Public companies are required to disclose risks that can affect the business and impact the stock. These disclosures are known as “Risk Factors”. Companies disclose these risks in their yearly (Form 10-K), quarterly earnings (Form 10-Q), or “foreign private issuer” reports (Form 20-F). Risk factors show the challenges a company faces. Investors can consider the worst-case scenarios before making an investment. TipRanks’ Risk Analysis categorizes risks based on proprietary classification algorithms and machine learning.
Gaxosai disclosed 76 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. Gaxosai reported the most risks in the “Finance & Corporate” category.
Risk Overview Q3, 2024
Risk Distribution
38% Finance & Corporate
24% Tech & Innovation
17% Legal & Regulatory
9% Ability to Sell
7% Production
5% Macro & Political
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
This chart displays the stock's most recent risk distribution according to category. TipRanks has identified 6 major categories: Finance & corporate, legal & regulatory, macro & political, production, tech & innovation, and ability to sell.
Risk Change Over Time
S&P500 Average
Sector Average
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Gaxosai Risk Factors
New Risk (0)
Risk Changed (0)
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No changes from previous report
The chart shows the number of risks a company has disclosed. You can compare this to the sector average or S&P 500 average.
The quarters shown in the chart are according to the calendar year (January to December). Businesses set their own financial calendar, known as a fiscal year. For example, Walmart ends their financial year at the end of January to accommodate the holiday season.
Risk Highlights Q3, 2024
Main Risk Category
Finance & Corporate
With 29 Risks
Finance & Corporate
With 29 Risks
Number of Disclosed Risks
76
No changes from last report
S&P 500 Average: 31
76
No changes from last report
S&P 500 Average: 31
Recent Changes
0Risks added
0Risks removed
0Risks changed
Since Sep 2024
0Risks added
0Risks removed
0Risks changed
Since Sep 2024
Number of Risk Changed
0
No changes from last report
S&P 500 Average: 3
0
No changes from last report
S&P 500 Average: 3
See the risk highlights of Gaxosai in the last period.
Risk Word Cloud
The most common phrases about risk factors from the most recent report. Larger texts indicate more widely used phrases.
Risk Factors Full Breakdown - Total Risks 76
Finance & Corporate
Total Risks: 29/76 (38%)Below Sector Average
Share Price & Shareholder Rights13 | 17.1%
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 1
If our shares become subject to the penny stock rules, it would become more difficult to trade our shares.
The SEC has adopted rules that regulate broker-dealer practices in connection with transactions in penny stocks. Penny stocks are generally equity securities with a price of less than $5.00, other than securities registered on certain national securities exchanges or authorized for quotation on certain automated quotation systems, provided that current price and volume information with respect to transactions in such securities is provided by the exchange or system. If we do not obtain or retain a listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market or if the price of our Common Stock falls below $5.00, our Common Stock will be deemed a penny stock. The penny stock rules require a broker-dealer, before a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from those rules, to deliver a standardized risk disclosure document containing specified information. In addition, the penny stock rules require that before effecting any transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from those rules, a broker-dealer must make a special written determination that the penny stock is a suitable investment for the purchaser and receive (i) the purchaser's written acknowledgment of the receipt of a risk disclosure statement; (ii) a written agreement to transactions involving penny stocks; and (iii) a signed and dated copy of a written suitability statement. These disclosure requirements would likely have the effect of reducing the trading activity in the secondary market for our Common Stock, and therefore stockholders may have difficulty selling their shares.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 2
Certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation and Delaware law make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us and make a takeover more difficult to complete, even if such a transaction were in stockholders' interest.
Our certificate of incorporation and the Delaware General Corporation Law contain certain provisions that may have the effect of making it more difficult or delaying attempts by others to obtain control of our Company, even when these attempts may be in the best interests of our stockholders. We also are subject to the anti-takeover provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which prohibits us from engaging in a "business combination" with an "interested stockholder" unless the business combination is approved in a prescribed manner and prohibits the voting of shares held by persons acquiring certain numbers of shares without obtaining requisite approval. The statutes and our certificate of incorporation have the effect of making it more difficult to effect a change in control of our Company. On January 10, 2024, the board of directors (the "Board") of the Company approved an amendment (the "Amendment") to the bylaws (the "Bylaws"), effective as of January 10, 2024. The Amendment amends and restates Article 2, Section 2.4 in its entirety to lower quorum requirement for shareholder meetings from requiring the holders of a majority in voting power of the stock issued and outstanding and entitled to vote, present in person, or by remote communication, if applicable, or represented by proxy to one-third in voting power of the stock issued and outstanding and entitled to vote, present in person, or by remote communication, if applicable, or represented by proxy.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 3
Our Certificate of Incorporation, our Bylaws, and Delaware law may have anti-takeover effects that could discourage, delay or prevent a change in control, which may cause our stock price to decline.
Anti-takeover provisions may limit the ability of another party to acquire us, which could cause our stock price to decline. Our Certificate of Incorporation, Bylaws and Delaware law contain provisions that could discourage, delay or prevent a third party from acquiring us, even if doing so may be beneficial to our stockholders. In addition, these provisions could limit the price investors would be willing to pay in the future for shares of our Common Stock.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 4
Our principal stockholders and management own a significant percentage of our stock and will be able to exert significant control over matters subject to stockholder approval.
Our directors, executive officers, and each of our stockholders who owned greater than 5% of our outstanding Common Stock beneficially, as of March 27, 2024, own approximately 32.41% of our Common Stock. Accordingly, these stockholders have and will continue to have significant influence over the outcome of corporate actions requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors, a merger, the consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets or any other significant corporate transaction. The interests of these stockholders may not be the same as or may even conflict with our other investors' interests.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 5
We may be considered a smaller reporting company and will be exempt from certain disclosure requirements, which could make our Common Stock less attractive to potential investors.
Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act, defines a "smaller reporting company" as an issuer that is not an investment company, an asset-backed issuer, or a majority-owned subsidiary of a parent that is not a smaller reporting company and that:
- had a public float of less than $250 million as of the last business day of its most recently completed second fiscal quarter, computed by multiplying the aggregate worldwide number of shares of its voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates by the price at which the common equity was last sold, or the average of the bid and asked prices of common equity, in the principal market for the common equity; or - in the case of an initial registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended ("Securities Act"), or the Exchange Act for shares of its common equity, had a public float of less than $250 million as of a date within 30 days of the date of the filing of the registration statement, computed by multiplying the aggregate worldwide number of such shares held by non-affiliates before the registration plus, in the case of a Securities Act registration statement, the number of such shares included in the registration statement by the estimated public offering price of the shares; or - in the case of an issuer whose public float was zero, had annual revenues of less than $100.0 million during the most recently completed fiscal year for which audited financial statements are available.
As a smaller reporting company, we would not be required and may not include a Compensation Discussion and Analysis section in our proxy statements; we would provide only two years of financial statements; and we would not need to provide the table of selected financial data. We also would have other "scaled" disclosure requirements that are less comprehensive than issuers that are not smaller reporting companies which could make our Common Stock less attractive to potential investors, and also could make it more difficult for our stockholders to sell their shares.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 6
We are an "emerging growth company" and are able to avail ourselves of reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies, which could make our Common Stock less attractive to investors.
We are an "emerging growth company," as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the "JOBS Act"), and we have elected to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not "emerging growth companies" including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. In addition, pursuant to Section 107 of the JOBS Act, as an "emerging growth company" we have elected to take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act, for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an "emerging growth company" can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. As such, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with public company effective dates.
We cannot predict if investors will find our Common Stock less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our Common Stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our Common Stock and our stock price may be more volatile. We may take advantage of these reporting exemptions until we are no longer an "emerging growth company." We will remain an "emerging growth company" until the earliest of (i) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenues of $1.07 billion or more; (ii) the last day of our fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the date of the completion of our initial public offering; (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1 billion in nonconvertible debt during the previous three years; or (iv) the date on which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer under the rules of the SEC.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 7
Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between the Company and its stockholders, which could limit stockholders' ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with the Company or its directors, officers or employees.
Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the State of Delaware is the sole and exclusive forum for: (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Company, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee of the Company to the Company or the Company's stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against the Company, its directors, officers or employees arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the "DGCL") or our Certificate of Incorporation or the Company's Bylaws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim against the Company, its directors, officers, employees or agents governed by the internal affairs doctrine, including, without limitation, any action to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of the Company's Certificate of Incorporation or Bylaws. This exclusive forum provision would not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Act or the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. To the extent that any such claims may be based upon federal law claims, Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.
Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. However, our Certificate of Incorporation contain a federal forum provision which provides that unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of capital stock of the Corporation are deemed to have notice of and consented to this provision. As this provision applies to Securities Act claims, there may be uncertainty whether a court would enforce such a provision.
These choice of forum provisions may limit a stockholder's ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with the Company or its directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against the Company and its directors, officers and other employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find our choice of forum provisions contained in either our Certificate of Incorporation or Bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, the Company may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm its business, results of operations, and financial condition.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 8
The ability of a stockholder to recover all or any portion of such stockholder's investment in the event of a dissolution or termination may be limited.
In the event of a dissolution or termination of the Company, the proceeds realized from the liquidation of the assets of the Company, or such subsidiaries will be distributed among the stockholders, but only after the satisfaction of the claims of third-party creditors of the Company. The ability of a stockholder to recover all or any portion of such stockholder's investment under such circumstances will, accordingly, depend on the amount of net proceeds realized from such liquidation and the amount of claims to be satisfied therefrom. There can be no assurance that the Company will recognize gains on such liquidation, nor is there any assurance that Common Stockholders will receive a distribution in such a case.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 9
Our ability to have our securities traded on the NASDAQ is subject to us meeting applicable listing criteria.
Our common stock is publicly traded and listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the trading symbol "GXAI." To maintain our listing, we must comply with the continued listing requirements of the Nasdaq Capital Market, which include a minimum bid price requirement of $1.00 per share. The NASDAQ requires companies desiring to list their common stock to meet certain listing criteria including total number of shareholders, minimum stock price, total value of public float, and in some cases total shareholders' equity and market capitalization. Our failure to meet such applicable listing criteria could prevent us from maintaining the listing of our Common Stock on the NASDAQ. In the event we are unable to have our shares traded on NASDAQ, our Common Stock could potentially trade on the OTCQX or the OTCQB, each of which is generally considered less liquid and more volatile than the NASDAQ. Our failure to maintain a listing on the NASDAQ could make it more difficult for you to trade our shares, could prevent our Common Stock trading on a frequent and liquid basis and could result in the value of our Common Stock being less than it would be if we were able to list our shares on the NASDAQ.
On July 10, 2023, the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Staff (the "Staff") notified the Company that the bid price of our listed security had closed at less than $1 per share over the previous 30 consecutive business days, and, as a result, did not comply with Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). In accordance with Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), the Company was provided 180 calendar days, or until January 8, 2024, to regain compliance with Listing Rule 5550(a)(2).
In early January 2024, we submitted a request to the Panel to appeal the Delisting Determination, and on January 16, 2024, we were notified by the Panel that it received the request which stayed the suspension of our securities and the filing of the Form 25-NSE, pending the Hearing Panel's final written decision.
On March 22, 2024, we received written notice from the Panel that we regained compliance with the minimum bid price requirement under NASDAQ Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) for continued listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
No assurance can be given that we will continue to meet NASDAQ's continued listing standards. If we fail to comply with Nasdaq's continued listing standards, we may be delisted and our common stock will trade, if at all, only on the over-the-counter market, such as the OTC Bulletin Board, or OTCQX market, and then only if one or more registered broker-dealer market makers comply with quotation requirements. In addition, delisting of our common stock could depress our stock price, substantially limit liquidity of our common stock and materially adversely affect our ability to raise capital on terms acceptable to us, or at all. Finally, delisting of our common stock could result in our common stock becoming a "penny stock" under the Exchange Act.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 10
The price of our securities may fluctuate substantially.
