(1) For ease of comparison over the financial periods presented, the “subsidiaries” in the table above include consolidated VIE entities as to the first nine months of 2021 prior to the dissolution of the VIE structure.

(2) Represent the sum of advances among offshore subsidiaries (including then-existing BVI subsidiary, Hong Kong subsidiaries and Kazakhstan subsidiaries), and between such offshore subsidiaries and PRC subsidiaries in mainland China. These advances were made in the ordinary course of business, payable on demand and interest free.

(3) The trade credits extended between subsidiaries primarily related to provision of technical services, sales of products, and sublease of office between PRC subsidiaries. For the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, the trade credits between subsidiaries amounted to $1,287,328 and $323,383, respectively. The Company’s subsidiaries only record but do not settle the trade credits in cash between them, which is allowed under the PRC laws.

Restrictions on Cash Transfers

We face various restrictions and limitations on foreign exchange, our ability to transfer cash between entities, across borders and to U.S. investors, and our ability to distribute earnings from our subsidiaries to Taoping and holders of our ordinary shares. If our subsidiaries incur debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing their debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends to us. In addition, our PRC subsidiaries are permitted to pay dividends to us only out of their retained earnings, if any, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. Pursuant to laws applicable to entities incorporated in the PRC, our subsidiaries in the PRC must make appropriations from after-tax profit to non-distributable reserve funds. These reserve funds include one or more of the following: (i) a general reserve, (ii) an enterprise expansion fund and (iii) a staff bonus and welfare fund. Subject to certain cumulative limits, the general reserve fund requires an annual appropriation of 10% of after-tax profit (as determined under accounting principles generally accepted in the PRC at each year-end) until the accumulative amount of such reserve fund reaches 50% of its registered capital; the other fund appropriations are at the subsidiaries’ discretion. These reserve funds can only be used for the specific purposes of enterprise expansion, staff bonus and welfare, and are not distributable as cash dividends. Also, due to restrictions on the distribution of share capital from our PRC subsidiaries, the share capital of our PRC subsidiaries, is considered restricted.

Due to various requirements imposed by PRC regulations on loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies, we may not be able to obtain the necessary government approvals or complete the necessary government registrations or other procedures on a timely basis, or at all, with respect to future loans or capital contributions by us to our PRC subsidiaries. This may delay or prevent us from using our offshore funds to make loans or capital contribution to our PRC subsidiaries, and thus may restrict our ability to execute our business strategy, and materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

Furthermore, due to restrictions on foreign exchange placed on our PRC subsidiaries by the PRC government under PRC laws and regulations, to the extent cash is located in the PRC or within a PRC domiciled entity and may need to be used to fund our operations outside of the PRC, the funds may not be available due to such limitations unless and until related approvals and registrations are obtained. Under regulations of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (“SAFE”) of China, the Renminbi is not convertible into foreign currencies for capital account items, such as loans, repatriation of investments and investments outside of China, unless the prior approval of the SAFE is obtained and prior registration with the SAFE is made.

Regulatory Permissions to Operate Business and for the Offering of Securities to Foreign Investors

The establishment, operation and management of corporate entities in mainland China are governed by the Company Law of the People’s Republic of China, or the China Company Law, which was adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (“SCNPC”) in December 1993, implemented in July 1994, and subsequently amended in December 1999, August 2004, October 2005, December 2013 and October 2018. Under the China Company Law, companies are generally classified into two categories: limited liability companies and companies limited by shares. The China Company Law applies to both domestic and foreign-invested companies.

Investment activities in mainland China by foreign investors are governed by the Guiding Foreign Investment Direction, which was promulgated by the State Council on February 11, 2002, and came into effect on April 1, 2002, and the latest Special Administrative Measures (Negative List) for Foreign Investment Access (2022), or the Negative List, which was promulgated by the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) and the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) on March 12, 2022, and took effect on the same date. The Negative List sets out in a unified manner the restrictive measures, such as the requirements on shareholding percentages and management, for the access of foreign investments, and the industries that are prohibited for foreign investment. Any field not falling in the Negative List shall be administered under the principle of equal treatment to domestic and foreign investment.

The Foreign Investment Law of the People’s Republic of China, or the Foreign Investment Law was promulgated by the NPC in March 2019 and become effective in January 2020. The investment activities of foreign natural persons, enterprises or other organizations (hereinafter referred to as foreign investors) directly or indirectly within the territory of mainland China are governed by the Foreign Investment Law, including: 1) establishing by foreign investors of foreign-invested enterprises in mainland China alone or jointly with other investors; 2) acquiring by foreign investors of shares, equity, property shares, or other similar interests of Chinese domestic enterprises; 3) investing by foreign investors in new projects in mainland China alone or jointly with other investors; and 4) other forms of investment prescribed by laws, administrative regulations or the State Council.

In December 2019, the State Council issued the Regulations on Implementing the Foreign Investment Law, which came into effect in January 2020. After the Regulations on Implementing the Foreign Investment Law came into effect, the Regulation on Implementing the Law on Sino-foreign Equity Joint Ventures, Provisional Regulations on the Duration of Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Ventures, the Regulations on Implementing the Law on Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises and the Regulations on Implementing the Law on Sino-Foreign Cooperative Joint Ventures have been repealed simultaneously.

In December 2019, the MOFCOM and the State Administration for Market Regulation (“SAMR”) issued the Measures for the Reporting of Foreign Investment Information, which came into effect in January 2020. After the Measures for the Reporting of Foreign Investment Information came into effect, the Interim Measures on the Administration of Filing for Establishment and Change of Foreign Invested Enterprises has been repealed simultaneously. Since January 1, 2020, for foreign investors carrying out investment activities directly or indirectly in mainland China, the foreign investors or foreign-invested enterprises shall submit investment information to the relevant commerce administrative authorities pursuant to these measures.

In light of the above restrictions and requirements, prior to the dissolution of our VIE structure in September 2021, we had conducted our value-added telecommunications businesses through our then consolidated VIEs. As a result of the dissolution of our VIE structure, we ceased the e-commerce and related businesses which had constituted a minor portion of our consolidated revenue. Based on the legal analysis of the Company’s in-house legal counsel, who is a licensed attorney in the PRC, we believe that none of our PRC subsidiaries’ current business is stipulated on the Negative List.

As a result, according to the laws and regulations currently in effect, our PRC subsidiaries are able to conduct their business without being subject to restrictions imposed by the foreign investment laws and regulations of the PRC and none of Taoping or our subsidiaries is required to obtain additional licenses or permits beyond a regular business license for each PRC subsidiary’s operations. Each of our PRC subsidiaries is required to obtain and has obtained such regular business license from the local branch of the SAMR. No application for any such license has been denied.

However, we cannot assure you that our PRC subsidiaries are always able to successfully update or renew the licenses or permits required for the relevant business in a timely manner or that these licenses or permits are sufficient to conduct all of our present or future business. If our PRC subsidiaries (i) do not receive or maintain required permissions or approvals, (ii) inadvertently conclude that such permissions or approvals are not required, or (iii) applicable laws, regulations, or interpretations change and our PRC subsidiaries are required to obtain such permissions or approvals in the future, we could be subject to fines, legal sanctions or an order to suspend our PRC operating subsidiaries’ business, which may materially and adversely affect the business, financial condition and results of operations of us. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—Uncertainties exist with respect to the interpretation and implementation of PRC Foreign Investment Law and how it may impact the viability of our current corporate structure, corporate governance and business operations” on page 27.

In connection with our previous issuance of securities, under current PRC laws, regulations and regulatory rules, as of the date of this annual report, we believe that we and our PRC subsidiaries, (i) are not required to obtain permissions from the CSRC, (ii) are not required to go through cybersecurity review by the Cybersecurity Administration of China (the “CAC”), and (iii) have not received or were denied such requisite permissions by any PRC authority. We cannot guarantee that the regulators will agree with us. As of the date hereof, we have not been involved in any investigations for cybersecurity review made by the CAC, and we have not received any inquiry, notice, warning, or sanctions in such respect.

However, the PRC government has recently indicated an intent to exert more oversight and control over offerings that are conducted overseas and/or foreign investment in China-based issuers. The CSRC published the Trial Measures and Listing Guidelines on February 17, 2023, designed to regulate overseas securities offerings by PRC domestic companies. On February 24, 2023, the CSRC, together with the Ministry of Finance, National Administration of State Secrets Protection and National Archives Administration of China, revised the Provisions on Strengthening Confidentiality and Archives Administration for Overseas Securities Offering and Listing, which were issued by the CSRC and National Administration of State Secrets Protection and National Archives Administration of China in 2009. The Revised Provisions were issued under the title the “Provisions on Strengthening Confidentiality and Archives Administration of Overseas Securities Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies,” and came into effect on March 31, 2023 together with the Trial Measures. See “Risk Factor—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—The PRC government has increasingly strengthened oversight in offerings conducted overseas or on foreign investment in China-based issuers, which could result in a material change in our operations and our ordinary shares could decline in value or become worthless.” on page 19.

Given the recent nature of the introduction of the above Trial Measures, listing guidelines, and Revised Provisions, there remains significant uncertainty as to the enactment, interpretation and implementation of regulatory requirements related to overseas securities offerings and other capital markets activities. Notwithstanding the foregoing, as of the date of this report, other than the filing requirements mandated by the Trial Measures, we are not aware of any PRC laws or regulations in effect requiring that we obtain permission from any PRC authorities to issue securities to foreign investors, and we have not received any inquiry, notice, warning, or sanction from the CSRC, the CAC, or any other PRC authorities that have jurisdiction over our operations.

Enforceability of Civil Liabilities

British Virgin Islands

There is no statutory enforcement in the British Virgin Islands of judgments obtained in the U.S., however, the courts of the British Virgin Islands will in certain circumstances recognize such a foreign judgment and treat it as a cause of action in itself which may be sued upon as a debt at common law so that no retrial of the issues would be necessary, provided that:

The British Virgin Islands courts are unlikely:

Substantially all of our assets are located outside the United States. In addition, a majority of our directors and officers are nationals or residents of jurisdictions other than the United States and all or a substantial portion of their assets are located outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon us or these persons.

Hong Kong

Currently judgment of U.S. courts will not be directly enforced in Hong Kong. There are currently no treaties or other arrangements providing for reciprocal enforcement of foreign judgments between Hong Kong and the U.S. However, a judgment of a court in the U.S. predicated upon U.S. federal or state securities laws may be enforced in Hong Kong at common law by bringing an action in a Hong Kong court on that judgment for the amount due thereunder, and then seeking summary judgment on the strength of the foreign judgment, provided that the foreign judgment, among other things, is (1) for a debt or a definite sum of money (not being taxes or similar charges to a foreign government taxing authority or a fine or other penalty) and (2) final and conclusive on the merits of the claim, but not otherwise. Such a judgment may not, in any event, be so enforced in Hong Kong if (a) it was obtained by fraud; (b) the proceedings in which the judgment was obtained were opposed to natural justice; (c) its enforcement or recognition would be contrary to the public policy of Hong Kong; (d) the court of the United States was not jurisdictionally competent; or (e) the judgment was in conflict with a prior Hong Kong judgment.

China

There is uncertainty as to whether the courts of China would (1) recognize or enforce judgments of United States courts obtained against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States; or (2) entertain original actions brought in each respective jurisdiction against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States.

The recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments are provided for under the PRC Civil Procedures Law. PRC courts may recognize and enforce foreign judgments in accordance with the requirements of the PRC Civil Procedures Law based either on treaties between China and the jurisdiction where the judgment is made or on principles of reciprocity between jurisdictions. China does not have any treaties or other form of reciprocity with the United States that provide for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. In addition, according to the PRC Civil Procedures Law, courts in the PRC will not enforce a foreign judgment against us or our directors and officers if they decide that the judgment violates the basic principles of PRC law or national sovereignty, security or public interest. As a result, it is uncertain whether and on what basis a PRC court would enforce a judgment rendered by a court in the United States. Under the PRC Civil Procedures Law, foreign shareholders may originate actions based on PRC law against us in the PRC for disputes if they can establish sufficient nexus to the PRC for a PRC court to have jurisdiction, and meet other procedural requirements, including, among others, the plaintiff must have a direct interest in the case, and there must be a concrete claim, a factual basis and a cause for the suit.

Summary of Risk Factors

There are a number of risks that you should consider and understand before making an investment decision regarding the Company’s our securities. You should carefully consider all of the information set forth in this report and, in particular, the specific factors set forth in the section titled “Risk Factors” below. These risks include, but are not limited to:

As a foreign private issuer, Taoping is permitted to rely on exemptions from certain Nasdaq corporate governance standards applicable to domestic U.S. issuers. This may afford less protection to holders of Taoping’s securities. For additional information, see Item 3 “Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Securities—As a foreign private issuer, we are permitted to rely on exemptions from certain NASDAQ corporate governance standards applicable to domestic U.S. issuers. This may afford less protection to holders of the Company’s securities” on page 37.

A. [Reserved]

B. Capitalization and Indebtedness

Not applicable.

C. Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

D. Risk Factors

An investment in the Company’s securities involves a high degree of risk. INVESTORS PURCHASING OUR SECURITIES ARE PURCHASING SECURITIES OF TAOPING INC., THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS HOLDING COMPANY RATHER THAN SECURITIES OF TAOPING INC.’S SUBSIDIARIES THAT HAVE SUBSTANTIVE BUSINESS OPERATIONS IN CHINA AND OTHER COUNTRIES. You should carefully consider the risks described below, together with all of the other information included in this annual report, before making an investment decision. If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition or results of operations could suffer. In that case, the value of the Company’s securities could significantly decline or be worthless and you may lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Relating to our Business

IfA sustained outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is not effectively controlled incould have a short period of time,material adverse impact on our business, operationoperating results and financial condition in the long-term may be materially and adversely affected as a result of any slowdown in economic growth, operation disruptions or other factors that we cannot predict.condition.

WithThe COVID-19 outbreak has led governments across the globe to impose a series of measures intended to contain its spread, including border closures, travel bans, quarantine measures, social distancing, and restrictions on business operations in China and other countries worldwide, we are subject to numerous risks outside of our control, including risks arising from natural disasters, such as fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, unusual weather conditions, pandemic outbreaks and other global health emergencies, terrorist acts or disruptive global political events, or similar disruptions that could materially adversely affect business and financial performance.large gatherings. The spread of the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”), which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020, has spread across many countries and is impacting worldwide economic activity. While we have seen gradual recovery of our overall business as well as the supply chain, project execution and cash collection resulting from improving health statistics in China since March 2020, the spreadoutbreak of COVID-19 may be prolongedhas caused companies like us and worsened,our business partners to implement temporary adjustments to work schedules and travel plans, mandating employees to work from home and collaborate remotely. As a result, we may be forced to scale back or even suspend our operations. As this outbreak persists, commercial activities throughout the world have been curtailed with decreased consumer spending, business operation disruptions, interrupted supply chain, difficulties in travelexperienced lower efficiency and reduced workforces. The durationproductivity, internally and intensity of disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak is uncertain. It is unclear as to when the outbreak will be eventually contained, and we also cannot predict if the impact will be short-lived or long-lasting. The extent to which outbreak impacts our long-term financial results will depend on many factors beyond our control. Major factors include the extent of resurgences of the disease and its variants, vaccine distribution and other actions taken to contain the impact of COVID-19. The measures taken by the governments of countries affected could disrupt the demand from our customers, our sales efforts, the delivery of our products and services, reduce our customers’ ability to pay and adversely impact our business, financial condition and results, or results of operations. If the COVID-19 pandemic is not effectively controlled in a short period of time, our long-term business operation and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected as a result of any slowdown in economic growth, operation disruptions or other factors that we cannot predict.

