Myseum.AI, Inc.: Form 10-K for the period ended Dec 31, 2024

Overview

We are a private messaging, cybersecurity, and social media company that not only focuses on protecting privacy on personal devices, but also protects user information after it is shared with others. We believe that one’s right to privacy should not end the moment they click “send”, and that we all deserve the same right to privacy online that we enjoy in our own living rooms. Our flagship product, DatChat Messenger & Private Social Network, is a privacy platform and mobile application that gives users the ability to communicate with the privacy and protection they deserve. Recently, we have expanded our business and product offerings to include the development of our Myseum platform, a secure digital content management and storage solution for families, groups and individuals. In addition, as a result of our acquisition of RPM Interactive, Inc. in October 2024, we have repositioned our majority-owned subsidiary, Dragon Interact, Inc. (recently renamed RPM Interactive, Inc.) away from the development of the Habytat platform to focus on becoming an AI generated publishing company of trivia mobile game apps and vodcasts/podcasts designed to publish content across hundreds of evergreen topics every day and be distributed to all major streaming platforms. See “Business – RPM Interactive, Inc.” and “Business – The Habytat.”

DatChat Messenger & Private Social Network

Our platform allows users to exercise control over their messages and posts, even after they are sent. Through our application, users can delete messages that they have sent, on their own device and the recipient’s device as well. There is no set time limit within which they must exercise this choice. A user can elect at any time to delete a message that they previously sent to a recipient’s device.

The application also enables users to hide secret and encrypted messages behind a cover, which messages can only be unlocked by the recipient and which are automatically destroyed after a fixed number of views or fixed amount of time. Users can decide how long their messages last on the recipient’s device. The application also includes a screen shot protection system, which makes it virtually impossible for the recipient to screenshot a message or picture before it gets destroyed. In addition, users can delete entire conversations at any time, making it like the conversation never even happened.

In addition to the foregoing, the application also provides users with the ability to connect via an encrypted live video chat that also is designed to prevent screenshots or screen grabs. The application integrates with iMessage, making private messages potentially available to hundreds of millions of users.

Myseum Social Media Platform

We recently launched our Myseum social media platform, an innovative social media platform that brings a fresh approach to digital media and content management, allowing users to create a digital legacy that can be easily shared today and with future generations. Backed by AI technology and proprietary software, the multi-tiered social media ecosystem enables individuals, families, and other groups to store and share digital content such as messages, photos, videos, and documents within a highly secure and private family library. Myseum allows users to create amazing albums and galleries for everyone to see, create special private and secure galleries with limited access, personalize a user’s newsfeed with updates from other Myseums and leave time released video messages for both now and future generations.

RPM Interactive, Inc.

In October 2024, our majority owned subsidiary, Dragon Interact, Inc. (“Dragon”), entered into a Share Exchange Agreement with RPM Interactive, Inc., a Florida corporation (“RPM”), pursuant to which Dragon acquired 100% of the equity interests of RPM, including all assets of RPM in consideration for the issuance of 3,500,000 restricted shares of Dragon’s common stock. RPM’s assets included an artificial intelligence (“AI”) tool used for publishing AI-generated consumer gaming and podcasting/vodcasting applications and certain intellectual property. As part of the acquisition, Dragon has changed its corporate name to RPM Interactive, Inc. (“RPM Interactive”) and shifted its focus to developing AI-driven podcast and gaming technologies.

Following the acquisition, in January 2025, we returned 3,500,000 shares of the RPM Interactive common stock held by us to RPM Interactive, which shares were cancelled and are no longer outstanding on RPM Interactive’s stock ledger. Following these transactions, we hold 9,000,000 shares of the RPM Interactive’s common stock, or approximately 34% of its outstanding shares.

The Habytat

Prior ot the acquisition of RPM, we had developed and launched, in November 2022, the Habytat, a virtual space that blends real world and virtual realities into one, in real time, using emerging technology like virtual and augmented reality, to create a highly immersive 3D environment. We had further contemplated spinning-off our Habytat platform business into a new standalone public company pursuant to a distribution of the shares of the our shareholders. As discussed above, following our acquisition of RPM in October 2024, we ceased our development of the Habytat platform and are evaluating ways to utilize the technology that had been developed by our subsidiary.

Competition

DatChat Messenger & Private Social Network

The current market for mobile messenger applications is highly competitive, and we expect that it will remain competitive. There are currently several large companies that provide mobile messenger applications and we expect several more competitors to enter into this market in the next few years. Well-established competitors include Snapchat, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Facebook, Telegram, MeWe, Confide and Apple iMessage. We believe that it is the range of privacy and security features that we offer that sets us apart from our competitors.

Our flagship applications are the DatChat Privacy Platform and Private Encrypted Social Network, which address the needs of consumers and businesses to communicate with increased levels of privacy and control over messages and social posts, even after they are sent or shared.

Observing that mobile messaging and social media users are drawn to several different messaging platforms by specific capabilities, we set out to create the application to consolidate popular messaging and social media features such as group chats, emoticons and video sharing, offer new and unique features such as being able to “nuke” a conversation to remove all traces of it from all parties involved, and deliver increased levels of privacy and security. As public concerns over privacy in an ever-expanding digital society grow, the application offers comfort to its users with extensive control over their messages and posts, even after they are sent or shared. The application allows users to not only control how long or how many times a message or post may be viewed by the recipient, but also allows the sender to erase the message or entire conversation after it is sent. Our goal is to make the application a leader in the mobile secure messaging and social media market based upon our proprietary technology and enhanced privacy and security features. We intend to roll out additional features including video chat, attachments, unique social posts and other features to enhance the messaging and social media experience.

Myseum Social Media Platform

The current market for social media and photo sharing applications is highly competitive, and we expect that it will remain competitive. There are currently several large companies that provide social media applications, and we expect several more competitors to enter into this market in the next few years. Well established competitors include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, iCloud Shared Photo, Pinterest, Google Photos, Amazon Drive, Photobucket and Shutterfly. We believe that it is the range of privacy, security and social networking features that we offer that sets us apart from our competitors.

Our Myseum application addresses the needs of both consumers and businesses by bringing a fresh approach to digital media and content management, allowing users to create a digital legacy that can be easily shared today and with future generations. The innovative social media platform brings a fresh approach to digital media and content management, allowing users to create a digital legacy that can be easily shared today and with future generations. Backed by privacy technology and proprietary software, the multi-tiered social media ecosystem enables individuals, families, and other groups to store and share digital content such as messages, photos, videos, and documents within a secure and private media library. In addition, we are developing a blockchain-based, decentralized media storage and sharing platform that is being designed to allow consumers and businesses to connect directly with each other. Recognizing that currently our media is more often stored in digital form, it can make it harder to share both now and with future generations we set out to build the Myseum Social Media platform to solve this problem.

Software and Development

DatChat Messenger & Myseum Social Media Platform

Our ability to compete depends in large part on our continuous commitment to research and development, our ability to rapidly introduce new features and functionality and our ability to improve proven applications for established markets in which we have competitive advantages. We intend to work closely with our customers to continuously enhance the performance, functionality, usability, reliability and flexibility of the application.

Our software and development team is responsible for the design enhancements, development, testing and certification of the application. In addition, we may, in the future, utilize third parties for our automated testing, managed upgrades, software development and other technology services. We are also developing video messages that can be distributed at a future time. We anticipate that the video messaging currently under development will allow users to set a specific date to release a video message to their social network at a set time in the future. Additionally, we are developing an instantly created media sharing space that can either be deleted, or shared and saved in the Myseum of everyone involved.

Marketing and Monetization

DatChat Messenger & Myseum Social Media Platform

The applications are currently offered for free on Apple’s App Store and Google Play. Initial marketing is expected to consist of public relations, “cost-per-install” campaigns, social media marketing using the Facebook’s ad platform and other readily available advertising platforms.

We anticipate utilizing social influencers and additional public relations strategies to promote the application on a global basis, which also includes making the application available for use in other languages.

We also plan to add in-app purchases such as user customization features, increased storage, AI media organizers and time released videos messages to monetize the application.

We anticipate monetizing the Myseum Platform with a subscription-based service for small businesses. In the future, we may develop other mobile applications and services for consumers once our user base reaches a level at which we deem it to be economically feasible. No assurance can be given that we will successfully develop new or future applications that will be embraced by users or generate revenue.

RPM Interactive, Inc.

The RPM products are still under development and the marketing and monetization strategies are being developed as well.

Intellectual Property Portfolio

DatChat Messenger & Private Social Network

We strive to protect and enhance the proprietary technology and inventions that are commercially important to our business, including seeking, maintaining and defending patent rights. Our policy is to seek to protect our proprietary position through a combination of intellectual property rights in the United States, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secret laws and internal procedures. Our commercial success will depend in part on our ability to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technologies.

As of March 28, 2024, we had 15 issued patents, no notices of allowance and 2 filed patent applications in the United States relating to our encryption technologies, blockchain platform and digital assets. Our issued patents will expire in 2036. In addition, we plan to continue expanding and strengthening our IP portfolio with additional patent applications in the future. We may not be able to obtain protection for our intellectual property, and our existing and future patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property rights may not provide us with competitive advantages or distinguish our products and services from those of our competitors. Our pending patent application and future applications may not result in the issuance of patents, and any resulting issued patents may have claims narrower than those in our patent applications. Additionally, our current and future patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property rights may be contested, circumvented, or found unenforceable or invalid, and we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing them. Our internal controls may not always be effective at preventing unauthorized parties from obtaining our intellectual property and proprietary technologies.

Other companies that own patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and other intellectual property rights related to the mobile, encryption, blockchain, communication, privacy, internet, and other technology-related industries frequently enter into litigation based on allegations of infringement, misappropriation, and other violations of intellectual property or other rights. Third parties, including our competitors, may make claims from time to time that we have infringed their patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, or other intellectual property rights. As our business grows and competition rises, the risk of facing claims related to intellectual property and litigation matters will likely increase.