You should consider an investment in our securities to be risky, and you should invest in our securities only if you can withstand a significant loss and wide fluctuations in the market value of your investment. Some factors that may cause the market price of our Common Stock to fluctuate, in addition to the other risks mentioned in this "Risk Factors" section and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, are:
- sale of our Common Stock by our shareholders, executives, and directors;- volatility and limitations in trading volumes of our shares of Common Stock;- our ability to obtain financing;- the timing and success of introductions of new products by us or our competitors or any other change in the competitive dynamics of our industry, including consolidation among competitors;- our ability to attract new customers;- changes in our capital structure or dividend policy, future issuances of securities, sales of large blocks of Common Stock by our shareholders;- our cash position;- announcements and events surrounding financing efforts, including debt and equity securities;- our inability to enter into new markets or develop new products;- reputational issues;- announcements of acquisitions, partnerships, collaborations, joint ventures, new products, capital commitments, or other events by us or our competitors;- changes in general economic, political and market conditions in or any of the regions in which we conduct our business;- changes in industry conditions or perceptions;- analyst research reports, recommendation and changes in recommendations, price targets, and withdrawals of coverage;- departures and additions of key personnel;- disputes and litigations related to intellectual properties, proprietary rights, and contractual obligations;- changes in applicable laws, rules, regulations, or accounting practices and other dynamics; and - other events or factors, many of which may be out of our control.
In addition, if the market for stocks in our industry or industries related to our industry, or the stock market in general, experiences a loss of investor confidence, the trading price of our Common Stock could decline for reasons unrelated to our business, financial condition and results of operations. If any of the foregoing occurs, it could cause our stock price to fall and may expose us to lawsuits that, even if unsuccessful, could be costly to defend and a distraction to management.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 11
The market prices and trading volume of our shares of common stock may experience rapid and substantial price volatility which could cause purchasers of our common stock to incur substantial losses.
Recently, the market prices and trading volume of shares of common stock of other small publicly traded with a limited number of shares available to purchasers, have experienced rapid and substantial price volatility unrelated to the financial performance of those companies. Similarly, shares of our common stock may experience similar rapid and substantial price volatility unrelated to our financial performance, which could cause purchasers of our common stock to incur substantial losses, which may be unpredictable and not bear any relationship to our business and financial performance. Extreme fluctuations in the market price of our common stock may occur in response to strong and atypical retail investor interest, including on social media and online forums, the direct access by retail investors to broadly available trading platforms, the amount and status of short interest in our securities, access to margin debt, trading in options and other derivatives on our common stock and any related hedging and other trading factors.
If there is extreme market volatility and trading patterns in our common stock, it may create several risks for investors, including the following:
- the market price of our common stock may experience rapid and substantial increases or decreases unrelated to our operating performance or prospects, or macro or industry fundamentals;- if our future market capitalization reflects trading dynamics unrelated to our financial performance or prospects, purchasers of our common stock could incur substantial losses as prices decline once the level of market volatility has abated;- if the future market price of our common stock declines, purchasers may be unable to resell your shares at or above the price at which you acquired them. We cannot assure you that the market of our common stock will not fluctuate or decline significantly in the future, in which case you could incur substantial losses.
Further, we may incur rapid and substantial increases or decreases in our stock price in the foreseeable future that may not coincide in timing with the disclosure of news or developments by or affecting us. Accordingly, the market price of our shares of common stock may fluctuate dramatically, and may decline rapidly, regardless of any developments in our business. Overall, there are various factors, many of which are beyond our control, that could negatively affect the market price of our common stock or result in fluctuations in the price or trading volume of our common stock, including:
- actual or anticipated variations in our annual or quarterly results of operations, including our earnings estimates and whether we meet market expectations with regard to our earnings;- our current inability to pay dividends or other distributions;- publication of research reports by analysts or others about us or cryptocurrency including the NFT industry which may be unfavorable, inaccurate, inconsistent or not disseminated on a regular basis;- changes in market valuations of similar companies;- market reaction to any additional equity, debt or other securities that we may issue in the future, and which may or may not dilute the holdings of our existing stockholders;- additions or departures of key personnel;- actions by institutional or significant stockholders;- short interest in our stock and the market response to such short interest;- the dramatic increase in the number of individual holders of our stock and their participation in social media platforms targeted at speculative investing;- speculation in the press or investment community about our company or industry;- strategic actions by us or our competitors, such as acquisitions or other investments;- legislative, administrative, regulatory or other actions affecting our business, our industry, including positions taken by the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS");- investigations, proceedings, or litigation that involve or affect us;- the occurrence of any of the other risk factors included in this Registration Statement on Form S-1; and - general market and economic conditions.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 12
If research analysts do not publish research about our business or if they issue unfavorable commentary or downgrade our Common Stock, our securities' price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our securities may depend in part on the research and reports that research analysts publish about us and our business. If we do not maintain adequate research coverage, or if any of the analysts who cover us downgrade our stock or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the price of our Common Stock could decline. If one or more of our research analysts ceases to cover our business or fails to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our securities could decrease, which could cause the price of our Common Stock or trading volume to decline.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 13
The sale of NFTs on the Platform could be determined to be the unregistered sale of securities.
There is regulatory uncertainty with respect to whether certain NFTs could be considered securities. If NFTs sold on the Platform were deemed to be securities, we may be found to be in violation of securities laws for engaging in transactions regarding unregistered securities. Such a determination could lead to an enforcement action by the SEC and result in fines and other penalties, and have a negative impact on our business.
Accounting & Financial Operations7 | 9.2%
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 1
We may continue to incur substantial losses and negative operating cash flows and may not achieve or maintain positive cash flow or profitability in the future.
We have incurred significant losses and negative operating cash flow from inception and may continue to incur significant losses and negative operating cash flow into the future. In order to reach our business growth objectives, we expect to incur significant sales, marketing, software development and other operating costs, including costs associated with the expansion of our personnel. As a result, we will need to generate and grow our revenues significantly to achieve positive cash flow and profitability. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in generating and increasing our revenues or that we can achieve or maintain positive cash flow or profitability. The uncertainties regarding the commencement of adequate commercial revenues raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 2
Because there has been limited precedent set for financial accounting for digital assets, the determinations that we have made for how to account for digital assets transactions may be subject to change.
Because there has been limited precedent set for the financial accounting for digital assets and related revenue recognition and no official guidance has yet been provided by the Financial Accounting Standards Board or the SEC, it is unclear how companies may in the future be required to account for cryptocurrency transactions and assets and related revenue recognition. A change in regulatory or financial accounting standards could result in the necessity to change the accounting methods we currently intend to employ in respect of our anticipated revenues and assets and restate any financial statements produced based on those methods. Such a restatement could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, and results of operation.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 3
Acceptance and/or widespread use of digital assets is uncertain.
Currently, there is a relatively small use of digital assets in the retail and commercial marketplace for goods or services. In comparison, there is relatively large use by speculators contributing to price volatility.
The relative lack of acceptance of digital assets in the retail and commercial marketplace limits the ability of end-users to use them to pay for goods and services. Such lack of acceptance or decline in acceptances would have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or to pursue this segment at all, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects or operations and potentially the value of any digital assets we hold or expect to acquire for our own account.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 4
We do not intend to pay cash dividends on our shares of Common Stock so any returns will be limited to the value of our shares.
We currently anticipate that we will retain future earnings for the development, operation and expansion of our business and do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Any return to shareholders will therefore be limited to the increase, if any, of our share price.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 5
If we fail to comply with the rules under Sarbanes-Oxley related to accounting controls and procedures in the future, or, if we discover material weaknesses and other deficiencies in our internal control and accounting procedures, our stock price could decline significantly and raising capital could be more difficult.
Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley requires annual management assessments of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. If we fail to comply with the rules under Sarbanes-Oxley related to disclosure controls and procedures in the future, or, if we discover material weaknesses and other deficiencies in our internal control and accounting procedures, our stock price could decline significantly and raising capital could be more difficult. If material weaknesses or significant deficiencies are discovered or if we otherwise fail to achieve and maintain the adequacy of our internal control, we may not be able to ensure that we can conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal controls over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley. Moreover, effective internal controls are necessary for us to produce reliable financial reports and are important to helping prevent financial fraud. If we cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, our business and operating results could be harmed, investors could lose confidence in our reported financial information, and the trading price of our Common Stock could drop significantly.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 6
Financial reporting obligations of being a public company in the United States are expensive and time-consuming, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to compliance matters.
As a publicly traded company, we will incur significant additional legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The obligations of being a public company in the United States require significant expenditures and will place significant demands on our management and other personnel, including costs resulting from public company reporting obligations under the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations regarding corporate governance practices, including those under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ("Sarbanes-Oxley"), the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and the listing requirements of the stock exchange on which our securities are listed. These rules require the establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and procedures, internal control over financial reporting and changes in corporate governance practices, among many other complex rules that are often difficult to implement, monitor and maintain compliance with. Moreover, despite recent reforms made possible by the JOBS Act, the reporting requirements, rules, and regulations will make some activities more time-consuming and costly, particularly after we are no longer an "emerging growth company." In addition, we expect these rules and regulations to make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance. Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to ensure that we comply with all of these requirements and to keep pace with new regulations, otherwise we may fall out of compliance and risk becoming subject to litigation or being delisted, among other potential problems.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 7
We have a limited operating history and, therefore, cannot accurately project our revenues and operating expenses.
Because we have a limited history, it is difficult to evaluate our proposed business and future prospects, including our ability to plan for and model future growth. For example, we intend to launch our Platform. There is no guarantee that the Platform will be launched or that expenditures will result in profit or growth of our business. Our limited operating experience, combined with the rapidly evolving nature of the NFT market in which we intend to operate, substantial uncertainty concerning how this market may develop, and other economic factors beyond our control reduce our ability to accurately forecast quarterly or annual revenue. Failure to manage our current and future growth effectively could have an adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition. Our business should be considered in light of the risks, expenses, and difficulties that we have encountered to date and will continue to encounter.
Debt & Financing7 | 9.2%
Debt & Financing - Risk 1
Incorrect or fraudulent cryptocurrency transactions may be irreversible.
Cryptocurrency transactions are irrevocable and stolen or incorrectly transferred cryptocurrencies may be irretrievable. As a result, any incorrectly executed or fraudulent cryptocurrency transactions, such as a result of a cybersecurity breach against our cryptocurrency holdings, could adversely affect our investments and assets. This is because cryptocurrency transactions are not, from an administrative perspective, reversible without the consent and active participation of the recipient of the cryptocurrencies from the transaction. Once a transaction has been verified and recorded in a block that is added to a blockchain, an incorrect transfer of a cryptocurrency or a theft thereof generally will not be reversible, and we may not have sufficient recourse to recover our losses from any such transfer or theft. Further, it is possible that, through computer or human error, or through theft or criminal action, our cryptocurrency rewards could be transferred in incorrect amounts or to unauthorized third parties, or to uncontrolled accounts. If an errant or fraudulent transaction in our cryptocurrency holdings were to occur, we would have very limited means of seeking to reverse the transaction or seek recourse. To the extent that we are unable to recover our losses from such action, error or theft, such events could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Debt & Financing - Risk 2
Banks and financial institutions may not provide banking services, or may cut off services, to businesses that provide cryptocurrency-related services or that accept cryptocurrencies as payment.
A number of companies that provide cryptocurrency-related services have been unable to find banks or financial institutions that are willing to provide them with bank accounts and other services. Similarly, a number of companies and individuals or businesses associated with cryptocurrencies may have had and may continue to have their existing bank accounts closed or services discontinued with financial institutions. We also may be unable to maintain these services for our business.
The difficulty that many businesses that provide cryptocurrency-related services have and may continue to have in finding banks and financial institutions willing to provide them services may decrease the usefulness of cryptocurrencies as a payment system and harm public perception of cryptocurrencies. Similarly, the usefulness of cryptocurrencies as a payment system and the public perception of cryptocurrencies could be damaged if banks or financial institutions were to close the accounts of businesses providing cryptocurrency-related services. This could occur as a result of compliance risk, cost, government regulation or public pressure. The risk applies to securities firms, clearance and settlement firms, national stock and commodities exchanges, the over the counter market and the Depository Trust Company. Such factors would have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, and operating results.
Debt & Financing - Risk 3
Our facilitation of transactions in cryptocurrencies such as Ether on the Platform exposes us to risks under U.S. and foreign tax laws.