The cryptocurrency mining market is highly competitive and fragmented with low barriers to entry. We face uncertainties and challenges as we enter into the new blockchain technology business.

As part of our strategic business transformation, we established a blockchain technology business segment in 2021, which is dedicated to the research and application of blockchain technology and digital assets. We launched cryptocurrency mining operations, a blockchain related new business, as the first initiative of this new business segment in the first quarter of 2021. With multiple cloud data centers deployed outside of China mainland, the Company continues to improve computing power and create value for the encrypted digital currency industry. Due to our limited experience with cryptocurrency and the mining activities, we face challenges and uncertainties relating to the possibility of success of our new business. We cannot assure you that the introduction and development of this new line of business would not encounter significant difficulties or would achieve the profitability as we expect. Failure to successfully manage those risks in the development and implementation of any new lines of business or new products or services could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and prospects. For example, with respect to our plan to develop our cryptocurrency mining business, we may not be able to acquire cryptocurrency mining machines at a reasonable cost, or at all. In addition, although the market for the cryptocurrency mining operations is new and evolving, the barriers to entry are quite low. Therefore, if cryptocurrency mining remains profitable, we expect additional competitors to enter the market, some of whom may have greater resources than we do. If we fail to establish our strengths or maintain our competitiveness in this industry, our business prospects, results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

The price of cryptocurrency has historically been volatile. Sharp declines in the price of cryptocurrencies could adversely impact our results of operations and subject us to impairment charges.

Our cryptocurrency mining revenue is determined by the fair value of the cryptocurrency awards we receive, as is based upon the quoted price of the related cryptocurrency at the time of receipt. The demand for, and pricing of, the cryptocurrencies that we receive from our mining activities are subject to various factors and significant fluctuations. For example, the prevalence of such assets is a relatively recent trend, and their long-term adoption by investors, consumers and businesses is unpredictable. Moreover, their lack of a physical form, their reliance on technology for their creation, existence and transactional validation and their decentralization may subject their integrity to the threat of malicious attacks and technological obsolescence. Finally, the extent to which securities laws or other regulations apply or may apply in the future to such assets is unclear and may change in the future. We expect our results of operations to be affected by the prices of the cryptocurrencies as we generate an increasing amount of revenue from our mining activities. Our results of operations could be harmed if the prices of cryptocurrencies decrease significantly.

In addition, as we may hold part of the cryptocurrencies we receive from our mining activities, we may be subject to impairment charges that may be caused by reductions in the price of those cryptocurrencies. Digital assets are currently considered indefinite-lived intangible assets under applicable accounting rules, meaning that any decrease in their fair values below our carrying values for such assets at any time subsequent to their acquisition will require us to recognize impairment charges, whereas we may make no upward revisions for any market price increases until a sale,externally, which may adversely affect our operating results in any period in which such impairment occurs.service quality. Moreover, there is no guarantee that future changes in U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, would not require us to change the way we account for digital assets held by us. Various factors, mostly beyond our control, could impact the price of cryptocurrencies. If the price of cryptocurrencies drops, the expected economic return of cryptocurrency mining activities will diminish.

If the market for cryptocurrency ceases to exist or diminishes significantly, our business resultsdepends on our employees. If any of operationsour employees has contracted or is suspected of having contracted COVID-19, these employees will be required to be quarantined and financial condition would be materially harmed.

If the market for cryptocurrencies ceasesthey could pass it to exist or diminishes significantly,other of our efforts and investmentemployees, potentially resulting in establishing and developing our cryptocurrency mining business may become futile. Several adverse factors may affect the market for cryptocurrencies. As there is no wide consensus with respectsevere disruption to the value and application of cryptocurrency, any future development may continue to affect the demand and the market for cryptocurrency.

Decentralization, or the lack of control by a central authority, is a key reason that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have attracted many committed users. However, the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies is subject to growing discussion and skepticism. Some claim that most of the actual services and businesses built within the cryptocurrency ecosystem are in fact centralized since they are run by specific people, in specific locations, with specific computer systems, and that they are susceptible to specific regulations. Individuals, companies or groups, as well as cryptocurrency exchanges that own vast amounts of cryptocurrencies, can affect their market price. Furthermore, mining equipment production and mining pool locations are becoming centralized. Some argue that the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies is a fundamental flaw rather than a strength. The skepticism about the decentralized nature of cryptocurrency may cause loss of confidence in the prospect of the cryptocurrency industry, which in turn could adversely affect the market demand for cryptocurrencies and our business.

Substantial increases inMost of the supply of mining machines connected to the cryptocurrency network would lead to an increase in network capacity, which in turn would increase mining difficulty and negatively affect the economic returns of cryptocurrency mining activities.

The difficulty of cryptocurrency mining, or the amount of computational resources required for a set amount of reward for recording a new block, directly affects the expected economic returns for cryptocurrency miners. Cryptocurrency mining difficulty is a measure of how much computing power is required to record a new block and it is affectedrestrictive measures previously adopted by the total amount of computing power inChinese governments at various levels to control the cryptocurrency network. The cryptocurrency algorithm is designed so that one block is generated, on average, every ten minutes, no matter how much computing power is in the network. Thus, as more computing power joins the network, and assuming the rate of block creation does not change (remaining at one block generated every ten minutes), the amount of computing power required to generate each block and hence the mining difficulty increases. In other words, based on the current designspread of the cryptocurrency network, cryptocurrency mining difficulty would increaseCOVID-19 virus have been revoked or replaced with the total computing power available in the cryptocurrency network, which is in turn affected by the number of cryptocurrency mining machines in operation. As a result, a strong growth in the cryptocurrency mining industry can lead to growth in the total computing power in the network, thereby driving up the difficulty of cryptocurrency mining and resulting in downward pressure on the expected economic return of cryptocurrency mining.

Cryptocurrency mining computers and other necessary hardware are subject to malfunctions and normal wear and tear. In addition, we may face difficulty and increased cost in obtaining new hardware due to supply chain strains.

Our cryptocurrency miners are subject to malfunctions and normal wear and tear, and, at any point in time, a certain number of our cryptocurrency miners may be off-line for maintenancemore flexible measures since December 2022. The revocation or repair. The physical degradation of our miners will require us to replace miners that are no longer functional. Any major cryptocurrency miner malfunction outreplacement of the typical range of downtime for normal maintenance and repair could cause significant economic damage to us.

Additionally, as technology evolves, we may need to acquire newer models of miners to remain competitive in the market. New miners can be costly and may be in short supply. Given the relatively long production period to manufacture and assemble cryptocurrency miners and the current global semiconductor chip shortage, there can be no assurance that we can acquire enough cryptocurrency mining computers or replacement parts on a cost-effective basis, if at all, for the maintenance and expansion of our cryptocurrency mining operations. We rely on our subsidiaries to purchase and assemble cryptocurrency miners and shortages of cryptocurrency miners or their component parts, material increases in cryptocurrency miner costs, or delays in delivery of the cryptocurrency miners to our overseas mining data centers, including due to trade restrictions and COVID-19 supply chain disruptions, could significantly interrupt our plans for expanding our cryptocurrency mining capacity in the near term and future.

This upgrading and replacement process requires capital investment and we may face challenges in doing so on a timely and cost-effective basis. Shortages of cryptocurrency mining computers could result in reduced cryptocurrency mining capacity and increased operating costs, which could materially delay the completion of our planned cryptocurrency mining capacity expansion and put us at a competitive disadvantage.

Cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets, and to a lesser extent, the cryptocurrency network itself, are subject to substantial hacking and fraud risks, which may adversely affect the economic return of our cryptocurrency mining business.

Cryptocurrency transactions are entirely digital and, as with any virtual system, are at risk from hackers, malware and operational glitches. Hackers can target cryptocurrency exchanges and cryptocurrency transactions, to gain access to thousands of accounts and digital wallets where cryptocurrency are stored. Cryptocurrency transactions and accounts are not insured by any type of government program and all cryptocurrency transactions are permanent because there is no third party or payment processor. Cryptocurrency like bitcoin has suffered from hacking and cyber-theft as such incidents have been reported by several cryptocurrency exchanges and miners, highlighting concerns about the security of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and affecting their demand and price. Also, the price and exchange of cryptocurrency may be affected due to fraud risk. While cryptocurrency uses private key encryption to verify owners and register transactions, fraudsters and scammers may attempt to sell false cryptocurrencies. All of the above may adversely affect our operation and the economic return of our cryptocurrency mining business.

Currently, our cryptocurrencies received from the mining pools are stored in electronic wallets, which can only be exclusively transferred to the Company’s FTX trading account. It requires approval from signatories to transfer any cryptocurrency out of our FTX trading account. Four of our management level employees have been designated as the signatories of such transfer-out transactions, including the sales of cryptocurrency and the payment of related service fee in the form of cryptocurrency. Two cashiers have been assigned to simultaneously execute the sale/payment process. Each cashier holds a part of the electronic private key password. Any transfer out of the trading account would immediately trigger an email notice to each of the above-mentioned management employees. However, despite our efforts andrestrictive measures to ensurecontain the safety of our cryptocurrencies and the transactions, there can be no assurance that such efforts or measures will protect us from hacking or fraud incidents. We may suffer from cryptocurrency hacking and fraud and the economic return of our cryptocurrency mining business may be materially and adversely harmed if such risk occurs.

We may not be able to realize the benefits of forks, and forks in a digital asset network may occur in the future which may affect the value of cryptocurrency held by us.

To the extent that a significant majority of users and miners on a cryptocurrency network install software that changes the cryptocurrency network or properties of a cryptocurrency, including the irreversibility of transactions and limitations on the mining of new cryptocurrency, the cryptocurrency network would be subject to new protocols and software. However, if less than a significant majority of users and miners on the cryptocurrency network consent to the proposed modification, and the modification is not compatible with the software prior to its modification, a “fork” of the network would occur, with one prong of the network running the pre-modified software and the other running the modified software. The effect of such a fork would be the existence of two versions of the cryptocurrency running in parallel, yet lacking interchangeability and necessitating exchange-type transaction to convert currencies between the two forks. After a fork, it may be unclear which fork represents the original asset and which is the new asset.

If we hold cryptocurrency at the time of a hard fork into two cryptocurrencies, industry standards would dictate that we would be expected to hold an equivalent amount of the old and new assets following the fork. However, we may not be able to secure or realize the economic benefit of the new asset. Our business may be adversely impacted by forks in the cryptocurrency network.

Banks and other financial institutions may decline to provide bank accounts, banking or other financial services to cryptocurrency investors or businesses that engage in cryptocurrency-related activities or that accept cryptocurrency as payment.

A number of companies that engage in cryptocurrency-related activities have been unable to find banks or financial institutions that are willing to provide them with bank accounts and other services. Changing governmental regulations about the legality of transferring or holding cryptocurrency may prompt other banks and financial institutions to close existing bank accounts or discontinue banking or other financial services to such companies in the cryptocurrency industry, or even investors with accounts for transferring, receiving or holding their cryptocurrency. Specifically, China already restricts financial institutions from holding, trading or facilitating transactions in bitcoin, Ethereum, and among other cryptocurrencies. Similarly, other countries have proposed cryptocurrency legislation thatCOVID-19 pandemic could have a significantpositive impact on our normal operations. However, the abilityextent to utilize banking services in such countries for cryptocurrency.

Should such rules and restrictions continue or proliferate, we may not be able to obtain or maintain these services for our business. The difficulty that many businesses that engage in cryptocurrency-related activities have andwhich the COVID-19 pandemic may continue to have in finding banks and financial institutions willing to provide them services may diminish the usefulness of cryptocurrency as a payment system and harm public perception of cryptocurrency. If we are unable to obtain or maintain banking services for our business as a result of our cryptocurrency-related activities, our results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

We do not maintain insurance for our digital assets, which may expose us to the risk of loss of our digital assets, and legal recourse available to us to recover our losses may be limited.

We do not maintain insurance for the digital assets held by us. Banking institutions do not accept our digital assets. We may suffer loss with respect to our digital assets which are not covered by insurance, and we may not be able to recover any of our carried value in these digital assets if they are lost or stolen or suffer significant and sustained reduction in conversion spot price. If we are not otherwise able to recover damages from a malicious actor in connection with these losses, our business, results of operations and share price may be adversely affected.

There has been limited precedent set for financial accounting of digital assets, and thus, it is unclear how we will be required to account for digital asset transactions.

While we record digital assets as indefinite-lived intangible assets in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification, or ASC, 350, there is currently no authoritative guidance under GAAP which specifically addresses the accounting for digital assets, including digital currencies.

We recognize cryptocurrency related revenue when cryptocurrency is earned. The receipt of cryptocurrency is generally recorded as revenue, using the spot price of a prominent exchange at the time of daily reward and cryptocurrencies are recorded on the balance sheet at their cost basis and are reviewed for impairment frequently.

A change in financial accounting standards or their interpretation could result in changes in accounting treatment applicable to our cryptocurrency business, which may have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

As cryptocurrencies grow in both popularity and market size, governments around the world have reacted differently to them. Ongoing and future regulation and regulatory actions could significantly restrict or eliminate the market for or uses of cryptocurrencies and/or materially and adversely impact our results will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted as of operationthe date of this prospectus, including the effectiveness of vaccines and financial condition.

As cryptocurrencies generally have grownother treatments for COVID-19, and other new information that may emerge concerning the severity of the pandemic and steps taken to contain the pandemic or treat its impact, among others. Given the general slowdown in both popularity and market size, governments around the world have reacted differently to them. Certain governments have deemed them illegal, while others have allowed their use and trade without restriction. Based on stated efforts to curtail energy usage on mining and to protect investors or to prevent criminal activity, regulations have proliferated recently. In March 2021, a new law was proposed in India to criminalize the mining, transfer or holding of cryptocurrencies, and current rules require extensive disclosure to the government of cryptocurrency holdings. Similarly, China has also limited certain mining and trading, although not possession, of cryptocurrency, to reduce energy usage. On April 16, 2021, Turkey imposed bans on the use of cryptocurrency as payment and now requires transactions of a certain size to be reported to a government agencyeconomic conditions globally, volatility in the wake of alleged fraud at one of Turkey’s largest exchanges. In addition, in May 2021, Iran announced a temporary ban on cryptocurrency mining as a way to reduce energy consumption amid power blackouts. Many jurisdictions, such as the United States, subject cryptocurrencies to extensive, and in some cases overlapping, unclear and evolving regulatory requirements. Further, in January 2021, Russia adopted legislation to identify cryptocurrency as a digital asset and legitimize its trading, but also prohibit its use as a payment method. Mining operations have also grown significantly in Russia since then. Such varying government regulations and pronouncements are likely to continue for the near future. In the U.S., the Federal Reserve Board, U.S. Congress and certain U.S. agencies (e.g., the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the SEC, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Treasury Department (“FinCEN”) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation) have begun to examine the operations of the cryptocurrency network, cryptocurrency users and the cryptocurrency exchange market.