Our Privacy Policy

Privacy and security are the foundations of our Company. We recognize that this is why users are drawn to the application and that our users care deeply about how their personal information is collected, used and shared. When you read our Privacy Policy, we hope that you notice that it has been written to advance our core principles and protect the integrity of the application.

When users sign up for the application, they are required to provide us with certain personal information such as their name, email address and phone number. We take commercially reasonable and appropriate measures to protect this personal information from accidental loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction, taking into account the risks involved in processing and the nature of such data, and comply with applicable laws and regulations. We do not currently transfer any personal information to third-parties that do not act on our behalf, and we will not do so without users’ opt-in consent. Similarly, we do not currently collect sensitive personal information from users without opt-in consent. We may disclose personal information to certain types of third-party companies, but only to the extent needed to enable them to provide such services. The types of companies that may receive personal information and their functions are: marketing assistance, analytics and reporting, customer support, email and SMS delivery, cloud infrastructure, and systems monitoring. All such third parties function as our agents, performing services at our instruction and on our behalf pursuant to contracts which require them to provide at least the same level of privacy protection as is required by our Privacy Policy. In addition, we may be required to disclose personal information in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including for the purpose of meeting national security or law enforcement requirements. We may also disclose personal information to other third parties when compelled to do so by government authorities or required by law or regulation including, but not limited to, in response to court orders and subpoenas.

With respect to retention of personal information, we may only retain such users’ personal information in a form that identifies them only for as long as it serves the purpose(s) for which it was initially collected as stated in our Privacy Policy, or subsequently authorized. We may continue processing users’ personal information for longer periods, but only for the time and to the extent such processing reasonably serves the purposes of statistical analysis, and subject to the protection of our Privacy Policy. After such time periods have expired, we may either delete the personal information or retain it in a form that it does not identify the user personally.

Most importantly, when users send an encrypted message through the application, we may only temporarily process and store the message in its encrypted form. We do not (and cannot) read our users’ encrypted messages and we delete our users’ messages as soon as they have been successfully self-destructed or deleted. Our end-to-end encryption ensures that we will never have access to the contents of our users’ messages. Moreover, we recognize the privacy rights of our users and are committed to complying with data protection laws to the extent they apply to us, and to assist our users in exercising their rights under applicable law. For example, users may exercise their rights pursuant to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) or Section 1798.83 of the California Civil Code, simply by submitting a request via email to privacy@DatChat.com (mailto:privacy@DatChat.com).

Employees

As of March 26, 2025, we have a total of 10 full-time employees and no part-time employees. We have established a network of external professionals and consultants to which we outsource various research and development and operational tasks in an effort to minimize administrative overhead. We are not a party to any collective bargaining agreements. We believe that we maintain good relations with our employees.

Our Corporate Information

DatChat, Inc. was initially incorporated in Nevada on December 4, 2014 under the name YssUp, Inc. On March 4, 2015, an amendment to our articles of incorporation was filed with the Nevada Secretary of State, changing YssUp, Inc.’s name to “DatChat, Inc.” On September 22, 2016, amended and restated articles of incorporation were filed with the Nevada Secretary of State in order to, among other things, authorize the Company to issue preferred stock.

Available Information

Our website address is www.datchat.com (http://www.datchat.com). The contents of, or information accessible through, our website is not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and our website address is included in this document as an inactive textual reference only. We make our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports, available free of charge on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we file such reports with, or furnish such reports to, the SEC. The public may read and copy the materials we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. Additionally, the SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information. The address of the SEC’s website is www.sec.gov (http://www.sec.gov). The information contained in the SEC’s website is not intended to be a part of this filing.

An investment in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following risk factors and the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K before investing in our common stock. Our business and results of operations could be seriously harmed by any of the following risks. The risks set out below are not the only risks we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial also may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and/or operating results. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. In such case, the value and trading price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to our Business and Industry

We have a limited operating history and have not yet generated any revenues.

Our limited operating history makes evaluating the business and future prospects difficult and may increase the risk of your investment. We were incorporated in 2014, and since then there have been a limited amount of downloads of the application. To date, we have minimal revenues. As reflected in the accompanying consolidated financial statements, for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, we incurred a net loss of $5,025,007 and $8,404,970, respectively. Additionally, for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, we used cash in operations of $4,388,385 and $6,529,277, respectively. As of December 31, 2024, we had working capital of $3,657,711. We intend, in the long term, to derive revenues from advertisement sales, technology licensing, and other forms of revenue. The application is available for download on certain mobile platforms and we are developing compatibility with other platforms. We also continue to develop and refine functions of the application.

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.

We may fail to develop new products or may incur unexpected expenses or delays.

Although the application is currently available for download, we may need to develop various new technologies, products and product features to remain competitive. Due to the risks inherent in developing new products and technologies, limited financing, loss of key personnel, and other factors, we may fail to develop these technologies and products or may experience lengthy and costly delays in doing so. Although we are able to license some of our technologies in their current stage of development, we cannot assure that we will be able to develop new products or enhancements to our existing products in order to remain competitive.

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.

We may face intense competition and expect competition to increase in the future, which could prohibit us from developing a customer base and generating revenue.

We are focused on the mobile application industry, specifically the mobile messaging market, which is already saturated with established companies. Many of these companies, including Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc., Facebook, Inc., and Snap Inc., already have an established market in our industry. Most of these companies have significantly greater financial and other resources than us and have been developing their products and services longer than we have been developing ours.

The application 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 application is based on certain new technologies, it is subject to risks of failure that are particular to new technologies, including the possibility that:

• the application may not gain market acceptance;
• proprietary rights of third parties may preclude us from marketing a new product or service;
• the application may not receive the exposure required to obtain new users; or
• third parties may market superior products or services.

If we are unable to maintain a good relationship with the markets where the application is distributed, our business will suffer.

The Apple App Store is the primary distribution, marketing, promotion and payment platform for the application. Any deterioration in our relationship with Apple or any application marketplace we utilize in the future would harm our business and adversely affect the value of our common stock.

We are subject to Apple’s standard terms and conditions for application developers, which govern the promotion, distribution and operation of mobile applications on its platform. Our business would be harmed if:

• Apple discontinues or limits access to its platform by us and other application developers;
• Apple modifies its terms of service or other policies, including fees charged to, or other restrictions on, us or other application developers, or Apple changes how the personal information of its users is made available to application developers on their respective platforms or shared by users;
• Apple establishes more favorable relationships with one or more of our competitors;
• Apple limits our access to its application marketplace because our application provides mobile messaging services similar to Apple; or
• Apple makes changes in its operating system or development platform that are incompatible with our technology.

We expect to benefit from Apple’s strong brand recognition and large user base. If Apple loses its market position or otherwise falls out of favor with mobile users, we would need to identify alternative channels for marketing, promoting and distributing our application, which would consume substantial resources and may not be effective. In addition, Apple has broad discretion to change their terms of service and other policies with respect to us and other developers, and those changes may be unfavorable to us. Any such changes in the future could significantly alter our users experience or how they interact within our application, which may harm our business.

In the event that Apple’s standard terms and conditions become prohibitively costly or unduly burdensome, we plan to host our own servers in a co-location facility and create a web-based, desktop version of the application that does not require users to install the application from the App store.

The mobile application industry is subject to rapid technological change and, to compete, we must continually enhance the application.

We must continue to enhance and improve the performance, functionality and reliability of the application. The mobile application industry is characterized by rapid technological change, changes in user requirements and preferences, frequent new product and services introductions embodying new technologies and the emergence of new industry standards and practices that could render our product and services obsolete. We have discovered that some of our customers’ desire additional performance and functionality that the application, and the underlying technology, does not currently support. Our success will depend, in part, on our ability to both internally develop leading technologies to enhance the application, develop new mobile applications and services that address the increasingly sophisticated and varied needs of our customers, and respond to technological advances and emerging industry standards and practices on a cost-effective and timely basis. The development of our technology and other proprietary technology involves significant technical and business risks. We may fail to use new technologies effectively or to adapt our proprietary technology and systems to customer requirements or emerging industry standards. If we are unable to adapt to changing market conditions, customer requirements or emerging industry standards, we may not be able to create revenue and expand our business.

Defects in the application and the technology powering it may adversely affect our business.

Tools, code, subroutines and processes contained within the application may contain defects not yet discovered or contained in updates and new versions. Our introduction of new mobile applications or updates and new versions with defects or quality problems may result in adverse publicity, reduced downloads and use, product redevelopment costs, loss of or delay in market acceptance of our products or claims by customers or others against us. Such problems or claims may have a material and adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

If we fail to retain current users or add new users, or if our users engage less with the application, our business would be seriously harmed.

Adding, maintaining, and engaging daily monthly users will be essential to attaining our growth targets and sustaining operations. If current and potential users do not perceive our products to be effective and useful, we may not be able to attract new users, retain existing users, or maintain or increase the frequency and duration of their engagement. In addition, our products typically require high bandwidth data capabilities, high-end mobile device penetration and high bandwidth capacity cellular networks with large coverage areas. We therefore do not expect to experience rapid user growth or engagement in countries with low smartphone penetration even if such countries have well-established and high bandwidth capacity cellular networks. We may also not experience rapid user growth or engagement in regions where, even though smartphone penetration is high, due to the lack of sufficient cellular based data networks, consumers rely heavily on Wi-Fi and may not access our products regularly.

There are many factors that could negatively affect user retention, growth, and engagement, including if:

• users increasingly engage with competing products instead of ours;
• our competitors may mimic our products and therefore harm our user engagement and growth;
• we fail to introduce new and exciting products and services or those we introduce are poorly received;
• our products fail to operate effectively on the iOS and Android mobile operating systems;
• we are unable to continue to develop products that work with a variety of mobile operating systems, networks, and smartphones;
• we are unable to combat hostile or inappropriate usage of our products;
• there are changes in user sentiment about the quality or usefulness of the application;
• there are concerns about the implications for privacy, safety, or security of our products;
• there are changes in our products that are mandated by legislation, regulatory authorities, or litigation, including settlements or consent decrees that adversely affect the user experience;
• technical or other problems frustrate the user experience, particularly if those problems prevent us from delivering our products in a fast and reliable manner;
• we fail to provide adequate service to users;
• we are the subject of adverse media reports or other negative publicity; and
• we do not maintain our brand image or our reputation is damaged.

