BTCS BTCS Inc

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited condensed financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”) for interim financial information, the instructions to Form 10-Q and the rules and regulations of the SEC. Accordingly, since they are interim statements, the accompanying unaudited condensed financial statements do not include all of the information and notes required by GAAP for annual financial statements, but in the opinion of the Company’s management, reflect all adjustments consisting of normal, recurring adjustments, that are necessary for a fair presentation of the financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the interim periods presented. Interim results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 are not necessarily indicative of results for the full year ending December 31, 2024. The unaudited condensed financial statements and notes should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Reclassifications

Certain prior period amounts have been reclassified in order to conform with the current period presentation in the unaudited condensed financial statements and accompanying notes. The reclassifications did not have a material impact on the Company’s unaudited condensed financial statements and related disclosures. The impact on any prior period disclosures was immaterial.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less when purchased to be cash and cash equivalents. The Company maintains cash and cash equivalent balances at financial institutions that are insured by the FDIC. As of June 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Company had approximately $537,000 and $1,458,000 in cash. The Company has not experienced any losses in such accounts and believes it is not exposed to any significant credit risk on cash.

Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentration of credit risk consist principally of cash deposits. Accounts at each institution are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) up to $250,000. As of June 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Company had approximately $61,000 and $933,000 in excess of the FDIC insured limit, respectively.

Stablecoins

The Company holds stablecoins, such as USDT (Tether) and USDC (USD Coin), which are crypto assets that are pegged to the value of one U.S. dollar. Our stablecoins are typically held in secure digital wallets or on crypto asset exchanges. The Company acquires and holds stablecoins primarily to facilitate crypto asset transactions, including, but not limited to, payments to third-party vendors. While not accounted for as cash or cash equivalents, these stablecoins are considered a liquidity resource.

Crypto Assets

Fair Value Measurement

The Company’s accounts for the fair value measurement for its crypto assets in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 820, Fair Value Measurement. ASC 820 defines fair value as the price that would be received for an asset in a current sale, assuming an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. Market participants are considered to be independent, knowledgeable, and willing and able to transact. It requires the Company to assume that its crypto assets are sold in their principal market or, in the absence of a principal market, the most advantageous market.

Kraken serves as the principal market for the Company’s crypto assets, being the Company’s primary cryptocurrency exchange for both purchases and sales. Coinbase is designated as the secondary principal market. This determination results from a comprehensive evaluation considering various factors, including compliance, trading activity, and price stability.

The fair value of crypto assets is primarily determined based on pricing data obtained from Kraken, the Company’s principal market. In the absence of Kraken data, pricing from Coinbase serves as a secondary source.

While Kraken is designated as the primary exchange, the Company retains flexibility to conduct cryptocurrency transactions on other exchanges where it maintains accounts. This flexibility allows the Company to adapt to changing market conditions and explore alternative platforms when necessary to ensure cost-effective execution and fair value measurement using the most advantageous market.

The selection of Kraken as the principal market reflects the Company’s commitment to informed decision-making and achieving the most accurate representation of fair value for its crypto assets. Regular reviews ensure alignment with the Company’s objectives and cryptocurrency market dynamics.

Accounting for Crypto Assets

The cost basis of the Company’s crypto assets is initially recorded at their fair value using the last close price of the day in the UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) time zone on the date of receipt.

Crypto assets are measured at their fair respective fair market values at each reporting period end on the balance sheets and classified as either ‘Staked Crypto Assets’ or ‘Crypto Assets’ to distinguish their nature within the respective balances. Staked crypto assets are presented as current assets if their lock-up periods are less than 12 months, and as long-term other assets if the lock-up extends beyond one year. The majority of our crypto assets are staked, typically with lock-up periods of less than 21 days, and are considered current assets in accordance with ASC 210-10-20, Balance Sheet, due to the Company’s ability to sell them in a liquid marketplace, as we have a reasonable expectation that they will be realized in cash or sold or consumed during the normal operating cycle of our business to support operations when needed.

The classification of purchases and sales in the statements of cash flows is determined based on the nature of the crypto assets, which can be categorized as ‘productive’ (i.e. acquired for purposes of staking) or ‘non-productive’ (e.g. bitcoin). Acquisitions of non-productive crypto assets are treated as operating activities, while acquisitions of productive crypto assets are classified as investing activities in accordance with ASC 230-10-20, Investing activities. Productive crypto assets staked with lock-up periods of less than 12 months are listed as current assets in the ‘Staked Crypto Assets’ line item on the balance sheet. Staked crypto assets with lock-up periods exceeding 12 months are categorized as long-term other assets. Non-productive crypto assets are included in the ‘Crypto Assets’ line item on the balance sheet.