Compliance with increasing regulation and regulatory scrutiny may entail significant expenses, divert our management’s time and attention, and change aspects of our business. Moreover, ongoing and future regulations that ban the mining, use, transfer or possession of cryptocurrencies could significantly restrict or eliminate the market for cryptocurrencies and/or materially and adversely impact our results of operation and financial condition.

Acquisition, possession, ownership, sale or use of cryptocurrencies, participation in the blockchain, or transfer or use of digital assets may be or become illegal in China or the internationalcapital markets where we plan to operate, which could materially negatively impact our operations.

Our blockchain and cryptocurrency mining business could be significantly affected by the regulatory and policy developments in mainland China, Hong Kong and international markets where we operate, such as Kazakhstan. Governmental authorities are likely to continue to issue new laws, rules and regulations governing the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry and enhance enforcement of existing laws, rules and regulations. For example, the People’s Bank of China (the “PBOC”), Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, State Administration for Industry and Commerce, China Banking Regulatory Commission, CSRC and China Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the Announcement on Preventing Token Fundraising Risks on September 4, 2017, prohibiting all organizations and individuals from engaging in initial coin offering transactions. On May 21, 2021, the Financial Stability and Development Committee of the PRC State Council called for the need to resolutely control financial risks and crack down on bitcoin mining and trading activities. Furthermore, on June 21, 2021, the PBOC was reported to have held interviews with certain financial institutions in China, and stressed that banks and other financial institutions in China shall strictly implement the Guarding Against Bitcoin Risks and the Announcement on Preventing Token Fundraising Risks and other regulatory requirements, diligently fulfill their customer identification obligations, and shall not provide account opening, registration, trading, clearing, settlement and other services related to blockchain and cryptocurrency business.

Also, China restricts various uses of cryptocurrencies, including the use of cryptocurrencies as a medium of exchange and the conversion between cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies or between cryptocurrencies. In light of the regulatory restrictions in mainland China, we currently carry out substantially all of our cryptocurrency mining operations outside of mainland China. At present, we focus on the international markets for our cryptocurrency mining operations. In addition to Hong Kong, we plan to construct additional mining data centers in Kazakhstan to carry out operation and maintenance of cryptocurrency mining machines, and rent out excess operating capacity to third parties. We cannot assure you that the government authorities in the international markets will not adopt new laws and regulations in the future to restrict blockchain and cryptocurrency business.

In addition, cryptocurrencies may be used by market participants for black market transactions to conduct fraud, money laundering and terrorism-funding, tax evasion, economic sanction evasion or other illegal activities. As a result, governments may seek to regulate, restrict, control or ban the mining, use, holding and transferring of cryptocurrencies. We may not be able to eliminate all instances where other parties use cryptocurrencies mined by us to engage in money laundering or other illegal or improper activities. There is no assurance that we will successfully detect and prevent all money laundering or other illegal or improper activities which may adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, due to the environmental concerns related to the potential high demand for electricity to support cryptocurrency mining activity, political and other concerns, we may be required to cease mining operations in our locations without much or any prior notice by a national or local government’s formal or informal requirement or because of the anticipation of an impending requirement. Any such government action or anticipated action could have a negative impact not only on the value of existing miners owned by us, but on our ability to purchase new miners and their prices. Such government action or anticipated action could also have a deleterious impact on the price of cryptocurrencies. Such events could result in an increase in the volatility of the price of the cryptocurrencies and value of miners owned by us. Moreover, if we discontinue mining operations in one location in response to such government action or anticipated action, we likely would transfer miners to another location. However, this process would result in costs associated with the transfer to be incurred by us, as well as the transferred miners being off-line and not able to mine cryptocurrencies for some time. Our business, financial condition and resultsgeneral negative impact of operations may be materially and adversely affected by these adverse changes in the regulations and policies inCOVID-19 outbreak on the markets where we operate our blockchain and cryptocurrency mining operations.

Any failure to obtain or renew any required approvals, licenses, permits or certifications for our cryptocurrency mining business could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We may be required to maintain various approvals, licenses, permits and certifications in order to operate our cryptocurrency mining business. Complying with such laws and regulations may require substantial expense, and any non-compliance may expose us to liability. Presently, substantially all of our cryptocurrency mining operations are carried outside of mainland China, and our operations in mainland China primarily involve the provision of administrative supports to our cryptocurrency mining business out of mainland China, as well as the provision of information technology services to our operating entities and mining pools outside mainland China. However, due to the complex and evolving nature of our industry and the regulatory regimes, we cannot assure you that we have obtained all the permits or licenses required for conducting our blockchain business in China or internationally or will be able to maintain our existing licenses or obtain any new licenses required under any new laws or regulations.

As we plan to establish cryptocurrency mining data centers in Kazakhstan, we will become subject to regulations applicable to operators of cryptocurrency mining business and data processing business in such jurisdiction. We will apply for relevant governmental approval and license required for our proposed data center operations in Kazakhstan. However,global market, we cannot assure you that we will be able to obtainmaintain the required government approval, permit, licenses for our proposed operations on commercially reasonable terms and in a timely manner, or at all. Failure to obtain these government approvals, permits or licenses for our international operations will delay the establishment of our data centers and may subject us to regulatory investigations or legal proceedings and fines in such jurisdiction, which could disrupt our international operations and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

More broadly,growth rate we cannot assure you that we will be able to fulfill all the conditions necessary to obtain the required government approvals in the jurisdictions where we operate, or that the governmental authorities in these jurisdictions will always, if ever, exercise their discretion in our favor, or that we will be able to adapt to any new laws, regulations or policies. There may also be delays on the part of governmental authorities in reviewing our applications and granting approvals, whether due to the lack of administrative resources or the imposition of new rules, regulations, government policies, or for no discernible reason at all. If we are unable to obtain, or experience material delays in obtaining, necessary government approvals, our operations may be substantially disrupted, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If cryptocurrencies are determined to be investment securities and we hold a significant portion of our assets in such cryptocurrency, investment securities or non-controlling equity interests of other entities, we may inadvertently violate the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and we could incur substantial expenses to adjust our operations to avoid being registered as an investment company or to register as an investment company or could terminate operations altogether.

We believe that we are not engaged in the business of investing, reinvesting, or trading in securities, and we do not hold ourselves out as being engaged in those activities. However, under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), a company may be deemed an investment company under section 3(a)(1)(C) thereof if the value of its investment securities is more than 40% of its total assets (exclusive of government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. The cryptocurrency we own, acquire or mine may be deemed an investment security by the SEC, although we do not believe any of the cryptocurrencies we own, acquire or mine are securities. However, SEC rules and applicable law are subject to change, especially in the evolving world of cryptocurrency, and further, the Investment Company Act analysis may not be uniform across all forms of cryptocurrency that we might mine or hold.

An inadvertent investment company can avoid being classified as an investment company if it can rely on one of the exclusions under the Investment Company Act. One such exclusion, Rule 3a-2 under the Investment Company Act, allows an inadvertent investment company a grace period of one year from the earlier of (a) the date on which an issuer owns securities and/or cash having a value exceeding 50% of the issuer’s total assets on either a consolidated or unconsolidated basis and (b) the date on which an issuer owns or proposes to acquire investment securities having a value exceeding 40% of the value of such issuer’s total assets (exclusive of government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. In that year, the company would be required to take actions to cause the investment securities held by it to be less than 40% of its total assets, which could include acquiring assets with its cash and/or cryptocurrency on hand, liquidating its investment securities or seeking a no-action letter from the SEC if it is unable to acquire sufficient assets or liquidate sufficient investment securities in a timely manner. Such actions could require significant cost, disruption to operations or growth plans and diversion of management time and attention. Further, the Rule 3a-2 exception is available to a company no more than once every three years.

Current and future legislation and the SEC rulemaking and other regulatory developments, including interpretations released by a regulatory authority, may impact the manner in which cryptocurrencies are treated for classification and clearing purposes. The SEC’s July 25, 2017 Report expressed its view that digital assets may be securities depending on the facts and circumstances. As of the date hereof, we are not aware of any rules that have been proposed to regulate cryptocurrencies as securities. We cannot be certain as to how future regulatory developments will impact the treatment of cryptocurrency under the applicable U.S. laws. Such additional registrations may result in extraordinary, non-recurring expenses, thereby materially and adversely impacting our operations.

Classification as an investment company under the Investment Company Act requires registration with the SEC. If an investment company fails to register, it would have to stop doing almost all business, and its contracts would become voidable. Registration is time consuming and restrictive and would require a restructuring of operations, and it would be very constrained in the kind of business it could do as a registered investment company. Furthermore, such company would become subject to substantial regulation concerning management, operations, transactions with affiliated persons and portfolio composition, and would need to file reports under the Investment Company Act regime.

We need to access a large quantity of power at a reasonable cost in order to support our cryptocurrency mining operations, which may be adversely affected by legislative or regulatory changes relating to climate change and other energy consumption requirements.

We need to access a large quantity of power at a reasonable cost in order to support our cryptocurrency mining operations, but we do not have any long-term contract for the provision of power at specified prices. As competition in the area we operate increases, we may not be able to access power at reasonable costs or at all. Any shortage of electricity supply or increase in electricity cost in a jurisdiction may negatively impact the viability and the expected economic return for cryptocurrency mining activities in that jurisdiction.

In addition, a number of governments or governmental bodies have introduced or are contemplating legislative and regulatory changes in response to various climate change interest groups and the potential impact of climate change. Given the very significant amount of electrical power required to operate cryptocurrency miners, as well as the environmental impact of mining for the rare earth metals used in the production of mining servers, the cryptocurrency mining industry may become a target for future environmental and energy regulation. Legislation and increased regulation regarding climate change could impose significant costs on us and our suppliers, including costs related to increased energy requirements, capital equipment, environmental monitoring and reporting, and other costs to comply with such regulations. Any future climate change regulations could also negatively impact our ability to compete with companies situated in areas not subject to such limitations. Given the political significance and uncertainty around the impact of climate change and how it should be addressed, we cannot predict how legislation and regulation will affect our financial condition, operating performance and ability to compete. Furthermore, even without such regulation, increased awareness and any adverse publicity in the global marketplace about potential impacts on climate change by us or other companies in our industry could harm our reputation. Any of the foregoing could result in a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

We are subject to risks and disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including supply chain issues in semiconductors and other necessary mining components, which could significantly impact our operating performance and financial condition.

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has and may continue to adversely affect the economies of many countries, resulting in an economic downturn that may have an adverse effect on financial markets, cryptocurrency prices, the demand for cryptocurrency and other factors that could impact the financial results of our digital assets segment.

Our suppliers and our subsidiaries have experienced disruption to operations caused by quarantines, restrictions on employees’ ability to work, office and factory temporary closures, disruptions to ports and other shipping infrastructure, border closures, or other travel or health-related restrictions. Depending on the magnitude of such effects on our supply chain, procurement of parts for our existing miners, as well as any new miners we purchase, may be delayed. As our miners require repair or become obsolete and require replacement, our ability to obtain adequate replacements or repair parts from miner manufacturers may therefore be hampered. Supply chain disruptions could therefore negatively impact our operations.

In addition, multiple factors including some related to the COVID-19 pandemic have created a global semiconductor shortage. Since the inception of the pandemic, factory shutdowns and limitations due to employee illness or public health requirements have significantly slowed output, while global demand for products requiring chips increased. These 2020-2021 challenges worsened a pre-existing semiconductor and other supply shortage. Semiconductor supply has not yet rebounded, and manufacturers across all industries are waiting and driving up demand and costs. While we believe we will have sufficient cryptocurrency miners for our 2022 plans, any delay or disruption in deploying such miners, or future miners necessary for our success and growth, may have a material and negative impact on our results of operations.projected.

We have a limited operating history of selling cloud-based products and services and may be unable to achieve or sustain profitability or reasonably predict our future results.

In early 2013, we made a strategic decision to transform our business from servicing the public sector to focusing on the private sector. Leveraging our experience and expertise in handling large-scale IT projects for the public sector, we started investing in research and development to develop software products for the private sector. In 2014, continuing our business transition from the public sector to the private sector, we identified and provided cloud-based ecosystem solutions to four core markets including new media, healthcare, education, and residential community management. Underpinning our ecosystems are our industry-specific integrated technology platform, resource exchange, and big data services. In 2014, we predominately sold our cloud-based solutions to the Chinese new media industry. Starting from 2015, we further expanded the customer base of cloud-based solutions to education, government, and residential community management. In 2016, we expanded our business from the industry-specific integrated technology platform, resource exchange, and big data services into the elevator IoT sectors. From May 2017, we have focused our business to provide products and services on Cloud-App-Terminal (CAT) and IoT technology based digital advertising distribution networks and new media resource sharing platforms in the out-of-home adverting market in China. As such, we have a limited operating history of selling our cloud-based products and professional services to the private sector, which makes it difficult to evaluate our current business and future prospects and may increase the risk of your investment. In 2022, 2021 and 2020, we generated approximately $24.0 million, $18.8 million and $10.7 million in revenue, respectively, from our cloud-based technology (CBT) segment for customers in the education, new media, and out-of-home advertising market sectors. We expect to have significant operating expenses in the future to further support and grow our business, including expanding the scope of our customer base, expanding our direct and indirect selling capabilities, pursuing acquisitions of complementary businesses, investing in our data storage and analysis infrastructure, and research and development, and increasing our international presence.

Our independent registered auditors have expressed substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

Our independent auditors have added an explanatory paragraph to their audit opinion issued in connection with our financial statements included in this report which states that the financial statements were prepared assuming that we would continue as a going concern.

As discussed elsewhere in this report, we reported net income as well as positive cash flows from operating activities in 2018 and 2017. However, dueDue to the unfavorable macro-economic environment and the slowdown of the out-of-home advertising market in China, we incurred net loss of approximately $3.6 million in 2019, $18.3 million in 2020, and $9.6$9.9 million in 2021. As disclosed under Item 5, “Operating2021 and Financial Review and Prospects” and notes to the consolidated financial statements, we will continue to execute the existing business strategies with focuses on selection of quality customers, collection of accounts receivable, maintaining proper inventory level, and managing accounts payable to enhance operating cash flows. In addition,$7.1 million in 2022. However, the Company will aggressively develop domestic and international markets to develop new customers.customers and new product offerings through potential acquisitions and strategic collaborations with our business partners. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in achieving the goals set forth in our new business strategy and business model.

Unfavorable economic conditions may affect the level of the out-of-home advertising and information technology spending by our customers which could cause the demand for our products and services to decline.

The revenue growth and profitability of our business rely on the overall demand by our customers for out-of-home digital advertising, display technology products, and internet related services. Our business is sensitive to the overall economy in China and the economic and business conditions within our respective product and service sectors. If there is an economic downturn, our existing and prospective customers may reassess their decisions to purchase our products and services. China’s economic slowdown or a reduction in out-of-home advertising and information technology spending by our customers could harm our business in many ways, including longer sales cycles and lower prices for our products and services. These events could have a material effect on our future revenues and earnings.