Although under U.S. federal tax laws, cryptocurrencies are currently considered property versus currency, we are obligated to report transactions involving cryptocurrencies in U.S. dollars and must determine their fair market value on each transaction date. The U.S. federal taxing authorities have issued limited guidance on cryptocurrency transactions. The current guidance treats the use of cryptocurrency to purchase a NFT as a taxable disposition of the cryptocurrency, which subjects the holder to taxable gain that such holder must report for federal and state tax purposes. Similarly, a seller of a NFT is subject to tax on the sale of the NFT. Congress is currently proposing legislation that could require us to report such transactions to the IRS. Our failure to accurately record or report the cryptocurrency and NFT sales transacted through the Platform, or held by us, would expose us to adverse tax consequences, penalties, and interest. Moreover, the IRS, in connection with audits of cryptocurrency exchanges, has successfully sued to obtain account holder transaction and tax information. The applicability of tax laws in the United States and foreign jurisdictions with respect to cryptocurrency and NFTs will continue to evolve. This uncertainty increases the risk of non-compliance with tax laws, which in turn could result in adverse tax consequences, penalties, investigations or audits, litigation, account holder lawsuits, or the need to revise or restate our financial statements and associated consequences therewith, among other things. Any of the foregoing could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, reputation, and prospects.
Debt & Financing - Risk 4
If we are unable to obtain additional funding when needed, our business operations will be harmed, and if we do obtain additional financing, our then-existing shareholders may suffer substantial dilution.
As we take steps in the commercialization and marketing of our technologies, or respond to potential opportunities and/or adverse events, our working capital needs may change. We anticipate that if our cash and cash equivalents are insufficient to satisfy our liquidity requirements, we will require additional funding to sustain our ongoing operations and to continue our research and development activities. We do not have any contracts or commitments for additional funding, and there can be no assurance that financing will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all, if needed. The inability to obtain additional capital will restrict our ability to grow and may reduce our ability to conduct business operations. If we are unable to obtain additional financing to finance a revised growth plan, we will likely be required to curtail such plans or cease our business operations. Any additional equity financing may involve substantial dilution to our then existing shareholders.
Debt & Financing - Risk 5
We will need additional debt or equity financing in the future.
While we expect to be able to generate operating revenues from the sale of our video digital products, our operating revenues will not be sufficient to finance our operations including our marketing efforts. Accordingly, we will need to obtain additional financing to operate and fully implement our business plan and aggressive growth strategy. There can be no assurance that any additional financing will be available to us or, if available, that such financing will be on terms acceptable to us. If we obtain additional financing through the issuance of equity or convertible debt securities, it may be significantly dilutive to our shareholders and such additional equity or convertible debt securities may have rights, preferences, or privileges senior to those of our Common Stock. In addition, our ability to issue debt securities or to service any debt may also be limited by our inability to generate consistent cash flow. If additional financing is not available on acceptable terms, we may not be able to fund our on-going operations or any future expansion of our business, develop or enhance our products or services, or respond effectively to competitive pressures. The inability to raise additional capital in the future may force us to curtail future business opportunities or cease operations entirely.
Debt & Financing - Risk 6
If our current, or any of our future, custodians file for bankruptcy, crypto assets held in their custody could be determined to be property of a bankruptcy estate and we could be considered a general unsecured creditor thereof.
The treatment of bitcoins and other crypto assets held by custodians that file for bankruptcy protection is uncharted territory in U.S. Bankruptcy law. We cannot say with certainty whether bitcoins and other crypto assets held in custody by a bankrupt custodian would be treated as property of a bankruptcy estate and, accordingly, whether the owner of that bitcoin would be treated as a general unsecured creditor.
Debt & Financing - Risk 7
Our crypto assets may be subject to loss, damage, theft or restriction on access. Further, digital asset exchanges on which crypto assets trade are relatively new and largely unregulated, and thus may be exposed to fraud and failure. Incorrect or fraudulent cryptocurrency transactions may be irreversible.
We plan to use a third party payment service provider to process any transactions involving payment for our NFTs with digital currencies. In addition, we intend to purchase and hold MATIC, in increments as needed, solely for the purpose of paying the fees associated with minting our NFTs on the Polygon network. Our intention is to immediately convert all cryptocurrency received as payment to cash. In addition, we intend to hold only the minimal amount of MATIC required to interact with the blockchain as part of our core business of minting NFTs, and we do not intend to accept MATIC as a form of payment or to hold MATIC as a long term asset. We are currently in the process of selecting the right custodian for our crypto assets and do not have any custody arrangements. There is a risk that part or a portion or all of our crypto assets could be lost, stolen or destroyed. Crypto assets are stored in crypto asset sites commonly referred to as "wallets" which may be accessed to exchange a holder's crypto assets. Access to our crypto assets could also be restricted by cybercrime (such as a denial of service attack) against a service at which we maintain a hosted wallet. We believe that our crypto assets will be an appealing target to hackers or malware distributors seeking to destroy, damage or steal our crypto assets. Hackers or malicious actors may attempt to steal our crypto assets, such as by attacking such network source code, exchange miners, third-party platforms, storage locations or software, our general computer systems or networks, or by other means. Access to our crypto assets could also be restricted by natural events (such as an earthquake or flood) or human actions (such as a terrorist attack). Any of these events may adversely affect our operations and, consequently, our investments and profitability and we cannot guarantee that we will prevent loss, damage or theft, whether caused intentionally, accidentally or by act of God. The loss or destruction of a private key required to access our digital wallets may be irreversible and we may be denied access for all time to our crypto asset holdings. Our loss of access to our private keys or our experience of a data loss relating to our digital wallets could adversely affect our investments and assets.
It is possible that, through computer or human error, theft or criminal action, our crypto assets could be transferred in incorrect amounts or to unauthorized third parties or accounts. In general, Bitcoin transactions are irrevocable, and stolen or incorrectly transferred cryptocurrencies may be irretrievable, and we may have extremely limited or no effective means of recovering such Bitcoins.
Digital asset payment service providers and exchanges on which cryptocurrencies trade are relatively new and, in most cases, largely unregulated. Many digital asset payment service providers and/or exchanges do not provide the public with significant information regarding their ownership structure, management teams, corporate practices or regulatory compliance. As a result, the marketplace may lose confidence in, or may experience problems relating to, cryptocurrency payment service providers and/or exchanges, including prominent exchanges handling a significant portion of the volume of digital asset trading. During 2022, a number of companies in the crypto industry have declared bankruptcy, including ore Scientific Inc., Celsius Network LLC ("Celsius"), Voyager Digital Ltd., Three Arrows Capital, BlockFi Lending LLC, and FTX Trading Ltd. ("FTX"). In June 2022, Celsius began pausing all withdrawals and transfers between accounts on its platform, and in July 2022, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Further, in November 2022, FTX, one of the major cryptocurrency exchanges, also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Such bankruptcies have contributed, at least in part, to further price decreases in most crypto assets, a loss of confidence in the participants of the digital asset ecosystem and negative publicity surrounding digital assets more broadly, and other participants and entities in the digital asset industry have been, and may continue to be, negatively affected. These events have also negatively impacted the liquidity of the digital assets markets as certain entities affiliated with FTX engaged in significant trading activity.
We have not been directly impacted by any of the recent bankruptcies in the crypto asset space, as we have no contractual privity or relationship to the relevant parties. However, we are dependent on the overall crypto assets industry with respect to any transactions involving payment for our NFTs with digital currencies and for the digital currencies needed by us to pay the fees associated with minting our NFTs, and such recent events may contribute, at least in part, to decreases and volatility to our stock price as well as the price of most crypto assets. If the liquidity of the digital assets markets continues to be negatively impacted, digital asset prices (including the price of bitcoin) may continue to experience significant volatility and confidence in the digital asset markets may be further undermined. A perceived lack of stability in the digital asset market and the closure or temporary shutdown of digital asset payment service providers and/or exchanges due to business failure, hackers or malware, government-mandated regulation, or fraud, may reduce confidence in digital asset networks and result in greater volatility in cryptocurrency values. These potential consequences of a digital asset payment service provider's and/or exchange's failure could adversely affect an investment in us.
We intend safeguard and keep private custodian our digital assets by utilizing storage solutions provided by a custodian, which will likely require multi-factor authentication. While we are confident in the security of our digital assets that will be held by our custodian, given the broader market conditions, there can be no assurance that other crypto asset market participants, including our custodian, will not ultimately be impacted by recent market events. If our custodian were to limit or halt services, we would need to find another custodian. While we have not been directly impacted by any of the recent bankruptcies in the crypto asset space as we had no contractual privity or relationship to the relevant parties, we are dependent on the overall industry perception tied to these recent bankruptcy events, and this may be reflected in our stock price as well as the price of Bitcoin and other crypto assets. We continue to monitor the digital assets industry as a whole, although these events are continuing to develop and it is not possible at this time to predict all of the risks stemming from these events that may result to us, our service providers, including digital asset payment service providers, custodians and wallets, our counterparties, and the broader industry as a whole.
Any of these events may adversely affect our operations and results of operations and, consequently, an investment in us.
Corporate Activity and Growth2 | 2.6%
Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 1
We may be unable to manage our growth or implement our expansion strategy.
We may not be able to develop our product or implement the other features of our business strategy at the rate or to the extent presently planned. Our projected growth will place a significant strain on our administrative, operational, and financial resources. If we are unable to successfully manage our future growth, establish and continue to upgrade our operating and financial control systems, recruit and hire necessary personnel, or effectively manage unexpected expansion difficulties, our financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 2
We may acquire other companies or technologies, which could divert our management's attention, result in dilution to our stockholders and otherwise disrupt our operations and adversely affect our operating results.
We may in the future seek to acquire or invest in businesses, applications and services or technologies that we believe could complement or expand our services, enhance our technical capabilities or otherwise offer growth opportunities. The pursuit of potential acquisitions may divert the attention of management and cause us to incur various expenses in identifying, investigating and pursuing suitable acquisitions, whether or not they are consummated.
In addition, we do not have any experience in acquiring other businesses. If we acquire additional businesses, we may not be able to integrate the acquired personnel, operations and technologies successfully, or effectively manage the combined business following the acquisition. We also may not achieve the anticipated benefits from the acquired business due to a number of factors, including:
- inability to integrate or benefit from acquired technologies or services in a profitable manner;- unanticipated costs or liabilities associated with the acquisition;- difficulty integrating the accounting systems, operations, and personnel of the acquired business;- difficulties and additional expenses associated with supporting legacy products and hosting infrastructure of the acquired business;- difficulty converting the customers of the acquired business onto the Platform and contract terms, including disparities in the revenue, licensing, support, or professional services model of the acquired company;- diversion of management's attention from other business concerns;- adverse effects to our existing business relationships with business partners and customers as a result of the acquisition;- the potential loss of key employees;- use of resources that are needed in other parts of our business; and - use of substantial portions of our available cash to consummate the acquisition.
In addition, a significant portion of the purchase price of companies we acquire may be allocated to acquired goodwill and other intangible assets, which must be assessed for impairment at least annually. In the future, if our acquisitions do not yield expected returns, we may be required to take charges to our operating results based on this impairment assessment process, which could adversely affect our results of operations.
Acquisitions could also result in dilutive issuances of equity securities or the incurrence of debt, which could adversely affect our operating results. In addition, if an acquired business fails to meet our expectations, our operating results, business and financial position may suffer.
Tech & Innovation
Total Risks: 18/76 (24%)Above Sector Average
Innovation / R&D4 | 5.3%
Innovation / R&D - Risk 1
Our Platform is currently under development and no assurance can be given that our Platform will be accepted by others or generate sufficient interest.
Our proposed Platform is currently under development. It is our intent that the Platform will (i) support our owned- and-operated games; (ii) provide third-party game creators and publishers with the ability to integrate our NFT infrastructure; and (iii) create a unified environment where all the games and users on the Platform can participate in promotions, opportunities, and various experiences. Failure to develop a robust gaming platform will adversely affect our business objectives.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 2
Our industry is subject to rapid technological change, and if we do not adapt to, and appropriately allocate our resources among, emerging technologies and business models, our business may be negatively impacted.
Technology changes rapidly in the interactive entertainment industry. We must continually anticipate and adapt to emerging technologies, such as cloud-based game streaming, and business models, such as free-to-play and subscription-based access to a portfolio of interactive content, to stay competitive. Forecasting the financial impact of these changing technologies and business models is inherently uncertain and volatile. Supporting a new technology or business model may require partnering with a new platform, business, or technology partner, which may be on terms that are less favorable to us than those for traditional technologies or business models. If we invest in the development of interactive entertainment products for distribution channels that incorporate a new technology or business model that does not achieve significant commercial success, whether because of competition or otherwise, we may not recover the often-substantial up-front costs of developing and marketing those products, or recover the opportunity cost of diverting management and financial resources away from other products or opportunities. Further, our competitors may adapt to an emerging technology or business model more quickly or effectively than we do, creating products that are technologically superior to ours, more appealing to consumers, or both.