Effective January 1, 2023, the Company has elected to early adopt ASU No. 2023-08, resulting in a material change in accounting principle related to the Company’s accounting treatment of crypto assets. The impacts of the change in accounting principle are discussed further in Note 4.

The Company employs the specific identification method to determine the cost basis of our assets for the computation of gains and losses, in accordance with ASC 350-60-50-2a. This method involves identifying and using the actual cost of each individual asset sold or disposed of to calculate the gain or loss on its sale. Realized gain (loss) on sale of crypto assets are included in other income (expense) in the statements of operations. The Company recorded realized gains (losses) on crypto assets of approximately $287,000 and ($568,000) for the three months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively, and approximately $298,000 and ($560,000) for the six months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Revenue Recognition

The Company recognizes revenue under ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. The core principle of the revenue standard is that a company should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the Company expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The following five steps are applied to achieve that core principle:

Revenue is recognized when control of the promised goods or services is transferred to the customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration the Company expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services. The Company generates revenue through 1) staking rewards generated from its blockchain infrastructure operations, and 2) gas fees earned from successful Ethereum block building through Builder+. These revenues are collectively termed ‘Blockchain infrastructure revenues’ in the statements of operations.

The transaction consideration the Company receives - the crypto asset awards and gas fees - are a non-cash consideration, which the Company measures at fair value on the date received.

Blockchain Infrastructure

The Company engages in network-based smart contracts by running its own crypto asset validator nodes as well as by staking (or “delegating”) crypto assets directly to both its own validator nodes and nodes run by third-party operators. Through these contracts, the Company provides crypto assets to stake to a node for the purpose of validating transactions and adding blocks to a respective blockchain network. The term of a smart contract can vary based on the rules of the respective blockchain and typically last from a few days to several weeks after it is cancelled (or “un-staked”) by the delegator and requires that the staked crypto assets remain locked up during the duration of the smart contract.

In exchange for staking the crypto assets and validating transactions on blockchain networks, the Company is entitled to all of the fixed crypto asset awards earned from the network when delegating to the Company’s own node and is entitled to a fractional share of the fixed crypto asset awards a third-party node operator receives (less crypto asset transaction fees payable to the node operator, which are immaterial and are recorded as a deduction from revenue), for successfully validating or adding a block to the blockchain. The Company’s fractional share of awards received from delegating to a third-party validator node is proportionate to the crypto assets staked by the Company compared to the total crypto assets staked by all Delegators to that node at that time.

On certain blockchain networks on which the Company operates a validator node, the Company earns a validator node fee (“Validator Fee”), determined as a node operator’s published percentage of the crypto asset rewards earned on crypto assets delegated to its node.

Token rewards earned from staking, as well as tokens earned as Validator Fees, are calculated and distributed directly to BTCS digital wallets by the blockchain networks as part of their consensus mechanisms.

The provision of validating blockchain transactions is an output of the Company’s ordinary activities. Each separate block creation or validation under a smart contract with a network represents a performance obligation. The satisfaction of the performance obligation for processing and validating blockchain transactions occurs at a point in time when confirmation is received from the network indicating that the validation is complete, and the awards are available for transfer. At that point, revenue is recognized.

Ethereum Block Building (Builder+)

The Company participates in the Ethereum blockchain network by engaging in the construction of blocks (“block building”) containing strategically bundled transactions from the Ethereum mempool and from searchers who connect to the Company’s endpoint with the intent of the Company’s builder proposing their transactions. Revenue recognition for these activities, conducted through Builder+, entails the recognition of gas fees (or “transaction fees”) earned in exchange for successfully constructing blocks of bundled transactions and having these blocks selected and proposed by a validator to the Ethereum network for validation and successfully finalized on the network.

These gas fees are earned as a direct result of the Company’s fulfillment of its performance obligations, which include the construction of blocks by bundling transactions to maximize the value of the included fees and the proposal of that block by a Validator. Each constructed block under a smart contract with the Ethereum network signifies a distinct performance obligation.

As part of the block construction and proposal process, the Company’s Builder purchases block space through a fixed non-negotiable fee paid to a Validator (a “Validator Payment”) embedded in each proposed block. The Validator Payment, predetermined by the Builder, is paid to Validators as compensation for selecting and proposing the Company’s block to the network for validation. The Validator Payment is intrinsically linked to the Company’s performance obligations and is disbursed in the block constructed by the Builder if our Builder’s block is both selected by a Validator and successfully proposed to, and finalized on, the Ethereum network; otherwise, our Validator Payment may be included in a subsequent block. The Validator Payment represents a direct and fixed pre-determined cost.