Our periodic operating results are difficult to predict and could fall below investors’ expectations or estimates by securities research analysts, which may cause the trading price of our ordinary shares to decline.

Our revenues and operating results can vary significantly from a filing period to the next due to a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, such as public health pandemic, fluctuations in the volume of purchase by our customers as a result of changes in their operations, their decisions to purchase our products and services, as well as currency fluctuations, in addition to the risks associated with our cryptocurrency mining operations.fluctuations. Our revenues and operating results could also be affected by delays or difficulties in expanding our geographical presence and infrastructure, changes to our pricing strategies due to a competitive business environment and underestimates of resources and time required to complete ongoing projects. Our first-quarter revenues may be relatively low compared to that of the other quarters due to the Chinese New Year holiday. Moreover, our operating and financial results may fluctuate as a result of our dependency on our customers’ budgets and spending patterns. Therefore, we may not be able to accurately forecast the demand for our products and services beyond the current calendar year, which could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition. In addition, sales volumes from specific customers are likely to vary from year to year, and a major customer in one year may not remain as a major customer in the subsequent years.

These fluctuations are likely to continue in the future and operating results for any period may not be indicative of our performance in any future period. If our operating results for any filing period fall below investors’ expectations or estimates by securities research analysts, the trading price of our ordinary shares may decline.

We face risks associated with new businesses or assets acquired through mergers or acquisitions, and the acquired companies may not perform to our expectations, which may adversely affect our results of operations.

We face risks when we acquire other businesses. These risks include:

Acquired companies may not perform to our expectations for various reasons, including the departure of key personnel and loss of customers. Therefore, we may not realize the benefits we have previously anticipated. If we fail to integrate acquired businesses or realize expected benefits, we may not gain anticipated economic returns on investments in these mergers and acquisitions and incur substantial transaction costs, causing our operating results to be materially and adversely affected.

If we are unable to secure additional financing or identify suitable merger or acquisition targets, we may be unable to implement our long-term business plan, develop or enhance our products and services, take advantage of future opportunities, or respond to competitive pressures on a timely manner.

Our long-term business plan includes the identification of suitable targets for horizontal or vertical mergers or acquisitions, so as to enhance overall productivity and to benefit from economies of scale. Due to the recent uncertainties in the global economic outlook and financial market stability, we may not be able to secure an adequate level of additional financing, whether through equity financing, debt financing or other sources. To raise additional capital, we may need to issue new securities, which could result in further dilution to our shareholders and significant dilution to our earnings per share. Issuance of new securities with registration rights or covenants through additional financings may be superior to the current ones that would restrict our operations and strategies. If we are unable to raise additional financing, we may be unable to implement our long-term business plan, develop or enhance our products and services, take advantage of future opportunities, or respond to competitive pressures on a timely basis, if at all. In addition, lack of additional capital could force us to substantially curtail or even cease operations.

We also may not be able to identify merger or acquisition targets. We may not be able to successfully integrate the targeted business or operations with ours after a merger or acquisition. Such failure to execute our long-term business plan likely will negatively impact results of our operations.

We generally do not have exclusive agreements with our customers and we may lose their contracts if they are not satisfied with our products and services or for other reasons.

We generally do not have exclusive agreements with our customers. As a result, we must rely on the quality of our products and services, our reputation in the industry, and favorable pricing terms to attract and retain customers. There is no assurance that we will be able to maintain and retain our relationships with current and or future customers. Our customers may choose to terminate their relationships with us if they are not satisfied with our services or the prices of our competitors’ offerings are lower. If a substantial number of our customers choose not to continue to purchase products and services from us, it would materially and adversely affect on our business and results of operations.

If we are unable to develop and offer competitive new products and services, our future operations could be adversely affected.

Our future revenue stream, to a large degree, depends on our ability to capitalize on our technology strength and capabilities to offer new software applications and services to a broader client base. We must make investments in research and development to continue developing and offering new software applications and internet related products and services, and to enhance our existing software applications and internet related services to maintain market acceptance of our products and services. We may encounter challenges in innovation and introduction of new products and services. Our software applications under development may not be successfully completed or, if developed, may not achieve significant customer acceptance. If we are unable to successfully define, develop, introduce competitive new software applications, and enhance the existing ones, our future operating results would be adversely affected. The timeline for software developments is difficult to predict. Timely launch of new applications and their acceptance by customers are important to our future success. A delay in the development or introduction of new applications could have a significantly adverse impact on our results of operations.

If we are unable to keep abreast with the rapid technological changes in our industry, demand for our products and services could decline and adversely affect our revenue and growth.

Our industry is known for rapid changes in technology, frequent introductions of new applications, quick evolution of industry standards, and changes in customer demands. These conditions require continuous investments in product research and development to enhance existing products, innovate new products, and keep up with the leading-edge technologies. We believe that the timely development of new products and continuous enhancements to the existing products are essential to maintain our competitive position in the marketplace. Our future success depends in part upon customer and market acceptance of our products and innovations. Failure to achieve market acceptance of our existing products and services or to launch new products could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Our software applications may contain defects or errors, which could decrease sales, damage our reputation, or delay deliveries of our products.

Our software products are complex and must meet the stringent technical requirements requested by our customers. In order to keep pace with the current technologies and the rapid changes in the industry standards, we must accelerate new product developments and enhancements for our existing products. Because of the complex designs and the expeditious development cycles, we cannot assure that our software products are free of errors, especially for the newly released software applications and the updates for the existing software products. If our software is not free of errors, this could potentially result in litigation, declining sales, increasing product returns, product warranty costs, and damage to our reputation, which would adversely affect our business.

Our technology may become obsolete, which could materially adversely affect our ability to sell our products and services.

If our technology, products and services become obsolete, our business operations would be materially and adversely affected. The market in which we compete is known for rapid changes in technologies, quick evolution of industry standards, fast introductions of new products, and changes in customer demands. These market characteristics can cause the existing products to be obsolete and unmarketable. Our future success depends upon our ability to timely address the increasingly sophisticated requests from our customers to support the existing and new hardware, software, database, and networking platforms. We have to invest in research and development in order to succeed in this competitive industry and timely satisfy market demands. Our research and development expenses from continuing operations were approximately $3.6 million, $4.5 million $3.9 million and $3.6$3.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019,2020, respectively.

We face the risk of systems interruptions and capacity constraints, possibly resulting in adverse publicity, revenue loss and erosion of customer trust.

The satisfactory performance, reliability, and availability of our network infrastructure are critical to our reputation and our ability to attract and retain customers and to maintain adequate customer service levels. We may experience temporary service interruptions for a variety of reasons, including telecommunications or power failures, fire, water damage, vandalism, computer bugs, or viruses or hardware failures. We may not be able to correct a problem in a timely manner. Any service interruption that results in the unavailability of our system or reduces its capacity could result in real or perceived public safety issues that may affect customer confidence in our services and afflict negative publicity that could cause us to lose customer accounts or fail to obtain new accounts. Any inability to scale our systems may cause unanticipated system disruptions, slower response times, degradation in quality of customer service, or impaired performance and speed of transaction processing. We are not certain that we will be able to project the rate or timing of increases, if any, in the use of our services to permit us to upgrade and expand our systems effectively or to efficiently integrate any newly developed or purchased modules with our existing systems.

We have a limited history with our pricing models for our CBT products and services and, as a result, we may be forced to change the prices we charge for our applications or the pricing models upon which they are based.

We have limited experience with respect to determining the optimal prices and pricing models for certain of our CBT products and services and certain geographic markets. As the markets for our applications mature, or as competitors introduce products or services that compete with ours, including bundling competing offerings with additional products or services, we may be unable to attract new customers at the same price or based on the same pricing models as we have used historically. As a result, in the future we may be required to reduce our prices, which could adversely affect our financial performance. In addition, we may offer volume price discounts based on the number of products or services purchased by a customer or the number of our applications purchased by a customer, which would effectively reduce the prices we charge for our products and services. Also, we may be unable to renew existing customer agreements or enter into new customer agreements at the same prices or upon the same terms that we have historically, which could have a material and adverse effect on our financial position.

Security breaches may harm our business.

Our cloud-based applications involve the storage and transmission of our customers’ proprietary and confidential information. Any security breaches, unauthorized access, unauthorized usage, virus or similar breach or disruption could result in loss of confidential information, damage to our reputation, early termination of our contracts, litigation, regulatory investigations, indemnity obligations, or other liabilities. If our security measures are breached as a result of third-party action, employee error, malfeasance or otherwise and, as a result, someone obtains unauthorized access to customer data, our reputation will be damaged, our business may suffer and we could incur significant liability. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or sabotage computer systems change frequently, and generally are not identified until they are launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these hacking techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. Any or all of these concerns could negatively affect our ability to attract new customers and cause existing customers to elect not to renew or upgrade their subscriptions, or subject us to third-party lawsuits, regulatory fines, or other action or liability, which could adversely affect our operating results.

If we are not able to adequately secure and protect our patents, trademarks and other proprietary rights, our business may be materially affected.

To protect our intellectual properties, we rely on a combination of copyright, trademark, and trade secret laws. We also rely on non-disclosure agreements and other confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property rights. Some of these technologies are critical to our business but are not protected by copyrights or patents. It may be possible for unauthorized third parties to copy or reverse engineer our products, or otherwise obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. Further, third parties could challenge the scope or enforceability of our copyrights. In certain other jurisdictions, including China where we operate, the laws do not protect our proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Any misappropriation of our intellectual property could have a material and adverse effect on our business and results of operations. We cannot assure you that the measures we take to protect our proprietary rights are adequate.

Claims that we infringe the proprietary rights of third parties could result in significant expenses or restrictions on our ability to sell our products and services.

Third parties may claim that our products or services infringe their proprietary rights. Any infringement claim, with or without merit, would be time-consuming and expensive to litigate or settle and could divert our management’s attention from our core business. In the event of a successful infringement claim against us, we may have to pay significant damages, incur substantial legal fees, develop costly non-infringing technology, or enter into license agreements that require us to pay substantial royalties that may not be available on terms acceptable to us, if at all.

A significant portion of our sales are derived from a limited number of customers or related parties, and results from operations could be adversely affected and shareholder value harmed if we lose any of these customers.

Historically, a significant portion of our revenues have been derived from a limited number of customers or related parties. For the year ended December 31, 2021,2022, we generated about $0.15 million of revenue from related parties. For the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, approximately 24%, 29% and 2019, approximately 19%, 25% and 24%, respectively, of our revenues of continuing operations were derived from our five largest customers, including related parties. The loss of any of these significant customers and related parties would adversely affect our revenues and shareholder value.

The markets for out-of-home digital advertising and digital security systems in China are highly competitive. We may fail to compete successfully, thereby resulting in loss of customers and decline in our revenues.

The markets for out-of-home digital advertising and digital security information systems in China are intensely competitive and are characterized by frequent technological changes, evolving industry standards, and changing in customer demands. We face competition from multiple domestic competitors in each segment. Increased competition may result in price reductions, reduced margins, and inability to gain or hold market share.

We have limited insurance coverage for our operations in China.

The insurance industry in China is still in the early stage of development. Insurance companies in China offer limited insurance products. We have determined that the risks of disruption or liability from our business, the loss or damage to our property, including our facilities, equipment and office furniture, the cost of insuring these risks, and the difficulties associated with acquiring such insurance on commercially reasonable terms make it impractical for us to have such insurance. As a result, we do not have any business liability, disruption, litigation or property insurance coverage for our operations in China, except for insurance on some company owned vehicles. Any occurrence of uninsured loss or damage to property, or litigation, or business disruption may result in substantial costs and diversion of resources, which could have an adverse effect on our operating results.

We do not have insurance coverage against damages or losses of our products. Defects in our products could result in a loss of customers and decrease in revenue, unexpected expenses and a loss of market share.

We have not purchased product liability insurance to provide against any claims against us based on our product quality. As a result, defects in our products could result in a loss of customers and decrease in revenue, unexpected expenses and a loss of market share, and any of our products are found to have reliability, quality or compatibility problems, we will be required to accept returns, provide replacements, provide refunds, or pay damages. We may be required to incur substantial amounts to indemnify our customers in respect of their product quality claims against us, which would materially and adversely affect the results of our operations and severely damage our reputation.

We depend heavily on key personnel, and turnover of key employees and senior management could harm our business.

Our future business and results of operations significantly depend upon continuous contributions by key technical and senior management personnel, including Jianghuai Lin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Zhiqiang Zhao, President and Director, Liqiong (Iris) Yan, the Chief Financial Officer, Zhixiong Huang, Chief Operating Officer and Guangzeng Chen, Chief Technology Officer. The success of our business also depends in significant part upon our ability to attract and retain additional qualified management, technical, marketing, sales, and support personnel for our operations. If we lose a key employee, or if we are not able to attract and retain skilled employees as needed, our business could suffer. Significant turnover in our senior management could largely deplete our institutional knowledge held by our existing senior management team. We depend on the skills and abilities of these key employees in managing technical, marketing, and sales aspects of our business, any part of which could be harmed by future turnover.

We may be exposed to potential risks relating to our internal controls over financial reporting.

Companies that file reports with the SEC, including us, are subject to the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or SOX 404. SOX 404 requires management to establish and maintain a system of internal control over financial reporting, and annual reports on Form 10-K or Form 20-F filed under the Exchange Act are required to contain a report by management assessing the effectiveness of a company’s internal control over financial reporting. Separately, under SOX 404, as amended by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, public companies that are large accelerated or accelerated filers, other than emerging growth companies or smaller reporting companies, must include in their annual reports on Form 10-K or Form 20-F an attestation report of their auditors’ attesting to and reporting on the management’s assessment of internal control over financial reporting. Non-accelerated filers and emerging growth companies are not required to include an attestation report of their auditors in the annual reports.

A report of our management is included under Item 15 “Controls and Procedures” of this report. We are a non-accelerated filer and not required to include an attestation report of our auditor in this annual report. Management believes that our internal control over financial reporting has continued to improve in 20212022 to minimize material weaknesses identified in Item 15 of this report. Although we have made improvements to overcome such concern, we can provide no assurance that these material weaknesses will be entirely remediated in a timely manner. As a result, investors and others may lose confidence in the reliability of our financial statements.

We face risks associated with maintaining and expanding our international operations, including unfavorable and uncertain regulatory, political, economic, tax and labor conditions.

We are subject to legal and regulatory requirements, political uncertainty and social, environmental and economic conditions in multiple jurisdictions, over which we have little control and which are inherently unpredictable. Our operations in such jurisdictions, particularly as a company based in the PRC, create risks relating to, among others, compliance; organizing local operating entities; establishing, staffing and managing foreign business locations; navigating foreign government taxes, regulations and permit requirements; enforceability of our contractual rights; trade restrictions or exchange controls. Such conditions may increase our costs, impact our operations and business plans and require significant management attention, and may harm our business if we unable to manage them effectively.