If, on the other hand, we elect not to pursue the development of products incorporating a new technology, or otherwise elect not to pursue new business models that achieve significant commercial success, it may have adverse consequences. It may take significant time and expenditures to shift product development resources to that technology or business model, and it may be more difficult to compete against existing products incorporating that technology or using that business model.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 3
The Platform is based on new and unproven technologies and is subject to the risks of failure inherent in the development of new products and services.
Because the Platform is based on certain new technologies, it is subject to risks of failure that are particular to new technologies, including the possibility that:
- the Platform may not gain market acceptance;- proprietary rights of third parties may preclude us from marketing a new product or service;- the Platform may not receive the exposure required to obtain new users; or - third parties may market superior products or services.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 4
We may not meet our product and live service development schedules and live service release schedule may be delayed, cancelled, or poorly received.
Our ability to meet product development schedules is affected by a number of factors both within and outside our control, including feedback from our players, the creative processes involved, the coordination of large and sometimes geographically dispersed development teams, the complexity of our products and the platforms for which they are developed, the need to fine-tune our products prior to their release and, in certain cases, approvals from third parties. Any failure to meet anticipated production or release schedules likely would result in a delay of revenue and/or possibly a significant shortfall in our revenue, increase our development and/or marketing expenses, harm our profitability, and cause our operating results to be materially different than anticipated. If we miss key selling periods for products or services, particularly the fiscal quarter ending in December, for any reason, including product delays or product cancellations our sales likely will suffer significantly.
Trade Secrets5 | 6.6%
Trade Secrets - Risk 1
We use open-source software in connection with certain of our games and services which may pose particular risks to our proprietary software, products, and services in a manner that could have a negative impact on our business.
We use open-source software in connection with some of the games and services we offer. Some open-source software licenses require users who distribute open source software as part of their software to publicly disclose all or part of the source code to such software or make available any derivative works of the open source code on unfavorable terms or at no cost. The terms of various open-source licenses have not been interpreted by courts, and there is a risk that such licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our use of the open-source software. Were it determined that our use was not in compliance with a particular license, we may be required to release our proprietary source code, pay damages for breach of contract, re-engineer our games or products, discontinue distribution in the event re-engineering cannot be accomplished on a timely basis, or take other remedial action that may divert resources away from our game development efforts, any of which could negatively impact our business.
Trade Secrets - Risk 2
The Platform may raise issues regarding third party intellectual property rights.
NFTs raise various intellectual property law considerations, including adequacy and scope of assignment, licensing, transfer, copyright, and other right of use issues. The creator of an NFT will often have all rights to the content of the NFT and can determine what rights to assign to a buyer, such as the right to display, modify, or copy the content. To the extent we are directly or indirectly involved in a dispute between creators and buyers on the Platform, it could materially and adversely affect the success of the Platform and harm our business and reputation.
Trade Secrets - Risk 3
We may not be able to adequately protect our proprietary technology, and our competitors may be able to offer similar products and services which would harm our competitive position.
Our success, in part, depends upon our proprietary technology. We have various forms of intellectual property including patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to establish and protect our proprietary rights. Despite these precautions, third parties could copy or otherwise obtain and use our technology without authorization, or develop similar technology independently. We also pursue the registration of our domain names, trademarks, and service marks in the United States. However, we cannot provide any assurance that patent applications that we file will ultimately result in an issued patent or, if issued, that they will provide sufficient protections for our technology against competitors. We cannot assure you that the protection of our proprietary rights will be adequate or that our competitors will not independently develop similar technology, duplicate our products and services or design around any intellectual property rights we hold.
Trade Secrets - Risk 4
If third parties claim that we infringe their intellectual property, it may result in costly litigation.
We cannot assure you that third parties will not claim our current or future products or services infringe their intellectual property rights. Any such claims, with or without merit, could cause costly litigation that could consume significant management time. Such claims also might require us to enter into royalty or license agreements. If required, we may not be able to obtain such royalty or license agreements, or obtain them on terms acceptable to us.
Trade Secrets - Risk 5
We may not be able to secure all rights to our intellectual property or our rights may be subject to claims of infringement by others and other issues affecting production.
We will rely on a combination of trade secret, trademark, and copyright laws, as well as employee and third-party non-disclosure agreements and other protective measures, to protect intellectual property rights pertaining to our products and technologies both in the U.S. and abroad. There can be no assurance, however, that these measures will provide meaningful protection of our technology, trade secrets, know-how or other intellectual property in the event of any unauthorized use, misappropriation, or disclosure. There can also be no assurance that others will not independently develop similar technologies or duplicate any technology that we develop or have developed without violating our intellectual property rights. In addition, there can be no assurance that our intellectual property rights will be held to be valid, will not be successfully challenged or will otherwise be of value. In the event that we are subject to a claim of intellectual property infringement, whether it be patent, copyright or trademark, the cost of defending such a claim, even if partly covered by insurance, will be significant and will have a material adverse effect on our financial results.
Cyber Security4 | 5.3%
Cyber Security - Risk 1
Security breaches and attacks against our systems and network, and any potentially resulting breach or failure to otherwise protect confidential and proprietary information, could damage our reputation and negatively impact our business, as well as materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Although we have employed significant resources to develop our security measures against breaches, our cybersecurity measures may not detect or prevent all attempts to compromise our systems, including distributed denial-of-service attacks, viruses, malicious software, break-ins, phishing attacks, social engineering, security breaches or other attacks and similar disruptions that may jeopardize the security of information stored in and transmitted by our systems or that we otherwise maintain. Breaches of our cybersecurity measures could result in unauthorized access to our systems, misappropriation of information or data, deletion or modification of client information, or a denial-of-service or other interruption to our business operations. As techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to or sabotage systems change frequently and may not be known until launched against us or our third-party service providers, we may be unable to anticipate, or implement adequate measures to protect against, these attacks.
If we are unable to avert these attacks and security breaches, we could be subject to significant legal and financial liability, our reputation would be harmed and we could sustain substantial revenue loss from lost sales and customer dissatisfaction. We may not have the resources or technical sophistication to anticipate or prevent rapidly evolving types of cyber-attacks. Cyber-attacks may target us, our Traders or other participants, the communication infrastructure, or the e-platform on which we depend. Actual or anticipated attacks and risks may cause us to incur significantly higher costs, including costs to deploy additional personnel and network protection technologies, train employees, and engage third-party experts and consultants. Cybersecurity breaches would not only harm our reputation and business, but also could materially decrease our revenue and net income.
Cyber Security - Risk 2
The Platform may face cybersecurity risks.
NFTs in general, and the Platform specifically, may also be an attractive target for cybersecurity attacks. For example, a perpetrator could seek to obtain the private key associated with a digital wallet holding an NFT to access and sell the NFT without valid authorization, and the owner of the NFT may have limited recourse due to the nature of blockchain transactions and of cybercrimes generally. NFT marketplaces, including the Platform, may also be vulnerable to attacks where an unauthorized party acquires the necessary credentials to access user accounts. The safeguards we have implemented or may implement in the future to protect against cybersecurity threats may be insufficient. If the Platform were to experience any cyberattacks, it could negatively impact our reputation and market acceptance of our platform.
Cyber Security - Risk 3
Whether a particular NFT or other digital or "crypto" asset is a "security" is subject to a high degree of uncertainty, and if we are unable to properly characterize an NFT or other digital asset, we may be subject to regulatory scrutiny, inquiries, investigations, fines, and other penalties, which may adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
The SEC and its staff have taken the position that certain digital or "crypto" assets (which includes NFTs) fall within the definition of a "security" under the U.S. federal securities laws.
The classification of a digital asset as a security under applicable law has wide-ranging implications for the regulatory obligations that flow from the offer and sale of such assets. For example, a digital asset that is a security in the United States may generally only be offered or sold in the United States pursuant to a registration statement filed with the SEC or in an offering that qualifies for an exemption from registration. Persons that effect transactions in digital assets that are securities in the United States may be subject to registration with the SEC as a "broker" or "dealer."
Platforms that bring together purchasers and sellers to trade digital assets that are securities in the United States are generally subject to registration as national securities exchanges, or must qualify for an exemption, such as by being operated by a registered broker-dealer as an alternative trading system ("ATS") in compliance with rules for ATSs.
We will have policies and processes to analyze whether each NFT that we sell on the Platform could be deemed to be a "security" under applicable laws. Our policies and processes do not constitute a legal standard but rather represent our company-developed model, which permits us to make a risk-based assessment regarding the likelihood that a particular NFT could be deemed a "security" under applicable laws. Regardless of our conclusions, they are not binding on regulators or courts and we could be subject to legal or regulatory action in the event the SEC, a state or foreign regulatory authority, or a court were to determine that an NFT posted and sold on the Platform is a "security" under applicable laws. Because the Platform is not registered or licensed with the SEC or foreign authorities as a broker-dealer, national securities exchange, or ATS (or foreign equivalents), and we do not seek to register or rely on an exemption from such registration or license to facilitate the offer and sale of NFTs on the Platform, we only permit posting on the Platform of our own NFTs for which we determine there are reasonably strong arguments to conclude that the NFT is not a security. We believe that our process reflects a comprehensive and thoughtful analysis and is reasonably designed to facilitate consistent application of available legal guidance to digital assets to facilitate informed risk-based business judgment. However, we recognize that the application of securities laws to the specific facts and circumstances of digital assets may be complex and subject to change, and that a posting determination does not guarantee any conclusion under the U.S. federal securities laws. We expect our risk assessment policies and to continuously evolve to take into account case law, facts, and developments in technology.
There can be no assurances that we will properly characterize any given NFT as a security or non-security for purposes of determining whether the Platform will allow the posting of such NFT, or that the SEC, foreign regulatory authority, or a court, if the question was presented to it, would agree with our assessment. If the SEC, state or foreign regulatory authority, or a court were to determine that NFTs offered or sold on the Platform are securities, we would not be able to offer such NFTs until we are able to do so in a compliant manner. A determination by the SEC, a state or foreign regulatory authority, or a court that an NFT sold on our Platform was a security may also result in us determining that it is advisable to remove NFTs from the Platform that have similar characteristics to the NFT that was determined to be a security. In addition, we could be subject to judicial or administrative sanctions for failing to offer or sell the NFT in compliance with the registration requirements, or for acting as a broker, dealer, or national securities exchange without appropriate registration. Such an action could result in injunctions, cease and desist orders, as well as civil monetary penalties, fines, and disgorgement, criminal liability, and reputational harm. Customers that purchased such NFTs on the Platform and suffered losses could also seek to rescind a transaction that we facilitated as the basis that it was conducted in violation of applicable law, which could subject us to significant liability.
Cyber Security - Risk 4
We may lose our private key to our digital wallet, causing a loss of all of our digital assets.
Digital assets, such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs, are stored in a so-called "digital wallet", which may be accessed to exchange a holder's digital assets and is controllable by the processor of both the public key and the private key relating to this digital wallet in which the digital assets are held, both of which are unique. We will publish the public key relating to digital wallets in use when we verify the receipt of transfers and disseminate such information into the network, but we will need to safeguard the private keys relating to such digital wallets, which are stored in the possession of certain of our officers. If the private key is lost, destroyed, or otherwise compromised, we may be unable to access our cryptocurrencies held in the related digital wallet which will essentially be lost. If the private key is acquired by a third party, then this third party may be able to gain access to our cryptocurrencies. Any loss of private keys relating to digital wallets used to store our cryptocurrencies could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as a going concern or could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, and operating results.
Technology5 | 6.6%
Technology - Risk 1
Our Platform may not be successful and may expose us to legal, regulatory, and other risks. Given the nascent and evolving nature of cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and our Platform, we may be unable to accurately anticipate or adequately address such risks or the potential impact of such risks. The occurrence of any such risks could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, reputation, and prospects.
As the market for NFTs and cryptocurrencies is relatively nascent, it is difficult to predict how the legal and regulatory framework around NFTs and cryptocurrencies will develop and how such developments will impact our business and our Platform. The future legal status of NFTs and cryptocurrencies under state and federal laws (including without limitation, securities, banking, and commodities laws) is highly uncertain and unresolved. As a result of the uncertain legal status of crypto assets, we may have legal exposure for our failure to adequately comply with legal regimes. In addition governmental agencies may seek to apply laws to our business that we believe are inapplicable, and may seek sanctions relating to our alleged failure to comply with those laws. There is regulatory uncertainty with respect to whether certain NFTs and cryptocurrencies could be considered securities. If NFTs sold on our Platform or any cryptocurrencies exchanged for purposes of payment or minting of NFTs on our Platform were deemed to be a "security", we may be in violation of securities laws for engaging in transactions regarding the sale of unregistered securities. Such a determination could lead to an enforcement action by the SEC and result in fines and other penalties and have a negative impact on our business.