The satisfaction of the performance obligation occurs at a point in time when the constructed block is both proposed by a Validator and successfully finalized on the Ethereum network. At this juncture, the Company has fulfilled its obligations, and the gas fees associated with the transactions included in the block become available and are transferred to the Company’s digital wallet.

The Company recognizes revenue, reflecting the fair value of the total gas fees earned from the constructed block.

The following tables detail the native token rewards and their respective fair market value recognized as revenue for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023. Revenues are derived from three primary sources: (1) token rewards earned from the delegation of cryptocurrency assets to third-party validator nodes; (2) token rewards derived from BTCS-operated validator nodes, which include staking of the Company’s crypto assets to BTCS nodes as well as Validator Fees earned from third parties asset delegations to our nodes; and (3) block rewards generated by BTCS Builders.

Cost of Revenues

The Company’s cost of revenues related to its blockchain infrastructure operations primarily includes direct production costs associated with transaction validation on the network, cloud-based server hosting expenses related to our validator nodes and Builders, and allocated employee salaries dedicated to node maintenance and support. Additionally, the cost of revenues encompasses Validator Payments made from our Builder to Validators as well as fees paid to third parties for their assistance in software maintenance and node operations. These costs directly related to the production of revenues are collectively termed ‘Blockchain infrastructure expenses’ in the statements of operations.

Internally Developed Software

Internally developed software consists of the core technology of the Company’s StakeSeeker and ChainQ platforms. For internally developed software, the Company uses both its own employees as well as the services of external vendors and independent contractors. The Company accounts for computer software used in the business in accordance with ASC 985-20 and ASC 350.

ASC 985-20, Software-Costs of Computer Software to Be Sold, Leased, or Otherwise Marketed, requires that software development costs incurred in conjunction with product development be charged to research and development expense until technological feasibility is established. Thereafter, until the product is released for sale, software development costs must be capitalized and reported at the lower of unamortized cost or net realizable value of the related product. Some companies use a “tested working model” approach to establishing technological feasibility (i.e., beta version). Under this approach, software under development will pass the technological feasibility milestone when the Company has completed a version that contains essentially all the functionality and features of the final version and has tested the version to ensure that it works as expected.

ASC 350, Intangibles-Goodwill and Other, requires computer software costs associated with internal use software to be charged to operations as incurred until certain capitalization criteria are met. Costs incurred during the preliminary project stage and the post-implementation stages are expensed as incurred. Certain qualifying costs incurred during the application development stage are capitalized as property, equipment and software. These costs generally consist of internal labor during configuration, coding, and testing activities. Capitalization begins when (i) the preliminary project stage is complete, (ii) management with the relevant authority authorizes and commits to the funding of the software project, and (iii) it is probable both that the project will be completed and that the software will be used to perform the function intended.

Property and Equipment

Property and equipment consists of computer, equipment and office furniture and fixtures, all of which are recorded at cost. Depreciation and amortization are recorded using the straight-line method over the respective useful lives of the assets ranging from three to five years. Long-lived assets are reviewed for impairment whenever events or circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of these assets may not be recoverable.

Use of Estimates

The accompanying financial statements have been prepared in conformity with U.S. GAAP. This requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect certain reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the period. The Company’s significant estimates and assumptions include the recoverability and useful lives of indefinite life intangible assets, stock-based compensation, and the valuation allowance related to the Company’s deferred tax assets. Certain of the Company’s estimates, including the carrying amount of the indefinite life intangible assets, could be affected by external conditions, including those unique to the Company and general economic conditions. It is reasonably possible that these external factors could have an effect on the Company’s estimates and could cause actual results to differ from those estimates and assumptions.

Income Taxes

The Company recognizes income taxes on an accrual basis based on tax positions taken or expected to be taken in its tax returns. A tax position is defined as a position in a previously filed tax return or a position expected to be taken in a future tax filing that is reflected in measuring current or deferred income tax assets and liabilities. Tax positions are recognized only when it is more likely than not (i.e., likelihood of greater than 50%), based on technical merits, that the position would be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. Tax positions that meet the more likely than not threshold are measured using a probability-weighted approach as the largest amount of tax benefit that is greater than 50% likely of being realized upon settlement. Income taxes are accounted for using an asset and liability approach that requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in the Company’s financial statements or tax returns. A valuation allowance is established to reduce deferred tax assets if all, or some portion, of such assets will more than likely not be realized. Should they occur, the Company’s policy is to classify interest and penalties related to tax positions as income tax expense. Since the Company’s inception, no such interest or penalties have been incurred.