Risks Relating to Doing Business in China

The ChinesePRC government may intervene orexerts substantial influence over the manner in which we conduct our operations at any time, or may exert more controlbusiness activities. Its oversight and discretion over offerings conducted overseas and/or foreign investment in China-based issuers, whichour business could result in a material adverse change in our operations and in the value of our securities. Any actions byordinary shares. Changes in laws, regulations and policies in China and uncertainties with respect to the Chinese government to exert more oversightPRC legal system could materially and control over offerings that are conducted overseas and/or foreign investmentadversely affect us. In addition, rules and regulations in China-based issuers could significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to offer or continue to offer securities to investors and cause the value of such securities to significantly decline or be worthless.China can change quickly with little advance notice.

A significantsubstantial portion of our operations are conducted in the PRC. Accordingly, our financial condition and results of operations are affected to a significant extent by the economic, political and legal developments in the PRC. The PRC economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including the extent of government involvement, level of development, growth rate, and control of foreign exchange and allocation of resources. The PRC government has implemented various measures to encourage economic growth and to guide the allocation of resources. Some of these measures may benefit the overall PRC economy but may also have a negative effect on us. Our financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected by government control over capital investments or changes in tax regulations that are applicable to us.

The Chinese government recently has published new policies that significantly affected certain industries such as the education and internet industries, and we cannot rule out the possibility that it will not in the future release regulations or policies regarding our industry that could require us or our PRC subsidiaries to seek permission from Chinese authorities to continue to operate our business in China, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, recent statements made by the Chinese government have indicated an intent to increase the government’s oversight and control over offerings of companies with significant operations in China that are to be conducted in foreign markets, as well as foreign investment in China-based issuers like us. Any such action, once taken by the Chinese government, could significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to offer or continue to offer theour securities, that we are registering to investors, and could cause the value of such securities to significantly decline or become worthless.

For example, in July 2021, the Chinese government provided new guidance on China-based companies raising capital outside of China, including through arrangements via variable interest entities (“VIEs”).VIEs. In light of such developments, the SEC has imposed enhanced disclosure requirements on China-based companies seeking to register securities with the SEC. Although we have recently dissolved ourthe VIE structure as a significant portionin September 2021 and our business in China currently does not involve any type of our operations are based in China,restricted industry under Chinese regulations, any future Chinese, U.S. or other rules and regulations that place restrictions on capital raising or other activities by companies with extensive operations in China could adversely affect our business and results of operations.business. If the business environment in China deteriorates from the perspective of domestic or international investment, or if relations between China and the United States or other governments deteriorate, the Chinese government may intervene with our operations, and our business in China, as well as the value of theour securities, that we are registering, may also be adversely affected.

The PRC government has increasingly strengthened oversight in offerings conducted overseas or on foreign investment in China-based issuers, which could result in a material change in our operations and our ordinary shares could decline in value or become worthless.

The PRC government has recently indicated an intent to take actions to exert more oversight and control over offerings that are conducted overseas and/or foreign investment in China-based issuers. For example, on July 6, 2021, the relevant PRC government authorities made public the Opinions on Strictly Scrutinizing Illegal Securities Activities in Accordance with the Law, or the Opinions. These Opinions emphasized the need to strengthen the administration over illegal securities activities and the supervision of overseas listings by China-based companies and proposed to take effective measures, such as promoting the construction of relevant regulatory systems to deal with the risks and incidents faced by China-based over-seas-listed companies.

On December 24, 2021, the CSRC issued the Provisions of the State Council on the Administration of Overseas Securities Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies (Draft for Comments) and the Administrative Measures for the Filing of Overseas Securities Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies (Draft for Comments), collectively the Draft Overseas Listing Regulations, for public comment until January 23, 2022.

Following issuance of the Draft Overseas Listing Regulations, on February 17, 2023, the CSRC issued the Notice on Filing Arrangements for Overseas Securities Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies (the “CSRC Filing Notice”), stating that the CSRC has published the Trial Administrative Measures of Overseas Securities Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies, or the “Trial Measures,” and five supporting guidelines (the “Listing Guidelines”), collectively the Trial Measures and Listing Guidelines. Among others, the Trial Measures and Listing Guidelines provide that overseas offerings and listings by PRC domestic companies shall:

The Trial Measures came into effect on March 31, 2023. PRC domestic companies seeking to offer and list securities (which, for the purposes of the Trial Measures, are defined thereunder as equity shares, depository receipts, corporate bonds convertible to equity shares, and other equity securities that are offered and listed overseas, either directly or indirectly, by PRC domestic companies) in overseas markets, either via direct or indirect means, must file with the CSRC within three working days after their application for an overseas listing is submitted.

The Trial Measures provide that where a PRC domestic company seeks to indirectly offer and list securities in overseas markets, the issuer shall designate a major domestic operating entity, which shall, as the domestic entity responsible, file with the CSRC. The Trial Measures stipulate that an overseas listing will be determined as “indirect” if the issuer meets both of the following conditions: (1) 50% or more of any of the issuer’s operating revenue, total profit, total assets or net assets as documented in its audited consolidated financial statements for the most recent accounting year are accounted for by PRC domestic companies (“Condition I”), and (2) the main parts of the issuer’s business activities are conducted in the PRC, or its main places of business are located in the PRC, or the senior managers in charge of its business operations and management are mostly Chinese citizens or domiciled in the PRC (“Condition II”); whether Chinese citizens from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau are included in the foregoing specification is not specified. The determination as to whether or not an overseas offering and listing by PRC domestic companies is indirect shall be made on a “substance over form” basis; the Listing Guidelines further stipulate that if an issuer not satisfying Condition I submits an application for issuance and listing in overseas markets in accordance with relevant non-PRC issuance regulations requiring such issuer to disclose risk factors mainly related to the PRC, the securities firm(s) and the issuer’s PRC counsel should follow the principle of “substance over form” in order to identify and argue whether the issuer should complete a filing under the Trial Measures. Subsequent securities offerings of an issuer in (i) the same overseas market where it has previously offered and listed securities, and (ii) an overseas market other than one where the issuer has previously offered and listed securities shall be filed with the CSRC within three working days after offerings are completed. Additionally, the Trial Measures stipulate that after an issuer has offered and listed securities in an overseas market, the issuer shall submit a report to the CSRC within three working days after the occurrence and public disclosure of (i) a change of control thereof, (ii) investigations of or sanctions imposed on the issuer by overseas securities regulators or relevant competent authorities, (iii) changes of listing status or transfers of listing segment, and (iv) a voluntary or mandatory delisting.

The CSRC Filing Notice states that, beginning from March 31, 2023, PRC domestic enterprises which have already issued and listed securities overseas and fall within the scope of filing under the Trial Measures shall be considered “existing enterprises” (“Existing Listed Enterprises”). Existing Listed Enterprises are not required to complete filings immediately; rather, Existing Listed Enterprises should complete filings if they are subsequently involved in matters require filings, such as follow-on financing activities, in accordance with the Trial Measures.

There is a possibility that we may be deemed as an Existing Listed Enterprise as defined under the CSRC Filing Notice, and that future offerings of listed securities or listings outside China by us may be subject to CSRC filing requirements in accordance with the Trial Measures.

On February 24, 2023, the CSRC, together with the Ministry of Finance, National Administration of State Secrets Protection and National Archives Administration of China, revised the Provisions on Strengthening Confidentiality and Archives Administration for Overseas Securities Offering and Listing, which were issued by the CSRC and National Administration of State Secrets Protection and National Archives Administration of China in 2009, or the “Provisions.” The revised Provisions were issued under the title the “Provisions on Strengthening Confidentiality and Archives Administration of Overseas Securities Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies,” and came into effect on March 31, 2023 together with the Trial Measures. One of the major revisions to the revised Provisions is expanding their application to cover indirect overseas offering and listing, as is consistent with the Trial Measures. The revised Provisions require that, among other things, (a) a domestic company that plans to, either directly or indirectly through its overseas listed entity, publicly disclose or provide to relevant individuals or entities, including securities companies, securities service providers, and overseas regulators, any documents and materials that contain state secrets or working secrets of government agencies, shall first obtain approval from competent authorities according to law, and file with the secrecy administrative department at the same level; and (b) a domestic company that plans to, either directly or indirectly through its overseas listed entity, publicly disclose or provide to relevant individuals and entities, including securities companies, securities service providers, and overseas regulators, any other documents and materials that, if leaked, will be detrimental to national security or public interest, shall strictly fulfill relevant procedures stipulated by applicable national regulations. Any failure or perceived failure by our Company, or our PRC subsidiaries to comply with the above confidentiality and archives administration requirements under the revised Provisions and other PRC laws and regulations may result in the relevant entities being held legally liable by competent authorities, and referred to the judicial organ to be investigated for criminal liability if suspected of committing a crime.

Given that the Trial Measures, Listing Guidelines and Revised Provisions have been introduced recently, and that there remain substantial uncertainties surrounding the enforcement thereof, we cannot assure you that, if required, we would be able to complete the filings and fully comply with the relevant new rules on a timely basis, if at all. Further, as of the date of this report, the aforementioned Provisions of the State Council on the Administration of Overseas Securities Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies (Draft for Comments) issued on December 24, 2021 remain in draft form and final and effective versions are yet to be published.

Changes in U.S. and Chinese regulations or in relations between the United States and China may adversely impact our business, our operating results, our ability to raise capital and the value of the securities that we are registering. Any such changes may take place quickly and with very little notice.

The U.S. government, including the SEC, has made statements and taken certain actions that led to changes to United States and international relations, and will impact companies with connections to the United States or China. The SEC has issued statements primarily focused on companies with significant China-based operations, such as us. For example, on July 30, 2021, Gary Gensler, Chairman of the SEC, issued a Statement on Investor Protection Related to Recent Developments in China, pursuant to which Chairman Gensler stated that he has asked the SEC staff to engage in targeted additional reviews of filings for companies with significant China-based operations. The statement also addressed risks inherent in companies with VIE structures. We have dissolved our VIE structure and are not in any industry that is subject to foreign ownership limitations by China. However, it is possible that the Company’s filings with the SEC may be subject to enhanced review by the SEC and this additional scrutiny could affect our ability to effectively raise capital in the United States.

In response to the SEC’s July 30, 2021 statement, the CSRC announced on August 1, 2021, that “[i]t“it is our belief that Chinese and U.S. regulators shall continue to enhance communication with the principle of mutual respect and cooperation, and properly address the issues related to the supervision of China-based companies listed in the U.S. so as to form stable policy expectations and create benign rules framework for the market.” While the CSRC will continue to collaborate “closely with different stakeholders including investors, companies, and relevant authorities to further promote transparency and certainty of policies and implementing measures,” it emphasized that it “has always been open to companies’ choices to list their securities on international or domestic markets in compliance with relevant laws and regulations.” If any new legislation, executive orders, laws and/or regulations are implemented, if the U.S. or Chinese governments take retaliatory actions due to the recent U.S.-China tension or if the Chinese government exerts more oversight and control over securities offerings that are conducted in the United States, such changes could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, our ability to raise capital and the value of the securities that we are registering.

There are uncertainties regarding the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws, rules and regulations.

A significant portion of our operations are conducted in the PRC, and are governed by PRC laws, rules and regulations. Our PRC subsidiaries are subject to laws, rules and regulations applicable to foreign investment in China. The PRC legal system is a civil law system based on written statutes. Unlike the common law system, prior court decisions may be cited for reference but have limited precedential value. In 1979, the PRC government began to promulgate a comprehensive system of laws, rules and regulations governing economic matters in general. The overall effect of legislation over the past four decades has significantly enhanced the protections afforded to various forms of foreign investment in China. However, China has not developed a fully integrated legal system, and recently enacted laws, rules and regulations may not sufficiently cover all aspects of economic activities in China or may be subject to significant degrees of interpretation by PRC regulatory agencies. In particular, because these laws, rules and regulations, especially those relating to the internet, are relatively new, and because of the limited number of published decisions and the nonbinding nature of such decisions, and because the laws, rules and regulations often give the relevant regulator significant discretion in how to enforce them, the interpretation and enforcement of these laws, rules and regulations involve uncertainties and can be inconsistent and unpredictable. In addition, the PRC legal system is based in part on government policies and internal rules, some of which are not published on a timely basis or at all, and may have a retroactive effect. As a result, we may not be aware of our violation of these policies and rules until after the occurrence of the violation. Any administrative and court proceedings in China may be protracted, resulting in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention.

The PRC government has recently announced its plans to enhance its regulatory oversight of Chinese companies listing overseas. The Opinions on Strictly Cracking Down on Illegal Securities Activities issued on July 6, 2021 called for:

As the Opinions on Strictly Cracking Down on Illegal Securities Activities were recently issued, there are great uncertainties as to how soon legislative or administrative regulation making bodies will respond and what existing or new laws or regulations or detailed implementations and interpretations will be modified or promulgated, if any, and the potential impact such modified or new laws and regulations will have on companies like us, but among other things, our ability and the ability of our subsidiaries to obtain external financing through the issuance of equity securities overseas could be negatively affected.

Our business is subject to complex and evolving laws and regulations regarding privacy and data protection. Compliance with China’s new Data Security Law, Cybersecurity Review Measures, Personal Information Protection Law, Regulations on Network Data Security (draft for public comments), as well as additional laws, regulations and guidelines that the Chinese government promulgates in the future may entail significant expenses and could materially affect our business.

Regulatory authorities in China have implemented and are considering further legislative and regulatory proposals concerning data protection. China’s new Data Security Law went into effect on September 1, 2021. The Data Security Law provides that the data processing activities must be conducted based on “data classification and hierarchical protection system” for the purpose of data protection and prohibits entities in China from transferring data stored in China to foreign law enforcement agencies or judicial authorities without prior approval by the Chinese government. The Data Security Law sets forth the legal liabilities of entities and individuals found to be in violation of their data protection obligations, including rectification order, warning, fines of up to RMB5 million, suspension of relevant business, and revocation of business permits or licenses.

In addition, On July 7, 2022, CAC promulgated the PRC Cybersecurity Law provides thatSecurity Assessment Measures for Outbound Data Transfers, or the “Measures,” which became effective on September 1, 2022. The Measures applies to the security assessment of critical data and personal information and important data collected and generated by operators of critical information infrastructurea data processor in the course of their operationsits operation in the PRC, shouldwhich are to be stored inprovided abroad. Article 4 of the PRC, and the law imposes heightened regulation and additionalMeasures stipulates that a data processor shall declare security obligations on operators of critical information infrastructure. Accordingassessment for its outbound data transfer to the initial Cybersecurity Review Measures promulgated byCAC through the Cyberspace Administration of China (“CAC”) and certain other PRC regulatory authorities in April 2020 and becoming effective in June 2020, operators of critical information infrastructure must pass a cybersecurity review when purchasing network products and services which do or may affect national security. Any failure or delay inlocal cyberspace administration at the completionprovincial level if the data processor provide data abroad under any of the cybersecurity review procedures may prevent thefollowing circumstances: (i) where a data processor provides critical data abroad; (ii) where a critical information infrastructure operator from using or providing certain network productsa data processor processing the personal information of more than one million people provides personal information abroad; (iii) where a data processor has provided personal information of 100,000 people or sensitive personal information of 10,000 people in total abroad since January 1 of the previous year; and services,(iv) other circumstances prescribed by the CAC for which declaration for security assessment for outbound data transfers is required.

