to market and sell our products and platform capabilities to potential customers with existing internal solutions, we must convince their internal stakeholders that our products and platform capabilities are superior to their current solutions.
We compete on the basis of a number of factors, including:
ability to provide unified, real-time observability of IT environments;
ability to operate in dynamic and elastic environments;
extensibility across the enterprise, including development, operations and business users;
propensity to enable collaboration between development, operations and business users;
ability to monitor any combination of public clouds, private clouds, on-premise and multi-cloud hybrids;
ability to provide advanced analytics and machine learning;
ease of deployment, implementation and use;
ability to operate across a broad range of geographies in compliance with local regulations;
breadth of offering and key technology integrations;
performance, security, scalability and reliability;
quality of service and customer satisfaction;
total cost of ownership; and
brand recognition and reputation.
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Our competitors vary in size and in the breadth and scope of the products offered. Many of our competitors and potential competitors have greater name recognition, longer operating histories, more established customer relationships and installed customer bases, larger marketing budgets and greater resources than we do. Further, other potential competitors not currently offering competitive solutions may expand their product or service offerings to compete with our products and platform capabilities, or our current and potential competitors may establish cooperative relationships among themselves or with third parties that may further enhance their resources and product offerings in our addressable market. Our competitors may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards, and customer requirements. An existing competitor or new entrant could introduce new technology that reduces demand for our products and platform capabilities. In addition to product and technology competition, we face pricing competition. Some of our competitors offer their solutions at a lower price, which has resulted in, and may continue to result in, pricing pressures.
For all of these reasons, we may not be able to compete successfully against our current or future competitors, and this competition could result in the failure of our platform to continue to achieve or maintain market acceptance, any of which would harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We face intense competition in our industry, and we may not be able to compete successfully in our target markets.
The digital audio, consumer electronics and entertainment markets are characterized by intense competition, subject to rapid change, and are significantly affected by new product introductions and other market activities of industry participants. Our competitors include many large domestic and international companies that have substantially greater financial, technical, marketing, distribution and other resources, greater name recognition, a longer operating history, broader product lines, lower cost structures and longer-standing relationships with customers and suppliers than we do. As a result, our competitors may be able to respond better to new or emerging technologies or standards and to changes in customer requirements.
Further, some of our competitors are in a better financial and marketing position from which to influence industry acceptance of a particular product standard or a competing technology than we are. Our competitors may also be able to devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of products, and may be in a position to deliver competitive products at a lower price than we can, along with the potential to conduct strategic acquisitions, joint ventures, subsidies and lobbying industry and government standards, hire more experienced technicians, engineers and research and development teams than we can. As a result, we may not be able to compete effectively against any of these organizations.
Our ability to compete in our current target markets and future markets will depend in large part on our ability to successfully develop, introduce and sell new and enhanced products or technologies on a timely and cost-effective basis and to respond to changing market requirements. We expect our competitors to continue to improve the performance of their current products and potentially reduce their prices. In addition, our competitors may develop future generations and enhancements of competitive products or new or enhanced technologies that may offer greater performance and improved pricing or render our technologies obsolete. If we are unable to match or exceed the improvements made by our competitors, our market position and prospects could deteriorate and our net product sales could decline.
The market for our solutions may develop more slowly or differently than we expect.
It is difficult to predict customer adoption rates and demand for our products, the entry of competitive products or the future growth rate and size of the cloud-based software and SaaS business software markets. The expansion of these markets depends on a number of factors, including: the cost, performance, and perceived value associated with cloud-based and SaaS business software as an alternative to legacy systems, as well as the ability of cloud-based software and SaaS providers to address heightened data security and privacy concerns. If we have a security incident or other cloud-based software and SaaS providers experience security incidents, loss of customer data, disruptions in delivery or other similar problems, which is an increasing focus of the public and investors in recent years, the market for these applications as a whole, including our platform and products, may be negatively affected. If cloud-based and SaaS business software does not continue to achieve market acceptance, or there is a reduction in demand caused by a lack of customer acceptance, technological challenges, weakening economic conditions, data security or privacy concerns, governmental regulation, competing technologies and products, or decreases in information technology spending or otherwise, the market for our platform and products might not continue to develop or might develop more slowly than we expect, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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A decline in discretionary consumer spending may adversely affect our industry, our operations and ultimately our profitability.
Luxury products, such as speaker systems, TVs, game consoles and PCs, are discretionary purchases for consumers. Any reduction in consumer discretionary spending or disposable income may affect our industry significantly. Many economic factors outside of our control could affect consumer discretionary spending, including the financial markets, consumer credit availability, prevailing interest rates, energy costs, employment levels, salary levels, and tax rates. Any reduction in discretionary consumer spending could materially adversely affect our business and financial condition.
Consumer spending weakness could impact our revenue.
Weakness in general economic conditions may suppress consumer demand in our markets. Many of the products in which our technologies are incorporated are discretionary goods, such as home-theater systems. Weakness in general economic conditions may also lead to customers becoming delinquent on their obligations to us or being unable to pay, resulting in a higher level of write-offs. Economic conditions may impact the amount businesses spend on their speaker systems. Weakness in economic conditions could lessen demand for our products and negatively affect our revenue.
Climate change may have a long-term impact on our business.
Climate change may have an increasingly adverse impact on our business and those of our customers and suppliers. Water and energy availability and reliability in the communities where we conduct business is critical. Climate change, its impact on our supply chain and critical infrastructure worldwide, and its potential to increase political instability in regions where we, our customers and suppliers do business, may disrupt our business and may cause us to experience higher attrition, losses and costs to maintain or resume operations. Although we maintain a program of insurance coverage for a variety of property, casualty, and other risks, the types and amounts of insurance we obtain vary depending on availability and cost. Some of our policies have large deductibles and broad exclusions, and our insurance providers may be unable or unwilling to pay a claim. Losses not covered by insurance may be large, which could harm our results of operations and financial condition.
Our operations, products and services, as well as those of our suppliers and customers, may also be subject to climate-related laws, regulations and lawsuits. Regulations such as carbon taxes, fuel or energy taxes, and pollution limits could result in greater direct costs, including costs associated with changes to manufacturing processes or the procurement of raw materials used in manufacturing processes, increased levels of capital expenditures to improve facilities and equipment, and higher compliance and energy costs to reduce emissions, as well as greater indirect costs resulting from our customers, suppliers or both incurring additional compliance costs that are passed on to us. These costs and restrictions could harm our business and results of operations by increasing our expenses or requiring us to alter our operations and product design activities. Stockholder groups may find us insufficiently responsive to the implications of climate change, and therefore we may face legal action or reputational harm. We may also experience contractual disputes due to supply chain delays arising from climate change-related disruptions, which could result in increased litigation and costs.
We also face risks related to business trends that may be influenced by climate change concerns. Stockholder advocacy groups, certain institutional investors, investment funds, other market participants, stockholders and customers have focused increasingly on the environmental, social and corporate governance (“ESG”), and sustainability practices of companies, including those associated with climate change and human rights. These parties have placed increased importance on the implications of the social cost of their investments. If our ESG practices do not meet stockholder or other industry expectations and standards, which continue to evolve, our brand, reputation and business activities may be negatively impacted. Any sustainability disclosures we make may include our policies and practices on a variety of social and ethical matters, including corporate governance, environmental compliance, employee health and safety practices, human capital management, product quality, supply chain management, and talent diversity and inclusion practices. It is possible that our stockholders may not be satisfied with our ESG practices or the speed of their adoption. We could also incur additional costs and require additional resources to monitor, report, and comply with various ESG practices, or choose not to conduct business with potential customers, or discontinue or not expand business with existing customers, due to our policies. Also, our failure, or perceived failure, to meet the standards included in any sustainability disclosure could have a material negative impact on our reputation and business activities.
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Risks Related to Legal, Regulatory and Accounting
We typically provide service-level commitments under our subscription agreements. If we fail to meet these contractual commitments, we could be obligated to provide credits for future service or face subscription termination with refunds of prepaid amounts, which would lower our revenue and harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our subscription agreements typically contain service-level commitments. If we are unable to meet the stated service-level commitments, including failure to meet the uptime and response time requirements under our customer subscription agreements, we may be contractually obligated to provide these customers with service credits which could significantly affect our revenue in the periods in which the failure occurs and the credits are applied. We could also face subscription terminations and a reduction in renewals, which could significantly affect both our current and future revenue. Any service-level failures could also damage our reputation, which could also adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Indemnity provisions in various agreements to which we are a party potentially expose us to substantial liability for infringement, misappropriation or other violation of intellectual property rights, data protection and other losses.
Our agreements with our customers and other third parties may include indemnification provisions under which we agree to indemnify or otherwise be liable for losses suffered or incurred as a result of certain claims relating to or arising from our technology, services, platform, our acts or omissions under such agreements or other contractual obligations. In some cases, the liability is not limited and we may still incur substantial liability related to such agreements, and we may be required to cease providing certain functions or features on our platform as a result of any such claims. Even if we succeed in contractually limiting our liability, such limitations may not be enforceable. Any dispute with a customer or other third party with respect to such obligations could have adverse effects on our relationship with such customer or other third party and other existing or prospective customers, reduce demand for our platform and adversely affect our business, financial conditions and results of operations. In addition, our insurance may not be adequate to indemnify us for all liability that may be imposed on us or otherwise protect us from liabilities or damages with respect to claims, including claims on such matters as alleged compromises of customer data, which may be substantial. Any such coverage may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms or at all.
Our business is subject to complex and evolving U.S. and non-U.S. laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection and security, technology protection, and other matters. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, and could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations, or otherwise harm our business.