Any decrease in user retention, growth, or engagement could render our products less attractive to users, advertisers, or partners, and would seriously harm our business.

There is a risk that the public will not perceive the privacy protections that we offer to be necessary or useful and therefore will not be interested in our services.

No matter how effective our products might be in affording users control over their privacy, the general public may not perceive our products to be necessary or useful. In general, although people are more aware than in the past of the amount of personal data that is tracked on a daily basis with the advent of social media and targeted advertising, mere awareness does not necessarily translate into a desire to take affirmative action with respect to one’s privacy. For us, this could mean that the average person might not feel the need to have the ability to delete messages that they have sent. While we believe that the general public will recognize the value of our products and feel empowered to take control of their privacy, it is possible that a great number of people have come to believe that their personal information cannot be protected and that any attempt to do so would be ineffective. As such, regardless of how effective our products might be, there is a risk that the general public might deem our products to be unnecessary and will not be drawn to download and use the application.

Users may not want to change the way that they send messages and therefore would not be interested in our products.

Our success is dependent in part on users altering their behavior and changing the way that they send text messages. Although the application is fully integrated with iMessage, the application requires the user to send the message through a separate text bar, which is located below the ordinary iMessage bar. Even if users have downloaded the application, it is possible that users will bypass this option when they go to send a text message. In addition, our user experience may not be received positively, as some users might find it inconvenient to have two text bars appearing on the screen at the same time when they go to send a text message. The iMessage integration figure does not currently allow a user to remove the iMessage bar so that only the application’s bar appears and it is doubtful that Apple would ever allow such a feature. Moreover, because both text bars are displayed on the screen at the same time, users may inadvertently send a private message through iMessage that they intended to send through the application, thereby defeating the data protection and privacy benefits that the application offers. If users do not adapt to seeing and typing messages with two texts bars displayed, our user retention may suffer.

The characteristics of the application, including but not limited to privacy and encryption, may be exploited to facilitate illegal activity; if any of our users do so or are alleged to have done so, it could adversely affect us and generate negative perception of our products in the marketplace.

For all of the same reasons that our products are attractive to the general public, the privacy, data protection and encryption features could appeal to persons and groups engaged in illegal activities due to the ability of the application to delete messages from a recipient’s phone. In this context, the application may be used to facilitate both illegal activity and the destruction of evidence, which could potentially draw scrutiny from regulators. In addition, the application could develop a stigma that it is associated with illegal activity and deter certain people from communicating through the application.

Negative publicity could adversely affect our reputation, our business, and our operating results.

Negative publicity about our company, including about the quality and reliability of our products, content shared by users through the application, changes to our products, policies and services, our privacy and security practices, litigation, regulatory activity, the actions of users on the application, or user experience with our products, even if inaccurate, could adversely affect our reputation and the confidence in and the use of our product. Such negative publicity could also have an adverse effect on the size, engagement, and loyalty of our user base and, in turn, adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We expect to derive substantially all of our revenue from a limited number of products.

Currently, we expect to derive substantially all of our revenue from a limited number of products and applications. As such, the continued growth in market demand for and market acceptance of the product or application is critical to our continued success. Demand for our products or the applications is affected by a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, such as continued market acceptance; the timing of development and release of competing new products; consumer preferences; the development and acceptance of new features, integrations, and capabilities; price or product changes by us or our competitors; technological changes and developments within the markets we serve; growth, contraction, and rapid evolution of our market; and general economic conditions and trends. If we are unable to continue to meet the demands of our users or trends in preferences or to achieve more widespread market acceptance of our products and applications, our business, results of operations, and financial condition could be harmed. Changes in preferences of users may have a disproportionately greater impact on us than if we offered multiple products. In addition, competitors may develop or acquire their own tools or software and people may continue to rely on traditional tools and software, such as text message and email, which would reduce or eliminate the demand for our products and applications. If demand declines for any of these or other reasons, our business could be adversely affected.

The application depends on effectively operating with mobile operating systems, hardware, networks, regulations, and standards that we do not control. Changes in our products or to those operating systems, hardware, networks, regulations, or standards may seriously harm our user growth, retention, and engagement.

Because the application is used primarily on mobile devices, the application must remain interoperable with popular mobile operating systems, Android and iOS. The owners of such operating systems, Google and Apple, respectively, each provide consumers with products that compete with ours. We have no control over these operating systems or hardware, and any changes to these systems or hardware that degrade our products’ functionality, or give preferential treatment to competitive products, could seriously harm DatChat usage on mobile devices. Our competitors that control the operating systems and related hardware the application runs on could make the interoperability of our products with those mobile operating systems more difficult or display their competitive offerings more prominently than ours. When introducing new products, it takes time to optimize such products to function with these operating systems and hardware, impacting the popularity of such products, and we expect this trend to continue. Moreover, our products require high-bandwidth data capabilities. If the costs of data usage increase, our user growth, retention, and engagement may be seriously harmed.

We may not successfully cultivate relationships with key industry participants or develop products that operate effectively with these technologies, systems, networks, regulations, or standards. If it becomes more difficult for our users to access and use the application on their mobile devices, if our users choose not to access or use the application on their mobile devices, or if our users choose to use mobile products that do not offer access to the application, our user growth, retention, and engagement could be seriously harmed.

Moreover, the adoption of any laws or regulations that adversely affect the popularity or growth in use of the internet or mobile applications, including laws or regulations that undermine open and neutrally administered internet access, could decrease user demand for the application and increase our cost of doing business. For example, in December 2017, the Federal Communications Commission adopted an order reversing net neutrality protections in the United States, including the repeal of specific rules against blocking, throttling or “paid prioritization” of content or services by internet service providers. To the extent internet service providers engage in such blocking, throttling or “paid prioritization” of content or similar actions as a result of this order and the adoption of similar laws or regulations, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Risks Related to Information Technology Systems, Intellectual Property and Privacy Laws

We rely on a single third-party provider, Amazon Web Services (“AWS”), 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 by, and use computing infrastructure, secure network connectivity, and other technology-related services provided by AWS. We do not control the operations of this third-party provider or own the equipment used to provide such services. Because we cannot easily switch our AWS-serviced operations to another cloud provider, any disruption of or interference with our use of AWS, 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, AWS has no obligation to renew its agreement with us on commercially reasonable terms or at all. If we are unable to renew our agreement 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, Amazon 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.

Amazon has broad discretion to change and interpret its 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 cloud platform. If Amazon makes changes or interpretations that are unfavorable to us, our business could be seriously harmed.

Major network failures could have an adverse effect on our business.

Our technology infrastructure is critical to the performance of the application and customer satisfaction. The application runs on a complex distributed system, or what is commonly known as cloud computing. Some elements of this system are operated by third-parties that we do not control and which would require significant time to replace. We expect this dependence on third parties to continue. Major equipment failures, natural disasters, including severe weather, terrorist acts, acts of war, cyber-attacks or other breaches of network or information technology security that affect third-party networks, communications switches, routers, microwave links, cell sites or other third-party equipment on which we rely, could cause major network failures and/or unusually high network traffic demands that could have a material adverse effect on our operations or our ability to provide service to our customers. These events could disrupt our operations, require significant resources to resolve, result in a loss of customers or impair our ability to attract new customers, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations and financial condition. If we experience significant service interruptions, which could require significant resources to resolve, it could result in a loss of customers or impair our ability to attract new customers, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, with the growth of wireless data services, enterprise data interfaces and Internet-based or Internet Protocol enabled applications, wireless networks and devices are exposed to a greater degree to third-party data or applications over which we have less direct control. As a result, the network infrastructure and information systems on which we rely, as well as our customers’ wireless devices, may be subject to a wider array of potential security risks, including viruses and other types of computer-based attacks, which could cause lapses in our service or adversely affect the ability of our customers to access our service. Such lapses could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations and financial condition.

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. As the number of product and services offerings in the mobile application market increases and functionalities increasingly overlap, companies such as ours may become increasingly subject to infringement claims. 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.

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. We have also filed patent applications. 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.

We could be harmed by improper disclosure or loss of sensitive or confidential data.

In connection with the operation of our business, we plan to process and transmit data. Unauthorized disclosure or loss of sensitive or confidential data may occur through a variety of methods. These include, but are not limited to, systems failure, employee negligence, fraud or misappropriation, or unauthorized access to or through our information systems, whether by our employees or third parties, including a cyberattack by computer programmers, hackers, members of organized crime and/or state-sponsored organizations, who may develop and deploy viruses, worms or other malicious software programs.

Such disclosure, loss or breach could harm our reputation and subject us to government sanctions and liability under laws and regulations that protect sensitive or personal data and confidential information, resulting in increased costs or loss of revenues. It is possible that security controls over sensitive or confidential data and other practices we and our third-party vendors follow may not prevent the improper access to, disclosure of, or loss of such information. The potential risk of security breaches and cyberattacks may increase as we introduce new services and offerings, such as mobile technology. Further, data privacy is subject to frequently changing rules and regulations, which sometimes conflict among the various jurisdictions in which we provide services. Any failure or perceived failure to successfully manage the collection, use, disclosure, or security of personal information or other privacy related matters, or any failure to comply with changing regulatory requirements in this area, could result in legal liability or impairment to our reputation in the marketplace.

Unauthorized breaches or failures in cybersecurity measures adopted by us and/or included in our products and services could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Information security risks have generally increased in recent years, in part because of the proliferation of new technologies and the use of the Internet, and the increased sophistication and activity of organized crime, hackers, terrorists, activists, cybercriminals and other external parties, some of which may be linked to terrorist organizations or hostile foreign governments. Cybersecurity attacks are becoming more sophisticated and include malicious attempts to gain unauthorized access to data and other electronic security breaches that could lead to disruptions in critical systems, unauthorized release of confidential or otherwise protected information and corruption of data, substantially damaging our reputation. Our security systems are designed to maintain the security of our users’ confidential information, as well as our own proprietary information. Accidental or willful security breaches or other unauthorized access by third parties or our employees, our information systems or the systems of our third-party providers, or the existence of computer viruses or malware in our or their data or software could expose us to risks of information loss and misappropriation of proprietary and confidential information, including information relating to our products or customers and the personal information of our employees.

