Datavault AI said bitcoin received in a $150 million share sale was credited to its account at Biconomy through an off-chain transfer, and that it will restate financial statements. The shares fell about 50% to under 7 cents.
Crypto | FinancialMarkets.com | October 28, 2026
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Owning bitcoin and having bitcoin credited to an account are not the same thing. Datavault AI has just shown investors the difference.
The Nasdaq-listed company disclosed in a filing that it has been unable, since June, to complete a withdrawal of bitcoin held in its account at Biconomy, a crypto exchange. It also said several of its past financial statements can no longer be relied upon and will be restated. Its shares fell 49.6% to about $0.067 on Tuesday.
How the bitcoin got there
The bitcoin came from a September 2025 agreement under which Scilex Holding agreed to buy Datavault shares and a pre-funded warrant for $150 million, payable in bitcoin, at a price of $112,915.52 per coin, or about 1,328 bitcoin. According to the filing, the bitcoin was credited to Datavault's wallet at Biconomy "through an off-chain transfer," less 19.39 bitcoin for cash advances, rather than delivered on the blockchain to a wallet Datavault controlled.
"In June 2026, the Company requested a withdrawal," the filing says, and as of the filing date it had been unable to complete it.
The accounting consequence
Datavault's audit committee concluded the bitcoin did not qualify as the company's own digital asset, according to accounts of the filing, and that it should have been recorded as an amount owed by Scilex. The restatement cuts reported assets by $92.2 million as of the end of 2025 and $49 million as of June 30, 2026, CoinDesk reported. Datavault had also sold 491.4 bitcoin back to Scilex for about $40.5 million.
The filing does not say the bitcoin was lost or stolen, and it does not describe the exchange's financial condition. Biconomy's response, and whether Scilex disputes Datavault's account, have not been made public.
Why the distinction matters
Coins credited inside an exchange account are a claim on the exchange. Coins sent on the blockchain to a wallet whose keys the company holds are an asset the company controls directly. Datavault had been reporting the first as if it were the second.
Small company, broader question
Datavault is a micro-cap trading for pennies, and its situation does not describe how larger treasury companies such as Strategy hold their bitcoin. But it lands in a month of heavy scrutiny of companies that raise money to buy crypto, and it puts one question in front of all of them: can investors verify that the company controls the coins it reports?
One reading is that this is an isolated counterparty and accounting failure at a very small company, and that the bitcoin may still be recoverable. The other is that it is a warning about disclosure across the sector, where few companies detail how and where their coins are held.
What to watch
Any statement from Biconomy or Scilex, the restated financial statements, whether Datavault recovers the bitcoin, and whether other treasury companies add custody detail to their disclosures.