Additionally, if either the NFTs we sell or the Bitcoin, Ethereum, or MATIC tokens we may acquire or hold at any time are deemed to be a "security" we may also be subject to regulations of FinCEN of the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Bank Secrecy Act. Further, OFAC has signaled that sanctions could apply to digital transactions and has pursued enforcement actions involving cryptocurrencies and digital asset accounts. This could expose us to future allegations of violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, including any applicable KYC and Anti-Money Laundering laws and regulations ("AML"), or sanctions compliance obligations among others. In addition governmental agencies may seek to apply laws to our business that we believe are inapplicable, and may seek sanctions relating to our alleged failure to comply with those laws which would negatively impact our business.
Our launch and operation of the Platform potentially exposes us to the foregoing risks, among others, any of which could materially and adversely affect the success of our Platform and harm our business, financial condition, results of operations, reputation, and prospects. If we fail to accurately anticipate or manage the risks associated with our NFTs or with our facilitation of crypto asset transactions, or if we directly or indirectly become subject to disputes, liability, or other legal or regulatory issues in connection with the operation of our business and Platform, we may not be successful and our business, financial condition, results of operations, reputation, and prospects could be expected to be materially adversely affected.
Technology - Risk 2
The network contributors for certain Digital Assets could propose amendments to the network protocols and software for Digital Assets that, if accepted and authorized by the network for the Digital Assets, could adversely affect the Platform.
The networks for certain digital assets are based on a protocol governing the peer-to-peer interactions between computers connected to each other within that network. The development team for a network (if any) might propose and implement amendments to a network's source code through software upgrades altering the original protocol, including fundamental ideas such as the irreversibility of transactions and limitations on the validation of blockchain software distributed ledgers. Such changes to original protocols and software could materially and adversely affect our business.
Technology - Risk 3
Malicious actors could manipulate distributed ledger networks and smart contract technology upon which digital assets rely and increase the vulnerability of the distributed ledger networks.
If a malicious actor, including a state-sponsored actor, is able to hack or otherwise exert unilateral control over a particular distributed ledger network, or the digital assets on such a network, that actor could attempt to divert assets from that distributed ledger or otherwise prevent the confirmation of transactions recorded on that distributed ledger.
Such an event could materially and adversely affect our business. Digital assets have been the subject of attempted manipulation by hackers to use them for malicious purposes. For example, misuses could occur if a malicious actor obtains a majority of the processing power controlling the digital asset validating activities and altering the distributed ledger on which digital asset transactions rely. Moreover, if the award for solving transaction blocks for a particular digital asset declines, and transaction fees are not sufficiently high, the incentive to continue validating distributed ledger transactions would decrease and could lead to a stoppage of validation activities. The collective processing power of that distributed ledger would be reduced, which would adversely affect the confirmation process for transactions by decreasing the speed of the adaptation and adjustment in the difficulty for transaction block solutions. Such slower adjustments would make the distributed ledger network more vulnerable to malicious actors' obtaining control of the processing power over distributed ledger network processing.
Technology - Risk 4
Gaxos Health would be adversely affected if we cannot obtain, process or distribute data we require to provide our solutions.
The success of Gaxos Health will depend on our ability to obtain, process, monetize and distribute data in the healthcare industry in a manner that complies with applicable law, regulation and contractual and restrictions. Our failure to obtain and distribute such data in a compliant manner could have a harmful effect on our ability to use and disclose such data which in turn could impair our ability to share such data with our customers or incorporate it into our services and offerings. In addition to complying with requirements in obtaining the data, the use, processing and distribution of such data may require us to obtain consent from third parties or follow additional laws, regulations or contractual restrictions that apply to the healthcare industry. Moreover, we may be subject to claims or liability for use or disclosure of information. Any such claims or liabilities and other failures to comply with applicable requirements could subject us to unexpected costs and adversely affect our operating results.
Technology - Risk 5
We may not be able to adequately evaluate the risks associated with our planned NFT platform.
The Platform may not be successful and may expose us to legal, regulatory, and other risks. Given the nascent and evolving nature of cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and blockchain technology, we may be unable to accurately anticipate or adequately address such risks or the potential impact of such risks. The occurrence of any such risks could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, reputation, and prospects.
As the market for NFTs is relatively nascent, it is difficult to predict how the legal and regulatory framework around NFTs will develop and how such developments will impact our business and the Platform. Further, market acceptance of NFTs is uncertain as buyers may be unfamiliar or uncomfortable with digital assets generally, how to transact in digital assets, or how to assess the value of NFTs. The launch of the Platform also subjects us to risks similar to those associated with any new platform offering, including, but not limited to, our ability to accurately anticipate market demand and acceptance, our ability to successfully launch our new offering, creator and buyer acceptance, technical issues with the operation of the Platform, and legal and regulatory risks as discussed above. We believe these risks may be heightened with respect to the Platform, as NFTs are still considered a relatively novel concept. If we fail to accurately anticipate or manage the risks associated with the Platform or with our facilitation of crypto asset transactions, or if we directly or indirectly become subject to disputes, liability, or other legal or regulatory issues in connection with the Platform or crypto asset transactions, the Platform may not be successful and our business, financial condition, results of operations, reputation, and prospects could be materially harmed.
Legal & Regulatory
Total Risks: 13/76 (17%)Below Sector Average
Regulation4 | 5.3%
Regulation - Risk 1
FINRA sales practice requirements may limit a stockholder's ability to buy and sell our stock.
In addition to the "penny stock" rules described above, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. ("FINRA"), has adopted rules that require that in recommending an investment to a customer, a broker-dealer must have reasonable grounds for believing that the investment is suitable for that customer. Prior to recommending speculative, low-priced securities to their non-institutional customers, broker-dealers must make reasonable efforts to obtain information about the customer's financial status, tax status, investment objectives and other information. The FINRA requirements may make it more difficult for broker-dealers to recommend that their customers buy our Common Stock, which may have the effect of reducing the level of trading activity in our Common Stock. As a result, fewer broker-dealers may be willing to make a market in our Common Stock, reducing a stockholder's ability to resell shares, as well as overall liquidity, of our Common Stock.
Regulation - Risk 2
Regulatory changes or actions may restrict the use of digital assets in a manner that adversely affects an investment in us.
As digital assets have grown in popularity and in market size, the Federal Reserve Board, U.S. Congress and certain U.S. agencies (e.g., the CFTC, the Commission, FinCEN and the Federal Bureau of Investigation) have begun to examine digital assets. On March 9, 2022, President Biden signed an executive order on cryptocurrencies. While the executive order did not mandate any specific regulations, it instructs various federal agencies to consider potential regulatory measures, including the evaluation of the creation of a U.S. Central Bank digital currency. Future changes to existing regulations or entirely new regulations may affect our business in ways it is not presently possible for us to predict with any reasonable degree of reliability. Digital assets currently face an uncertain regulatory landscape in not only the United States but also in such foreign jurisdictions as the European Union and China. While certain governments such as Germany, have issued guidance as to how to treat cryptocurrencies, most regulatory bodies have not issued specific policy determinations. Future changes to existing regulations or entirely new regulations may affect our business in ways it is not presently possible for us to predict with any reasonable degree of reliability, but such change could be substantial and adverse to us and could adversely affect an investment in us.
Regulation - Risk 3
Government regulations applicable to us may negatively impact our business.
We are a global company subject to various and complex laws and regulations domestically and internationally, including laws and regulations related to consumer protection, protection of minors, content, advertising, localization, information security, intellectual property, competition and taxation, among others. Many of these laws and regulations are continuously evolving and developing, and the application to, and impact on, us is uncertain. For example, the World Health Organization recently included "gaming disorder" in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases, prompting discussion and consideration of legislation and policies aimed at mitigating the risk of overuse of, and overspending within, video games. These laws could harm our business by limiting the products and services we can offer consumers or the manner in which we offer them. The costs of compliance with these laws may increase in the future as a result of changes in applicable laws or changes to interpretation. Any failure on our part to comply with these laws or the application of these laws in an unanticipated manner may harm our business and result in penalties or significant legal liability.
Certain of our business models will be subject to new laws or regulations or evolving interpretations and application of existing laws and regulations, including those related to gambling. The growth and development of electronic commerce, virtual items and virtual currency has prompted calls for new laws and regulations and resulted in the application of existing laws or regulations that have limited or restricted the sale of our products and services in certain territories. New laws - each of which could vary significantly across jurisdictions - could subject us to additional regulation and oversight, cause us to further limit or restrict the sale of our products and services or otherwise impact our products and services, lessen the engagement with, and growth of, profitable business models, and expose us to increased compliance costs, significant liability, fines, penalties and harm to our reputation and brand.
We may be subject to laws in certain foreign countries, and adhere to industry standards in the United States, that mandate rating requirements or set other restrictions on the advertisement or distribution of interactive entertainment software based on content. In addition, certain foreign countries allow government censorship of interactive entertainment software products. Adoption of ratings systems, censorship or restrictions on distribution of interactive entertainment software based on content could harm our business by limiting the products we are able to offer to our consumers. In addition, compliance with new and possibly inconsistent regulations for different territories could be costly, delay or prevent the release of our products in those territories.
Regulation - Risk 4
The Platform may be subject to regulation by financial regulators.
NFTs, in general, and the Platform may also be subject to regulations of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN") of the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Bank Secrecy Act. Further, the Office of Foreign Assets Controls ("OFAC") has signaled sanctions could apply to digital transactions and has pursued enforcement actions involving cryptocurrencies and digital asset accounts. The nature of many NFT transactions also involve circumstances which present higher risks for potential violations, such as anonymity, subjective valuation, use of intermediaries, lack of transparency, and decentralization associated with blockchain technology. In addition, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has stated that cryptocurrencies, with which NFTs have some similarities, fall within the definition of "commodities." If NFTs were deemed to be a commodity, NFT transactions could be subject to prohibitions on deceptive and manipulative trading or restrictions on manner of trading (e.g., on a registered derivatives exchange), depending on how the transaction is conducted. Moreover, if NFTs were deemed to be a "security", it could raise federal and state securities law implications, including exemption or registration requirements for marketplaces for NFT transactions, sellers of NFTs, and the NFT transactions themselves, as well as liability issues, such as insider trading or material omissions or misstatements, among others. NFT transactions may also be subject to laws governing virtual currency or money transmission. For example, New York has legislation regarding the operation of virtual currency businesses. NFT transactions also raise issues regarding compliance with laws of foreign jurisdictions, many of which present complex compliance issues and may conflict with one another. Our launch and operation of the Platform (including our facilitation of transactions in Ether, a cryptocurrency, in connection therewith) expose us to the foregoing risks, among others, any of which could materially and adversely affect the success of the Platform and harm our business, financial condition, results of operations, reputation, and prospects.
Litigation & Legal Liabilities1 | 1.3%
Litigation & Legal Liabilities - Risk 1
We may become involved in legal proceedings that may result in adverse outcomes.
We may become subject to claims, suits, government investigations, and other proceedings involving competition and antitrust, intellectual property, privacy, tax, labor and employment, commercial disputes, content generated by our users, goods and services offered by advertisers or publishers using our platforms, and other matters. Such claims, suits, government investigations, and proceedings are inherently uncertain and their results cannot be predicted with certainty. Regardless of the outcome, such legal proceedings can have an adverse impact on us because of legal costs, diversion of management resources, and other factors. Determining reserves for our pending litigation is a complex, fact-intensive process that requires significant judgment. It is possible that a resolution of one or more such proceedings could result in substantial fines and penalties that could adversely affect our business, financial position, results of operations, or cash flows in a particular period. These proceedings could also result in criminal sanctions, consent decrees, or orders preventing us from offering certain features, functionalities, products, or services, requiring a change in our business practices, or requiring development of non-infringing products or technologies, which could also adversely affect our business and results of operations.
Taxation & Government Incentives2 | 2.6%
Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 1
Changes in our tax rates or exposure to additional tax liabilities, and changes to tax laws and interpretations of tax laws could adversely affect our earnings and financial condition.