We are subject to a variety of local, state, national, and international laws and directives and regulations in the United States and abroad that involve matters central to our business, including privacy and data protection, data security, data storage, retention, transfer and deletion, technology protection, and personal information. Foreign data protection, data security, privacy, and other laws and regulations can impose different obligations or be more restrictive than those in the United States. These U.S. federal and state and foreign laws and regulations, which, depending on the regime, may be enforced by private parties or government entities, are constantly evolving and can be subject to significant change, and they are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. In addition, the application, interpretation, and enforcement of these laws and regulations are often uncertain, particularly in the new and rapidly evolving technology industry in which we operate and may be interpreted and applied inconsistently from country to country and inconsistently with our current policies and practices. A number of proposals are pending before U.S. federal, state, and foreign legislative and regulatory bodies that could significantly affect our business. For example, ongoing legal challenges in Europe to the mechanisms allowing companies to transfer personal data from the European Economic Area to certain other jurisdictions, including the United States, could result in further limitations on the ability to transfer data across borders, particularly if governments are unable or unwilling to reach new or maintain existing agreements that permit cross-border data transfers. For example, the California state legislature passed the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) in 2018 and California voters approved a ballot measure subsequently establishing the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) in 2020, which will jointly regulate the processing of personal information of California residents and increase the privacy and security obligations of entities handling certain personal information of California residents, including requiring covered companies to provide new disclosures to California consumers, and afford such consumers new abilities to opt-out of certain sales of personal information. The CCPA came into effect on January 1, 2020, and the California Attorney General may bring enforcement actions, with penalties for violations of the CCPA. The CPRA went into effect on January 1, 2023 and instilled enforcement authority in a new dedicated regulatory body, the California Privacy Protection Agency, which began carrying out enforcement actions as soon as six months after the enactment date. While aspects of both the CCPA and CPRA and their interpretations remain to be determined in practice, we are committed to complying with their obligations. We cannot yet fully predict the impact of the CCPA and CPRA on our business or operations, but developments regarding these and all privacy and data protection laws and regulations around the world may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to maintain
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compliance on an ongoing basis. States other than California have also enacted or are considering enacting similar regulations, and certain comprehensive U.S. state privacy laws extend similar rights to residents. Outside of the United States, virtually every jurisdiction in which we operate has established its own legal framework relating to privacy, data protection, and information security matters with which we and/or our customers must comply. Laws and regulations in these jurisdictions apply broadly to the collection, use, storage, retention, disclosure, security, transfer, and other processing of data that identifies or may be used to identify or locate an individual. Some countries and regions, including the European Union, are considering or have passed legislation that imposes significant obligations in connection with privacy, data protection, and information security that could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our technology and services, including the European General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) which took effect in May 2018. Complying with the GDPR or other data protection laws and regulations as they emerge may cause us to incur substantial operational costs or require us to modify our data handling practices on an ongoing basis. Non-compliance with the GDPR specifically may result in administrative fines or monetary penalties of up to 4% of worldwide annual revenue in the preceding financial year or €20 million (whichever is higher) for the most serious infringements and could result in proceedings against us by governmental entities or other related parties and may otherwise adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
The overarching complexity of privacy and data protection laws and regulations around the world pose a compliance challenge that could manifest in costs, damages, or liability in other forms as a result of failure to implement proper programmatic controls, failure to adhere to those controls, or the malicious or inadvertent breach of applicable privacy and data protection requirements by us, our employees, our business partners, or our customers.
Further, the U.S. Supreme Court recently overruled the Chevron doctrine, which gives deference to regulatory agencies’ statutory interpretations in litigation against federal government agencies where the law is ambiguous. This Supreme Court decision may invite more companies and stakeholders to bring lawsuits against government agencies to challenge how such agencies pursue enforcement and compliance actions. However, we cannot predict the full impact of this decision, future judicial challenges that may be brought, or the nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action.
In addition to government regulation, self-regulatory standards and other industry standards may legally or contractually apply to us, be argued to apply to us, or we may elect to comply with such standards or to facilitate our customers’ compliance with such standards. Because privacy, data protection, and information security are critical competitive factors in our industry, we may make statements on our website, in marketing materials, or in other settings about our data security measures and our compliance with, or our ability to facilitate our customers’ compliance with, these standards. We also expect that there will continue to be new proposed laws and regulations concerning privacy, data protection, and information security, and we cannot yet determine the impact such future laws, regulations and standards, or amendments to or re-interpretations of existing laws and regulations, industry standards, or other obligations may have on our business. New laws, amendments to or re-interpretations of existing laws and regulations, industry standards, and contractual and other obligations may require us to incur additional costs and restrict our business operations. As these legal regimes relating to privacy, data protection, and information security continue to evolve, they may result in ever-increasing public scrutiny and escalating levels of enforcement and sanctions. Furthermore, because the interpretation and application of laws, standards, contractual obligations and other obligations relating to privacy, data protection, and information security are uncertain, these laws, standards, and contractual and other obligations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is, or is alleged to be, inconsistent with our data management practices, our policies or procedures, or the features of our technology, or we may simply fail to properly develop or implement our practices, policies, procedures, or features in compliance with such obligations. If so, in addition to the possibility of fines, lawsuits, and other claims, we could be required to fundamentally change our business activities and practices or modify our technology, which could have an adverse effect on our business. We may be unable to make such changes and modifications in a commercially reasonable manner or at all, and our ability to fulfill existing obligations, make enhancements, or develop new technology and features could be limited. Furthermore, the costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, the laws, regulations, and policies that are applicable to the businesses of our customers may limit the use and adoption of, and reduce the overall demand for, our technology.
These existing and proposed laws and regulations can be costly to comply with and can make our technology and services less effective or valuable, delay or impede the development of new products, result in negative publicity, increase our operating costs, require us to modify our data handling practices, limit our operations, impose substantial fines and penalties, require significant management time and attention, or put our data or technology at risk. Any failure or perceived failure by us or our technology to comply with the laws, regulations, directives, policies, industry standards, or legal obligations of the U.S., European Union, or other governmental or non-governmental bodies at the regional, national, or supra-national level relating to privacy, data protection, or information security, or any security incident that results in actual or suspected loss of or the unauthorized access to, or acquisition, use, release, or transfer of, personal information, personal data, or other customer or sensitive data or information may result in governmental investigations, inquiries, enforcement actions and prosecutions, private claims and litigation, indemnification or other contractual obligations, other
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remedies, including fines or demands that we modify or cease existing business practices, or adverse publicity, and related costs and liabilities, which could significantly and adversely affect our business and results of operations.
We are subject to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering, and similar laws, and non-compliance with such laws can subject us to criminal or civil liability and harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), U.S. domestic bribery laws, the UK Bribery Act, and other anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws in the countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws have been enforced aggressively in recent years and are interpreted broadly to generally prohibit companies, their employees and their third-party intermediaries from authorizing, offering, or providing, directly or indirectly, improper payments or benefits to recipients in the public or private sector. As we increase our international sales and business and sales to the public sector, we may engage with business partners and third-party intermediaries to market our products and to obtain necessary permits, licenses, and other regulatory approvals. In addition, we or our third-party intermediaries may have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or state-owned or affiliated entities. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of these third-party intermediaries, our employees, representatives, contractors, partners and agents, even if we do not explicitly authorize such activities.
While we have policies and procedures to address compliance with such laws, we cannot assure you that all of our employees and agents will not take actions in violation of our policies and applicable law, for which we may be ultimately held responsible. As we increase our international sales and business, our risks under these laws may increase.
Detecting, investigating, and resolving actual or alleged violations of anti-corruption laws can require a significant diversion of time, resources, and attention from senior management. In addition, noncompliance with anti-corruption, anti-bribery, or anti-money laundering laws could subject us to whistleblower complaints, investigations, sanctions, settlements, prosecution, enforcement actions, fines, damages, other civil or criminal penalties or injunctions, suspension or debarment from contracting with certain persons, reputational harm, adverse media coverage, and other collateral consequences. If any subpoenas or investigations are launched, or governmental or other sanctions are imposed, or if we do not prevail in any possible civil or criminal proceeding, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed. In addition, responding to any action will likely result in a materially significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and significant defense costs and other professional fees.
We are subject to governmental export and import controls that could impair our ability to compete in international markets or subject us to liability if we violate the controls.
Our platform and products are subject to U.S. export controls, including the Export Administration Regulations, and we incorporate encryption technology into certain of our products. These encryption products and the underlying technology may be exported outside of the United States only with the required export authorizations, including by license, a license exception, or other appropriate government authorizations, including the filing of an encryption classification request or self-classification report.
Furthermore, our activities are subject to U.S. economic sanctions laws and regulations administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control that prohibit the shipment of most products and services to embargoed jurisdictions or sanctioned parties without the required export authorizations. Obtaining the necessary export license or other authorization for a particular sale may be time-consuming and may result in the delay or loss of sales opportunities. Violations of U.S. sanctions or export control regulations can result in significant fines or penalties and possible incarceration for responsible employees and managers.
If our channel partners fail to obtain appropriate import, export, or re-export licenses or permits, we may also be adversely affected through reputational harm, as well as other negative consequences, including government investigations and penalties.
Also, various countries, in addition to the United States, regulate the import and export of certain encryption and other technology, including import and export licensing requirements, and have enacted laws that could limit our ability to distribute our products or could limit our end-customers’ ability to implement our products in those countries. Changes in our products or future changes in export and import regulations may create delays in the introduction of our platform in international markets, prevent our end-customers with international operations from deploying our platform globally or, in some cases, prevent the export or import of our products to certain countries, governments, or persons altogether. From time to time, various governmental agencies have proposed additional regulation of encryption technology. Any change in export or import regulations, economic sanctions or related legislation, increased export and import controls, or change in the countries, governments, persons, or technologies targeted by such regulations, could result in decreased use of our platform by, or in our decreased ability to export or sell our products to, existing or potential end-customers with international operations. Any decreased use of our platform or limitation on our ability to export or sell our products would adversely affect our business, results of operations, and growth prospects.
