Datavault Falls 49.62% to $0.067 as Scilex Deal Bitcoin Withdrawal Fails
Key Facts
Datavault AI shares closed down 49.62% at $0.067 on October 27, 2026, after closing at $0.133 in the previous session, according to historical Investing.com data. Trading volume surged to 239.78 million shares, compared with 30.30 million on October 26. The decline followed the company's disclosure that it had been unable to complete a request to withdraw bitcoin from its Biconomy wallet, alongside its announcement that balances linked to the Scilex deal did not meet the criteria for recognition as the company's digital assets. Scilex closed at $2.05 on October 27, compared with $2.33 the previous day, according to EL7 data. The disclosure's effects also extended to the financial statements and Datavault's assessment of its ability to continue as a going concern.
The deal dates to an agreement dated September 25, 2025, under which Scilex agreed to buy 15 million Datavault shares and a pre-funded warrant to purchase 263,914,094 shares, for $150 million payable in bitcoin, according to the company's 8-K filing. The agreement set a spot price of $112,915.52 per bitcoin, equivalent to about 1,328.43 bitcoin. The company said Scilex deposited 1,309.04 bitcoin into Datavault's Biconomy wallet through off-chain transfers on September 26 and November 25, 2025. The balance followed the deduction of 19.39 bitcoin for cash advances between the signing of the agreement and its final closing. Between September 26, 2025, and January 30, 2026, Datavault resold 491.431 bitcoin to Scilex for about $40.5 million in cash.
Datavault said it requested in June 2026 that bitcoin be transferred from its Biconomy wallet to an external account, but was unable to complete the withdrawal by its October disclosure. The company concluded that the bitcoin linked to the Scilex deal did not meet the requirements for recognition as a digital asset it owned. Accordingly, it said the appropriate accounting treatment was to record subscription receivables as a reduction to shareholders' equity. It estimated that restating the figures would reduce total assets by $8.1 million as of September 30, 2025, $92.2 million as of December 31, 2025, $57.1 million as of March 31, 2026, and $49 million as of June 30, 2026. An EL7 article published on October 27 cited an expected $92.2 million reduction following the deal review.
The audit committee and management were informed that the financial statements for the periods ended September 30, 2025, December 31, 2025, March 31, 2026, and June 30, 2026, should no longer be relied upon. This means the review's impact extends beyond asset estimates to figures the company had previously disclosed to investors. Datavault's second-quarter report showed a balance of 837 bitcoin with a fair value of $49.016 million as of June 30, 2026, compared with 1,054 bitcoin with a fair value of $92.222 million as of December 31, 2025. The report said the company transferred 217 bitcoin to Scilex during the first half of 2026 to repay $18.1 million in cash advances. Datavault recorded a realized loss of $0.8 million on that transfer.
Management is reassessing the company's ability to continue as a going concern for the year ended December 31, 2025, and the quarter ended March 31, 2026, after determining that the bitcoin should not be presented as a company asset and as collection of amounts due from Scilex remains uncertain. Datavault said the final impact on this assessment has not yet been determined. The company plans to reissue the affected financial statements but has not set a timetable for the new filings. The disclosure added that the review of the financial statements and assessment of internal controls are ongoing, and the possibility of identifying additional errors could cause delays. It also cited risks related to Nasdaq's continued-listing requirements, additional financing, and the outcome of efforts to collect amounts from Scilex or obtain Biconomy's cooperation.