We are subject to taxes in the United States and in various foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgment will be required to determine our worldwide income tax provision, tax assets, and accruals for other taxes, and there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Our effective income tax rate is based in part on our corporate operating structure and the manner in which we operate our business and develop, value and use our intellectual property. Taxing authorities in jurisdictions in which we operate may challenge and audit our methodologies for calculating our income taxes, which could increase our effective income tax rate and have an adverse impact on our results of operations and cash flows. In addition, our provision for income taxes is materially affected by our profit levels, changes in our business, changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the elections we make, changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, or changes in applicable tax laws or interpretations of existing income and withholding tax laws, as well as other factors. For example, the outcome of future guidance related to the U.S. Tax Act could cause us to change our analysis and materially impact our previous estimates and financial statements.
In addition, changes to U.S. federal, state or international tax laws or their applicability to corporate multinationals in the countries in which we do business may affect our effective tax rates and cash taxes, cause us to change the way in which we structure our business and resulted in other costs. Our effective tax rate also could be adversely affected by changes in our valuation allowances for deferred tax assets. Actual financial results also may differ materially from our current estimates and could have a material impact on our assessment of the valuation allowance.
Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 2
Changes in our tax rates or exposure to additional tax liabilities, and changes to tax laws and interpretations of tax laws could adversely affect our earnings and financial condition.
We are subject to taxes in the United States and in various foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgment will be required to determine our worldwide income tax provision, tax assets, and accruals for other taxes, and there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Our effective income tax rate is based in part on our corporate operating structure and the manner in which we operate our business and develop, value and use our intellectual property. Taxing authorities in jurisdictions in which we operate may challenge and audit our methodologies for calculating our income taxes, which could increase our effective income tax rate and have an adverse impact on our results of operations and cash flows. In addition, our provision for income taxes is materially affected by our profit levels, changes in our business, changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the elections we make, changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, or changes in applicable tax laws or interpretations of existing income and withholding tax laws, as well as other factors. For example, the outcome of future guidance related to the U.S. Tax Act could cause us to change our analysis and materially impact our previous estimates and financial statements.
In addition, changes to U.S. federal, state, or international tax laws or their applicability to corporate multinationals in the countries in which we do business may affect our effective tax rates and cash taxes, cause us to change the way in which we structure our business and resulted in other costs. Our effective tax rate also could be adversely affected by changes in our valuation allowances for deferred tax assets. Actual financial results also may differ materially from our current estimates and could have a material impact on our assessment of the valuation allowance.
Environmental / Social6 | 7.9%
Environmental / Social - Risk 1
Digital ecosystems, including offerings of digital assets, is evolving, and uncertain, and new regulations or policies may materially adversely affect our development.
The technologies supporting these digital assets like blockchain and NFTs are new and rapidly evolving. To the extent these technologies become more widely utilized in the industry, our revenues could be negatively impacted. If we fail to explore these new technologies and apply them innovatively to keep our products and services competitive, we may not experience significant growth of our business. Regulation of digital assets like cryptocurrencies, blockchain technologies, NFTs, and cryptocurrency exchanges is currently underdeveloped and likely to rapidly evolve as government agencies take greater interest in them. Regulation also varies significantly among international, federal, state and local jurisdictions and is subject to significant uncertainty. Various legislative and executive bodies in the United States and in other countries may in the future adopt laws, regulations, or guidance, or take other actions, which may severely impact the permissibility of tokens generally and the technology behind them or the means of transacting in or transferring them. The regulatory regime governing blockchain technologies, NFTs, cryptocurrencies, digital assets, utility tokens, security tokens and offerings of digital assets is uncertain, and new regulations or policies may materially adversely affect our development and our value if we materially embrace digital assets and cryptocurrencies in the future.
Environmental / Social - Risk 2
Digital ecosystems, including offerings of digital assets, are evolving, and uncertain, and new regulations or policies may materially adversely affect our development.
The technologies supporting these digital assets like blockchain and NFT are new and rapidly evolving. To the extent these technologies become more widely utilized in the industry, our revenues could be negatively impacted. If we fail to explore these new technologies and apply them innovatively to keep our products and services competitive, we may not experience significant growth of our business. Regulation of digital assets like, cryptocurrencies, blockchain technologies, NFTs and cryptocurrency exchanges, is currently underdeveloped and likely to rapidly evolve as government agencies take greater interest in them. Regulation also varies significantly among international, federal, state and local jurisdictions and is subject to significant uncertainty. Various legislative and executive bodies in the United States and in other countries may in the future adopt laws, regulations, or guidance, or take other actions, which may severely impact the permissibility of tokens generally and the technology behind them or the means of transacting in or transferring them. The regulatory regime governing blockchain technologies, NFTs, cryptocurrencies, digital assets, utility tokens, security tokens and offerings of digital assets is uncertain, and new regulations or policies may materially adversely affect our development and our value if we materially embrace digital assets and cryptocurrencies in the future.
Environmental / Social - Risk 3
Our business will be subject to complex and prescriptive regulations regarding consumer protection and data privacy practices, and could be adversely affected if our consumer protection, data privacy and security practices are not adequate, or perceived as being inadequate.
We will be subject to global data privacy, data protection, localization, security and consumer-protection laws and regulations worldwide. These laws and regulations are emerging and evolving and the interpretation and application of these laws and regulations often are uncertain, contradictory, and changing. The failure to maintain data practices that are compliant with applicable laws and regulations, or evolving interpretations of applicable laws and regulations, could result in inquiries from enforcement agencies or direct consumer complaints, resulting in civil or criminal penalties, and could adversely impact our reputation and brand. In addition, the operational costs of compliance with these regulations are high and will likely continue to increase.
Even if we remain in strict compliance with applicable laws and regulations, consumer sensitivity to the collection and processing of their personal information continues to increase. Any real or perceived failures in maintaining acceptable data privacy practices, including allowing improper or unauthorized access, acquisition or misuse and/or uninformed disclosure of consumer, employee and other information, or a perception that we do not adequately secure this information or provide consumers with adequate notice about the information that they authorize us to collect and disclose could result in brand, reputational, or other harms to the business, result in costly remedial measures, deter current and potential customers from using our products and services and cause our financial results to be materially affected.
Third party vendors and business partners receive access to certain information that we collect. These vendors and business partners may not prevent data security breaches with respect to the information we provide them or fully enforce our policies, contractual obligations and disclosures regarding the collection, use, storage, transfer and retention of personal data. A data security breach of one of our vendors or business partners could cause reputational and financial harm to them and us, negatively impact our ability to offer our products and services, and could result in legal liability, costly remedial measures, governmental and regulatory investigations, harm our profitability, reputation and brand, and cause our financial results to be materially affected.
Environmental / Social - Risk 4
United States federal and state privacy laws, and equivalent laws of other nations, may increase our costs of operation and expose us to civil and criminal sanctions.
Regulation of data processing is evolving, as federal, state, and foreign governments continue to adopt new, or modify existing, laws and regulations addressing data privacy and security, and the collection, processing, storage, transfer, and use of data. These new or proposed laws and regulations are subject to differing interpretations and may be inconsistent among jurisdictions, and guidance on implementation and compliance practices are often updated or otherwise revised, which adds to the complexity of processing personal data. These and other requirements could require us or our collaborators to incur additional costs to achieve compliance, limit our competitiveness, necessitate the acceptance of more onerous obligations in our contracts, restrict our ability to use, store, transfer, and process data, impact our or our collaborators' ability to process or use data in order to support the provision of our products, affect our or our collaborators' ability to offer our products in certain locations, or cause regulators to reject, limit or disrupt our clinical trial activities.
We and our collaborators may be subject to federal, state, and foreign data protection laws and regulations (i.e., laws and regulations that address privacy and data security). In the United States, numerous federal and state laws and regulations, including federal health information privacy laws, state personal information laws, state data breach notification laws, state health information privacy laws and federal and state consumer protection laws and regulations that govern the collection, use, disclosure and protection of health-related and other personal information could apply to our operations or the operations of our collaborators. In addition, we may obtain health information from third parties (including research institutions from which we obtain clinical trial data) that are subject to privacy and security requirements under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA"), as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009, or HITECH. Depending on the facts and circumstances, we could be subject to civil or criminal penalties if we knowingly use or disclose individually identifiable health information maintained by a HIPAA-covered entity in a manner that is not authorized or permitted by HIPAA.
Environmental / Social - Risk 5
We collect, store, process, and use personal data, which subjects us to legal obligations and laws and regulations related to security and privacy, and any actual or perceived failure to meet those obligations could harm our business.
We collect, process, store, and use a wide variety of data from our customers, including personal information. We are subject to federal, state and international laws relating to the collection, use, retention, security and transfer of various types of personal information. U.S. federal, state, and international laws and regulations governing privacy and data protection impose restrictions on what we can do with our customers' personal data and provide for related obligations. These obligations include heightened transparency about data collection, use and sharing practices, new data privacy rights, and rules in respect to cross-border data transfers, which carry significant enforcement penalties for non-compliance. These laws and regulations also require us to safeguard our customers' personal data. Although we have established security procedures to protect customer information, our or our third-party service providers' security and testing measures may not prevent security breaches. Any compromise of our security or breach of our customers' privacy could harm our reputation or financial condition and, therefore, our business.
In addition to the risks generally relating to the collection, use, retention, security and transfer of personal information, we are also subject to specific obligations relating to information considered sensitive under applicable laws, such as health data and biometric data. Health data is subject to additional privacy, security and breach notification requirements, and we are subject to audit by governmental authorities regarding our compliance with these obligations. The collection, handling, and other processing of biometric data also are subject to particular scrutiny and obligations under applicable laws and regulations, including consumer protection legislation (such as the Federal Trade Commission Act and similar state legislation), general privacy legislation (such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA), and state statutes addressing biometric information specifically (including Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act, or BIPA), and by consumer protection regulators. If we fail to adequately comply with applicable rules and requirements, or if health data is handled in a manner not permitted by law or under our agreements with healthcare institutions, we can be subject to litigation or government investigations or other proceedings, and can be liable for associated investigatory expenses, and can also incur significant fees or fines. Some of those laws, including BIPA, provide consumers with a private right of action for certain violations and large potential statutory damages awards. Recent litigation around these laws has encouraged plaintiffs' attorneys to bring additional actions against other targets. Further, the FTC issued a policy statement regarding biometric information on May 18, 2023, that identifies numerous risks the FTC considers key, outlines relevant practices the FTC plans to scrutinize, and affirms the FTC's commitment to addressing deceptive and unfair practices involving the collection and use of biometric information, as well as deceptive marketing of biometric information technologies. These developments underscore the legal and regulatory risks applicable to our collection, use, disclosure, and other processing of health and biometric information.
In addition, a party who circumvents our security measures or exploits inadequacies in our security measures, could, among other effects, misappropriate customer data or other proprietary information or cause interruptions in our operations. Actual or perceived vulnerabilities may lead to claims against us. To the extent that the measures we or our third-party business partners have taken are, or are perceived to be, insufficient or inadequate, we may become subject to litigation, breach notification obligations, or regulatory or administrative sanctions, which could result in significant fines, penalties, or damages and harm to our reputation. Depending on the nature of the information compromised, in the event of a data breach or other unauthorized processing of our customer data, we may also have obligations to notify customers about the incident and we may need to provide some form of remedy for the individuals affected by the incident. A growing number of legislative and regulatory bodies have adopted consumer notification requirements in the event of unauthorized access to or acquisition of certain types of personal data. Such breach notification laws continue to evolve and may be inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another. Complying with these obligations could cause us to incur substantial costs and could increase negative publicity surrounding any incident that compromises customer data.
Violations of applicable laws relating to privacy, data protection, or cybersecurity, or cybersecurity breaches or incidents, as well as the perception that any of the foregoing have occurred, could impact our business in a number of ways, such as a temporary suspension of some or all of our operating and/or information systems, damage to our reputation and brand and our relationships with customers, suppliers, vendors, and service providers and could result in lost, unavailable, or corrupted data, lost sales, increased insurance premiums, substantial breach-notification and other remediation costs and claims, demands, and litigation, as well as adversely affect results of operations. In addition, we may also face regulatory investigations and other proceedings with corresponding fines, penalties, and other liabilities, civil claims including representative actions, and other class action type litigation (where individuals have suffered harm), potentially amounting to significant compensation or damages liabilities, as well as associated costs, diversion of internal resources, and reputational harm. We may also incur additional costs in the future related to the implementation of additional security measures to protect against new or enhanced data security and privacy threats, to comply with state, federal, and international laws that may be enacted to address personal data processing risks and data security threats, or to investigate or address potential or actual data security breaches or incidents or violations of our actual or alleged obligations relating to privacy, data protection, or cybersecurity.