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Changes in government trade policies, including the imposition of tariffs and export restrictions, could have an adverse impact on our business operations and sales.
The United States or foreign governments may enact changes in government trade policies that could adversely impact our ability to sell products in certain countries, particularly in China. For example, the U.S. government has imposed tariffs on certain Chinese imports and, in return, the Chinese government has imposed or proposed tariffs on certain U.S. products. Additionally, export restrictions imposed by the U.S. government, including the addition of licensing requirements by the United States Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) through the addition of companies to the BIS Entity List, may require us to suspend our business with certain international customers if we conclude or are notified by the U.S. government that such business presents a risk of noncompliance with U.S. regulations. We cannot predict what actions may ultimately be taken with respect to tariffs or trade relations between certain countries, what products may be subject to such actions, or what actions may be taken by other countries in response. It also may not be possible to anticipate the timing or duration of such tariffs, export restrictions, or other regulatory actions. These government trade policies may materially adversely affect our sales and operations with current customers as well as impede our ability to develop relationships with new customers.
There is a risk of further escalation and retaliatory actions between the U.S. and other foreign governments. If significant tariffs or other restrictions are placed on goods exported from China or any related counter-measures are taken, our revenue and results of operations may be materially harmed. These tariffs may also make our customers’ products more expensive for consumers, which may reduce consumer demand.
There is also a risk that the U.S. government may seek to implement more protective trade measures, not just with respect to China but with respect to other countries as well, such as those imposed on Russia in connection with its invasion of Ukraine. This could include new or higher tariffs and even more restrictive trade barriers, such as prohibiting certain types of, or all sales of certain products or products sold by certain parties into the U.S. Any increased trade barriers or restrictions on global trade could have a materially adverse impact on our business and financial results.
We may become involved in legal, regulatory, and administrative inquiries and proceedings, and unfavorable outcomes in litigation or other matters could negatively impact our business, financial conditions, and results of operations.
We may, from time to time, be involved in and subject to litigation or proceedings for a variety of claims or disputes, or regulatory inquiries. These claims, lawsuits, and proceedings could involve labor and employment, discrimination and harassment, commercial disputes, intellectual property rights (including patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, and other proprietary rights), class actions, general contract, tort, defamation, data privacy rights, antitrust, common law fraud, government regulation, or compliance, alleged federal and state securities and “blue sky” law violations or other investor claims, and other matters. Derivative claims, lawsuits, and proceedings, which may, from time to time, be asserted against our directors by our stockholders, could involve breach of fiduciary duty, failure of oversight, corporate waste claims, and other matters. In addition, our business and results may be adversely affected by the outcome of currently pending and any future legal, regulatory, and/or administrative claims or proceedings, including through monetary damages or injunctive relief.
Additionally, if customers fail to pay us under the terms of our agreements, we may be adversely affected due to the cost of enforcing the terms of our contracts through litigation. Litigation or other proceedings can be expensive and time consuming and can divert our resources and leadership’s attention from our primary business operations. The results of our litigation also cannot be predicted with certainty. If we are unable to prevail in litigation, we could incur payments of substantial monetary damages or fines, or undesirable changes to our software or business practices, and accordingly, our business, financial condition, or results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, if we accrue a loss contingency for pending litigation and determine that it is probable, any disclosures, estimates, and reserves we reflect in our financial statements with regard to these matters may not reflect the ultimate disposition or financial impact of litigation or other such matters. These proceedings could also result in negative publicity, which could harm customer and public perception of our business, regardless of whether the allegations are valid or whether we are ultimately found liable.
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We could be subject to additional tax liabilities.
We are subject to federal, state, and local income taxes in the U.S. Determining our provision for income taxes requires significant management judgment, and the ultimate tax outcome may be uncertain. In addition, our provision for income taxes is subject to volatility and could be adversely affected by many factors, including, among other things, changes to our operating or holding structure, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, and changes in U.S. tax laws. Tax authorities may disagree with our calculation of research and development tax credits, cross-jurisdictional transfer pricing, or other matters and assess additional taxes, interest, or penalties. While we regularly assess the likely outcomes of these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes and we believe that our financial statements reflect adequate reserves to cover any such contingencies, there can be no assurance that the outcomes of such examinations will not have a material impact on our results of operations and cash flows. If tax authorities change applicable tax laws, our overall taxes could increase, and our financial condition or results of operations may be adversely impacted.
Our ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.
As of December 31, 2025, we have approximately $122.3 million of net operating loss carryforwards (“NOLs”), for federal and state income tax purposes, which begin to expire in 2039 if not utilized. Unused U.S. federal NOLs for taxable years beginning before January 1, 2018, may be carried forward to offset future taxable income, if any, until such unused NOLs expire. Under current law, U.S. federal NOLs incurred in taxable years after December 31, 2017, can be carried forward indefinitely, but the deductibility of such U.S. federal NOLs in a particular taxable year is limited to 80% of taxable income in such year. A lack of future taxable income would adversely affect our ability to utilize portions of these NOLs before they expire.
In general, under Sections 382 and 383 of the Code, a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” (as defined under Section 382 of the Code and applicable Treasury Regulations) is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its pre-change NOLs and tax credits to offset post-change taxable income or taxes. Our ability to utilize NOLs and tax credits of companies that we have acquired or may acquire in the future may be subject to limitations. Furthermore, if we generate NOLs in the future, and we experience a future ownership change under Section 382 of the Code, our ability to utilize our NOLs and tax credits to offset our income may be subject to limitation. There is also a risk that due to regulatory changes, such as suspensions on the use of NOLs or other unforeseen reasons, our future NOLs or the NOLs of companies that we have acquired or may acquire in the future could expire or otherwise be unavailable to reduce future income tax liabilities, including for state tax purposes. For these reasons, we may not be able to utilize NOLs and tax credits that are or may in the future be reflected on our balance sheets, even if we attain profitability, which could potentially result in increased future tax liability to us and could adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.
Our results of operations may be harmed if we are required to collect sales or other related taxes for our license arrangements in jurisdictions where we have not historically done so.
States and some local taxing jurisdictions have differing rules and regulations governing sales and use taxes, and these rules and regulations are subject to varying interpretations that may change over time. We collect and remit U.S. sales and use tax, value-added tax (“VAT”), and goods and services tax (“GST”) in several jurisdictions. It is possible, however, that we could face sales tax, VAT, or GST audits and that our liability for these taxes could exceed our estimates as state tax authorities could still assert that we are obligated to collect additional tax amounts from our customers and remit those taxes to those authorities. We could also be subject to audits for which we have not accrued tax liabilities. Jurisdictions may seek to impose incremental or new sales, use, or other tax collection obligations on us or may determine that such taxes should have, but have not been, paid by us.
Changes in financial accounting standards may cause adverse and unexpected revenue fluctuations and impact our reported results of operations.
We prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). A change in accounting standards or practices could harm our operating results and may even affect our reporting of transactions completed before the change is effective. New accounting pronouncements and varying interpretations of accounting pronouncements have occurred and may occur in the future. Changes to existing rules or the questioning of current practices may harm our operating results or the way we conduct our business.
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If our judgments or estimates relating to our critical accounting policies are based on assumptions that change or prove to be incorrect, our results of operations could fall below expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in our stock price.
The preparation of our financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make judgments, estimates, and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, as provided in the section titled “ Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations ” the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets, liabilities, and equity, and the amount of revenue and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources. Our results of operations may be adversely affected if our assumptions change or if actual circumstances differ from those in our assumptions, which could cause our results of operations to fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the trading price of our common stock. Significant judgments, estimates, and assumptions used in preparing our consolidated financial statements include, or may in the future include, those related to revenue recognition, stock-based compensation, derivatives, intangible assets, including goodwill, and income taxes.
As a result of being a public company, we are obligated to develop and maintain proper and effective internal controls over financial reporting, and any failure to maintain the adequacy of these internal controls may adversely affect investor confidence in our company and, as a result, the value of our common stock.
We are required, pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“Section 404”), to furnish a report by management on, among other things, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. We are also required to disclose significant changes made in our internal control procedures on a quarterly basis.
To comply with Section 404, we have engaged in the costly and challenging process of compiling the system and processing documentation necessary to perform the evaluation needed to comply with Section 404. Our compliance with Section 404 requires that we incur substantial professional fees and expend significant management efforts, and we may need to hire additional accounting and financial staff with appropriate public company experience and technical accounting knowledge and compile the system and process documentation necessary to perform the evaluation needed to comply with Section 404.
During the evaluation and testing process of our internal controls, if we identify one or more material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, we will be unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective. We cannot assure you that there will not be material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting in the future. Any failure to maintain internal control over financial reporting could severely inhibit our ability to accurately report our financial condition or results of operations. If we are unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm determines we have a material weakness or significant deficiency in our internal control over financial reporting, we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of our common stock could decline, and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by Nasdaq, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Failure to remedy any material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, or to implement or maintain other effective control systems required of public companies, could also restrict our future access to the capital markets.
Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of our company more difficult, limit attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management and limit the market price of our common stock.