On November 7, 2016, the SCNPC promulgated the Cybersecurity Law of the PRC which came into effect on June 1, 2017 and may resultapplies to the construction, operation, maintenance and use of networks as well as the supervision and administration of cybersecurity in fines of up to ten times the purchase price of such network products and services.China. The PRC government recently launchedCybersecurity Law defines “network operators” as owners and administrators of networks and network service providers, are subject to various security protection-related obligations, including: (i) complying with security protection obligations under graded system for cybersecurity reviews againstprotection requirements, which include formulating internal security management rules and operating instructions, appointing cybersecurity responsible personnel and their duties, adopting technical measures to prevent computer viruses, cyber-attack, cyber-intrusion and other activities endangering cybersecurity, adopting technical measures to monitor and record network operation status and cybersecurity events; (ii) formulating a numberemergency plan and promptly responding and handling security risks, initiating the emergency plans, taking appropriate remedial measures and reporting to regulatory authorities in the event comprising cybersecurity threats; and (iii) providing technical assistance and support to public security and national security authorities for protection of mobile apps operated by several US-listed Chinese companiesnational security and prohibited these apps from registering new users duringcriminal investigations in accordance with the review periods.law.

On July 10, 2021, the CAC issued the Cybersecurity Review Measures (revised draft for public comments), which took effect on February 15, 2022. The revised Cybersecurity Review Measures authorize the CAC to conduct cybersecurity review on a range of activities that affect or may affect national security. The PRC National Security Law defines various types of national security, including technology security and information security. The revised Cybersecurity Review Measures expands the cybersecurity review to data processing operators in possession of personal information of over 1 million users if the operators intend to list their securities in a foreign country. Under the revised Cybersecurity Review Measures, the scope of entities required to undergo cybersecurity review to assess national security risks that arise from data processing activities would be expanded to include all critical information infrastructure operators who purchase network products and services and all data processors carrying out data processing activities that affect or may affect national security. In addition, the revised Cybersecurity Review Measures provide that all such entities that maintain or store the personal information of more than 1 million users and undertake a public listing of securities in a foreign country would be required to pass cybersecurity review, which would focus on the potential risk of core data, important data, or a large amount of personal information being stolen, leaked, destroyed, illegally used or exported out of China, or critical information infrastructure being affected, controlled or maliciously used by foreign governments after such a listing. An operator that violates these Measures shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the PRC Cybersecurity Law and the PRC Data Security Law.

On November 14, 2021, the CAC released the Regulations on Network Data Security (draft for public comments) and accepted public comments until December 13, 2021. The draft Regulations on Network Data Security provide more detailed guidance on how to implement the general legal requirements under legislations such as the Cybersecurity Law, Data Security Law and the Personal Information Protection Law. The draft Regulations on Network Data Security follow the principle that the state will regulate based on a data classification and multi-level protection scheme, under which data is largely classified into three categories: general data, important data and core data. Personal data and important data will be subject to “key” protection and core data to “strict” protection. We believe that the data we access falls within the category of “general data,” because such data is data of our member merchants, does not involve personal information and is not large in volume. Further, when we conduct advertising data collection and analysis, such data is only related to the placement and delivery of ads, which does not involve any personal information. However, we may constitute an online platform operator under the draft Regulations on Network Data Security, which is defined as a platform that provides information publishing, social network, online transaction, online payment and online audio/video services, because our PRC subsidiary Biznest is operating a smart cloud platform that publishes commercial ads of our advertiser clients. Online platform operator under the draft Regulations will be required, among other things, to disclose terms and privacy policies and the algorithms they use. Where there are any changes that would result in significant impacts on users’ rights and interests, online platform operators will be required to seek public comments for at least 30 business days and publish how the public comments have been considered and incorporated into the final versions and why other comments are rejected. The draft Regulations also set forth procedures for reporting data breach incidents. In the event that a data breach incident has caused harm to any individuals or organizations, a data processor should notify the relevant individuals and organizations within 3 business days, unless such notices are not required under applicable laws or regulations. Additionally, if we are deemed as a data processor listed overseas under the draft Regulations, we will be required to carry out an annual data security assessment on our own or by engaging a third party data security services institution and submit a data security assessment report for the prior year to the local cyberspace affairs administration department before January 31 of each year. The Regulations on Network Data Security (draft for public comments) were released for public comments and subject to further changes.

On August 20, 2021, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China promulgated the Personal Information Protection Law which became effective on November 1, 2021. The Personal Information Protection Law provides a comprehensive set of data privacy and protection requirements that apply to the processing of personal information and expands data protection compliance obligations to cover the processing of personal information of persons by organizations and individuals in China, and the processing of personal information of persons in China outside of China if such processing is for purposes of providing products and services to, or analyzing and evaluating the behavior of, persons in China. The Personal Information Protection Law also provides that critical information infrastructure operators and personal information processing entities who process personal information meeting a volume threshold to be set by Chinese cyberspace regulators are also required to store in China personal information generated or collected in China, and to pass a security assessment administered by Chinese cyberspace regulators for any export of such personal information. Lastly, the Personal Information Protection Law contains proposals for significant fines for serious violations of up to RMB 50 million or 5% of annual revenues from the prior year and may also be ordered to suspend any related activity by competent authorities.

As our smart cloud platform is engaged in the advertising business, the advertising industry is not subject to any foreign investment restrictions and our smart cloud platform does not collect any personal information, we believe that we will be able to comply with the requirements of the PRC Cybersecurity Law, the PRC Data Security Law and related implementing regulations. However, interpretation, application and enforcement of these laws, rules and regulations evolve from time to time and their scope may continually change, through new legislation, amendments to existing legislation or changes in enforcement. Compliance with the PRC Cybersecurity Law and the PRC Data Security Law could increase the cost to us in providing our services, require changes to our operations or may prevent us from providing certain services.

PRC laws and regulations establish complex procedures in connection with certain acquisitions of China-based companies by foreign investors, which could make it more difficult for us to pursue growth through acquisitions or mergers in China.

On August 8, 2006, six PRC regulatory agencies, including the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”),MOFCOM, the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the State Administration of Taxation, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the CSRC, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, jointly adopted the Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the M&A Rules, which came into effect on September 8, 2006 and were amended on June 22, 2009. The M&A Rules include, among other things, provisions that purport to require that an offshore special purpose vehicle formed for the purpose of an overseas listing of securities of a PRC company obtain the approval of the CSRC prior to the listing and trading of such special purpose vehicle’s securities on an overseas stock exchange. On September 21, 2006, the CSRC published on its official website procedures regarding its approval of overseas listings through special purpose vehicles. However, substantial uncertainty remains regarding the scope and applicability of the M&A Rules to offshore special purpose vehicles.

The regulations also established additional procedures and requirements that are expected to make merger and acquisition activities in China by foreign investors more time consuming and complex, including requirements in some instances that the MOFCOM be notified in advance of any change-of-control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a PRC domestic enterprise, or that the approval from the MOFCOM be obtained in circumstances where overseas companies established or controlled by PRC enterprises or residents acquire affiliated domestic companies.

Moreover, according to the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China promulgated on August 30, 2007 and the Provisions on Thresholds for Reporting of Concentrations of Undertakings (the “Prior Reporting Rules”) issued by the State Council in August 2008 and amended in September 2018, the concentration of business undertakings by way of mergers, acquisitions or contractual arrangements that allow one market player to take control of or to exert decisive impact on another market player must also be notified in advance to the anti-monopoly enforcement agency of the State Council when the applicable threshold is crossed and such concentration shall not be implemented without the clearance of prior reporting. In addition, the Regulations on Implementation of Security Review System for the Merger and Acquisition of Domestic Enterprise by Foreign Investors (the “Security Review Rules”) issued by the MOFCOM that became effective in September 2011 specify that mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors that raise “national defense and security” concerns and mergers and acquisitions through which foreign investors may acquire de facto control over domestic enterprises that raise “national security” concerns are subject to strict review by the MOFCOM, and the rules prohibit any activities attempting to bypass a security review by structuring the transaction through, among other things, trusts, entrustment or contractual control arrangements.

We may grow our business in part by acquiring other companies operating in our industry. Compliance with the requirements of the regulations to complete such transactions could be time-consuming, and any required approval processes, including approval from the MOFCOM, may delay or inhibit our ability to complete such transactions, which could affect our ability to expand our business or maintain our market share.

The approval of the CSRC or other Chinese regulatory agencies may be required in connection with our future overseas capital-raising activities under Chinese law.

The “M&A Rules” purport to require offshore special purpose vehicles that are controlled by Chinese companies or individuals and that have been formed for the purpose of seeking a public listing on an overseas stock exchange through acquisitions of Chinese domestic companies or assets in exchange for the shares of the offshore special purpose vehicles shall obtain CSRC approval prior to publicly listing their securities on an overseas stock exchange.

Based on our understanding of the Chinese laws and regulations currently in effect, we will not be required to submit an application to the CSRC for its approval of any of our offerings of securities to foreign investors under the M&A Rules. However, there remains some uncertainties as to how the M&A Rules will be interpreted or implemented, and our view of our obligations under the M&A Rules is subject to any new laws, rules and regulations or detailed implementations and interpretations in any form relating to the M&A Rules. We cannot assure you that relevant Chinese government agencies, including the CSRC, would reach the same conclusion.

Furthermore, on July 6, 2021, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council jointly promulgated the Opinions on Strictly Cracking Down on Illegal Securities Activities, pursuant to which Chinese regulators are required to accelerate rulemaking related to the overseas issuance and listing of securities, and update the existing laws and regulations related to data security, cross-border data flow, and management of confidential information. Numerous regulations, guidelines and other measures have been or are expected to be adopted under the umbrella of or in addition to the Cybersecurity Law and Data Security Law.

On December 24, 2021, the CSRC released the Administrative Provisions of the State Council Regarding Overseas Securities Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies (Draft for Comments) (the “Administrative Provisions”), and the Measures Regarding Recordation of Overseas Securities Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies (Draft for Comments) (the “Measures”). The Administrative Provisions and Measures aim to establish a unified supervision system and promote cross-border regulatory cooperation. The Measures lay out filing procedures for domestic companies to record their initial public offerings and follow-on offerings abroad with the CSRC. Issuers are required to file follow-on offerings with the CSRC within 3 business days after the closing of such offerings.

According to the Q&A held by CSRC officials for journalists thereafter, the CSRC will adhere to the principle of non-retroactive application of law and first focus on issuers conducting initial public offerings and follow-on offerings by requiring them to complete the recordation procedures. Other issuers will be given a sufficient transition period. The CSRC officials also noted that the regulation system contemplated by the draft Administrative Provisions and Measures differentiates between IPOs and follow-on offerings to take into account overseas capital markets’ fast and efficient features and to reduce impacts on overseas financing activities by domestic companies. If the Administrative Provisions and the Measures are enacted as proposed, we expect to perform necessary recordation filings with the CSRC for our listing on the Nasdaq within the prescribed transition period and for this offering in the event that it takes place after the Administrative Provisions and the Measures enter into force.

As there are still uncertainties regarding the interpretation and implementation of such regulatory guidance, we cannot assure you that we will be able to comply with new regulatory requirements relating to our future overseas capital-raising activities and we may become subject to more stringent requirements with respect to matters including data privacy and cross-border investigation and enforcement of legal claims. Notwithstanding the foregoing, as of the date hereof, we are not aware of any Chinese laws or regulations in effect requiring that we obtain permission from any Chinese authority to issue securities to foreign investors, and we have not received any inquiry, notice, warning, or sanction in relation to the trading of the Ordinary Shares on the Nasdaq from the CSRC, the CAC or any other Chinese authorities that have jurisdiction over our operations.

We believe that we are not required to submit an application to the CSRC or the CAC for the approval of any of our offerings of securities to foreign investors or trading of the Ordinary Shares on the Nasdaq. However, there remains significant uncertainty as to the enactment, interpretation and implementation of regulatory requirements related to overseas securities offerings and other capital markets activities. If it is determined in the future that the approval of the CSRC, CAC or any other regulatory authority is required for any of our offerings, we may face sanctions by the CSRC, the CAC or other Chinese regulatory agencies. These regulatory agencies may impose fines and penalties on our operations in China, limit our ability to pay dividends outside of China, limit our operations in China, delay or restrict the repatriation of the proceeds from overseas offerings into China or take other actions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, the value of our securities, as well as our ability to offer or continue to offer securities to investors or cause such securities to significantly decline in value or become worthless. In addition, if the CSRC, the CAC or other regulatory agencies later promulgate new rules requiring that we obtain their approvals for any of our offerings, we may be unable to obtain a waiver of such approval requirements, if and when procedures are established to obtain such a waiver. Any uncertainties and/or negative publicity regarding such an approval requirement could have a material adverse effect on the value of the securities that we are registering.

PRC regulation of loans to, and direct investment in, PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may restrict or prevent Taoping from making additional capital contributions or loans to its PRC subsidiaries.

Taoping, as an offshore holding company, is permitted under PRC laws and regulations to provide funding to its PRC subsidiaries through loans or capital contributions. However, loans by Taoping to its PRC subsidiaries to finance their activities cannot exceed statutory limits and must be registered with the local counterpart of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and capital contributions to its PRC subsidiaries are subject to the requirement of making necessary filings in the Foreign Investment Comprehensive Management Information System, and registration with other governmental authorities in China.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange promulgated the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Reforming the Administration of Foreign Exchange Settlement of Capital of Foreign-invested Enterprises, or Circular 19, effective on June 1, 2015, in replacement of the Circular on the Relevant Operating Issues Concerning the Improvement of the Administration of the Payment and Settlement of Foreign Currency Capital of Foreign- Invested Enterprises, the Notice from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Relevant Issues Concerning Strengthening the Administration of Foreign Exchange Businesses, and the Circular on Further Clarification and Regulation of the Issues Concerning the Administration of Certain Capital Account Foreign Exchange Businesses. According to Circular 19, the flow and use of the RMB capital converted from foreign currency-denominated registered capital of a foreign-invested company is regulated such that RMB capital may not be used for the issuance of RMB entrusted loans, the repayment of inter-enterprise loans or the repayment of bank loans that have been transferred to a third party. Although Circular 19 allows RMB capital converted from foreign currency-denominated registered capital of a foreign-invested enterprise to be used for equity investments within the PRC, it also reiterates the principle that RMB converted from the foreign currency-denominated capital of a foreign-invested company may not be directly or indirectly used for purposes beyond its business scope. Thus, it is unclear whether the State Administration of Foreign Exchange will permit such capital to be used for equity investments in the PRC in actual practice. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange promulgated the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Reforming and Standardizing the Foreign Exchange Settlement Management Policy of Capital Account, or Circular 16, effective on June 9, 2016, which reiterates some of the rules set forth in Circular 19, but changes the prohibition against using RMB capital converted from foreign currency-denominated registered capital of a foreign-invested company to issue RMB entrusted loans to a prohibition against using such capital to grant loans to non-associated enterprises. Violations of Circular 19 and Circular 16 could result in administrative penalties. Circular 19 and Circular 16 may significantly limit our ability to transfer any foreign currency Taoping holds to its PRC subsidiaries, which may adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business in the PRC.

