Datavault AI Inc. disclosed in a Form 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that approximately 817.6 bitcoin, valued near $65 million, remains stuck on a crypto exchange called Biconomy after withdrawal requests stalled, leading the company to reverse prior gains, declare its financial statements unreliable, and trigger a stock market sell-off.
How the Digital Asset Accumulation Began
The origin of the frozen treasury traces back to a September 2025 securities purchase agreement. For $150 million—to be settled via roughly 1,328.43 bitcoin—Scilex Holding Company committed to acquiring 15 million shares of Datavault common stock along with a pre-funded warrant for an additional 263,914,094 shares. Scilex credited 1,309.04 bitcoin to a digital wallet maintained at Biconomy Pte. Ltd. through off-chain transfers on September 26th and November 25th, 2025, following a 19.39 bitcoin reduction for cash advances.
I never heard of either of these companies and I’ve been in the industry for a minute. But the lesson is very familiar… I only wish there were … some sort of …alliterative catchphrase for it https://t.co/8CMcZDmebO
Through similar off-chain transfers executed between September 26th, 2025, and January 30th, 2026, Datavault transferred 491.431 of those credited bitcoin back to Scilex in exchange for roughly $40.5 million in cash. The remaining balance, around 817.6 bitcoin, has sat on the exchange since then. At recent prices near $80,000, that stack is worth roughly $65 million.
Scilex’s relationship with Biconomy predated the transaction. Scilex revealed on September 24, 2025, that it had established a non-binding, non-exclusive memorandum of understanding with Biconomy.com to investigate potential crypto trading services and treasury-management strategies. The next day, Scilex completed a separate transaction in which it sold shares of its Semnur Pharmaceuticals subsidiary to Biconomy Pte. Ltd. for bitcoin, according to Scilex’s SEC filing. Scilex then used $150 million worth of bitcoin in its investment in Datavault.
The Stalled Withdrawal and SEC Disclosure
In June 2026, Datavault requested a withdrawal of the bitcoin from the digital wallet maintained at Biconomy to an external account. As of the filing date of the Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 26th, the company has been unable to complete the withdrawal. Instead of treating the coins as a corporate digital asset, Datavault concluded they failed to satisfy the necessary criteria for such recognition. Rather, the company will account for the amount as a subscription receivable originating from Scilex, a move that will diminish stockholders’ equity while reversing previously booked bitcoin gains and losses.
A Bitcoin treasury company (@Datavault_ai $DVLT) just crashed because they informed investors that they haven't been able to withdraw BTC from the exchange (@BiconomyCom) that is holding all their treasury funds after 4 months of transfer requests.
The filing notes that prior financial statements can no longer be relied upon. Because recovering funds from Scilex remains questionable and the business had previously counted the bitcoin among its liquid assets, leadership is currently reviewing the organization’s going-concern status. Jameson Lopp, co-founder and Chief Security Officer at Casa, posted on X that a Bitcoin treasury company crashed because they informed investors that they haven’t been able to withdraw BTC from the exchange holding all their treasury funds after 4 months of transfer requests.
Inquiries sent by CoinDesk to Biconomy regarding the withdrawal status and the bitcoin supporting Datavault’s account went unanswered. Although a help-center page on the Biconomy Exchange website claims the platform holds a license from the Securities Commission of Malaysia, checking the regulator’s official register of authorized digital asset exchanges—which was last refreshed on July 20, 2026—shows that Biconomy is absent from the roster of approved entities.
The Unresolved Binding Term Sheet
Amid the custody friction, the two companies pursued a buyout of the remaining balance. Scilex and Datavault formalized an agreement on June 24, 2026, by executing a binding term sheet detailing Scilex’s plan to acquire the 837 bitcoin stored in the Biconomy wallet for $50 million. The deal structure specified an initial payment of $30 million, with the remaining $20 million distributed across quarterly payments stretching until December 2028. Finalization of the transaction was subject to a definitive agreement and customary closing conditions.
In subsequent quarterly filings, both companies stated a definitive agreement had not been entered into. Neither enterprise publicly confirmed whether the transaction had reached completion or been canceled by the time Datavault submitted its October 26 filing. Datavault’s filing lists the outcome of efforts to collect amounts from Scilex or obtain the cooperation of Biconomy among its primary ongoing risks.
Market Reaction and Corporate Structure
After sliding from $0.13 on Monday down to about $0.067 on Tuesday, Datavault’s stock experienced a roughly 31% recovery on Wednesday, closing near $0.088 amid heavy trading volume, as reported by Unchained. Neither Datavault nor Scilex made a new SEC filing to explain the rebound, and Unchained did not identify a specific catalyst.
Galaxy Research vice president and editor Marc Hochstein quoted Lopp’s post on X and remarked that he had never heard of either of these companies despite being in the industry for a minute, noting the lesson was familiar and wishing there were an alliterative catchphrase for it.
Hochstein was likely making a reference to the common “not your keys, not your coins” saying in crypto. Rather than stemming from a systematic accumulation strategy, Datavault’s bitcoin holdings were acquired as transaction consideration for shares and warrants in a financing arrangement, and the tokens were credited through internal exchange accounts rather than transferred directly on-chain to a wallet under the company’s direct control.