In addition, we could become subject to unauthorized network intrusions and malware on our own IT networks. Any theft or misuse of confidential, personal or proprietary information as a result of such activities or failure to prevent security breaches could result in, among other things, unfavorable publicity, damage to our reputation, loss of our trade secrets and other competitive information, difficulty in marketing our products, allegations by our customers that we have not performed our contractual obligations, litigation by affected parties and possible financial obligations for liabilities and damages related to the theft or misuse of such information, as well as fines and other sanctions resulting from any related breaches of data privacy regulations, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, profitability and financial condition. Furthermore, the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently and are often not recognized until launched against a target, and we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures.

We may be subject to stringent and changing laws, regulations, standards, and contractual obligations related to privacy, data protection, and data security. Our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could adversely affect our business.

We receive, collect, store, and process certain personally identifiable information about individuals and other data relating to users of the application. We have legal and contractual obligations regarding the protection of confidentiality and appropriate use of certain data, including personally identifiable and other potentially sensitive information about individuals. We may be subject to numerous federal, state, local, and international laws, directives, and regulations regarding privacy, data protection, data security and the collection, storing, sharing, use, processing, transfer, disclosure, disposal and protection of information about individuals and other data, the scope of which are changing, subject to differing interpretations, and may be inconsistent among jurisdictions or conflict with other legal and regulatory requirements. We strive to comply with our applicable data privacy and security policies, regulations, contractual obligations, and other legal obligations relating to privacy, data protection, and data security. However, the regulatory framework for privacy, data protection and data security worldwide is, and is likely to remain for the foreseeable future, uncertain and complex, and it is possible that these or other actual or alleged obligations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that we do not anticipate or that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other legal obligations or our practices. Further, any significant change to applicable laws, regulations or industry practices regarding the collection, use, retention, security, processing, transfer or disclosure of data, or their interpretation, or any changes regarding the manner in which the consent of users or other data subjects for the collection, use, retention, security, processing, transfer or disclosure of such data must be obtained, could increase our costs and require us to modify our services and features, possibly in a material manner, which we may be unable to complete, and may limit our ability to receive, collect, store, process, transfer, and otherwise use user data or develop new services and features.

If we are found in violation of any applicable laws or regulations relating to privacy, data protection, or security, our business may be materially and adversely affected and we would likely have to change our business practices and potentially the services and features, integrations or other capabilities of the application. In addition, these laws and regulations could impose significant costs on us and could constrain our ability to use and process data in a commercially desirable manner. In addition, if a breach of data security were to occur or be alleged to have occurred, if any violation of laws and regulations relating to privacy, data protection or data security were to be alleged, or if we were to discover any actual or alleged defect in our safeguards or practices relating to privacy, data protection, or data security, the application may be perceived as less desirable and our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

We also expect that there will continue to be new laws, regulations, and industry standards concerning privacy, data protection, and information security proposed and enacted in various jurisdictions. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which came into force in 2020, provides new data privacy rights for California consumers and new operational requirements for covered companies. Specifically, the CCPA mandates that covered companies provide new disclosures to California consumers and afford such consumers new data privacy rights that include, among other things, the right to request a copy from a covered company of the personal information collected about them, the right to request deletion of such personal information, and the right to request to opt-out of certain sales of such personal information. The California Attorney General can enforce the CCPA, including seeking an injunction and civil penalties for violations. The CCPA also provides a private right of action for certain data breaches that is expected to increase data breach litigation. Additionally, a new privacy law, the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), was approved by California voters in the November 3, 2020 election. The CPRA generally takes effect on January 1, 2023 and significantly modifies the CCPA, including by expanding consumers’ rights with respect to certain personal information and creating a new state agency to oversee implementation and enforcement efforts, potentially resulting in further uncertainty and requiring us to incur additional costs and expenses in an effort to comply. Some observers have noted the CCPA and CPRA could mark the beginning of a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the United States, which could also increase our potential liability and adversely affect our business. For example, the CCPA has encouraged “copycat” or other similar laws to be considered and proposed in other states across the country, such as in Virginia, New Hampshire, Illinois and Nebraska. This legislation may add additional complexity, variation in requirements, restrictions and potential legal risk, require additional investment in resources to compliance programs, could impact strategies and availability of previously useful data and could result in increased compliance costs and/or changes in business practices and policies.

Various U.S. federal privacy laws are potentially relevant to our business, including the Federal Trade Commission Act, Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Any actual or perceived failure to comply with these laws could result in a costly investigation or litigation resulting in potentially significant liability, injunctions and other consequences, loss of trust by our users, and a material and adverse impact on our reputation and business.

In addition, the data protection landscape in the EU is continually evolving, resulting in possible significant operational costs for internal compliance and risks to our business. The EU adopted the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which became effective in May 2018, and contains numerous requirements and changes from previously existing EU laws, including more robust obligations on data processors and heavier documentation requirements for data protection compliance programs by companies.

Among other requirements, the GDPR regulates the transfer of personal data subject to the GDPR to third countries that have not been found to provide adequate protection to such personal data, including the United States. Recent legal developments in Europe have created complexity and uncertainty regarding such transfers. For instance, on July 16, 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the “CJEU”) invalidated the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework (the “Privacy Shield”) under which personal data could be transferred from the European Economic Area to U.S. entities who had self-certified under the Privacy Shield scheme. While the CJEU upheld the adequacy of the standard contractual clauses (a standard form of contract approved by the European Commission as an adequate personal data transfer mechanism and potential alternative to the Privacy Shield), it made clear that reliance on such clauses alone may not necessarily be sufficient in all circumstances. Use of the standard contractual clauses must now be assessed on a case-by-case basis taking into account the legal regime applicable in the destination country, including, in particular, applicable surveillance laws and rights of individuals, and additional measures and/or contractual provisions may need to be put in place; however, the nature of these additional measures is currently uncertain. The CJEU also states that if a competent supervisory authority believes that the standard contractual clauses cannot be complied with in the destination country and that the required level of protection cannot be secured by other means, such supervisory authority is under an obligation to suspend or prohibit that transfer.

Additionally, the GDPR greatly increased the European Commission’s jurisdictional reach of its laws and added a broad array of requirements for handling personal data. EU member states are tasked under the GDPR to enact, and have enacted, certain implementing legislation that adds to and/or further interprets the GDPR requirements and potentially extends our obligations and potential liability for failing to meet such obligations. The GDPR, together with national legislation, regulations and guidelines of the EU member states a governing the processing of personal data, impose strict obligations and restrictions on the ability to collect, use, retain, protect, disclose, transfer and otherwise process personal data. In particular, the GDPR includes obligations and restrictions concerning the consent and rights of individuals to whom the personal data relates, security breach notifications and the security and confidentiality of personal data.

Failure to comply with the GDPR could result in penalties for noncompliance (including possible fines of up to the greater of €20 million and 4% of our global annual turnover for the preceding financial year for the most serious violations, as well as the right to compensation for financial or non-financial damages claimed by individuals under Article 82 of the GDPR).

In addition to the GDPR, the European Commission has another draft regulation in the approval process that focuses on a person’s right to conduct a private life. The proposed legislation, known as the Regulation of Privacy and Electronic Communications (“ePrivacy Regulation”), would replace the current ePrivacy Directive. While the text of the ePrivacy Regulation is still under development, a recent European court decision and regulators’ recent guidance are driving increased attention to cookies and tracking technologies. If regulators start to enforce the strict approach in recent guidance, this could lead to substantial costs, require significant systems changes, limit the effectiveness of our marketing activities, divert the attention of our technology personnel, adversely affect our margins, increase costs and subject us to additional liabilities. Regulation of cookies and similar technologies may lead to broader restrictions on our marketing and personalization activities and may negatively impact our efforts to understand users.

Further, in March 2017, the United Kingdom formally notified the European Council of its intention to leave the EU pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (“Brexit”). The United Kingdom ceased to be an EU Member State on January 31, 2020, but enacted a Data Protection Act substantially implementing the GDPR (“U.K. GDPR”), effective in May 2018, which was further amended to align more substantially with the GDPR following Brexit. It is unclear how U.K. data protection laws or regulations will develop in the medium to longer term and how data transfers to and from the United Kingdom will be regulated. Some countries also are considering or have enacted legislation requiring local storage and processing of data that could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our services. Beginning in 2021 when the transitional period following Brexit expired, we are required to comply with both the GDPR and the U.K. GDPR, with each regime having the ability to fine up to the greater of €20 million (in the case of the GDPR) or £17 million (in the case of the U.K. GDPR) and 4% of total annual revenue. The relationship between the United Kingdom and the EU in relation to certain aspects of data protection law remains unclear, including, for example, how data transfers between EU member states and the United Kingdom will be treated and the role of the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office following the end of the transitional period. These changes could lead to additional costs and increase our overall risk exposure.

Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with our posted privacy policies, our privacy-related obligations to users, or any other legal obligations or regulatory requirements relating to privacy, data protection, or data security, may result in governmental investigations or enforcement actions, litigation, claims, or public statements against us by consumer advocacy groups, or others and could result in significant liability, cause our users to lose trust in us, and otherwise materially and adversely affect our reputation and business. Furthermore, the costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, the laws, regulations, other obligations, and policies that are applicable to the businesses of our users may limit the adoption and use of, and reduce the overall demand for, the application. Further, public scrutiny of, or complaints about, technology companies or their data handling or data protection practices, even if unrelated to our business, industry or operations, may lead to increased scrutiny of technology companies, including us, and may cause government agencies to enact additional regulatory requirements, or to modify their enforcement or investigation activities, which may increase our costs and risks. Any of the foregoing could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Online applications are subject to various laws and regulations relating to children’s privacy and protection, which if violated, could subject us to an increased risk of litigation and regulatory actions.