In light of the various requirements imposed by PRC regulations on loans to, and direct investment in, PRC entities by offshore holding companies, we cannot assure you that we will be able to complete the necessary government registrations or obtain the necessary government approvals on a timely basis, if at all, with respect to future loans or future capital contributions by us to our PRC subsidiaries. As a result, uncertainties exist as to our ability to provide prompt financial support to our PRC subsidiaries when needed. If we fail to complete such registrations or obtain such approvals, our ability to use foreign currency and to capitalize or otherwise fund our PRC operations may be negatively affected, which could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

The increased regulatory scrutiny focusing onrecent joint statement by the SEC, proposed rule changes submitted by Nasdaq, and the HFCA Act, all call for additional and more stringent criteria to be applied to U.S.-listed companies with significant operations in China in the U.S.China. These developments could add uncertainties to our continued listing, future offerings, business operations share price and reputation. Although our former auditor, UHY LLP, and current auditor, PKF, are both subject to inspection by the PCAOB, trading in our securities may be prohibited under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act if the PCAOB subsequently determines our audit work is performed by auditors that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate completely, and as a result, U.S. national securities exchanges, such as the Nasdaq, may determine to delist our securities. Furthermore, on June 22, 2021, the U.S. Senate passed the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, which, if enacted, would amend the HFCA Act and require the SEC to prohibit an issuer’s securities from trading on any U.S. stock exchanges if its auditor is not subject to the PCAOB inspections for two consecutive years instead of three.

U.S. public companies that have substantially all of their operations in China have been the subject of intense scrutiny, criticism and negative publicity by investors, financial commentators and regulatory agencies, such as the SEC. Much of the scrutiny, criticism and negative publicity has centered on financial and accounting irregularities and mistakes, a lack of effective internal controls over financial accounting, inadequate corporate governance policies or a lack of adherence thereto and, in many cases, allegations of fraud.

In recent years, as partOn December 7, 2018, the SEC and the PCAOB issued a joint statement highlighting the continued challenges faced by the U.S. regulators in their oversight of increasedfinancial statement audits of U.S.-listed companies with significant operations in HK SAR. On April 21, 2020, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton and PCAOB Chairman William D. Duhnke III, along with other senior SEC staff, released a joint statement highlighting the risks associated with investing in companies based in or have substantial operations in emerging markets including HK SAR, reiterating past SEC and PCAOB statements on matters including the difficulty associated with inspecting accounting firms and audit work papers in HK SAR and higher risks of fraud in emerging markets and the difficulty of bringing and enforcing SEC, Department of Justice and other U.S. regulatory focusactions, including in instances of fraud, in emerging markets generally.

On May 20, 2020, the United States on access to audit information, the United States enactedU.S. Senate passed the HFCA Act in December 2020. The HFCA Act includes requirements for the SEC to identify issuers whose audit reports are prepared by auditors that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate completely because ofrequiring a restriction imposed by a non-U.S. authority in the auditor’s local jurisdiction. The HFCA Act also requires public companies on this SEC listforeign company to certify that they areit is not owned or controlled by a foreign government and make certain additional disclosures in their SEC filings.if the PCAOB is unable to audit specified reports because the company uses a foreign auditor not subject to PCAOB inspection. In addition, if the auditor of a U.S. listed company’s financial statements is not subject to PCAOB inspections for three consecutive “non-inspection” years after the law becomes effective, the SEC is required to prohibit the securities of such issuer from being traded on a U.S. national securities exchange, such as NYSE and Nasdaq, or in U.S. over-the-counter markets. On March 24, 2021, the SEC announced that it had adopted interim final amendments to implement the foregoing certification and disclosure requirements and that it was seeking public comment on the issuer identification process as well as the submission and disclosure requirements. On May 13, 2021, the PCAOB issued proposed PCAOB Rule 6100 Board Determinations Under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act for public comment. The proposed rule provides a framework for making determinations as to whether PCAOB is unable to inspect an audit firm in a foreign jurisdiction, including the timing, factors, bases, publication and revocation or modification of such determinations, and such determinations will be madecompany’s auditors for three consecutive years, the issuer’s securities are prohibited to trade on a jurisdiction-wide basis in a consistent manner applicable to all firms headquartered innational exchange. On December 2, 2020, the jurisdiction.U.S. House of Representatives approved the HFCA Act and it was signed into law on December 18, 2020.

Furthermore,On May 21, 2021, Nasdaq filed three proposals with the SEC to (i) apply minimum offering size requirement for companies primarily operating in a “Restrictive Market”, (ii) prohibit Restrictive Market companies from directly listing on Nasdaq Capital Market, and only permit them to list on Nasdaq Global Select or Nasdaq Global Market in connection with a direct listing and (iii) apply additional and more stringent criteria to an applicant or listed company based on the qualifications of the company’s auditors.

On June 22, 2021, the U.S. Senate passed the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, (the “AHFCA Act”), which if enactedand on December 29, 2022, legislation entitled “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023” was signed into law, would amendwhich contained, among other things, an identical provision to the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act and amended the HFCA Act and requireby requiring the SEC to prohibit an issuer’s securities from trading on any U.S. stock exchanges or over-the-counter markets if its auditor is not subject to PCAOB inspections for two consecutive “non-inspection” years instead of three.

On September 22, 2021, the PCAOB adopted a final rule implementing the HFCA Act, which provides a framework for the PCAOB to use when determining, as contemplated under the HFCA Act, whether the BoardPCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms located in a foreign jurisdiction because of a position taken by one or more authorities in that jurisdiction.

On December 2, 2021, the SEC adopted amendments to finalize rules implementing the interim final rules previously issuedsubmission and disclosure requirements in March 2021, and established procedures to identify issuers and prohibit the trading of the securities of certain registrants as required by the HFCA Act. The rules apply to registrants that the SEC identifies as having filed an annual report with an audit report issued by a registered public accounting firm that is located in a foreign jurisdiction and that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate completely because of a position taken by an authority in foreign jurisdictions.(“Commission-Identified Issuers”). The final amendments require SEC identified issuersCommission-Identified Issuers to submit documentation to the SEC establishing that, if true, it is not owned or controlled by a governmental entity in the public accounting firm’s foreign jurisdiction. The amendments also require that an SEC-identified issuera Commission-Identified Issuer that is a “foreign issuer,” as defined in Exchange Act Rule 3b-4, provide certain additional disclosures in its annual report for itself and any of its consolidated foreign operating entities. An SEC-identified issuerA Commission-Identified Issuer will be required to comply with the submission and disclosure requirements in the annual report for each year in which it was identified. If a registrant is identified as an SEC identified issuer based on its annual report for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021, the registrant will be required to comply with the submission or disclosure requirements in its annual report filing covering the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022. Accordingly, if we are determined by the SEC to be an SEC identified issuer, we will incur additional costs in complying with the submission and disclosure requirements in the annual report for each year in which we are identified. In the event that we are deemed to have had three consecutive “non-inspection” years by the SEC, our securities will be prohibited from trading on any national securities exchange or over-the-counter markets in the United States. Moreover, if the AHFCA Act is enacted into law, it would reduce the time before our securities may be prohibited from trading or delisted from three years to two years.

On December 16, 2021, pursuant to the HFCA Act, the PCAOB issued a Determination Report which found that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China of the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region and dependency of the PRC, because of a position taken by one or more authorities in such jurisdictions. In addition, the PCAOB’s report identified specific registered public accounting firms which are subject to these determinations. Our current registered public accounting firm, PKF, or our former registered public accounting firm, UHY LLP, is not headquartered in mainland China or Hong Kong and was not identified in this report as a firm subject to the PCAOB’s determination.

As an Our current auditor, of companiesPKF, is a UK-based accounting firm that are traded publicly in the United States and a firmis registered with the PCAOB our current auditor PKF is required by the laws of the United States to undergo regular inspectionsand can be inspected by the PCAOB. PKF is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom, and has been inspectedWe have no current intention of engaging any auditor not subject to regular inspection by the PCAOB on a regular basis. They were last inspected between November 2020 and February 2021.PCAOB. Furthermore, the PCAOB is able to inspect the audit workpapers of our ChinaPRC subsidiaries, as such workpapers are electronic files possessed by our registered public accounting firms. However, if the PCAOB determines in the future that it cannot inspect or fully investigate our auditor at such future time, trading in our securities would be prohibited under the HFCA Act.

While we understand that there has been dialogue among theOn August 26, 2022, CSRC, the SECMOFCOM, and the PCAOB regardingsigned the inspectionProtocol, governing inspections and investigations of PCAOB-registered accountingaudit firms based in China and our former auditor UHY LLPHong Kong. The Protocol remains unpublished and current auditor PKF areis subject to inspectionfurther explanation and implementation. Pursuant to the fact sheet with respect to the Protocol disclosed by the SEC, the PCAOB thereshall have independent discretion to select any issuer audits for inspection or investigation and has the unfettered ability to transfer information to the SEC. On December 15, 2022, the PCAOB made a statement announcing that it was able, in 2022, to inspect and investigate completely issuer audit engagements of PCAOB-registered public accounting firms headquartered in China and Hong Kong. However, uncertainties still exist as to whether the PCAOB will have continued access for complete inspections and investigations in 2023 and beyond. When the PCAOB reassesses its determinations in 2023 and beyond, it could still determine that it is unable to inspect and investigate completely accounting firms based in mainland China and Hong Kong. The PCAOB has also indicated that it will act immediately to consider the need to issue new determinations under the HFCA Act if needed. There can be no assurance that our auditors or uswe will continue to be able to comply with requirements imposed by U.S. regulators if the PCAOB is not able to fully inspect any component of our auditor’s work papers in the future. The valueDelisting of the securities we are registeringCompany’s ordinary shares would force holders to sell their shares. The market price of Taoping’s ordinary shares could be adversely affected as a result of anticipated negative impacts of the HFCA Act upon, as well as negative investor sentiment towards, China-based companies listed in the United States,these executive or legislative actions, regardless of whether these executive or legislative actions are implemented and regardless of our actual operating performance.

Furthermore, as partUncertainties exist with respect to the interpretation and implementation of ongoingPRC Foreign Investment Law and how it may impact the viability of our current corporate structure, corporate governance and business operations.

On March 15, 2019, the National People’s Congress approved the Foreign Investment Law, which took effect on January 1, 2020. The Foreign Investment Law embodies an expected PRC regulatory trend to rationalize its foreign investment regulatory regime in line with prevailing international practice and the legislative efforts to protect U.S. investors,unify the U.S. President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, orcorporate legal requirements for both foreign and domestic invested enterprises in China. The Foreign Investment Law establishes the PWG, released a report in August 2020 recommending certain enhancements to listing standards on U.S. stock exchanges, including thatbasic framework for the PCAOB have access to, work papersand the promotion, protection and administration of the principal audit firm for the auditforeign investments in view of each company as a condition to initialinvestment protection and continued exchange listing. Companies unable to satisfy this standard as a result of governmental restrictions on access to audit work papers and practices in their jurisdiction may satisfy this standard by providing a co-audit from an audit firm with comparable resources and experience where the PCAOB determines it has sufficient access to audit work papers and practices to conduct an appropriate inspection of the co-audit firm. The SEC announced that its staff have been directed to prepare and develop proposals in response to the report of the PWG. Any resulting actions, proceedings or new rules could adversely affect the listing and compliance status of China-based issuers listed in the United States, such as Taoping, and may have a material and adverse impact on the trading prices of the securities of such issuers, and substantially reduce or effectively terminate the trading of Taoping’s securities in the United States.fair competition.

According to the Foreign Investment Law, the State Council will publish or approve to publish a “negative list” for special administrative measures concerning foreign investment. The latest Negative List, which was promulgated by the MOFCOM and the NDRC on March 12, 2022, and took effect on the same date. The Negative List set out in a unified manner the restrictive measures, such as the requirements on shareholding percentages and management, for the access of foreign investments, and the industries that are prohibited for foreign investment. Any field not falling in the Negative List shall be administered under the principle of equal treatment to domestic and foreign investment.

Based on the legal analysis of the Company’s in-house legal counsel, who is a licensed attorney in the PRC, we believe that none of our PRC subsidiaries’ current business is stipulated on the Negative List. As a result, according to the laws and regulations currently in effect, our PRC subsidiaries are able to conduct their business without being subject to restrictions imposed by the foreign investment laws and regulations of the PRC and none of Taoping or our subsidiaries is required to obtain additional licenses or permits beyond a regular business license for each PRC subsidiary’s operations. Each of our PRC subsidiaries is required to obtain and has obtained such regular business license from the local branch of the SAMR. No application for any such license has been denied.

However, we cannot assure you that our current operations or any newly-developed business in the future will still deemed to be “permitted” in the “negative list”, which may be promulgated or be amended from time to time by the MOFCOM and the NDRC. As a result, we cannot assure you that our PRC subsidiaries are always able to successfully update or renew the licenses or permits required for the relevant business in a timely manner or that these licenses or permits are sufficient to conduct all of our present or future business. If our PRC subsidiaries (i) do not receive or maintain required permissions or approvals, (ii) inadvertently conclude that such permissions or approvals are not required, or (iii) applicable laws, regulations, or interpretations change and our PRC subsidiaries are required to obtain such permissions or approvals in the future, we could be subject to fines, legal sanctions or an order to suspend our PRC operating subsidiaries’ business, which may materially and adversely affect the business, financial condition and results of operations of us.

Future inflation in China may inhibit our ability to conduct business in China.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, in January 2023, the annual averagenational Consumer Price Index (“CPI” increased by 2.1 percent changesyear-on-year while in January 2022, the consumer price index in China for 2019, 2020 and 2021 were 2.9%, 2.5% and 0.9%, respectively.national CPI rose by 0.9 percent year on year. Although we have not been materially affected by inflation in the past, we can provide no assurance that we will not be affected in the future by higher rates of inflation in China. For example, certain operating costs and expenses, such as employee salaries and office operating expenses may increase as a result of higher inflation. Additionally, since a substantial portion of our assets consists of cash and cash equivalents, high inflation could significantly reduce the value and purchasing power of these assets.

Restrictions on currency exchange may limit our ability to receive and use our income effectively.

The majority of our sales will be settled in RMB, and any future restrictions on currency exchanges may limit our ability to use revenue generated in RMB to fund any future business activities outside of China or to make dividend or other payments in U.S. dollars. Although the conversion of RMB into foreign currency for current account transactions, such as interest payments, profit distributions, and trade or service related transactions, can be made without prior governmental approval, significant restrictions still remain, including primarily the restriction that FIEs may only buy, sell, or remit foreign currencies after providing valid commercial documents to certain banks in China authorized to conduct foreign exchange business. In addition, conversion of RMB for capital account items, including direct investment and loans, are subject to governmental approval in China, and requires companies to open and maintain separate foreign exchange accounts for capital account items. We cannot be certain that the Chinese regulatory authorities will not impose more stringent restrictions on the convertibility of the RMB.

Fluctuations in exchange rates could adversely affect our business and the value of our securities.

The value of our ordinary shares will be indirectly affected by the foreign exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and RMB, and between the two currencies and other currencies in which our sales may be denominated. Appreciation or depreciation in the value of RMB relative to the U.S. dollar would affect our financial results reported in U.S. dollar without giving effect to any underlying change in our business or results of operations. Fluctuations in the exchange rate will also affect the relative value of any dividend we issue that will be exchanged into U.S. dollars, as well as earnings from any U.S. dollar-denominated investments we make in the future.