Environmental / Social - Risk 6
The laws and regulations concerning data privacy are continually evolving. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations could harm our business.
We will collect and store information about our consumers, including consumers who play our games. In addition, we collect and store information about our employees. We will be subject to laws from a variety of jurisdictions regarding privacy and the protection of this information, including the E.U.'s General Data Protection Regulation (the "GDPR"), the U.S. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA"), which regulates the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information from children under 13 years of age, and the California Consumer Privacy Act (the "CCPA"). Failure to comply with any of these laws or regulations may increase our costs, subject us to expensive and distracting government investigations, and result in substantial fines.
Data privacy protection laws are rapidly changing and likely will continue to do so for the foreseeable future and may be inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. For example, the E.U. has traditionally taken a broader view than the United States and certain other jurisdictions as to what is considered personal information and has imposed greater obligations under data privacy and protection regulations, including those imposed under the GDPR. The U.S. government, including the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce, as well as various U.S. state governments, are continuing to review the need for greater regulation over the collection of personal information and information about consumer behavior on the Internet and on mobile devices. Complying with emerging and changing laws could require us to incur substantial costs or impact our approach to operating and marketing our games. Due to the rapidly changing nature of these data privacy protection laws, there is not always clear guidance from the respective governments and regulators regarding the interpretation of the law, which may create the risk of an inadvertent violation. For example, the California legislature recently passed the CCPA and the E.U. has proposed further reforms to its existing data protection legal framework, in addition to the GDPR, which may further change our compliance obligations. Various government and consumer agencies worldwide have also called for new regulation and changes in industry practices. In addition, in some cases, we are dependent upon our platform providers and external data processors to assist us in ensuring compliance with these various types of regulations, and a violation by one of these third parties may also subject us to government investigations and result in substantial fines.
Player interaction with our games will be subject to our privacy policies, end user license agreements ("EULAs"), and terms of service. If we fail to comply with our posted privacy policies, EULAs, or terms of service, or if we fail to comply with existing privacy-related or data protection laws and regulations, it could result in proceedings or litigation against us by governmental authorities or others, which could result in fines or judgments against us, damage our reputation, impact our financial condition, and harm our business. If regulators, the media, consumers, or employees raise any concerns about our privacy and data protection or consumer protection practices, even if unfounded, this could also result in fines or judgments against us, damage our reputation, negatively impact our financial condition, or damage our business.
Gaxos Health will rely on information systems to obtain, process, analyze, and manage data. To the extent IT systems are not successfully implemented or fail, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected. Further, our business will rely to a significant degree upon the secure transmission, use and storage of sensitive information, including protected health information and other personally identifiable information, financial information and other confidential information and data within these systems.
To protect this information, we will need to implement commercially reasonable security measures and maintain information security policies and procedures informed by requirements under applicable law and recommended practices, in each case, as applicable to the data collected, hosted and processed. Despite our efforts, our business will be vulnerable to unauthorized access to data and/or breaches of confidential information due to criminal conduct, physical break-ins, hackers, employee or insider malfeasance and/or improper employee or contractor access, computer viruses, programming errors, denial-of-service attacks, ransomware events, phishing schemes, fraud, terrorist attacks, human error or other breaches by insiders or third parties or similar disruptive problems. It is not possible to prevent all security threats to our data. Techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service or sabotage systems change frequently and may be difficult to detect for long periods of time. Further, defects in the design or manufacture of applications we develop or procure from third parties could compromise our data. These events, including unauthorized access, misappropriation, disclosure or loss of sensitive information (including financial or personal health information) or a significant disruption of our network, expose us to risks including risks to our ability to provide our solutions, management distraction and the obligation to devote significant financial and other resources to mitigate such problems and increases to our future information security costs. Moreover, unauthorized access, use or disclosure of certain sensitive information in our possession or our failure to satisfy legal requirements, including requirements relating to safeguarding protected health information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA") or state data privacy laws could result in civil and criminal liability and regulatory action, which could result in potential fines and penalties, as well as costs relating to investigation of an incident or breach, corrective actions, required notifications to regulatory agencies and customers, credit monitoring services and other necessary expenses. In addition, actual or perceived breaches of our security management efforts can cause existing customers to terminate their relationship with us and deter existing or prospective customers from using or purchasing our solutions in the future. These events can have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition and reputation.
Ability to Sell
Total Risks: 7/76 (9%)Below Sector Average
Competition2 | 2.6%
Competition - Risk 1
Our business will be intensely competitive. We may not deliver successful and engaging games, or players and consumers may prefer our competitors' products over our own.
We operate in a competitive environment that is characterized by price fluctuation and technological change. We will compete with major international and domestic companies. Some of our current and future potential competitors may have greater market recognition and customer bases, longer operating histories, and substantially greater financial, technical, marketing, distribution, purchasing, manufacturing, personnel, and other resources than we do. In addition, competitors may be developing similar technologies with a cost similar to, or lower than, our projected costs. As a result, they may be able to respond more quickly to changing customer demands or to devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sales of blockchain-based games and NFT products than we can.
Competition - Risk 2
We may face significant competition, which may harm our business, results of operations or financial condition.
We may face substantial competition in the healthcare services markets. Our key competitors will include, among others, healthcare consulting service providers, healthcare payment accuracy companies and providers of other data products and data analytics solutions, including healthcare risk adjustment, quality, economic statistics and other data. The increasing standardization of certain healthcare services has made it easier for companies to enter these markets with competitive products and services. We cannot fully anticipate whether or when companies in adjacent or other product or service areas may launch competitive products and/or services, and any such entry may lead to obsolescence of our products and/or services or loss of market share or erosion of the prices for our solutions, or both. The extent of this competition may vary by the size of companies, geographical coverage and scope and breadth of products and services offered. Furthermore, some of our competitors may be significantly larger and have greater financial or other resources than we do. The vigorous competition we face requires us to provide high quality, innovative products at a competitive price. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to upgrade our existing solutions, or introduce new solutions at the same rate as our competitors, or at all, nor can we guarantee that such upgrades or new solutions will achieve market acceptance over or among competitive offerings, or at all. Therefore, these competitive pressures could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations or financial condition.
Demand1 | 1.3%
Demand - Risk 1
Marketplace demand of the NFTs is unpredictable.
The appetite in the marketplace is unpredictable as it is related to NFTs and may change over time. The trading of NFTs in the open market and use in gameplay are based purely on marketplace demand.
Sales & Marketing3 | 3.9%
Sales & Marketing - Risk 1
We have not developed a strong customer base, and we have not generated sustainable revenue since inception. We cannot assure you that we ever will. We will incur significant losses in launching products and we may not realize sufficient subscriptions or profits in order to sustain our business.
We have not yet developed a strong customer base and we have not generated sustainable revenue since inception. We are subject to the substantial risk of failure facing businesses seeking to develop and commercialize new products and technologies. Maintaining and improving our Platform will require significant capital. We will also incur substantial accounting, legal, and other overhead costs as a public company. If our offerings to customers are unsuccessful, result in insufficient revenue, or result in us not being able to sustain revenue, we will be forced to reduce expenses, which may result in an inability to gain new customers.
Sales & Marketing - Risk 2
We face the risk of fraud.
Online transactions may be subject to sophisticated schemes or collusion to defraud, launder money or other illegal activities, and there is a risk that our products may be used for those purposes either by our customers or our employees or contractors. This may be especially true when dealing with cryptocurrencies, which by design, may be difficult or impossible to trace. While we believe that our systems, both computer and procedural, afford an adequate degree of protection against fraudulent activities, if such protection is not effective in all cases, is circumvented or if we fail to implement updated controls and procedures or to counter new fraud techniques, we could lose the confidence of our customers and our reputation could be damaged. Moreover, any failure to protect ourselves and our customers from fraudulent activity, could result in reputational damage and could materially adversely affect our operations, financial performance and prospects. Failure to adequately monitor and prevent money laundering and other fraudulent activity could also result in civil or criminal liability.
Sales & Marketing - Risk 3
We currently support, and expect to continue to support, certain smart contract-based crypto assets. If the underlying smart contracts for these crypto assets do not operate as expected, they could lose value and our business could be adversely affected.
We currently support, and expect to continue to support, various crypto assets that represent units of value on smart contracts deployed on a third party blockchain. Smart contracts are programs that store and transfer value and execute automatically when certain conditions are met. Since smart contracts typically cannot be stopped or reversed, vulnerabilities in their programming and design can have damaging effects. For instance, in April 2018, a batch overflow bug was found in many Ethereum-based ERC20-compatible smart contract tokens that allows hackers to create a large number of smart contract tokens, causing multiple crypto asset platforms worldwide to shut down ERC20-compatible token trading. If any such vulnerabilities or flaws come to fruition, smart contract-based crypto assets, including those held by our customers on our platforms, may suffer negative publicity, be exposed to security vulnerabilities, decline significantly in value, and lose liquidity over a short period of time.
In some cases, smart contracts can be controlled by one or more "admin keys" or users with special privileges, or "super users". These users have the ability to unilaterally make changes to the smart contract, enable or disable features on the smart contract, change how the smart contract receives external inputs and data, and make other changes to the smart contract. For smart contracts that hold a pool of reserves, these users may also be able to extract funds from the pool, liquidate assets held in the pool, or take other actions that decrease the value of the assets held by the smart contract in reserves. Even for crypto assets that have adopted a decentralized governance mechanism, such as smart contracts that are governed by the holders of a governance token, such governance tokens can be concentrated in the hands of a small group of core community members, who would be able to make similar changes unilaterally to the smart contract. If any such super user or group of core members unilaterally make adverse changes to a smart contract, the design, functionality, features and value of the smart contract, its related crypto assets may be harmed. In addition, assets held by the smart contract in reserves may be stolen, misused, burnt, locked up or otherwise become unusable and irrecoverable. These super users can also become targets of hackers and malicious attackers. If an attacker is able to access or obtain the super user privileges of a smart contract, or if a smart contract's super-users or core community members take actions that adversely affects the smart contract, our customers who hold and transact in the affected crypto assets may experience decreased functionality and value of the applicable crypto assets, up to and including a total loss of the value of such crypto assets. Although we do not control these smart contracts, any such events could cause customers to seek damages against us for their losses, result in reputational damage to us, or in other ways adversely impact our business.
Brand / Reputation1 | 1.3%
Brand / Reputation - Risk 1
Negative perceptions about our business, products, and services and the communities within our products and services may damage our business, and we may incur costs to address concerns.
Expectations regarding the quality, performance and integrity of our products and services are high. Negative responses about our products and services may not be foreseeable. We also may not effectively manage these responses because of reasons within or outside of our control. For example, we have included in certain games the ability for players to purchase digital items, including in some instances virtual "packs", "boxes" or "crates" that contain variable digital items. The inclusion of variable digital items in certain games has the possibility of creating a negative perception of gameplay fairness or other negative perceptions, our reputation and brand could be harmed and revenue could be negatively impacted.
In addition, we aim to offer our players safe, inclusive and fulfilling online communities. We may not be able to maintain healthy, long-term online communities within our games and services as a result of the use of those communities as forums for harassment or bullying, our inability to successfully discourage overuse of our games and services or overspending within our games and services, or the successful implementation of cheating programs. Although we expend resources, and expect to continue to expend resources, to maintain healthy online communities, our efforts may not be successful due to scale, limitations of existing technologies or other factors.
In the event that there is negative sentiment about gameplay fairness, our online communities, our business practices, business models or game content, it can lead to investigations or increased scrutiny from governmental bodies and consumer groups, as well as litigation, which, regardless of their outcome, may be costly, damaging to our reputation and harm our business.
Production
Total Risks: 5/76 (7%)Below Sector Average
Manufacturing1 | 1.3%
Manufacturing - Risk 1
We may encounter numerous difficulties frequently encountered by companies in the early stage of operations.
We have a limited operating history upon which any investor may evaluate our current business and future prospects. Any potential investor must consider the risks and difficulties frequently encountered by early-stage companies. Historically, there has been a high failure rate among early-stage companies. Our future performance will depend upon a number of factors, including our ability to:
- implement our growth strategy;- aggressively counter and respond to actions by our competitors;- pursue new users and maintain relationship with current users;- maintain adequate control of our expenses;- attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel;- react to user preferences and demands;- our ability to successfully implement, launch, and achieve market acceptance of our NFT products and to anticipate and manage the risks associated therewith; and - regulatory compliance.
We cannot assure investors that we will successfully address any of these factors, and our failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and future prospects.
Employment / Personnel1 | 1.3%
Employment / Personnel - Risk 1
We are dependent on the services of certain key management personnel, employees, and advisors. If we are unable to retain or motivate such individuals or hire qualified personnel, we may not be able to grow effectively.
We depend on the services of a number of key management personnel, employees, and advisors and our future performance will largely depend on the talents and efforts of such individuals. We do not currently maintain "key person" life insurance on any of our employees. The loss of one or more of such key individuals, or failure to find a suitable successor, could hamper our efforts to successfully operate our business and achieve our business objectives. Our future success will also depend on our ability to identify, hire, develop, motivate, and retain highly skilled personnel. Competition in our industry for qualified employees is intense, and our compensation arrangements may not always be successful in attracting new employees and/or retaining and motivating our existing employees. Future acquisitions by us may also cause uncertainty among our current employees and employees of the acquired entity, which could lead to the departure of key individuals. Such departures could have an adverse impact on the anticipated benefits of an acquisition.
Supply Chain2 | 2.6%
Supply Chain - Risk 1
We rely on third-party providers for computing infrastructure, secure network connectivity, and other technology-related services needed to deliver our products. Any disruption in the services provided by such third-party provider could adversely affect our business.
Our products are hosted from, and use computing infrastructure, secure network connectivity, and other technology-related services provided by third-party providers. We do not control the operations of these third-party provider or own the equipment used to provide such services. Because we cannot easily switch between cloud providers, any disruption of or interference, for example, due to natural disasters, cyber-attacks, terrorist attacks, power losses, telecommunications failures, or similar events, would impact our operations and may adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows. In addition, these providers have no obligation to renew their agreements with us on commercially reasonable terms or at all. If we are unable to renew our agreements on commercially reasonable terms or develop our blockchain capabilities, we may be required to transition to a new provider, and we may incur significant costs and possible service interruption in connection with doing so.
In addition, these providers may take actions beyond our control that could seriously harm our business, including:
- discontinuing or limiting our access to its cloud platform - increasing pricing terms;- terminating or seeking to terminate our contractual relationship altogether;- establishing more favorable relationships or pricing terms with one or more of our competitors; and - modifying or interpreting its terms of service or other policies in a manner that impacts our ability to run our business and operations.
Cloud hosting providers have broad discretion to change and interpret their terms of service and other policies with respect to us, and those actions may be unfavorable to us. They may also alter how we are able to process data on their respective cloud platforms. If changes or interpretations are made that are unfavorable to us, our business could be seriously harmed.
Supply Chain - Risk 2
We rely on third parties for certain aspects of our business, which creates additional risk.
We rely on third parties for certain aspects of our business, including payment service providers and digital wallets to process transactions. We may not manage to comply with our agreement with third parties or these third parties may refuse to process transactions adequately, may breach their agreements with us, may refuse to renew agreements on commercially reasonable terms, take actions that degrade the functionality of our services, impose additional costs, new licenses or other requirements on us, or give preferential treatment to competitive services or suffer outages in their systems, any of which could disrupt our operations and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Some third parties that provide services to us may have or gain market power and could increase their prices to us without competitive constraint. In addition, there can be no assurance that third parties that provide services directly to us will continue to do so on acceptable terms, or at all, or will not suffer from outages to their systems. If any third parties were to stop providing services to us on acceptable terms, we may be unable to find alternative providers in a timely and efficient manner and on acceptable terms, or at all, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Costs1 | 1.3%
Costs - Risk 1
Increasing gas fees on Polygon could materially affect our revenues.
Users must pay gas fees on NFT platforms when minting NFTs. Gas fees are transaction fees specific to the Ethereum ("ETH") blockchain network. The fee is determined by the number of transactions on the protocol and type of computations required to verify transactions; the greater the popularity, the greater the fee. Increased traffic can also lead to scalability problems which may also push gas fees higher. To mitigate this risk we have chosen to build our NFTs on the Polygon network and to strategically price our NFTs. Gas fees on Polygon are significantly cheaper than that of the most widely used blockchain network, Ethereum. We do not currently anticipate any material changes in gas prices on the Polygon network that would affect our business model. However, if gas prices on the Polygon network become too high, then demand for our NFTs could decrease and we could potentially lose existing and potential customers to competitors with cheaper fees. This would materially and adversely affect our revenues and thereby the success of our business.
Macro & Political
Total Risks: 4/76 (5%)Below Sector Average
Economy & Political Environment3 | 3.9%
Economy & Political Environment - Risk 1
Our business is subject to economic, market and geopolitical conditions.
Our business is subject to economic, market, public health, and geopolitical conditions which are beyond our control. The United States and other international economies have experienced cyclical downturns from time to time. Worsening economic conditions that negatively impact discretionary consumer spending and consumer demand, including inflation, slower growth, recession, and other macroeconomic conditions, including those resulting from public health outbreaks such as the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical issues could have a material adverse impact on our business and operating results.
We are particularly susceptible to market conditions and risks associated with the entertainment industry, which, in addition to general macroeconomic downturns, also include the popularity, price and timing of our games, changes in consumer demographics, the availability and popularity of other forms of entertainment, and critical reviews and public tastes and preferences, which may change rapidly and cannot necessarily be predicted.
Economy & Political Environment - Risk 2
Political or economic crises may motivate large-scale sales of crypto assets, which could result in a reduction in values of crypto assets and adversely affect an investment in us.
Geopolitical crises such as Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine may motivate large-scale sales of crypto assets, which could rapidly decrease the price of crypto assets. Alternatively, as an emerging asset class with limited acceptance as a payment system or commodity, global crises and general economic downturn may discourage investment in crypto assets as investors focus their investment on less volatile asset classes as a means of hedging their investment risk.
Crypto assets, which are relatively new, are subject to supply and demand forces based upon the desirability of an alternative, decentralized means of buying and selling goods and services, and it is unclear how such supply and demand will be impacted by geopolitical events, including the war in Ukraine or other crises which may arise in the future. Nevertheless, political or economic crises may motivate large-scale acquisitions or sales of crypto assets either globally or locally. Large-scale sales of crypto assets would result in a reduction in cryptocurrency values and could adversely affect an investment in us.
Economy & Political Environment - Risk 3
Market and economic conditions may negatively impact our business, financial condition and share price.
Concerns over inflation, energy costs, geopolitical issues, the U.S. mortgage market and a declining real estate market, unstable global credit markets and financial conditions, and volatile oil prices have led to periods of significant economic instability, diminished liquidity and credit availability, declines in consumer confidence and discretionary spending, diminished expectations for the global economy and expectations of slower global economic growth going forward, increased unemployment rates, and increased credit defaults in recent years. Our general business strategy may be adversely affected by any such economic downturns, volatile business environments and continued unstable or unpredictable economic and market conditions. If these conditions continue to deteriorate or do not improve, it may make any necessary debt or equity financing more difficult to complete, more costly, and more dilutive. Failure to secure any necessary financing in a timely manner and on favorable terms could have a material adverse effect on our growth strategy, financial performance, and share price and could require us to delay or abandon development or commercialization plans.
Natural and Human Disruptions1 | 1.3%
Natural and Human Disruptions - Risk 1
Catastrophic events may disrupt our business.
Natural disasters, cyber-incidents, weather events, wildfires, power disruptions, telecommunications failures, public health outbreaks, failed upgrades of existing systems or migrations to new systems, acts of terrorism or other events could cause outages, disruptions and/or degradations of our infrastructure, including our or our partners' information technology and network systems, a failure in our ability to conduct normal business operations, or the closure of public spaces in which players engage with our games and services. The health and safety of our employees, players, third-party organizations with whom we partner or regulatory agencies on which we rely could be also affected, which may prevent us from executing against our business strategies or cause a decrease in consumer demand for our products and services. System redundancy may be ineffective and our disaster recovery and business continuity planning may not be sufficient for all eventualities. Such failures, disruptions, closures, or inability to conduct normal business operations could also prevent access to our products, services or online stores selling our products and services, cause delay or interruption in our product or live services offerings, allow breaches of data security or result in the loss of critical data. An event that results in the disruption or degradation of any of our critical business functions or information technology systems, harms our ability to conduct normal business operations or causes a decreased in consumer demand for our products and services could materially impact our reputation and brand, financial condition and operating results.
See a full breakdown of risk according to category and subcategory. The list starts with the category with the most risk. Click on subcategories to read relevant extracts from the most recent report.
FAQ
What are “Risk Factors”?
Risk factors are any situations or occurrences that could make investing in a company risky.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires that publicly traded companies disclose their most significant risk factors. This is so that potential investors can consider any risks before they make an investment.
They also offer companies protection, as a company can use risk factors as liability protection. This could happen if a company underperforms and investors take legal action as a result.
It is worth noting that smaller companies, that is those with a public float of under $75 million on the last business day, do not have to include risk factors in their 10-K and 10-Q forms, although some may choose to do so.
How do companies disclose their risk factors?
Publicly traded companies initially disclose their risk factors to the SEC through their S-1 filings as part of the IPO process.
Additionally, companies must provide a complete list of risk factors in their Annual Reports (Form 10-K) or (Form 20-F) for “foreign private issuers”.
Quarterly Reports also include a section on risk factors (Form 10-Q) where companies are only required to update any changes since the previous report.
According to the SEC, risk factors should be reported concisely, logically and in “plain English” so investors can understand them.
How can I use TipRanks risk factors in my stock research?
Use the Risk Factors tab to get data about the risk factors of any company in which you are considering investing.
You can easily see the most significant risks a company is facing. Additionally, you can find out which risk factors a company has added, removed or adjusted since its previous disclosure. You can also see how a company’s risk factors compare to others in its sector.
Without reading company reports or participating in conference calls, you would most likely not have access to this sort of information, which is usually not included in press releases or other public announcements.
A simplified analysis of risk factors is unique to TipRanks.
What are all the risk factor categories?
TipRanks has identified 6 major categories of risk factors and a number of subcategories for each. You can see how these categories are broken down in the list below.
1. Financial & Corporate
Accounting & Financial Operations - risks related to accounting loss, value of intangible assets, financial statements, value of intangible assets, financial reporting, estimates, guidance, company profitability, dividends, fluctuating results.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights – risks related to things that impact share prices and the rights of shareholders, including analyst ratings, major shareholder activity, trade volatility, liquidity of shares, anti-takeover provisions, international listing, dual listing.
Debt & Financing – risks related to debt, funding, financing and interest rates, financial investments.
Corporate Activity and Growth – risks related to restructuring, M&As, joint ventures, execution of corporate strategy, strategic alliances.
2. Legal & Regulatory
Litigation and Legal Liabilities – risks related to litigation/ lawsuits against the company.
Regulation – risks related to compliance, GDPR, and new legislation.
Environmental / Social – risks related to environmental regulation and to data privacy.
Taxation & Government Incentives – risks related to taxation and changes in government incentives.
3. Production
Costs – risks related to costs of production including commodity prices, future contracts, inventory.
Supply Chain – risks related to the company’s suppliers.
Manufacturing – risks related to the company’s manufacturing process including product quality and product recalls.
Human Capital – risks related to recruitment, training and retention of key employees, employee relationships & unions labor disputes, pension, and post retirement benefits, medical, health and welfare benefits, employee misconduct, employee litigation.
4. Technology & Innovation
Innovation / R&D – risks related to innovation and new product development.
Technology – risks related to the company’s reliance on technology.
Cyber Security – risks related to securing the company’s digital assets and from cyber attacks.
Trade Secrets & Patents – risks related to the company’s ability to protect its intellectual property and to infringement claims against the company as well as piracy and unlicensed copying.
5. Ability to Sell
Demand – risks related to the demand of the company’s goods and services including seasonality, reliance on key customers.
Competition – risks related to the company’s competition including substitutes.
Sales & Marketing – risks related to sales, marketing, and distribution channels, pricing, and market penetration.
Brand & Reputation – risks related to the company’s brand and reputation.
6. Macro & Political
Economy & Political Environment – risks related to changes in economic and political conditions.
Natural and Human Disruptions – risks related to catastrophes, floods, storms, terror, earthquakes, coronavirus pandemic/COVID-19.
International Operations – risks related to the global nature of the company.
Capital Markets – risks related to exchange rates and trade, cryptocurrency.