A variety of laws and regulations have been adopted in recent years aimed at protecting children using the internet such as the COPPA and Article 8 of the GDPR. We implement certain precautions to ensure that we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13 through the application. Despite our efforts, no assurances can be given that such measures will be sufficient to completely avoid allegations of COPPA violations, any of which could expose us to significant liability, penalties, reputational harm and loss of revenue, among other things. Additionally, new regulations are being considered in various jurisdictions to require the monitoring of user content or the verification of users’ identities and age. Such new regulations, or changes to existing regulations, could increase the cost of our operations.

We may not be successful in our metaverse strategy and investments, which could adversely affect our business, reputation, or financial results.

We believe the metaverse, an embodied internet where people have immersive experiences beyond two-dimensional screens, is the next evolution in social technology. In 2023, we launched Habytat, a mobile based social metaverse. Our development of Habytat involved the development of new and emerging technologies and collaboration with other companies, developers, partners, and other participants. However, the metaverse may not develop in accordance with our expectations, and market acceptance of features, products, or services we built for Habytat is uncertain. In addition, we have limited experience with virtual and augmented reality technology, which may enable other companies to compete more effectively than us. We may be unsuccessful in our research and product development efforts, including if we are unable to develop relationships with key participants in the metaverse or develop products that operate effectively with metaverse technologies, products, systems, networks, or standards. Our metaverse efforts divertrf resources and management attention from other areas of our business. We ceased our development of the Habytat platform and are evaluating ways to utilize the technology developed.

In addition, we may be subject to a variety of existing or new laws and regulations in the United States and international jurisdictions, including in the areas of privacy, safety, competition, content regulation, consumer protection, and e-commerce, which may delay or impede the development of our products and services, increase our operating costs, require significant management time and attention, or otherwise harm our business. As a result of these or other factors, our metaverse strategy and investments may not be successful in the foreseeable future, or at all, which could adversely affect our business, reputation, or financial results.

Myseum is currently under development and no assurance can be given that it will be accepted by others or generate sufficient interest.

Myseum, our new platform, is being designed to allow for the preservation and sharing of pictures, video, and documents in a secured network utilizing our recently patented technology that enabled us with the preservation of data, including storage, sharing, and secure control of data on social media technology platforms and digital archives. We aim to continue researching and developing different applications for our Myseum platform in order to generate continual interest in this platform. If we do not generate sufficient interest in our Myseum platform we will not attract enough advertisers to make it profitable.

Myseum is based on new and unproven technologies and therefore is subject to the risks of failure inherent in the development of new products and services.

Because Myseum is based on certain new technologies, it is subject to risks of failure that are particular to new technologies, including the possibility that:

• Myseum may not gain market acceptance;
• proprietary rights of third parties may preclude us from marketing a new product or service;
• Mtseum may not receive the exposure required to obtain new users; or
• third parties may market superior products or services.

We may not be able to adequately evaluate the risks associated with our planned social metaverse and advertising platforms.

Myseum may not be successful and may expose us to legal, regulatory, and other risks. Given the nascent and evolving nature of the metaverse, digital assets 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. It is difficult to predict how the legal and regulatory framework around such digital assets and services will develop and how such developments will impact our business and our platforms. The launch of Myseum 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 these initiatives, technical issues with the operation of Myseum and legal and regulatory risks as discussed above. If we fail to accurately anticipate or manage the risks associated with Myseum or if we directly or indirectly become subject to disputes, liability, or other legal or regulatory issues in connection with either of these initiatives, they may not be successful and our business, financial condition, results of operations, reputation, and prospects could be materially harmed.

Our business is subject to risks generally associated with the metaverse and digital entertainment industry.

We are susceptible to market conditions and risks associated with the metaverse and digital entertainment industry, including the popularity, customers’ preferences, and potential regulations, all of which are difficult to predict and are beyond our control.

In addition, economic conditions that negatively impact discretionary consumer spending, including inflation, slower growth, unemployment levels, tax rates, interest rates, energy prices, declining consumer confidence, recession and other macroeconomic conditions, including those resulting from COVID-19 and from geopolitical issues and uncertainty, could have a material adverse impact on our business and results of operations.

If we fail to retain users or add new users, or if our users decrease their level of engagement with Myseum, revenue, bookings, and operating results will be harmed.

Our business plan assumes that the demand for social media offerings, specifically, the adoption of a platform for sharing and preserving of media. However, if this market shrinks or grows more slowly than anticipated, or if demand for Myseum does not grow as quickly as we anticipate, whether as a result of competition, product obsolescence, budgetary constraints of our developers, creators, and users, technological changes, unfavorable economic conditions, uncertain geopolitical or regulatory environments or other factors, we may not be able to increase our revenue and bookings sufficiently to ever achieve profitability and our stock price would decline.

The multitude of other social media platforms, media sharing, and other interactive experiences is high, making it difficult to retain users who are dissatisfied with Myseum and seek other social media options. These and other factors may lead users to switch to another entertainment option rapidly, which can interfere with our ability to forecast usage and would negatively affect our user retention, growth, and engagement. Falling user retention, growth, or engagement rates could harm our business.

We face intense competition for our products and services.

There are numerous technology companies seeking ways to support efforts to enter the social media business. Additionally, social media has become more readily recognized as a method of sharing media and as such, more competitors are seeking to enter this marketplace. These technologies are subject to rapidly changing technological developments, shifting organizational priorities and requirements, frequent introductions of new products and services, and increased marketing and sales activities of other industry participants.

Many competitors exist in the overlapping areas of social media and traditional digital marketing, data analytics, and digital transformation. Many of our current and potential competitors have a significantly larger market presence, greater name recognition, access to more potential customers and substantially greater financial, technical, sales and marketing, management, support, and other resources than we have. As a result, many of our competitors can respond more quickly than we can to new or changing opportunities and technologies, and may devote greater resources to the marketing, promotion and sale of their products than we can.

Our costs are continuing to grow, and some of our investments, particularly our investments in virtual and augmented reality, have the effect of reducing our operating margin and profitability. If our investments are not successful longer-term, our business and financial performance will be harmed.

Operating our business is costly, and we expect our expenses to continue to increase in the future as we add users and broaden our user base, as users increase the amount and types of content they consume and the data they share with us, for example as we continue to expand our technical infrastructure, as we continue to invest in new and unproven technologies, and as we continue our efforts to focus on privacy, safety, security, and content review. We are also continuing to increase our investments in new platforms and technologies, including as part of our efforts related to building the metaverse. Some of these investments, particularly our significant investments in virtual and augmented reality, have generated only limited revenue and is anticipated to reduce our operating margin and profitability, and we expect the adverse financial impact of such investments to continue for the foreseeable future.

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 entertainment industry. We must continually anticipate and adapt to emerging technologies and business models to stay competitive. Forecasting the financial impact these changing technologies and business models may have is inherently uncertain and volatile. Supporting a new technology or business model may require affiliating with a new business or technology vendor, and such affiliation 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 content offerings that incorporate a new technology or business model that does not achieve significant popularity, whether because of competition or otherwise, we may not recover the often substantial costs of developing and marketing those content offerings, or recover the opportunity cost of diverting company resources away from other content and product offerings. In the near and longer term, we expect to take advantage of broader trends such as the growth of the metaverse in the digital economy and the associated increase in importance of technologies such as blockchains, virtual reality and augmented reality. We may not be successful in allocating our resources to these new areas and may not recover the costs and opportunity costs of investing in these opportunities instead of others. Further, our competitors may adapt to these or other emerging technologies or business models more quickly or effectively than we do.

If, on the other hand, we elect not to pursue the development of content offerings or other opportunities incorporating a new technology, or otherwise elect not to pursue new business models that achieve significant success and popularity, it may have adverse consequences to our business. It may take significant time and expenditures to shift financial and personnel resources to that technology or business model, and it may be more difficult to compete against existing companies that incorporate that technology or business model effectively.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock and Series A Warrants

The price of our common stock and our Series A Warrants may fluctuate substantially.

You should consider an investment in our common stock and Series A Warrants to be risky, and you should invest in our common stock and Series A Warrants 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.

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 our 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.

If research analysts do not publish research about our business or if they issue unfavorable commentary or downgrade our common stock or Series A Warrants, 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 and Series A Warrants 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 and Series A Warrants or trading volume to decline.

We may issue additional equity securities, or engage in other transactions that could dilute our book value or relative rights of our common stock, which may adversely affect the market price of our common stock and Series A Warrants.

Our board of directors may determine from time to time that it needs to raise additional capital by issuing additional shares of our common stock or other securities. Except as otherwise described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we will not be restricted from issuing additional common stock, including securities that are convertible into or exchangeable for, or that represent the right to receive, shares of our common stock. Because our decision to issue securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing, or nature of any future offerings, or the prices at which such offerings may be affected. Additional equity offerings may dilute the holdings of existing shareholders or reduce the market price of our common stock and Series A Warrants, or all of them. Holders of our securities are not entitled to pre-emptive rights or other protections against dilution. New investors also may have rights, preferences and privileges that are senior to, and that adversely affect, then-current holders of our securities. Additionally, if we raise additional capital by making offerings of debt or preference shares, upon our liquidation, holders of our debt securities and preference shares, and lenders with respect to other borrowings, may receive distributions of its available assets before the holders of our common stock.

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.

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 Stock holders will receive a distribution in such a case.

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.

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.

We may be at risk of securities class action litigation.

We may be at risk of securities class action litigation. In the past, small-cap issuers have experienced significant stock price volatility, particularly when associated with regulatory requirements by governmental authorities, which our industry now increasingly faces. If we face such litigation, it could result in substantial costs and a diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could harm our business and results in a decline in the market price of our common stock.

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 privately 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.

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.

Comprehensive tax reform bills could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

The U.S. government recently enacted comprehensive federal income tax legislation that includes significant changes to the taxation of business entities. These changes include, among others, a permanent reduction to the corporate income tax rate. Notwithstanding the reduction in the corporate income tax rate, the overall impact of this tax reform is uncertain, and our business and financial condition could be adversely affected. This Annual Report on Form 10-K does not discuss any such tax legislation or the manner in which it might affect purchasers of our common stock. We urge our shareholders to consult with their legal and tax advisors with respect to any such legislation and the potential tax consequences of investing in our common stock.