Accounting for Warrants

The Company accounts for the issuance of Common Stock purchase warrants issued in connection with the equity offerings in accordance with the provisions of ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging. The Company classifies as equity any contracts that (i) require physical settlement or net-share settlement or (ii) gives the Company a choice of net-cash settlement or settlement in its own shares (physical settlement or net-share settlement). The Company classifies as assets or liabilities any contracts that (i) require net-cash settlement (including a requirement to net-cash settle the contract if an event occurs and if that event is outside the control of the Company) or (ii) gives the counterparty a choice of net-cash settlement or settlement in shares (physical settlement or net-share settlement). In addition, Under ASC 815, registered Common Stock warrants that require the issuance of registered shares upon exercise and do not expressly preclude an implied right to cash settlement are accounted for as derivative liabilities. The Company classifies these derivative warrant liabilities on the balance sheets as a current liability.

The Company assessed the classification of Common Stock purchase warrants as of the date of each offering and determined that such instruments originally met the criteria for equity classification; however, as a result of the Company no longer being in control of whether the warrants may be cash settled, the instruments no longer qualify for equity classification. Accordingly, the Company classified the warrants as a liability at their fair value and adjusts the instruments to fair value at each reporting period. This liability is subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date until the warrants are exercised or expired, and any change in fair value is recognized as “change in the fair value of warrant liabilities” in the statements of operations. The fair value of the warrants has been estimated using a Black-Scholes valuation model (see Note 6).

Stock-based compensation

The Company accounts for stock-based compensation in accordance with ASC 718, Compensation - Stock Compensation. ASC 718 addresses all forms of share-based payment awards including shares issued under employee stock purchase plans and stock incentive shares. Under ASC 718, awards result in a cost that is measured at fair value on the awards’ grant date, based on the estimated number of awards that are expected to vest and will result in a charge to operations.

Share-based payment awards exchanged for services are accounted for at the fair value of the award on the estimated grant date.

Options

Stock options issued under the Company’s long-term incentive plans are granted with an exercise price equal to no less than the market price of the Company’s stock at the date of grant and expire up to ten years from the date of grant. These options often vest over a one-year period.

The Company estimates the fair value of stock option grants using the Black-Scholes option pricing model and the assumptions used in calculating the fair value of stock-based awards represent management’s best estimates and involve inherent uncertainties and the application of management’s judgment.

Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)

For awards vesting upon the achievement of a service condition, compensation cost measured on the grant date will be recognized on a straight-line basis over the vesting period. Stock-based compensation expense for the market-based restricted stock units with explicit service conditions is recognized on a straight-line basis over the longer of the derived service period or the explicit service period, regardless of whether the market condition is satisfied. However, in the event that the explicit service period is not met, previously recognized compensation cost would be reversed. Market-based restricted stock units subject to market-based performance targets require achievement of the performance target as well as a service condition in order for these RSUs to vest.

The Company estimates the fair value of market-based RSUs as of the grant date and expected derived term using a Monte Carlo simulation that incorporates pricing inputs covering the period from the grant date through the end of the derived service period.

Dividends

Effective January 27, 2023, the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) approved the issuance of a newly designated Series V Preferred Stock (“Series V”) on a one-for-one basis to the Company’s shareholders (including restricted stock unit holders and warrant holders who were entitled to such distribution). The distribution of Series V shares was approved and completed on June 2, 2023 to shareholders as of the record date of May 12, 2023. The Series V: (i) is non-convertible, (ii) has a 20% liquidation preference over the shares of common stock, (iii) is non-voting and (iv) has certain rights to dividends and distributions (at the discretion of the Board). A total of 14,542,803 shares of Series V Preferred Stock were distributed to shareholders on June 2, 2023. In June 2023, the Series V shares commenced trading on Upstream, a Merj Exchange market (“Upstream”). In November 2023, Upstream announced that it was no longer providing U.S. individuals with the ability to trade on Upstream. All Series V shares owned by U.S investors were returned to the transfer agent.

The Company will evaluate the appropriateness of potential future dividends as the Company continues to grow its operations.

Advertising Expense

Advertisement costs are expensed as incurred and included in marketing expenses. Advertising and marketing expenses amounted to approximately $28,000 and $3,000 for the three months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively, and approximately $86,000 and $9,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively.