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Bitcoin Treasury Datavault AI Says It Can’t Access Its BTC, Stock Tanks

In brief

  • Datavault AI shares fell 49.55% to $0.067 on Oct. 27 after an SEC filing said the company has been unable to complete a June request to withdraw Bitcoin from Biconomy.
  • The company will restate four financial reports, cutting reported assets by up to $92.2 million, after reclassifying Bitcoin from a $150 million Scilex stock deal as a subscription receivable.
  • Management is reassessing its going-concern status because it had counted the Bitcoin as a source of liquidity and says collecting what Scilex owes is uncertain.

Datavault AI shares fell more than 50% on Tuesday to close at $0.06, after the Nasdaq-listed company disclosed that it has been unable to withdraw Bitcoin from the crypto exchange Biconomy since June. The company also said four sets of its financial statements can no longer be relied upon.

The disclosure came in a Form 8-K filed Oct. 26, in which Datavault said it requested a withdrawal to an external account in June and has been “unable to complete the withdrawal.” The filing does not explain what is holding it up.

Myriad: Where does Bitcoin go next? Click to make your prediction.
Myriad: Where does Bitcoin go next? Click to make your prediction.

The Bitcoin traces to a Sept. 25, 2025, agreement in which Scilex Holding, a pain-medicine company, agreed to pay $150 million in Bitcoin for 15 million Datavault shares and a pre-funded warrant covering another 263.9 million shares. A pre-funded warrant is a right to buy stock in which nearly the whole price is paid upfront.

At $112,915.52 per Bitcoin, the deal came to about 1,328.43 BTC. Scilex credited 1,309.04 BTC to Datavault's account at Biconomy on Sept. 26 and Nov. 25, 2025, the filing says, a figure that reflects a 19.39 BTC deduction for cash advances Scilex had made.

Those credits were off-chain transfers, meaning the exchange changed balances on its own books rather than moving coins across the Bitcoin blockchain. Between Sept. 26, 2025, and Jan. 30, 2026, Datavault sold 491.431 BTC back to Scilex the same way, for about $40.5 million in cash.

After reviewing the transaction, Datavault concluded the Bitcoin never qualified as a digital asset of the company. It will instead book the deal as a subscription receivable, money a buyer owes for newly issued stock, shown as a reduction of stockholders' equity, with the $40.5 million in cash reducing what Scilex owes.

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The restatements are expected to cut total assets by $8.1 million as of Sept. 30, 2025, $92.2 million at the end of 2025, $57.1 million as of March 31, and $49 million as of June 30. They cover the 2025 annual report plus three quarterly reports filed between November 2025 and August 2026, and Datavault expects to reverse the crypto gains and losses it had recorded on the coins.

Datavault had counted those Bitcoin balances as a source of liquidity, so management is reassessing whether the company can continue as a going concern, the accounting test for whether a business can keep operating and meet its obligations. The filing says collection of the amounts owed by Scilex is uncertain, and its risk list includes Scilex's creditworthiness, the company's reliance on a third-party custodian, Nasdaq listing compliance, and litigation or regulatory inquiries tied to the restatement.

Scilex's own quarterly filing shows Biconomy was already part of the deal. Scilex said it sold 12.5 million shares of its Semnur Pharmaceuticals subsidiary to Biconomy on Sept. 23, 2025 for $200 million in Bitcoin, then used $150 million of that to buy Datavault stock.

On June 24, 2026, the same month Datavault says it asked to withdraw its Bitcoin, Scilex signed a binding term sheet to buy 837 BTC held in Datavault's Biconomy wallet for $50 million, subject to a definitive agreement. Scilex agreed to an initial $30 million payment and the remaining $20 million in quarterly installments through Dec. 31, 2028, payable in cash or Scilex securities at its discretion. The 837 BTC, added to the 491.431 BTC already sold back, equals the 1,328.43 BTC of the original agreement.

Datavault stock bounced to near $0.085 on Wednesday. Scilex's purchase price under the 2025 agreement worked out to an effective $0.5378 per share. Datavault has not said when it will file the restated statements, and it warned that delays could extend to its quarterly report for the period ended Sept. 30, 2026.

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