We could issue “blank check” preferred stock without stockholder approval with the effect of diluting interests of then-current stockholders and impairing their voting rights, and provisions in our charter documents and under Nevada law could discourage a takeover that stockholders may consider favorable.

Our Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation provides for the authorization to issue up to 20,000,000 shares of “blank check” preferred stock with designations, rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by our board of directors. Our board of directors is empowered, without stockholder approval, to issue one or more series of preferred stock with dividend, liquidation, conversion, voting or other rights which could dilute the interest of, or impair the voting power of, our common stockholders. The issuance of a series of preferred stock could be used as a method of discouraging, delaying or preventing a change in control. For example, it would be possible for our board of directors to issue preferred stock with voting or other rights or preferences that could impede the success of any attempt to change control of our company. In addition, advanced notice is required prior to stockholder proposals, which might further delay a change of control.

Our ability to have our securities traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market is subject to us meeting applicable listing criteria.

We are currently listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, LLC (“Nasdaq”), a national securities exchange. 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 listing 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 have our shares traded 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.

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 28, 2025, own approximately 7.7% of our common stock outstanding. 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. For example, these stockholders could delay or prevent a change in control of us, even if such a change in control would benefit our other stockholders, which could deprive our stockholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their Common Stock as part of a sale of the Company or our assets. The significant concentration of stock ownership may negatively impact the value of our Common Stock due to potential investors’ perception that conflicts of interest may exist or arise.

There are risks associated with the completion of the proposed spin-off of our Habytat platform business.

As previously announced, we plan to spin-off the Habytat platform business, which will operate independently as a publicly listed company. There is no assurance we will be able to successfully complete the proposed spin-off. In the event the Company does not complete the spin-off, it could incur write-offs related to the legal, tax and regulatory costs of the proposed transaction.

Our Articles of Incorporation, as amended, our Amended and Restated Bylaws, and Nevada 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 articles of incorporation, as amended, bylaws and Nevada 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.

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.

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.

Our Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation provide that the Eighth Judicial District Court of Clark County, Nevada will be the sole and exclusive forum for certain disputes which could limit stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with the Company or its directors, officers, employees or agents.

Our Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation provide that unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Eighth Judicial District Court of Clark County, Nevada shall be the sole and exclusive forum for state law claims with respect to: (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought in the name or right of the Company or on its behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim for breach of any fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer, employee or agent of the Company to the Company or the Company’s stockholders, (iii) any action arising or asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of Nevada Revised Statutes Chapters 78 or 92A or any provision of the Company’s Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation or Amended and Restated Bylaws or (iv) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine, including, without limitation, any action to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of the Company’s Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation or Amended and Restated 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 Amended and Restated Articles 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 Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation or Amended and Restated 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.

Our cybersecurity team, led by our Chief Technology Officer, Peter Shelus, uses a multi-pronged approach to assessing, identifying, and managing material risks from cybersecurity threats. This approach includes identifying and assessing risks through: (1) an enterprise risk management program, which is periodically refreshed and includes an identification of our top risks, including cybersecurity risks; (2) formalized security and privacy reviews designed to identify risks from many new features, software, and vendors; (3) a vulnerability management program designed to identify hardware and software vulnerabilities; (4) an internal “red team” program, which simulates cyber threats, intended to allow us to fix vulnerabilities before threat actors identify them; (5) a threat intelligence program designed to model and research our adversaries; and (6) a privacy and security incident response program designed to investigate, respond to, and remediate known incidents. These processes vary in scope and maturity across the business and are processes we work to continually improve.

Our risk management approach is supplemented by external and internal enterprise risk management audits, which are designed to test the effectiveness of our security controls. We conduct penetration testing on a periodic basis, and have established an external bug bounty program to allow security researchers to help identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses in our controls and configurations in our systems. We also maintain a vendor risk management program designed to identify and mitigate potential risks associated with third-party suppliers and business partners. This program includes pre-engagement diligence, use of contractual cybersecurity and notification provisions, and ongoing monitoring of vendors, as appropriate.

We use third-party service providers to assist us from time to time to identify, assess, and manage material risks from cybersecurity threats, including for example professional service firms (including legal counsel), threat intelligence services, and cybersecurity consultants.

The material cybersecurity threats identified through these processes are managed by our CISO and, where appropriate, our risk and compliance committee, in consultation with management. Together, they identify responsive actions for inclusion in our annual strategic planning, or earlier resolution depending on the nature of the risk.

For a description of the risks from cybersecurity threats that may materially affect us and how they may do so, see “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Our principal executive offices are located at 204 Neilson Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. We leased our office for a monthly base rent of $7,156 plus a pro rata share of operating expenses, with three percent (3%) annual increases in monthly installments on the first day of each year pursuant to a lease which terminated on December 31, 2024. Currently, we lease our space on a month to month basis and we are negotiating a for a new lease at this location or another location. We believe that our current office space will be adequate for the foreseeable future. We intend to add new facilities or expand existing facilities as we add employees, and we believe that suitable additional or substitute space will be available as needed to accommodate any such expansion of our operations.

From time to time, we may become involved in various lawsuits and legal proceedings, which arise in the ordinary course of business. Litigation is subject to inherent uncertainties, and an adverse result in these or other matters may arise from time to time that may harm our business. We are currently not aware of any such legal proceedings or claims that will have, individually or in the aggregate, a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or operating results.

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition to historical information, this discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Our actual results may differ materially from those discussed below. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below, and those discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. All amounts in this report are in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise noted.

Overview

We are a private messaging, cybersecurity, and social media company that not only focuses on protecting privacy on personal devices, but also protects user information after it is shared with others. We believe that one’s right to privacy should not end the moment they click “send”, and that we all deserve the same right to privacy online that we enjoy in our own living rooms. Our flagship product, DatChat Messenger & Private Social Network, is a privacy platform and mobile application that gives users the ability to communicate with the privacy and protection they deserve. Recently, we have expanded our business and product offerings to include the development of our Myseum platform, a secure digital content management and storage solution for families, groups and individuals. In addition, as a result of our acquisition of RPM Interactive, Inc. in October 2024, we have repositioned our majority-owned subsidiary, Dragon Interact, Inc. (recently renamed RPM Interactive, Inc.) away from the development of the Habytat platform to focus on becoming an AI generated publishing company of trivia mobile game apps and vodcasts/podcasts designed to publish content across hundreds of evergreen topics every day and be distributed to all major streaming platforms. See “Business – RPM Interactive, Inc.” and “Business – The Habytat.”

DatChat Messenger & Private Social Network

Our platform allows users to exercise control over their messages and posts, even after they are sent. Through our application, users can delete messages that they have sent, on their own device and the recipient’s device as well. There is no set time limit within which they must exercise this choice. A user can elect at any time to delete a message that they previously sent to a recipient’s device.

The application also enables users to hide secret and encrypted messages behind a cover, which messages can only be unlocked by the recipient and which are automatically destroyed after a fixed number of views or fixed amount of time. Users can decide how long their messages last on the recipient’s device. The application also includes a screen shot protection system, which makes it virtually impossible for the recipient to screenshot a message or picture before it gets destroyed. In addition, users can delete entire conversations at any time, making it like the conversation never even happened.

In addition to the foregoing, the application also provides users with the ability to connect via an encrypted live video chat that also is designed to prevent screenshots or screen grabs. The application integrates with iMessage, making private messages potentially available to hundreds of millions of users.

Myseum Social Media Platform

We recently launched our Myseum social media platform, an innovative social media platform that brings a fresh approach to digital media and content management, allowing users to create a digital legacy that can be easily shared today and with future generations. Backed by AI technology and proprietary software, the multi-tiered social media ecosystem enables individuals, families, and other groups to store and share digital content such as messages, photos, videos, and documents within a highly secure and private family library. Myseum allows users to create amazing albums and galleries for everyone to see, create special private and secure galleries with limited access, personalize a user’s newsfeed with updates from other Myseums and leave time released video messages for both now and future generations.

RPM Interactive, Inc.

In October 2024, our majority owned subsidiary, Dragon Interact, Inc. (“Dragon”), entered into a Share Exchange Agreement with RPM Interactive, Inc., a Florida corporation (“RPM”), pursuant to which Dragon acquired 100% of the equity interests of RPM, including all assets of RPM in consideration for the issuance of 3,500,000 restricted shares of Dragon’s common stock. RPM’s assets included an artificial intelligence (“AI”) tool used for publishing AI-generated consumer gaming and podcasting/vodcasting applications and certain intellectual property. As part of the acquisition, Dragon has changed its corporate name to RPM Interactive, Inc. (“RPM Interactive”) and shifted its focus to developing AI-driven podcast and gaming technologies.

Following the acquisition, in January 2025, we returned 3,500,000 shares of the RPM Interactive common stock held by us to RPM Interactive, which shares were cancelled and are no longer outstanding on RPM Interactive’s stock ledger. Following these transactions, we hold 9,000,000 shares of the RPM Interactive’s common stock, or approximately 34% of its outstanding shares.

The Habytat

Prior ot the acquisition of RPM, we had developed and launched, in November 2022, the Habytat, a virtual space that blends real world and virtual realities into one, in real time, using emerging technology like virtual and augmented reality, to create a highly immersive 3D environment. We had further contemplated spinning-off our Habytat platform business into a new standalone public company pursuant to a distribution of the shares of the our shareholders. As discussed above, following our acquisition of RPM in October 2024, we ceased our development of the Habytat platform and are evaluating ways to utilize the technology that had been developed by our subsidiary.

Recent Events

Return of Subsidiary Shares

In January 2025, we returned 3,500,000 shares of the Subsidiary’s. common stock held by us to the Subsidiary, which shares were cancelled and are no longer outstanding on the Subsidiary’s stock ledger. Following this transaction, we held 12.5 million shares of the Subsidiary’s common stock, or approximately 34% of its outstanding shares.