Provisions in the Certificate of Incorporation and our bylaws (the “Bylaws”) may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in our management. The Certificate of Incorporation and the Bylaws include provisions that:
authorize the Board to issue, without further action by the stockholders, shares of undesignated preferred stock with terms, rights, and preferences determined by the Board that may be senior to our common stock;
specify that special meetings of our stockholders can be called only by the Board, the chairman of the Board, our president, or by one or more stockholders holding shares in the aggregate entitled to cast not less than 10% of the votes at such meeting; and
provide that vacancies on the Board and newly created directorships resulting from any increase in the authorized number of directors elected by all of the stockholders having the right to vote as a single class may be filled by a majority of directors then in office, although less than a quorum, or by a sole remaining director.
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These provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of the Board, which is responsible for appointing the members of our management. In addition, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which generally, subject to certain exceptions, prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any of a broad range of business combinations with any “interested” stockholder for a period of three years following the date on which the stockholder became an “interested” stockholder. Any of the foregoing provisions could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock, and they could deter potential acquirers of our company, thereby reducing the likelihood that holders of our common stock would receive a premium for their shares of our common stock in an acquisition.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
Failure to protect our intellectual property rights could adversely affect our business.
Our success depends, in part, on our ability to protect proprietary methods and technologies that we develop or license under patent and other intellectual property laws of the United States, so that we can prevent others from using our inventions and proprietary information. If we fail to protect our intellectual property rights adequately, our competitors might gain access to our technology, and our business might be adversely affected. However, defending our intellectual property rights might entail significant expenses. Any of our patent rights, copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property rights may be challenged by others, weakened or invalidated through administrative process or litigation.
As of December 31, 2025, we had 45 issued and 52 pending U.S. patents covering our technology. We also license issued U.S. patents from others. The patents that we own or license from others (including those that may be issued in the future) may not provide us with any competitive advantages or may be challenged by third parties, and our patent applications may never be granted.
Additionally, the process of obtaining patent protection is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. Even if issued, there can be no assurance that these patents will adequately protect our intellectual property, as the legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of patent and other intellectual property rights are uncertain.
Any patents that are issued may subsequently be invalidated or otherwise limited, allowing other companies to develop offerings that compete with ours, which could adversely affect our competitive business position, business prospects and financial condition. In addition, issuance of a patent does not guarantee that we have a right to practice the patented invention. Patent applications in the United States are typically not published until 18 months after filing or, in some cases, not at all, and publications of discoveries in industry-related literature lag behind actual discoveries. We cannot be certain that third parties do not have blocking patents that could be used to prevent us from marketing or practicing our patented software or technology.
Effective patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret protection may not be available to us in every country in which our software is available. The laws of some foreign countries may not be as protective of intellectual property rights as those in the United States (in particular, some foreign jurisdictions do not permit patent protection for software), and mechanisms for enforcement of intellectual property rights may be inadequate. Additional uncertainty may result from changes to intellectual property legislation enacted in the United States, including the recent America Invents Act, and other national governments and from interpretations of the IP laws of the United States and other countries by applicable courts and agencies. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may be unable to prevent third parties from infringing upon or misappropriating our intellectual property.
We rely in part on trade secrets, proprietary know-how and other confidential information to maintain our competitive position. Although we endeavor to enter into non-disclosure agreements with our employees, licensees and others who may have access to this information, we cannot assure you that these agreements or other steps we have taken will prevent unauthorized use, disclosure or reverse engineering of our technology. Moreover, third parties may independently develop technologies or products that compete with ours, and we may be unable to prevent this competition.
We might be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect our intellectual property rights. We may initiate claims or litigation against third parties for infringement of our proprietary rights or to establish the validity of our proprietary rights. Litigation also puts our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and our patent applications at risk of not issuing. Additionally, we may provoke third parties to assert counterclaims against us. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially viable. Any litigation, whether or not resolved in our favor, could result in significant expense to us and divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel, which may adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows.
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We may be subject to intellectual property rights claims by third parties, which are extremely costly to defend, could require us to pay significant damages and could limit our ability to use certain technologies.
Companies in the software and technology industries, including some of our current and potential competitors, own large numbers of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets and frequently enter into litigation based on allegations of infringement or other violations of intellectual property rights. In addition, many of these companies have the capability to dedicate substantially greater resources to enforce their intellectual property rights and to defend claims that may be brought against them. The litigation may involve patent holding companies or other adverse patent owners that have no relevant product revenues and against which our patents may therefore provide little or no deterrence. We have received, and may in the future receive, notices that claim we have misappropriated, misused, or infringed other parties’ intellectual property rights, and, to the extent we gain greater market visibility, we face a higher risk of being the subject of intellectual property infringement claims.
There may be third-party intellectual property rights, including issued or pending patents that cover significant aspects of our technologies or business methods. Any intellectual property claims, with or without merit, could be very time-consuming, could be expensive to settle or litigate and could divert our management’s attention and other resources. These claims could also subject us to significant liability for damages, potentially including treble damages if we are found to have willfully infringed patents or copyrights. These claims could also result in our having to stop using technology found to be in violation of a third party’s rights. We might be required to seek a license for the intellectual property, which may not be available on reasonable terms or at all. Even if a license were available, we could be required to pay significant royalties, which would increase our operating expenses. As a result, we may be required to develop alternative non-infringing technology, which could require significant effort and expense. If we cannot license or develop technology for any infringing aspect of our business, we would be forced to limit or stop sales of our software and may be unable to compete effectively. Any of these results would adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows.
We use open source software in our products and we expect to continue to incorporate open source software in our services in the future.
Few of the licenses applicable to open source software have been interpreted by courts, and there is a risk that these licenses could be construed in a manner that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our products. Moreover, we cannot ensure that we have not incorporated additional open source software in our software in a manner that is inconsistent with the terms of the applicable license or our current policies and procedures. If we fail to comply with these licenses, we may be subject to certain requirements, including requirements that we offer our solutions that incorporate the open source software for no cost, that we make available source code for modifications or derivative works we create based upon, incorporating or using the open source software and that we license such modifications or derivative works under the terms of applicable open source licenses. If an author or other third party that distributes such open source software were to allege that we had not complied with the conditions of one or more of these licenses, we could be required to incur significant legal expenses defending against such allegations and could be subject to significant damages, enjoined from the sale of our products that contained the open source software and required to comply with onerous conditions or restrictions on these products, which could disrupt the distribution and sale of these products. From time to time, there have been claims challenging the ownership rights in open source software against companies that incorporate it into their products and the licensors of such open source software provide no warranties or indemnities with respect to such claims. As a result, we and our customers could be subject to lawsuits by parties claiming ownership of what we believe to be open source software. Litigation could be costly for us to defend, have a negative effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, or require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our products. In addition, although we employ open source software license screening measures, if we were to combine our proprietary software products with open source software in a certain manner we could, under certain open source licenses, be required to release the source code of our proprietary software products. Some open source projects have known vulnerabilities and architectural instabilities and are provided on an “as-is” basis which, if not properly addressed, could negatively affect the performance of our product. If we inappropriately use or incorporate open source software subject to certain types of open source licenses that challenge the proprietary nature of our products, we may be required to re-engineer such products, discontinue the sale of such products or take other remedial actions.
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We rely on the availability of licenses to third-party technology that may be difficult to replace or that may cause errors or delay implementation of our technology and services should we not be able to continue or obtain a commercially reasonable license to such technology.
Our technology may include intellectual property licensed from third parties. It may be necessary in the future to renew licenses relating to various aspects of these technology or to seek new licenses for existing or new technology or other products. There can be no assurance that the necessary licenses would be available on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. Third parties may terminate their licenses with us for a variety of reasons, including actual or perceived failures or breaches of security or privacy, or reputational concerns, or they may choose not to renew their licenses with us. In addition, we may be subject to liability if third-party technology that we license is found to infringe, misappropriate, or otherwise violate intellectual property or privacy rights of others. The loss of, or inability to obtain, certain third-party licenses or other rights or to obtain such licenses or rights on favorable terms, or the need to engage in litigation regarding these matters, could result in product roll-backs, delays in product releases until equivalent technology can be identified, licensed or developed, if at all, and integrated into our technology, and may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Moreover, the inclusion in our technology of technology or other intellectual property licensed from third parties on a nonexclusive basis could limit our ability to differentiate our technology from products of our competitors and could inhibit our ability to provide the current level of service to existing customers.
In addition, any data that we license from third parties for potential use in our technology may contain errors or defects, which could negatively impact the analytics that our customers perform on or with such data. This may have a negative impact on how our technology is perceived by our current and potential customers and could materially damage our reputation and brand.
Changes in or the loss of third-party licenses could lead to our technology becoming inoperable or the performance of our technology being materially reduced resulting in our potentially needing to incur additional research and development costs to ensure continued performance of our technology or a material increase in the costs of licensing, and we may experience decreased demand for our technology.
Risks Related to Cryptocurrencies and Digital Assets
Cryptocurrency and other digital assets are an emerging asset class that carries unique risk, including the risk of financial loss.
Cryptocurrencies, digital currencies, coins, tokens, NFTs and other digital or crypto assets or instruments that are issued and transferred using distributed ledger or blockchain technology (collectively referred to herein as “digital assets”) are a relatively new and evolving asset class and technological innovation that are subject to a high degree of uncertainty. The characteristics of particular digital assets within this broad asset class may differ significantly.
Digital assets carry unique risks. There is a high degree of fraud, theft, cyber attacks and other forms of risk associated with digital assets, and legal, regulatory and market standards around market conduct, transparency, custody, segregation of client assets, clearing and settlement for these assets, are all evolving or unsettled, which can increase risks for us, both as a holder of digital assets and a service provider in the digital asset space.
In addition, the intrinsic value of digital assets is particularly uncertain and difficult to determine due to the novel and rapidly changing nature of digital asset markets. For example, the value of digital assets is based in part on market adoption and future expectations regarding growth in the usage of digital assets for various applications, which may or may not be realized. Even if growth in the use of any digital assets occurs in the near or medium term, there is no assurance that such use will continue to grow over the long term. Further, a contraction in use of any digital asset may result in increased volatility or a reduction in prices. As a result, the value of digital assets is highly speculative and there can be no guarantee that the digital assets we hold will maintain their value in the future or that such digital assets can be converted into or sold for fiat currencies.
Because we currently self-custody our digital asset wallets, we are directly responsible for maintaining the security and integrity of the private keys and related wallet infrastructure. It is possible for electronic wallet keys to become lost or stolen, for blockchains to experience detrimental changes, such as forks, or for exchange and custodian partners to experience cybersecurity incidents. In the event of such events, we could experience financial loss and we may face regulatory or legal consequences.
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A determination that a digital asset is a “security” in which we transact or facilitate transactions in, or that a product or service we provide or an activity in which we engage involves a “securities transaction” for purposes of the federal securities laws could adversely affect the value of that digital asset and potentially digital assets generally, or have adverse regulatory consequences for us, and could therefore adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The SEC and its staff have taken the position that a range of digital assets, products and services fall within the definition of a “security” under the U.S. federal securities laws. Despite the SEC being the principal federal securities law regulator in the United States, whether or not an asset, product, or service is a security or constitutes a securities offering under federal securities laws is ultimately determined by a federal court. The legal test for determining whether any given digital asset, product, or service is an investment contract security was set forth in the 1946 Supreme Court case SEC v. W.J. Howey Co. and whether any given digital asset, product, or service is a note in the 1990 Supreme Court case Reves v. Ernst & Young. The legal tests for determining whether any given digital asset, product, or service is a security requires a highly complex, fact-driven analysis. Accordingly, whether any given digital asset, product or service would be ultimately deemed by a federal court to be a security is uncertain and difficult to predict notwithstanding the conclusions of the SEC or any conclusions we may draw based on our risk-based assessment regarding the likelihood that a particular digital asset, product or service could be deemed a “security” or “securities offering” under applicable laws. The SEC generally does not provide advance guidance or confirmation on its assessment of the status of any particular digital asset, product, or service as a security. Furthermore, in our view, statements by the SEC and its staff have appeared contradictory at times. It is also possible that the change in the governing administration and the appointment of new SEC commissioners will substantially impact the approach to enforcement by the SEC and its staff.
Any enforcement action by the SEC or a state securities regulator asserting that a digital asset is a security or sold in a securities transaction or related derivatives contract, or a court decision to that effect, would be expected to have an immediate material adverse impact on the trading value of that digital asset, and depending on the specific characteristics of the digital asset, could have adverse spillover effects on the trading values of other digital assets perceived to share similar characteristics. This is because the business models behind most digital assets are incompatible with U.S. regulations applying to transactions in securities. If a digital asset is determined to be a security, it is likely to become difficult or impossible for the digital asset to be traded, cleared or custodied in the U.S. through the same channels used by non-security digital assets. For example, all transactions in such digital asset would have to be registered with the SEC and potentially state securities regulators, or conducted in accordance with exemptions from registration, which could severely limit its liquidity and usefulness. Moreover, the network on which such digital asset is utilized may be subject to regulation as an intermediary in the securities markets, which could effectively render the network impracticable for its intended purposes. In addition to materially and adversely affecting the trading value of the digital asset, any such consequences are likely to significantly impact its liquidity and market participants’ ability to convert the digital asset into U.S. dollars. Any assertion that a digital asset is a security or securities transaction by the SEC or another regulatory or judicial authority may have similar effects.
The SEC has also brought enforcement actions and entered into settlements with numerous industry participants alleging that certain digital assets are securities. In 2025, the SEC dismissed many of those enforcement actions. As part of our trading business, we have in the past and in some cases continue, to provide clients and counterparties access to certain digital assets that the SEC in these complaints has alleged to be securities, or the subject of securities transactions. We carefully consider the implications of these allegations as well as other developments relating to the digital assets to which we may provide clients and counterparties access. These statements, framework and enforcement actions are not rules or regulations of the SEC and are not binding on the SEC. As noted above, whether any given digital asset, product or service would be ultimately deemed by a federal court to be a security is uncertain and difficult to predict. Moreover, the SEC and their senior officials have, at times, taken conflicting positions in speeches and enforcement actions as to whether a particular digital asset is a security. In January 2025, the SEC launched a crypto task force dedicated to developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for digital assets. While newly formed, its goal is to clarify federal securities laws for crypto, recommend practical policies, foster innovation, and protect investors.
In addition, the classification of a digital asset as a security under the federal securities laws has wide-ranging implications for the regulatory obligations that flow from the offer, sale, trading, clearing and holding of such assets. Although we take the implications that the digital assets in which we transact or facilitate transactions in could be treated as securities for federal securities law purposes into account, for a digital asset that we previously treated as not being a security for federal securities law purposes, the implications could include liability for (i) participating in unregistered securities offerings without a valid exemption from SEC registration requirements, (ii) acting as an unregistered broker-dealer, national securities exchange or clearing agency, (iii) operating as an unregistered investment company and (iv) acting as an unregistered investment adviser, any of which could have adverse consequences to our business, financial condition and results of operations. Similar, though not identical, concerns would arise if a digital asset or a digital asset transaction is determined to be a security-based swap.
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In June 2023, the SEC filed complaints against Binance Holdings Ltd. (“Binance”) and Coinbase, Inc. (“Coinbase”), and their respective affiliated entities, relating to, among other claims, that each party was operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, dealer, and clearing agency and seeking to shut down the exchanges. In November 2023, the SEC filed a complaint against Payward Inc. and Payward Ventures Inc., together known as Kraken, also alleging, among other claims, that Kraken’s digital trading platform was operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, dealer, and clearing agency, and seeking to shut down the exchange. In 2025, the SEC dismissed its civil enforcement actions against several major digital asset trading platforms, including Coinbase, Kraken, and Binance, which had been alleged to have been operating as unregistered securities exchanges, brokers, dealers, and clearing agencies, among other claims. While these dismissals may signal a shift in regulatory approach or enforcement priorities, there remains significant uncertainty regarding the application of federal securities laws to digital assets, including Bitcoin (“BTC”), and the trading of such assets. Future regulatory actions, changes in interpretation, or new legislation could adversely affect our ability to hold, acquire, or utilize digital assets, and could materially impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We have procedures designed to analyze whether each digital asset that we seek to transact in or develop could be deemed a security under applicable securities laws. These procedures have evolved over time and may continue to evolve in light of the developing regulatory environment. In certain circumstances, our categorization of particular digital assets has changed, and may in the future change, in light of new information and as a result of conducting a re-evaluation of our prior determinations regarding the federal securities law status of a digital asset.
Our policies and procedures do not constitute a legal standard, but rather represent our company-developed model, which we use to make a risk-based assessment regarding the likelihood that a particular digital asset, product or service could be deemed a security under applicable securities laws. We believe that our process reflects a thoughtful analysis that is reasonably designed to facilitate consistent application of available legal guidance to digital assets to determine whether a particular digital asset is a security under the federal security laws. However, we recognize that the application of securities laws to the specific facts and circumstances of digital assets, products and services may be complex and subject to change, and that a listing determination does not guarantee any conclusion under the U.S. federal securities laws. There can be no assurance that we will properly characterize over time any given digital asset, product or service offering as a security or non-security, or that the SEC, state or foreign regulatory authority, or a court having final determinative authority on the topic, if the question was presented to it, would agree with our assessment. We have received, and might in the future receive, from time to time, SEC inquiries regarding specific digital assets in which we transact.
We may be able to take steps in order to bring our operations into compliance with applicable securities laws following a determination that one or more digital assets in which we transact are securities or security-based swaps, but there is no guarantee that we would be able to take such actions as may be necessary to ensure that our future activities comply with applicable law, which could force us to discontinue some or all of our business activities. In general, any steps we are able to take in order to ensure future compliance with applicable laws would not insulate us from liability for past violations.
While the above description of adverse regulatory consequences focuses on the federal securities laws, state regulators and jurisdictions outside the United States retain independent authority to enforce their own securities laws, which may differ from or be interpreted more expansively than federal law. As a result, a state regulator or foreign jurisdiction could determine that a particular digital asset, product, or service constitutes a security under state law, even if the SEC has elected not to pursue enforcement action, the SEC has provided informal guidance or assurances to the contrary, or the asset, product, or service is otherwise excluded from the definition of a security at the federal level. Moreover, private litigants may assert claims under federal or state securities laws based on similar theories, regardless of the positions taken by federal regulators
To the extent we hold any digital asset that is impacted by an assertion or finding of securities status, or we provide any product or service or engage in any economic arrangement in respect of a digital asset that is deemed to be a securities transaction, or unregistered securities broker dealer activity, including non-custodial staking, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be adversely impacted, as they would to the extent we earn revenues from transacting or facilitating transactions in that digital asset. Depending on which digital asset or activities are impacted, these adverse impacts could be material to us.
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 cryptocurrencies we hold and adversely affect our business.
The emergence or growth of digital assets other than cryptocurrencies we may hold could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition. There are numerous alternative digital assets and many entities, including consortia and financial institutions, are researching and investing resources into private or permissioned blockchain platforms or digital assets. For example, some cryptocurrency networks utilize proof-of-work mining. Others use a “proof-of-stake” mechanism for validating transactions that requires significantly less
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computing power than proof-of-work mining. If the mechanisms for validating transactions in alternative digital assets are perceived as superior to the mechanisms used by the digital assets in which we invest, those digital assets could gain market share.
