Forward-Looking Statements and Associated Risks.
This Form 10-K contains certain statements that are forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For this purpose, any statements contained in this Form 10-K that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, words such as "may", "will", "expect", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate, or "continue" or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements by their nature involve substantial risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially depending on a variety of factors, many of which are not within our control. These factors include but are not limited to economic conditions generally and in the industries in which we may participate; competition within our chosen industry, including competition from much larger competitors; technological advances and failure to successfully develop business relationships.
The following plan of operation provides information which management believes is relevant to an assessment and understanding of our results of operations and financial condition. The discussion should be read along with our financial statements and notes thereto. This section includes a number of forward-looking statements that reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance. Certain statements that the Company may make from time to time, including all statements contained in this report that are not statements of historical fact, constitute "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "plans," "expects," "believes," "anticipates," "estimates," "projects," "will," "should," and other words of similar meaning used in conjunction with, among other things, discussions of future operations, financial performance, product development and new product launches, market position and expenditures. You should not place undue certainty on these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our predictions.
The following Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations ("MD&A") is intended to help you understand our historical results of operations during the periods presented and our financial
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condition for the years ended
Based on our financial history since inception, our auditor has expressed
substantial doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern. As reflected
in the accompanying financial statements, as of
Overview
Our investment strategy focuses primarily on ventures with companies that we
believe are poised to grow at above-average rates relative to other sectors of
the
As a merchant bank, BlackStar intends to seek to provide access to capital for companies and is specifically seeking out ventures involved in DLT or blockchain. BlackStar intends to facilitate funding and management of DLT-involved companies through majority controlled joint ventures through its subsidiary BEMC. BlackStar, through BEMC, intends to initially control and manage each venture. Potential ventures for both BlackStar and BEMC will be analyzed using the combined business experience of its executives, with BEMC looking to fill those venture criteria with companies in crypto-related businesses such as blockchain or DLT technologies. The Company does not intend to develop Investment Objectives or "criteria" in any manner but will rely on the acumen and experience of its executives. BlackStar is currently building a digital equity trading platform in order to trade registered BlackStar common shares in digital form (DWAC), and intends to use the platform design to provide custom subscription services to other public companies.
Recent Updates - BlackStar progress in 2022 was focused on pursuing the registration of shares underlying convertible notes, which entailed thoroughly describing many aspects of our new proposed line of business of trading common shares on a blockchain through the broker-dealer ecosystem. The Company is finalizing the marketing plan to promote and roll out the three features of its blockchain platform. The Company plans to offer its Private Funding and Corporate Governance Blockchain to individual private companies in 2023. The Company's next major step in its main feature, BlackStar's Digital Trading Platform ("BDTP TM"), will be to engage an operating partner (a broker-dealer, clearing firm, and/or registered Alternative Trading System ("ATS")) to host the platform prior to implementation. To that end, the Company is exploring partnerships with broker-dealers and existing ATS's and other strategies to go live with BDTP TM in accordance with existing laws and regulations. As of the date of this filing, the core platform of BDTP TM is complete and will remain in the testing phase until we obtain an operating partner. BlackStar intends to continue to seek further input from various regulatory agencies and others on the functionality of the BDTP TM over the next 6 to 9 months. The BDTP TM has been completely designed in terms of the following components: data model, reports, web-based user interface, blockchain interface, transaction logic, cloud interface, and functional demonstration app. The software is complete in demonstrating a proof-of-concept trading ability, while recording activity using an immutable blockchain ledger. Currently, the working model platform is hosted on Amazon's Quantum Ledger Database. During 2021, BlackStar and Artuova successfully completed a production ready and feature-complete user interface for the digital platform which is now in the final stages of quality assurance. BlackStar is actively pursuing relationships with various broker-dealers, clearing firms, and ATS's to complete the
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final stages of this multi-year engineering effort. During 2021-2022, BlackStar
filed with the
The Company's success will be dependent upon its ability to analyze and manage
the opportunities presented and is contingent upon successfully raising funds
and ultimately
Currently in the testing phase, we estimate
Based on our current cash reserves of approximately
The independent registered public accounting firm's report on our financial
statements as of
We have estimated
Results of Operations
Net loss for the year ended
In 2022, non-cash expenses associated with convertible debt financings were
General and administrative expenses in 2022 were
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exclusive of fees for fund raising, were
In 2022 the Company paid related party management consulting fees to IHG of
Legal and professional fees of
Liquidity and Capital Resources
As of
Substantially all of our funding has been from convertible debt financings in
2022 and 2021. The debt instruments were with non-related investment firms,
carried an interest rate of 10%, matured six months to one year from date of
financing and were convertible into shares of the Company's common stock at a
discount to the trading prices of the common shares of 35% to 40%. During 2022,
we issued convertible debt with a face value of
While management of the Company believes that the Company will be successful in its current and planned activities, there can be no assurance that the Company will be successful in obtaining sufficient revenues from our planned operations and raise sufficient equity, debt capital or strategic relationships to sustain the operations and future business of the Company.
Our ability to create sufficient working capital to sustain us over the next twelve-month period, and beyond, is dependent on our raising additional equity or debt capital, and ultimately to commence revenues form or digital trading platform.
There can be no assurance that sufficient capital will be available to us. We currently have no agreements, arrangements or understandings with any person to obtain funds through bank loans, lines of credit or any other sources.
Availability of
Notwithstanding our success in raising net cash proceeds of
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scale up our current plan. The Company feels it has sufficient capital to pay expenses and implement our platform of blockchain features in the second quarter of 2023.
Any additional financing may be dilutive to our stockholders, new equity securities may have rights, preferences, or privileges senior to those of existing holders of our shares of Common Stock. Debt or equity financing may subject us to restrictive covenants and significant interest costs.
Going Concern Consideration
Our registered independent auditors have issued an opinion on our financial
statements as of
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
As of
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
We have no material commitments for capital expenditures within the next year, however, as operations are expanded substantial capital will be needed to pay for expansion and working capital.
We have made equity and debt offerings in order to support our growth plans, to date, and may do so in the future.
There are no commitments to provide additional funds by our management or other stockholders. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that any additional funds will be available to us to allow coverage of our expenses as they may be incurred. The principals of the Company have extensive investment banking backgrounds and have used their resources since the 2016 inception of their management of BlackStar.
Critical Accounting Policies
Our significant accounting policies are described in the notes to our financial
statements as of
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