January 2025 Offering

On January 8, 2025, we entered into a securities purchase agreement with certain institutional investors, pursuant to which we sold 1,200,000 shares of our common stock at a purchase price of $4.25 per share of Common Stock. Proceeds from the offering were approximately $5.1 million, prior to deducting placement agent’s fees and other offering expenses payable by the Company. The shares of Common Stock were offered by the Company pursuant to its shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-268058), which was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 6, 2022, a base prospectus dated December 6, 2022, and a prospectus supplement dated January 8, 2025. The closing of the offering took place on January 9, 2025. In addition, pursuant to the terms of the offering, the Company issued to The Benchmark Company, LLC, the exclusive placement agent for the offering, warrants to purchase up to 60,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, at an exercise price equal to 100.0% of the offering price per share of Common Stock, or $4.25 per share. The Placement Agent Warrant is exercisable during the four-and-a-half year period commencing six months after the date of the closing of this Offering.

Basis of Presentation

The financial statements contained herein have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (the “U.S. GAAP”) and the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Critical Estimates

This management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is based on our financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reported period. In accordance with U.S. GAAP, we base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these estimates if conditions differ from our assumptions. While our significant accounting policies and significant estimates are more fully described in Note 2 in the “Notes to Financial Statements”, we believe the following estimates are critical to the process of making significant judgments and estimates in preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

Capitalized internal-use software costs

We capitalize costs to develop or purchase internal-use software in accordance with ASC section 350-40, Intangibles — Goodwill and Other — Internal-Use Software. Costs incurred to develop internal-use software are expensed as incurred during the preliminary project stage. Internal-use software development costs are capitalized upon purchase and during the application development stage, which is after: (i) the preliminary project stage is completed; and (ii) management authorizes and commits to funding the project and it is probable the project will be completed and used to perform the intended function. Capitalization ceases at the point where the software project is substantially complete and ready for its intended use, and after all substantial testing is completed. Upgrades and enhancements are capitalized if it is probable that those expenditures will result in additional functionality. Amortization is provided for on a straight-line basis over the expected useful life of the internal-use software development costs and related upgrades and enhancements. When existing software is replaced with new software, the unamortized costs of the old software are expensed when the new software is ready for its intended use. Software development costs incurred during the year ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 were expensed since the Metaverse software development project is in the preliminary project stage. Such costs are included in research and development costs on the accompanying consolidated statement of operations.

Variable interest entities

Pursuant to ASC 810-10-25-22, an entity is defined as a VIE if it either lacks sufficient equity to finance its activities without additional subordinated financial support, or it is structured such that the holders of the voting rights do not substantively participate in the gains and losses of the entity. When determining whether an entity that meets the definition of a business qualifies for a scope exception from applying VIE guidance, the Company considers whether: (i) it has participated significantly in the design of the entity, (ii) it has provided more than half of the total financial support to the entity, and (iii) substantially all of the activities of the VIE are conducted on its behalf. A VIE is consolidated by its primary beneficiary, the party that has the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the VIE’s economic performance and has the right to receive benefits or the obligation to absorb losses of the entity that could be potentially significant to the VIE. The primary beneficiary assessment must be re-evaluated on an ongoing basis.

Based on the Company’s analysis, on February 14, 2023, Metabizz, LLC, a Florida corporation, and Metabizz SAS, a company incorporated under the laws of Columbia (collectively “Metabizz”), were determined to be VIE entities in accordance with ASC 810-10-25-22 because the equity owners in Metabizz did not have the characteristics of a controlling financial interest and the initial equity investments in these entities may be or were insufficient to meet or sustain its operations without additional subordinated financial support from DatChat. The equity owners of Metabizz had only a nominal equity investment at risk, and the Company absorbed or received a majority of the entity’s expected losses or benefits. The Company participated significantly in the design of Metabizz. The Company provided working capital advances to Metabizz to allow Metabizz to fund its day-to-day obligations. Substantially all of the activities of Metabizz were conducted for the Company’s benefit, as evidenced by the fact that the operations of Metabizz consisted of development of software and technologies to be used by RPM Interactive and the Company provided working capital to Metabizz to pay employees and independent contractors to perform the development services on behalf of the Company. Repayment of the working capital advances is not guaranteed by the equity owner of Metabizz and creditors of Metabizz do not have recourse against the Company. Accordingly, the Company was required to consolidate the assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses of Metabizz using the fair value method. Additionally, the managing partner of Metabizz was also the Chief Innovation Officer of RPM Interactive. Since Metabizz, LLC and Metabizz SAS were considered VIE’s, any noncontrolling interest eliminated in consolidation. In connection with the initial consolidation of Metabizz, on February 14, 2023 (the initial consolidation date), the Company recorded a gain on initial consolidation of variable interest entities of $42,737.

On March 31, 2024, based on the Company’s analysis, the Company deconsolidated Metabizz, LLC and Metabizz SAS. During the three months ended March 31, 2024, the Company ceased doing business with Metabizz, LLC and Metabizz SAS and will pay technology professionals directly. In connection with the deconsolidation of Metabizz, LLC and Metabizz SAS, during the nine months ended September 30, 2024, the Company recorded a gain on deconsolidation of $107.

On August 27, 2024, the Company entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement with the Seller, pursuant to which it acquired from Seller the Assets (See Note 1) in consideration for the transfer by the Company of 8,000,000 restricted shares of common stock of RPM Interactive. Accordingly, as of September 30, 2024, the Company owned 45.5% of RPM Interactive. On August 27, 2024, based on the Company’s analysis, the Company determined that RPM Interactive met the definition of a VIE under the VIE model, which provides for situations in which control may be demonstrated other than by the possession of voting rights in RPM Interactive. Based on Company’s analysis, the Company continues to have the power to direct the activities of RPM Interactive that most significantly impact RPM Interactive’s economic performance and the obligation to absorb losses of RPM Interactive that could potentially be significant to RPM Interactive or the right to receive benefits from RPM Interactive that could potentially be significant to RPM Interactive.

Stock-based compensation

Stock-based compensation is accounted for based on the requirements of the Share-Based Payment Topic of ASC 718, “Compensation — Stock Compensation” (“ASC 718”), which requires recognition in the financial statements of the cost of employee, non-employee and director services received in exchange for an award of equity instruments over the period the employee, non-employee or director is required to perform the services in exchange for the award (presumptively, the vesting period). ASC 718 also requires measurement of the cost of employee, non-employee, and director services received in exchange for an award based on the grant-date fair value of the award. The fair value of each option granted is estimated as of the date of grant using the Black-Scholes-Merton option-pricing model, net of actual forfeitures. The fair value is amortized as compensation cost on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period of the awards, which is generally the vesting period. The Black-Scholes-Merton option-pricing model includes various assumptions, including the fair market value of our common stock, the expected life of stock options, the expected volatility, and the expected risk-free interest rate, among others. These assumptions reflect our best estimates, but they involve inherent uncertainties based on market conditions generally outside of our control. As a result, if other assumptions had been used, stock-based compensation expense, as determined in accordance with authoritative guidance, could have been materially impacted. Furthermore, if we use different assumptions on future grants, stock-based compensation expense could be materially affected in future periods.

Noncontrolling interests

The Company follows ASC Topic 810, “Consolidation,” governing the accounting for and reporting of noncontrolling interests (“NCI”) in partially owned consolidated subsidiaries and the loss of control of subsidiaries. Certain provisions of this standard indicate, among other things, that NCI be treated as a separate component of equity, not as a liability, that increases and decreases in the parent’s ownership interest that leave control intact be treated as equity transactions rather than as step acquisitions or dilution gains or losses, and that losses of a partially-owned consolidated subsidiary be allocated to noncontrolling interests even when such allocation might result in a deficit balance. The net loss attributed to NCI was separately designated in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. Losses attributable to NCI in a subsidiary may exceed a NCI’s interests in the subsidiary’s equity. The excess attributable to NCI is attributed to those interests. NCI shall continue to be attributed their share of losses even if that attribution results in a deficit NCI balance.

The Company allocates certain corporate common expenses to its subsidiaries based on the ratio of direct subsidiary expenses to total consolidated expenses. Management believes that this allocation method is reasonable.

The Company accounts for it noncontrolling interest in RPM Interactive in accordance with ASC Topic 810-10-45, which requires the Company to present noncontrolling interests as a separate component of total shareholders’ equity on the consolidated balance sheets and the consolidated net loss attributable to its noncontrolling interest be clearly identified and presented on the face of the consolidated statements of operations. Through January 10, 2024, the date that VR Interactive purchased 8,000,000 shares of RPM Interactive from Metabizz LLC, any noncontrolling interest eliminated in consolidation. Because this change in ownership moved from a consolidated entity (the VIE entities) to a nonconsolidated entity (VR Interactive), subsequent to January 10, 2024 the Company ceased eliminating the noncontrolling interest in consolidation and recorded an initial negative noncontrolling interest of $442,361 in total equity for the portion of equity ownership not attributable to DatChat based on the minority interest holders’ ownership interest in the carrying value of RPM Interactive’s equity. Additionally, during the year ended December 31, 2024, the Company recorded additional initial negative noncontrolling interest of $909,581 in total equity for the portion of additional equity ownership not attributable to the Company based on this minority interest holders’ ownership interest in the carrying value of RPM Interactive’s equity. The Company also allocated $785,847 of the net loss of the subsidiary to noncontrolling interest resulting in a total noncontrolling interest deficit of $2,137,789 as of December 31, 2024.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

Refer to the notes to the audited financial statements.

Results of Operations

Revenue

During the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, we generated revenues of $436 and $672, respectively, which consisted of subscription revenues.

Operating expenses

For the year ended December 31, 2024, operating expenses amounted to $5,281,339 as compared to $8,784,703 for the year ended December 31 2023, a decrease of $3,503,364, or 39.9%. For the years ended December 31 2024 and 2023, operating expenses consisted of the following:

Compensation and related expenses

Compensation and related expenses include salaries, stock-based compensation, health insurance and other benefits.