Other alternative digital assets could 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 other digital assets as a medium of exchange and store of value, particularly on digital asset trading platforms.
Additionally, central banks in some countries have started to introduce digital forms of legal tender. For example, China’s Central Bank Digital Currency (“CBDC”) project was made available to consumers in January 2022, and governments including the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Israel have discussed 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, 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 cryptocurrencies we hold to decrease, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we were deemed to be an investment company under the 1940 Act, applicable restrictions likely would make it impractical for us to continue segments of our business as currently contemplated.
Under Sections 3(a)(1)(A) and (C) of the 1940 Act, a company generally will be deemed to be an “investment company” if (i) it is, or holds itself out as being, engaged primarily, or proposes to engage primarily, in the business of investing, reinvesting, or trading in securities or (ii) it engages, or proposes to engage, in the business of investing, reinvesting, owning, holding, or trading in securities and it owns or proposes to acquire investment securities having a value exceeding 40% of the value of its total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities, shares of registered money market funds under Rule 2a-7 of the 1940 Act, and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Rule 3a-1 under the 1940 Act generally provides that notwithstanding the Section 3(a)(1)(C) test described in clause (ii) above, an entity will not be deemed to be an “investment company” for purposes of the 1940 Act if no more than 45% of the value of its assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities, shares of registered money market funds under Rule 2a-7 of the 1940 Act, and cash items) consists of, and no more than 45% of its net income after taxes (for the past four fiscal quarters combined) is derived from, securities other than U.S. government securities, shares of registered money market funds under Rule 2a-7 of the 1940 Act, securities issued by employees’ securities companies, securities issued by qualifying majority owned subsidiaries of such entity, and securities issued by qualifying companies that are controlled primarily by such entity. We do not believe that we are an “investment company” as such term is defined in either Section 3(a)(1)(A) or Section 3(a)(1)(C) of the 1940 Act.
With respect to Section 3(a)(1)(C), we believe we satisfy the elements of Rule 3a-1 and therefore are deemed not to be an investment company under, and we intend to conduct our operations such that we will not be deemed an investment company under, Section 3(a)(1)(C). We believe that we are not an investment company pursuant to Rule 3a-1 under the 1940 Act because, on a consolidated basis with respect to wholly-owned subsidiaries but otherwise on an unconsolidated basis, no more than 45% of the value of the Company’s total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities, shares of registered money market funds under Rule 2a-7 of the 1940 Act, and cash items) consists of, and no more than 45% of the Company’s net income after taxes (for the last four fiscal quarters combined) is derived from, securities other than U.S. government securities, shares of registered money market funds under Rule 2a-7 of the 1940 Act, securities issued by employees’ securities companies, securities issued by qualifying majority owned subsidiaries of the Company, and securities issued by qualifying companies that are controlled primarily by the Company.
Cryptocurrency and other digital assets, as well as new business models and transactions enabled by blockchain technologies, present novel interpretive questions under the 1940 Act. There is a risk that assets or arrangements that we have concluded are not securities could be deemed to be securities by the SEC or another authority for purposes of the 1940 Act, which would increase the percentage of securities held by us for 1940 Act purposes. The SEC has requested information from a number of participants in the digital assets ecosystem, regarding the potential application of the 1940 Act to their businesses. For example, in an action unrelated to the Company, in February 2022, the SEC issued a cease-and-desist order under the 1940 Act to BlockFi Lending LLC, in which the SEC alleged that BlockFi was operating as an unregistered investment company because it issued securities and also held more than 40% of its total assets, excluding cash, in investment securities, including the loans of digital assets made by BlockFi to institutional borrowers.
If we were deemed to be an investment company, Rule 3a-2 under the 1940 Act is a safe harbor that provides a one-year grace period for transient investment companies that have a bona fide intent to be engaged primarily, as soon as is reasonably possible (in any event by the termination of such one-year period), in a business other than that of investing, reinvesting, owning, holding, or trading in securities, with such intent evidenced by the company’s business activities and an appropriate resolution of its board of directors. The grace period is available not more than once every three years and runs from the earlier of (i) the date on which the issuer owns securities
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and/or cash having a value exceeding 50% of the issuer’s total assets on either a consolidated or unconsolidated basis or (ii) the date on which the issuer owns or proposes to acquire investment securities having a value exceeding 40% of the value of such issuer’s total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Accordingly, the grace period may not be available at the time that we seek to rely on Rule 3a-2; however, Rule 3a-2 is a safe harbor and we may rely on any exemption or exclusion from investment company status available to us under the 1940 Act at any given time. Furthermore, reliance on Rule 3a-2, Section 3(a)(1)(C), or Rule 3a-1 could require us to take actions to dispose of securities, limit our ability to make certain investments or enter into joint ventures, or otherwise limit or change our service offerings and operations. If we were to be deemed an investment company in the future, restrictions imposed by the 1940 Act-including limitations on our ability to issue different classes of stock and equity compensation to directors, officers, and employees and restrictions on management, operations, and transactions with affiliated persons-likely would make it impractical for us to continue our business as contemplated, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and prospects.
Changes in the accounting treatment of cryptocurrency holdings could have significant accounting impacts, including increasing the volatility of our results.
In December 2023, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2023-08, which upon our adoption will require us to measure in-scope cryptocurrency assets at fair value in our statement of financial position, and to recognize gains and losses from changes in the fair value of our cryptocurrency in net income each reporting period. ASU 2023-08 will also require us to provide certain interim and annual disclosures with respect to our cryptocurrency holdings. The standard is effective for our interim and annual periods beginning January 1, 2025, with a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings as of the beginning of the annual reporting period in which we adopt the guidance. Due in particular to the volatility in the price of cryptocurrencies, 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 cryptocurrency on our balance sheet, and it could also 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. Additionally, as a result of ASU 2023-08 requiring a cumulative-effect adjustment to our opening balance of retained earnings as of the beginning of the annual period in which we adopt the guidance and not permitting retrospective restatement of our historical financial statements, our future results will not be comparable to results from periods prior to our adoption of the guidance.
The broader digital assets industry, including the technology associated with digital assets, the rate of adoption and development of, and use cases for, digital assets, market perception of digital assets, and the legal, regulatory, and accounting treatment of digital assets are constantly developing and changing, and there may be additional risks in the future that are not possible to predict.
Changes in our ownership of cryptocurrency could have accounting, regulatory and other impacts, as well. While we currently intend to primarily own cryptocurrency directly, we may investigate other potential approaches to owning cryptocurrencies, including indirect ownership (for example, through ownership interests in a fund that owns cryptocurrencies and deemed ownership via ownership of cryptocurrency derivative assets). If we were to own all or a portion of our cryptocurrencies in a different manner, the accounting treatment for our cryptocurrencies, our ability to use our cryptocurrencies as collateral for additional borrowings, and the regulatory requirements to which we are subject, may correspondingly change. For example, the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies may force us to liquidate our holdings to use it as collateral, which could be negatively impacted by any disruptions in the cryptocurrency market, and if liquidated, the value of the collateral would not reflect potential gains in market value of our cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrency price volatility may materially depress asset valuations, necessitating substantial cash reserves or liquidity buffers to maintain operational resilience. These risks are compounded by the lack of comprehensive regulation governing cryptocurrency trading platforms, which face material exposure to fraud, market manipulation, security breaches, and operational failures that could materially and adversely affect the value of our cryptocurrency holdings.
Our cryptocurrency holdings could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, primarily due to the inherent price volatility of cryptocurrency and the impact of accounting standards. Cryptocurrencies can be highly susceptible to sharp price swings, which can significantly impact our financial statements, especially under mark-to-market accounting. To mitigate these risks, companies holding significant amounts of cryptocurrencies must maintain substantial capital reserves to absorb potential declines in asset value without compromising their overall financial health. This heightened need for liquidity reflects the increased risk associated with holding cryptocurrencies and underscores the importance of robust risk management strategies when navigating the uncertainties of the digital asset market.
Digital asset trading platforms handling cryptocurrencies and particularly small-cap cryptocurrencies are relatively new and often operate without the oversight typical of regulated securities or commodities markets. Many platforms, particularly those based outside the United States, are subject to limited or inconsistent regulatory standards and often do not provide transparent information about their
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ownership, management, or compliance practices. This lack of oversight increases the risk of fraudulent activities such as artificial trading volume, wash trading, and market manipulation-issues that have been documented in unregulated cryptocurrency markets and could similarly affect cryptocurrency trading. Reports have indicated that a significant portion of trading volume on unregulated digital asset trading platforms may be artificially inflated or non-economic in nature.
Manipulative behavior on cryptocurrency exchanges can distort market prices and lead to unexpected losses for investors. As a result, reduced market confidence in these platforms could negatively impact the liquidity and value of cryptocurrencies. We may hold substantial amounts of cryptocurrencies and must be vigilant about these risks, as trading activity that is not reflective of genuine market interest can lead to volatility and potential losses.
The operational integrity of digital asset trading platforms is another critical risk factor. Many of these platforms may lack robust security measures, making them vulnerable to hacking, fraud, and other operational problems. As we may hold large quantities of cryptocurrencies, we must consider the risk of security breaches, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Cryptocurrency holdings are less liquid than our existing cash and cash equivalents and may not be able to serve as a source of liquidity for us to the same extent as cash and cash equivalents.
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 cryptocurrency at favorable prices or at all. Further, cryptocurrency which we hold with our custodians 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. If we are unable to sell our cryptocurrency, enter into additional capital raising transactions using cryptocurrency as collateral, or otherwise generate funds using our cryptocurrency holdings, or if we are forced to sell our cryptocurrency at a significant loss, in order to meet our working capital requirements, our business and financial condition could be negatively impacted.
Cryptocurrencies do not pay interest or dividends.
Cryptocurrencies do not pay interest or other returns and we will only generate cash from our cryptocurrency holdings if we sell our cryptocurrency or implement strategies to create income streams or otherwise generate cash by using our cryptocurrency holdings. Even if we pursue any such strategies, we may be unable to create income streams or otherwise generate cash from our cryptocurrency holdings, and any such strategies may subject us to additional risks.
If we or our third-party service providers experience a security breach or cyberattack and unauthorized parties obtain access to our cryptocurrency, or if our private keys are lost or destroyed, or other similar circumstances or events occur, we may lose some or all of our cryptocurrency and our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
Security breaches and cyberattacks are of particular concern with respect to cryptocurrency. Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies and the entities that provide services to participants in the cryptocurrency 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. In May 2025, Coinbase experienced a significant breach of sensitive customer data and the misappropriation of digital assets resulting from the bribery of overseas insiders, leading to substantial financial losses for affected customers and prompting Coinbase to make certain operational adjustments, including increasing investment in insider-threat detection and automated response systems and opening a new support hub in the United States, and adding stronger security controls and monitoring across all locations. 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 cryptocurrency in a manner that may not be covered by insurance or the liability provisions of the custody agreements with the custodians who hold our cryptocurrency;
harm to our reputation and brand;
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improper disclosure of data and violations of applicable data privacy and other laws; or
significant regulatory scrutiny, investigations, fines, penalties, and other legal, regulatory, contractual and financial exposure.
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 cryptocurrency ecosystem or in the use of the cryptocurrency network to conduct financial transactions, which could negatively impact us.
Attacks upon systems across a variety of industries, including industries related to cryptocurrency, are increasing in frequency, persistence, and sophistication, and, in many cases, are being conducted by sophisticated, well-funded and organized groups and individuals, including state actors. The techniques used to obtain unauthorized, improper or illegal access to systems and information (including personal data and digital assets), disable or degrade services, or sabotage systems are constantly evolving, may be difficult to detect quickly, and often are not recognized or detected until after they have been launched against a target. These attacks may occur on our systems or those of our third-party service providers or partners. We may experience breaches of our security measures due to human error, malfeasance, insider threats, system errors or vulnerabilities or other irregularities. In particular, we expect that unauthorized parties will attempt to gain access to our systems and facilities, as well as those of our partners and third-party service providers, through various means, such as hacking, social engineering, phishing and fraud. Threats can come from a variety of sources, including criminal hackers, hacktivists, state-sponsored intrusions, industrial espionage, and insiders. In addition, certain types of attacks could harm us even if our systems are left undisturbed. For example, certain threats are designed to remain dormant or undetectable, sometimes for extended periods of time, or until launched against a target and we may not be able to implement adequate preventative measures. Further, there has been an increase in such activities due to the increase in work-from-home arrangements. The risk of cyberattacks could also be increased by cyberwarfare in connection with the ongoing Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Hamas and Israel-Iran conflicts, or other future conflicts, including potential proliferation of malware into systems unrelated to such conflicts. Any future breach of our operations or those of others in the cryptocurrency industry, including third-party services on which we rely, could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
We will face significant risks relating to disruptions, forks, 51% attacks, hacks, network disruptions, or other adverse events or other compromises to the cryptocurrency blockchains, which could materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Blockchain networks are maintained by decentralized networks of participants, and as such are susceptible and vulnerable to a variety of risks, including disruptions, security breaches, and fundamental technical issues. Both networks are vulnerable to attacks by malicious actors who gain control of a significant portion of the network’s mining hash rate, a scenario commonly referred to as a 51% attack. In such an event, the attacker could double-spend transactions, reverse previously confirmed transactions, or otherwise disrupt the normal operations of the network. Successful 51% attacks have historically undermined trust in affected blockchain networks and could materially decrease the value of cryptocurrency assets.
Additionally, forks, or splits in the underlying protocol, may occur when participants fail to reach consensus on proposed upgrades or changes. Forks can lead to the creation of duplicate networks, confusion among market participants, dilution of the original network’s value, and disruption of the network’s operations. Hard forks, in particular, can materially and adversely impact the perceived stability and value of digital assets, leading to reduced demand and price declines.
Further, hacks and other security breaches targeting the core infrastructure of blockchain networks or major participants, such as exchanges and custodians, could severely impact the reputation and market confidence in these networks. Exploits of protocol-level vulnerabilities could also compromise the integrity of the cryptocurrency blockchains, resulting in a substantial loss of value.
The success and growth of cryptocurrency assets depend significantly on their continued security, stability, and scalability. Any technical failures, consensus breakdowns, governance disputes, or regulatory interventions that diminish confidence in the networks or impair their functionality could lead to a material decline in their market prices, which could materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. A sustained or significant decrease in the price or liquidity of cryptocurrencies, whether due to 51% attacks, forks, hacks, network disruptions, or other adverse events, could negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Furthermore, even the perception that any of these events could occur may lead to significant market volatility and price declines, adversely affecting our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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Our custodially-held cryptocurrencies 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 cryptocurrencies 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 cryptocurrencies and this may ultimately result in the loss of the value related to some or all of such assets. 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, and the filing and subsequent settlement of a civil fraud lawsuit have highlighted the counterparty risks applicable to owning and transacting in digital assets. These bankruptcies, closures, liquidations and other events have likely negatively impacted the adoption rate and use of cryptocurrencies. 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 cryptocurrencies, limit the availability to us of financing collateralized by such assets, 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 cryptocurrencies. Even if we are able to prevent our cryptocurrencies 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 cryptocurrencies 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 listed securities.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock
The market price for our common stock is particularly volatile given our status as a relatively unknown company with a small and thinly traded public float, and lack of profits, which could lead to wide fluctuations in our share price.
The market for our common stock is characterized by significant price volatility when compared to the shares of larger, more established companies that have large public floats, and we expect that our share price will continue to be more volatile than the shares of such larger, more established companies for the indefinite future, although such fluctuations may not reflect a material change to our financial condition or operations during any such period. Such volatility can be attributable to a number of factors. For example, from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021 the reported sale price of our common stock fluctuated between $18,890.55 and $73,163.42 per share. From January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022 the reported sale price of our common stock fluctuated between $1,293.85 and $21,139.43 per share. From January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023 the reported closing price of our common stock has fluctuated between $15.95 and $2,400.30 per share. From January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024, the reported sale price of our common stock fluctuated between $1.15 and $18.00 per share. From January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025, the reported sale price of our common stock fluctuated between $0.25 and $4.10 per share. Such volatility can be attributable to a number of factors. First, as noted above, our common stock is, compared to the shares of such larger, more established companies, sporadically and thinly traded. The price for our common stock could, for example, decline precipitously in the event that a large number of our shares are sold on the market without commensurate demand. Secondly, we are a speculative or “risky” investment due to our lack of profits to date. As a consequence of this enhanced risk, more risk-adverse investors may, under the fear of losing all or most of their investment in the event of negative news or lack of progress, be more inclined to sell their shares on the market more quickly and at greater discounts than would be the case with the stock of a larger, more established company that has a large public float. Many of these factors are beyond our control and may decrease the market price of our common stock regardless of our operating performance.
In addition to being highly volatile, our common stock could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to a number of factors that are beyond our control, including, but not limited to:
variations in our revenues and operating expenses;
actual or anticipated changes in the estimates of our operating results or changes in stock market analyst recommendations regarding our common stock, other comparable companies or our industry generally;
market conditions in our industry, the industries of our customers and the economy as a whole;
actual or expected changes in our growth rates or our competitors’ growth rates;
developments in the financial markets and worldwide or regional economies;
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announcements of innovations or new products or services by us or our competitors;
announcements by the government relating to regulations that govern our industry;
sales of our common stock or other securities by us or in the open market;
changes in the market valuations of other comparable companies; and
other events or factors, many of which are beyond our control, including those resulting from such events, or the prospect of such events, including war, terrorism and other international conflicts, public health issues including health epidemics or pandemics, and natural disasters such as fire, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados or other adverse weather and climate conditions, whether occurring in the United States or elsewhere, could disrupt our operations, disrupt the operations of our suppliers or result in political or economic instability.
In addition, if the market for technology stocks or the stock market in general experiences loss of investor confidence, the trading price of our common stock could decline for reasons unrelated to our business, financial condition or operating results. The trading price of our common stock could also decline in reaction to events that affect other companies in our industry, even if these events do not directly affect us. Each of these factors, among others, could harm the value of our common stock. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market, securities class-action litigation has often been instituted against companies. Such litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or these or other parties publish negative reports about our business, our common stock price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our common stock may depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts may publish about us or our business, our market and our competitors. We do not have any control over such analysts. If one or more such analysts downgrade or publish a negative opinion of our common stock, the common stock price would likely decline. If analysts do not cover us or do not regularly publish reports on us, we may not be able to attain visibility in the financial markets, which could have a negative impact on our common stock price or trading volume. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us, publish inaccurate research about our business, or fail to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our common stock could decrease, which might cause our stock price to decline and could decrease the trading volume of our common stock.
We have in the past and may in the future be subject to short selling strategies that may drive down the market price of our common stock.
Short sellers have in the past and may attempt in the future to drive down the market price of our common stock. For example, on October 31, 2025, a firm with an admitted short interest position in the Company published a report making unfounded allegations about the Company’s business that we believe was intended to drive down the market price of the Company’s common stock. We promptly brought an affirmative lawsuit against the firm to hold it accountable for defamatory conduct. The lawsuit remains pending.
Short selling is the practice of selling securities that the seller does not own but may have borrowed with the intention of buying identical securities back at a later date. The short seller hopes to profit from a decline in the value of the securities between the time the securities are borrowed and the time they are replaced. As it is in the short seller’s best interests for the price of the stock to decline, many short sellers (sometimes known as “disclosed shorts”) publish, or arrange for the publication of, negative opinions regarding the relevant issuer and its business prospects to create negative market momentum. Although traditionally these disclosed shorts were limited in their ability to access mainstream business media or to otherwise create negative market rumors, the rise of the Internet and technological advancements regarding document creation, videotaping and publication by weblog (“blogging”) have allowed many disclosed shorts to publicly attack a company’s credibility, strategy and veracity by means of so-called “research reports” that mimic the type of investment analysis performed by large Wall Street firms and independent research analysts. These short attacks have, in the past, led to selling of shares in the market. Further, these short seller publications are not regulated by any governmental, self-regulatory organization or other official authority in the U.S. and they are not subject to certification requirements imposed by the SEC. Accordingly, the opinions they express may be based on distortions, omissions or fabrications. Companies that are subject to unfavorable allegations, even if untrue, may have to expend significant resources to investigate such allegations and/or defend themselves, including stockholder suits against the company that may be prompted by such allegations. Even if such allegations are ultimately proven to be groundless, allegations against us could negatively impact the market price of our common stock and our business operations. We may in the future be the subject of stockholder suits that may be prompted by allegations made by short sellers.
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Our failure to meet the continued listing standards of Nasdaq could result in a delisting of our common stock.
On February 24, 2026, we received a letter from Nasdaq notifying us that, because the closing bid price for our shares of common stock had been below $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive business days, we were no longer in compliance with the minimum bid price requirement for continued listing on the Nasdaq. Rule 5550(a)(2) of Nasdaq’s Marketplace Rules (the “Nasdaq Rules”) requires listed securities to maintain a minimum bid price of $1.00 per share (the “Minimum Bid Price Requirement”) and Rule 5810(c)(3)(A) of the Nasdaq Rules provides that a failure to meet the Minimum Bid Price Requirement exists if the deficiency continues for a period of 30 consecutive business days.
Pursuant to Rule 5810(c)(3)(A) of the Nasdaq Rules, we have been provided an initial compliance period of 180 calendar days, or until August 24, 2026, to regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement. If we do not regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement by August 24, 2026, we may be afforded a second 180 calendar day grace period. To qualify, we would be required to meet the continued listing requirements for market value of publicly held shares and all other initial listing standards for the Nasdaq, with the exception of the Minimum Bid Price Requirement. In addition, we would be required to provide written notice of our intention to cure the minimum bid price deficiency during this second 180-day compliance period by effecting a reverse stock split, if necessary.
If it appears to the Staff of Nasdaq that we will not be able to cure the deficiency in connection with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement, or if we are otherwise not eligible for the additional compliance period, and we do not regain compliance by August 24, 2026 for the Minimum Bid Price Requirement, Nasdaq will provide written notification to us that our shares of Common Stock are subject to delisting. At that time, we may appeal the delisting determination to a hearings panel pursuant to the procedures set forth in the applicable Nasdaq Rules.
If Nasdaq determines to delist our securities from trading on its exchange and we are unable to obtain listing on another national securities exchange, some or all of the following may occur, each of which could have a material adverse effect on our stockholders:
causing our shares of common stock to be transferred to a more limited market than Nasdaq, which could affect the market price, trading volume, liquidity and resale price of such shares;
causing an event of default under our existing debt instruments;
reducing the number of investors, including institutional investors, willing to hold or acquire our common stock, which could negatively impact our ability to raise equity;
decreasing the amount of news and analyst coverage relating to us;
reducing the availability of information concerning the trading prices and volume of our common stock;
limiting our ability to issue additional securities, obtain additional financing or pursue strategic restructuring, refinancing or other transactions; and
impacting our reputation and, as a consequence, our business and operations.
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In the event that our common stock is delisted from Nasdaq, U.S. broker-dealers may be discouraged from effecting transactions in shares of our common stock because they may be considered penny stocks and thus be subject to the penny stock rules.
The SEC has adopted a number of rules to regulate “penny stock” that restricts transactions involving stock which is deemed to be penny stock. Such rules include Rules 3a51-1, 15g-1, 15g-2, 15g-3, 15g-4, 15g-5, 15g-6, 15g-7, and 15g-9 under the Exchange Act. These rules may have the effect of reducing the liquidity of penny stocks. “Penny stocks” generally are equity securities with a price of less than $5.00 per share (other than securities registered on certain national securities exchanges or quoted on Nasdaq if current price and volume information with respect to transactions in such securities is provided by the exchange or system). Our shares of common stock have in the past constituted, and may again in the future constitute, “penny stock” within the meaning of the rules. The additional sales practice and disclosure requirements imposed upon U.S. broker-dealers for sales of penny stocks may discourage such broker-dealers from effecting transactions in shares of our common stock, which could severely limit the market liquidity of such shares of common stock and impede their sale in the secondary market.
A U.S. broker-dealer selling penny stock to anyone other than an established customer or “accredited investor” (generally, an individual with a net worth in excess of $1,000,000 or an annual income exceeding $200,000, or $300,000 together with his or her spouse) must make a special suitability determination for the purchaser and must receive the purchaser’s written consent to the transaction prior to sale, unless the broker-dealer or the transaction is otherwise exempt. In addition, the “penny stock” regulations require the U.S. broker-dealer to deliver, prior to any transaction involving a “penny stock”, a disclosure schedule prepared in accordance with SEC standards relating to the “penny stock” market, unless the broker-dealer or the transaction is otherwise exempt. A U.S. broker-dealer is also required to disclose commissions payable to the U.S. broker-dealer and the registered representative and current quotations for the securities. Finally, a U.S. broker-dealer is required to submit monthly statements disclosing recent price information with respect to the “penny stock” held in a customer’s account and information with respect to the limited market in “penny stocks”.
Stockholders should be aware that, according to the SEC, the market for “penny stocks” has suffered in recent years from patterns of fraud and abuse. Such patterns include (i) control of the market for the security by one or a few broker-dealers that are often related to the promoter or issuer; (ii) manipulation of prices through prearranged matching of purchases and sales and false and misleading press releases; (iii) “boiler room” practices involving high-pressure sales tactics and unrealistic price projections by inexperienced sales persons; (iv) excessive and undisclosed bid-ask differentials and markups by selling broker-dealers; and (v) the wholesale dumping of the same securities by promoters and broker-dealers after prices have been manipulated to a desired level, resulting in investor losses. Our management is aware of the abuses that have occurred historically in the penny stock market. Although we do not expect to be in a position to dictate the behavior of the market or of broker-dealers who participate in the market, management will strive within the confines of practical limitations to prevent the described patterns from being established with respect to our securities.
Substantial future sales of shares of our common stock could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.
We expect that significant additional capital will be needed in the near future to continue our planned operations. Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales might occur, could depress the market price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. We are unable to predict the effect that such sales may have on the prevailing market price of our shares.
We have financed our operations, and we expect to continue to finance our operations, acquisitions, if any, and the development of strategic relationships by issuing equity, warrants and/or convertible securities, which could significantly reduce the percentage ownership of our existing stockholders. Further, any additional financing that we secure may require the granting of rights, preferences or privileges senior to, or pari passu with, those of common stock. Additionally, we may acquire other technologies or finance strategic alliances by issuing our equity or equity-linked securities, which may result in additional dilution. Any issuances by us of equity securities may be at or below the prevailing market price of our common stock and in any event may have a dilutive impact on your ownership interest, which could cause the market price of our common stock to decline. We may also raise additional funds through the incurrence of debt or the issuance or sale of other securities or instruments senior to our shares of common stock. The holders of any securities or instruments we may issue may have rights superior to the rights of our holders of our common stock. If we experience dilution from issuance of additional securities and we grant superior rights to new securities over common stockholders, it may negatively impact the trading price of our shares of common stock.
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We do not intend to pay cash dividends on shares of our common stock for the foreseeable future.
We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on shares of our common stock and do not intend to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. We anticipate that we will retain all of our future earnings for use in the development of our business and for general corporate purposes. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our Board. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investments.
We could issue “blank check” preferred stock without stockholder approval with the effect of diluting then current stockholder interests and impairing their voting rights; and provisions in our charter documents could discourage a takeover that stockholders may consider favorable.
Our Certificate of Incorporation, as amended (the “Certificate of Incorporation”) authorizes the issuance of “blank check” preferred stock with designations, rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by the Board. The Board is empowered, without stockholder approval, to issue a series of preferred stock with dividend, liquidation, conversion, voting or other rights which could dilute the interest of, or impair the voting power of, our common stockholders. The issuance of a series of preferred stock could be used as a method of discouraging, delaying or preventing a change in control. For example, it would be possible for the Board to issue preferred stock with voting or other rights or preferences that could impede the success of any attempt to change control of our Company.
All of our warrants to purchase shares of our common stock are out-of-the money and may expire worthless.
We have warrants to purchase shares of our common stock (with exercise prices ranging from $1.83 to $66,900 issued and outstanding. On March 17, 2026, the closing price of our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market was $0.78. If the price of our shares of common stock remains below the foregoing exercise prices of such warrants, we believe the holders of such warrants will be unlikely to cash exercise such warrants, resulting in little or no cash proceeds to us. There is no guarantee that our warrants will be in the money prior to their expiration and, as such, those other warrants may expire worthless.