During the year ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, compensation and related expenses amounted to $2,320,127 and $4,760,180, respectively, a decrease of $2,440,053, or 51.3%. The decrease was attributable to a decrease in stock-based compensation of $1,985,961 and a decrease in other compensation and other related expenses of $454,092 related to a reduction in staff.

Marketing and advertising expenses

During the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, marketing and advertising expenses amounted to $128,656 and $388,444, respectively, a decrease of $259,788, or 67.0%, primarily due to an overall decrease in promotions, branding and digital marketing strategies and social media ads.

Professional and consulting expenses

During the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, we reported professional and consulting expenses of $1,031,898 and $1,324,640, respectively, a decrease of $292,742, or 22.1%. The decrease is attributable to a decrease in consulting fees of $96,202, which includes a decrease in stock-based consulting fees of $144,818, offset by an increase in other consulting fees of $48,616, a decrease in investor relations fees of $224,026, a decrease in legal fees of $27,195, and a decrease in other professional fees of $43,970, offset by an increase in accounting fees of $98,651.

Research and development costs

During the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, we incurred $857,668 and $1,351,415 in research and development costs, a decrease of $493,747, or 36.5%. Research and development costs were incurred in connection with our Metaverse software development project, including the development of Habytat which is in the preliminary stage. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we ceased development of our Metaverse software.

General and administrative expenses

During the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, general and administrative expenses amounted to $942,990 and $892,972, an increase of $50,018, or 5.6%. The increases are primarily attributable to an increase in computer and internet expenses of approximately $54,000.

Impairment loss on property and equipment and intangible assets

During the year ended December 31, 2023, we wrote off the balance of property and equipment held by MetaBizz since the property and equipment was abandoned and no longer being used by the Company as of December 31, 2023. Accordingly, we recognized an impairment loss on property and equipment of $43,671. We did not recognize any impairment loss on property and equipment during the year ended December 31, 2024.

Impairment loss on digital currencies and other digital assets

During the year ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, operating expenses included an impairment charge related to the write down of digital assets of $0 and $23,381, respectively.

Loss from Operations

During the year ended December 31, 2024, loss from operation amounted to $5,280,903 as compared to $8,784,031 during the year ended December 31, 2023, a decrease of $3,503,128, or 39.9%.

Other Income (Expense)

Other income (expenses) primarily consisted of interest income, gain on initial consolidation of variable interest entities, a forerign curreny exchange loss, a gain on deconsolidation of variable interest entities, and realized gains on short-term investments. During the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, we reported other income, net of $255,896 and $379,061, respectively.

During the year ended December 31, 2024, other income, net primarily consisted of interest income of $268,754, a gain on deconsolidation of variable interest entities of $107, and a foreign currency exchange loss of $12,965. During the year ended December 31, 2023, other income, net primarily consisted of interest income of $384,098, a gain on initial consolidation of variable interest entities of $42,737, a foreign currency exchange loss of $102, and a realized loss on short-term investments of $47,672.

Net Loss and Net Loss Attributable Common Shareholders

Due to the foregoing reasons, during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, our net loss was $5,025,007 and $8,404,970, respectively, a decrease of $3,379,963, or 40.2%. During the year ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, we adjusted net loss for the net loss of subsidiary attributable to noncontrolling interest by $785,847 and $0, respectively Accordingly, during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, our net loss attributable to common shareholders was $4,239,160, or $(1.43) per common share (basic and diluted) and $8,404,970, or $(4.14) per common share (basic and diluted), respectively, a decrease of $4,165,810, or 49.6%.

Liquidity, Capital Resources and Plan of Operations

As of December 31, 2024, we had cash and cash equivalents of $1,196,699 and short-term investments of $2,952,512. Short-term investments include U.S. Treasury bills that are all highly rated and have initial maturities between four and twelve months.

The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared on the basis of continuity of operations, realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities and commitments in the ordinary course of business. As of December 31, 2024, we had cash and cash equivalents of $1,196,699, short-term investments of $2,952,512, and working capital of $3,657,711. Short-term investments include U.S. Treasury zero coupon bills that are all highly rated and have initial maturities between four and twelve months. Additionally, on January 8, 2025, the Company entered into a securities purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with certain institutional investors pursuant to which the Company agreed to sell to such investors 1,200,000 shares of common stock of the Company at a purchase price of $4.25 per share of Common Stock (the “Offering”). The closing of the sales of these securities under the Purchase Agreement took place on January 9, 2025 and we received net proceeds of $4,537,000. Net cash used in operations was $4,388,385 for the year ended December 31, 2024. Until such time that the Company implements its growth strategy, it expects to continue to generate operating losses in the foreseeable future, mostly due to corporate overhead, research and development, and costs of being a public company. We believe that our existing working capital and cash on hand will provide sufficient cash to enable the Company to meet its operating needs and debt requirements for the next twelve months from the issuance date of this report.

Our primary uses of cash have been for research and development, compensation and related expenses, fees paid to third parties for professional services, marketing and advertising expenses, and general and administrative expenses. All funds received have been expended in the furtherance of growing the business. We received funds from the sale of our common stock, sale of common stock in our subsidiary, RPM Interactive, and the exercise of warrants. The following trends are reasonably likely to result in changes in our liquidity over the near to long term:

• An increase in working capital requirements to finance our current business,
• Cost of research and development,
• Addition of administrative, technical and sales personnel as the business grows, and
• The cost of being a public company.

Cash Flows from Operating Activities

Net cash used in operating activities totaled $4,388,385 and $6,529,277 for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, a decrease of $2,140,892.

Net cash flow used in operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2024 primarily reflected a net loss of $5,025,007, adjusted for the add-back (reduction) of non-cash items consisting of depreciation and amortization of $23,129, amortization of right of use assets of $73,977, accretion of stock-based stock option and common stock expense of $123,300, a non-cash gain from deconsolidation of variable interest entities of $(107), foreign currency exchange loss of $12,965, and non-cash research and development expense of $166,667, offset by changes in operating assets and liabilities primarily consisting of an increase in prepaid expenses of $9,649, an increase in accounts payable and accrued expenses of $307,568, and a decrease in operating lease liabilities of $83,674.

Net cash flow used in operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2023 primarily reflected a net loss of $8,404,970 adjusted for the add-back (reduction) of non-cash items consisting of depreciation and amortization of $28,943, amortization of right of use assets of $60,549, accretion of stock-based stock option and common stock expense of $2,254,079, a non-cash gain from initial consolidation of variable interest entities of $(42,737), impairment loss on digital assets of $23,381, impairment of property and equipment of $43,671, and net realized gain on short-term investments of $327,145, offset by changes in operating assets and liabilities primarily consisting of a decrease in prepaid expenses of $5,797, a decrease in accounts payable and accrued expenses of $103,741, and a decrease in operating lease liabilities of $67,339.

Cash Flows from Investing Activities

Net cash provided by investing activities amounted to $2,236,751 and $6,160,932 for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, a decrease of $3,924,181.

During the years ended December 31, 2024, we purchased short-term investments of $10,767,288 and received gross proceeds from the sale of short-term investments of $13,004,039.

During the years ended December 31, 2023, we purchased short-term investments of $8,599,121 and received gross proceeds from the sale of short-term investments of $14,745,000. Additionally, we received $64,538 in cash upon initial consolidation of variable interest entities and purchased property and equipment amounting to $49,485.

Cash Flows from Financing Activities

Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities totaled $2,394,971 and $(398,284) for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

During the year ended December 31, 2024, we received $559,251 from the sale of common stock, net, received $974,198 from the sale of subsidiary common stock, net, and received $861,522 from the sale of pre-funded warrants.

During the year ended December 31, 2023, we repaid related party advances of $1,315, we used cash of $397,969 to purchase 66,945 treasury stock at an average price of $5.94 per share, and we received $1,000 from the sale of Series B preferred stock.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have not entered into any other financial guarantees or other commitments to guarantee the payment obligations of any third parties. We have not entered into any derivative contracts that are indexed to our shares and classified as shareholders’ equity or that are not reflected in our financial statements. Furthermore, we do not have any retained or contingent interest in assets transferred to an unconsolidated entity that serves as credit, liquidity or market risk support to such entity. We do not have any variable interest in any unconsolidated entity that provides financing, liquidity, market risk or credit support to us or engages in leasing, hedging or research and development services with us.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls

Our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, after evaluating the effectiveness of the Company’s “disclosure controls and procedures” (as defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) as of December 31, 2024, the end of the period covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K, have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective such that the information required to be disclosed by us in reports filed under the Exchange Act is (i) recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms and (ii) accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding disclosure. In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, cannot provide absolute assurance that the objectives of the controls system are met, and no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within a company have been detected.

Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as such term is defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f). Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of consolidated financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP. All internal control systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations. Therefore, even those systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation.

As of December 31, 2024, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission in Internal Control-Integrated Framework - 2013. Based on this assessment, our management concluded that, as of December 31, 2024, our internal control over financial reporting was not effective because it identified a material weakness. A material weakness is a significant deficiency or a combination of significant deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

Specifically, management concluded that the ineffectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting was due to the following material weaknesses:

• We lack segregation of duties within accounting functions duties as a result of our limited financial resources to support hiring of personnel.
• The lack of multiples levels of management review on complex business, accounting and financial reporting issues.
• We have not implemented adequate system and manual controls.

While we used the services of a third-party accountant to provide accounting and financial reporting services to us, we lack both an adequate number of personnel with requisite expertise in the key functional areas of finance and accounting and an adequate number of personnel to properly implement internal control over financial reporting. These factors represent material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. Although we believe the possibility of errors in our financial statements is remote and expect to continue to use a third-party accountant to address shortfalls in staffing and to assist us with accounting and financial reporting responsibilities in an effort to mitigate the lack of segregation of duties, until such time as we expand our staff with qualified personnel, we expect to continue to report material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting.

Attestation Report of our Registered Public Accounting Firm

This Annual Report on Form 10-K does not include an attestation report of our registered public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting. As a smaller reporting company, our management’s report was not subject to attestation by our registered public accounting firm pursuant to rules of the SEC that permit us to provide only management’s report in this annual report.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during our last fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.