Since July 2005, the RMB has no longer been pegged to the U.S. dollar. Although the People’s Bank of China regularly intervenes in the foreign exchange market to prevent significant short-term fluctuations in the exchange rate, RMB may appreciate or depreciate significantly in value against the U.S. dollar in the medium to long term. Moreover, it is possible that in the future PRC authorities may lift restrictions on fluctuations in the RMB exchange rate and lessen intervention in the foreign exchange market.

Very limited hedging transactions are available in China to reduce our exposure to the exchange rate fluctuations. To date, we have not entered into any hedging transactions. While we may enter into hedging transactions in the future, the availability and effectiveness of these transactions may be limited. We may not be able to successfully hedge our exposure at all. In addition, our foreign currency exchange losses may be magnified by PRC exchange control regulations that restrict our ability to convert RMB into foreign currencies.

Restrictions under PRC law on our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to make dividends and other distributions could materially and adversely affect our ability to grow, make investments or acquisitions that could benefit our business, pay dividends to you, and otherwise fund and conduct our business.

Substantially all of our revenues are earned by our PRC subsidiaries. However, PRC regulations restrict the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to make dividends and other payments to their offshore parent companies. PRC legal restrictions permit payments of dividends by our PRC subsidiaries only out of their accumulated after-tax profits, if any, determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. Our PRC subsidiaries are also required under PRC laws and regulations to allocate at least 10% of their annual after-tax profits determined in accordance with PRC GAAP to a statutory general reserve fund until the amounts in said reserve fund reach 50% of the company’s registered capital. Allocations to these statutory reserve funds can only be used for specific purposes and are not transferable to us in the form of loans, advances, or cash dividends. Any limitations on the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to transfer funds to us could materially and adversely limit our ability to grow, make investments or acquisitions that could be beneficial to our business, pay dividends and otherwise fund and conduct our business.

PRC regulations relating to investments in offshore companies by PRC residents may subject our PRC-resident beneficial owners or our PRC subsidiary to liability or penalties, limit our ability to inject capital into our PRC subsidiary or limit our PRC subsidiary’s ability to increase their registered capital or distribute profits.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) promulgated the Circular on Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Control on Domestic Residents’ Offshore Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 37, on July 4, 2014, which replaced the former circular commonly known as “SAFE Circular 75” promulgated by SAFE on October 21, 2005. SAFE Circular 37 requires PRC residents to register with local branches of the SAFE in connection with their direct establishment or indirect control of an offshore entity, for the purpose of overseas investment and financing, with such PRC residents’ legally owned assets or equity interests in domestic enterprises or offshore assets or interests, referred to in SAFE Circular 37 as a “special purpose vehicle.” SAFE Circular 37 further requires amendment to the registration in the event of any significant changes with respect to the special purpose vehicle, such as increase or decrease of capital contributed by PRC individuals, share transfer or exchange, merger, division or other material event. In the event that a PRC shareholder holding interests in a special purpose vehicle fails to fulfill the required SAFE registration, the PRC subsidiaries of that special purpose vehicle may be prohibited from making profit distributions to the offshore parent and from carrying out subsequent cross-border foreign exchange activities, and the special purpose vehicle may be restricted in its ability to contribute additional capital into its PRC subsidiary. Moreover, failure to comply with the various SAFE registration requirements described above could result in liability under PRC law for evasion of foreign exchange controls. According to the Notice on Further Simplifying and Improving Policies for the Foreign Exchange Administration of Direct Investment released on February 13, 2015 by SAFE, local banks will examine and handle foreign exchange registration for overseas direct investment, including the initial foreign exchange registration and amendment registration, under SAFE Circular 37 from June 1, 2015.

According to SAFE Circular 37, our shareholders or beneficial owners, who are PRC residents, are subject to SAFE Circular 37 or other foreign exchange administrative regulations in respect of their investment in our company. We have notified substantial beneficial owners of ordinary shares who we know are PRC residents of their filing obligations. Nevertheless, we may not be aware of the identities of all of our beneficial owners who are PRC residents. We do not have control over our beneficial owners and there can be no assurance that all of our PRC-resident beneficial owners will comply with SAFE Circular 37 and subsequent implementation rules, and there is no assurance that the registration under SAFE Circular 37 and any amendment will be completed in a timely manner, or will be completed at all. The failure of our beneficial owners who are PRC residents to register or amend their foreign exchange registrations in a timely manner pursuant to SAFE Circular 37 and subsequent implementation rules, or the failure of future beneficial owners of our company who are PRC residents to comply with the registration procedures set forth in SAFE Circular 37 and subsequent implementation rules, may subject such beneficial owners or our PRC subsidiaries to fines and legal sanctions. Such failure to register or comply with relevant requirements may also limit our ability to contribute additional capital to our PRC subsidiaries and limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to distribute dividends to us. These risks may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Furthermore, it is uncertain how SAFE Circular 37, and any future regulation concerning offshore or cross-border transactions, will be interpreted, amended and implemented by the relevant PRC government authorities, and we cannot predict how these regulations will affect our business operations or future strategy. Failure to register or comply with relevant requirements may also limit our ability to contribute additional capital to our PRC subsidiaries and limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to distribute dividends to us. These risks could in the future have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Any failure to comply with PRC regulations regarding employee share incentive plans may subject the PRC plan participants or us to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions.

Pursuant to SAFE Circular 37, PRC residents who participate in share incentive plans in overseas non-publicly-listed companies may submit applications to SAFE or its local branches for the foreign exchange registration with respect to offshore special purpose companies. In the meantime, directors, executive officers and other employees who are PRC citizens or who are non-PRC residents residing in the PRC for a continuous period of not less than one year, subject to limited exceptions, and who have been granted restricted shares, options or restricted share units, or RSUs may follow the Notice on Issues Concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Publicly Listed Company, issued by SAFE in February 2012, to apply for the foreign exchange registration. According to those regulations, employees, directors and other management members participating in any stock incentive plan of an overseas publicly listed company who are PRC citizens or who are non-PRC citizens residing in China for a continuous period of not less than one year, subject to limited exceptions, are required to register with SAFE through a domestic qualified agent, which may be a PRC subsidiary of the overseas listed company, and complete certain other procedures. Failure to complete the SAFE registrations may subject them to fines and legal sanctions and may also limit their ability to make payment under the relevant equity incentive plans or receive dividends or sales proceeds related thereto in foreign currencies, or our ability to contribute additional capital into our subsidiaries in China and limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to distribute dividends to us. We also face regulatory uncertainties under PRC law that could restrict our ability to adopt additional equity incentive plans for our directors, officers and employees who are PRC citizens or who are non-PRC residents residing in the PRC for a continuous period of not less than one year, subject to limited exceptions.

In addition, the State Administration of Taxation has issued circulars concerning employee share options, restricted shares or RSUs. Under these circulars, employees working in the PRC who exercise share options, or whose restricted shares or RSUs vest, will be subject to PRC individual income tax. The PRC subsidiaries of an overseas listed company have obligations to file documents related to employee share options or restricted shares with relevant tax authorities and to withhold individual income taxes of those employees related to their share options, restricted shares or RSUs. Although we currently withhold income tax from our PRC employees in connection with their exercise of options and the vesting of their restricted shares and RSUs, if the employees fail to pay, or the PRC subsidiaries fail to withhold, their income taxes according to relevant laws, rules and regulations, the PRC subsidiaries may face sanctions imposed by the tax authorities.

Under the Enterprise Income Tax Law, we may be classified as a “resident enterprise” of China. Such classification will likely result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders.

On March 16, 2007, the National People’s Congress of China passed a new Enterprise Income Tax Law, or the EIT Law. On November 28, 2007, the State Council of China passed its implementing rules, which took effect on January 1, 2008. Under the EIT Law, an enterprise established outside of China with “de facto management bodies” within China is considered a “resident enterprise,” meaning that it can be treated in a manner similar to a Chinese enterprise for enterprise income tax purposes. The implementing rules of the EIT Law define de facto management as “substantial and overall management and control over the production and operations, personnel, accounting, and properties” of the enterprise.

On April 22, 2009, the State Administration of Taxation issued the Notice Concerning Relevant Issues Regarding Cognizance of Chinese Investment Controlled Enterprises Incorporated Offshore as Resident Enterprises, or the Notice, also referred to as SAT Circular 82. The Notice further interprets the application of the EIT Law and its implementation rules to non-Chinese enterprise or group controlled offshore entities. Pursuant to the Notice, an enterprise incorporated in an offshore jurisdiction and controlled by a Chinese enterprise or group will be classified as a “non-domestically incorporated resident enterprise” if (i) its senior management in charge of daily operations reside or perform their duties mainly in China; (ii) its financial or personnel decisions are made or approved by bodies or persons in China; (iii) its substantial assets and properties, accounting books, corporate chops, board and shareholder minutes are kept in China; and (iv) at least half of its directors with voting rights or senior management habitually reside in China. A resident enterprise would be subject to an enterprise income tax rate of 25% on its worldwide income and must pay a withholding tax at a rate of 10%, when paying dividends to its non-PRC shareholders. However, it remains unclear as to whether the Notice is applicable to an offshore enterprise controlled by Chinese natural persons. It is unclear how tax authorities will determine tax residency based on the facts of each case.

We may be deemed to be a resident enterprise by Chinese tax authorities. If the PRC tax authorities determine that we are a “resident enterprise” for the PRC enterprise income tax purposes, a number of unfavorable PRC tax consequences could follow. First, we may be subject to the enterprise income tax at a rate of 25% on our worldwide taxable income as well as PRC enterprise income tax reporting obligations, which would materially reduce our net income. Second, although, under the EIT Law and its implementing rules, dividends paid to us from our PRC subsidiaries would qualify as “tax-exempt income,” we cannot guarantee that such dividends will not be subject to a 10% withholding tax, as the PRC foreign exchange control authorities, which enforce the withholding tax, have not yet issued a guidance with respect to the processing of outbound remittances to entities that are treated as resident enterprises for the PRC enterprise income tax purposes. It is possible that future guidance issued with respect to the new “resident enterprise” classification could result in a situation, where a 10% withholding tax is imposed on dividends we pay to our shareholders that are non-resident enterprises and with respect to gains derived by said shareholders from transferring our shares. Finally, if we are deemed a PRC resident enterprise, dividends paid to our non-PRC individual shareholders and any gain realized on the transfer of our shares by such shareholders may be subject to PRC tax at a rate of 20%, if such income is deemed to be from PRC sources.

If we were treated as a “resident enterprise” by the PRC tax authorities, we would be subject to taxation in both the U.S. and China, and we may not be able to claim our PRC tax as a credit to reduce our U.S. tax.

We and our shareholders face uncertainties with respect to indirect transfers of equity interests in PRC resident enterprises or other assets attributed to a Chinese establishment of a non-Chinese company, or immovable properties located in China owned by non-Chinese companies.

In October 2017, the State Administration of Taxation issued the Bulletin on Issues Concerning the Withholding of Non-PRC Resident Enterprise Income Tax at Source, or Bulletin 37, which replaced the Notice on Strengthening Administration of Enterprise Income Tax for Share Transfers by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises issued by the State Administration of Taxation on December 10, 2009, and partially replaced and supplemented rules under the Bulletin on Issues of Enterprise Income Tax on Indirect Transfers of Assets by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises, or Bulletin 7, issued by the State Administration of Taxation on February 3, 2015. Pursuant to Bulletin 7, an “indirect transfer” of PRC assets, including a transfer of equity interests in an unlisted non-PRC holding company of a PRC resident enterprise, by non-PRC resident enterprises may be re-characterized and treated as a direct transfer of the underlying PRC assets, if such arrangement does not have a reasonable commercial purpose and was established for the purpose of avoiding payment of PRC enterprise income tax. As a result, gains derived from such indirect transfer may be subject to PRC enterprise income tax. According to Bulletin 7, “PRC taxable assets” include assets attributed to an establishment in China, immoveable properties located in China, and equity investments in PRC resident enterprises and any gains from the transfer of such asset by a direct holder, who is a non-PRC resident enterprise, would be subject to PRC enterprise income taxes. When determining whether there is a “reasonable commercial purpose” of the transaction arrangement, factors to be taken into consideration include: whether the main value of the equity interest of the relevant offshore enterprise derives from PRC taxable assets; whether the assets of the relevant offshore enterprise mainly consists of direct or indirect investment in China or if its income mainly derives from China; whether the offshore enterprise and its subsidiaries directly or indirectly holding PRC taxable assets have real commercial nature which is evidenced by their actual function and risk exposure; the duration of existence of the business model and organizational structure; the replicability of the transaction by direct transfer of PRC taxable assets; and the tax situation of such indirect transfer and applicable tax treaties or similar arrangements. In the case of an indirect offshore transfer of assets of a PRC establishment, the resulting gain is to be included with the enterprise income tax filing of the PRC establishment or place of business being transferred, and may consequently be subject to PRC enterprise income tax at a rate of 25%. Where the underlying transfer relates to immoveable properties located in China or to equity investments in a PRC resident enterprise, which is not related to a PRC establishment or place of business of a non-resident enterprise, a PRC enterprise income tax of 10% would apply, subject to available preferential tax treatment under applicable tax treaties or similar arrangements, and the party who is obligated to make the transfer payments has the withholding obligation. Pursuant to Bulletin 37, the withholding agent shall declare and pay the withheld tax to the competent tax authority in the place where such withholding agent is located within 7 days from the date of occurrence of the withholding obligation, while the transferor is required to declare and pay such tax to the competent tax authority within the statutory time limit according to Bulletin 7. Late payment of applicable tax will subject the transferor to default interest charges. Both Bulletin 37 and Bulletin 7 do not apply to transactions of sale of shares by investors through a public stock exchange where such shares were acquired from a transaction through a public stock exchange.

There is uncertainty as to the application of Bulletin 37 or previous rules under Bulletin 7. We face uncertainties as to the reporting and other implications of certain past and future transactions where PRC taxable assets are involved, such as offshore restructuring, sale of the shares in our offshore subsidiaries or investments. Our company may be subject to filing obligations or taxes if our company is transferor in such transactions, and may be subject to withholding obligations if our company is transferee in such transactions, under Bulletin 37 and Bulletin 7. For transfer of shares in our company by investors that are non-PRC resident enterprises, our PRC subsidiary may be requested to assist in the filing under Bulletin 37 and Bulletin 7. As a result, we may be required to expend valuable resources to comply with Bulletin 37 and Bulletin 7 or to request the relevant transferors from whom we purchase taxable assets to comply with these circulars, or to establish that our company should not be taxed under these circulars, which may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We may be exposed to liabilities under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Chinese anti-corruption laws, and any determination that we violated these laws could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We are subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act, or FCPA, and other laws that prohibit improper payments or offers of payments to foreign governments and their officials and political parties by U.S. persons and issuers as defined by the statute, for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. We have operations, agreements with third parties, and make most of our sales in China. The PRC also strictly prohibits bribery of government officials. Our activities in China create the risk of unauthorized payments or offers of payments by the employees, consultants, sales agents, or distributors of our Company to government officials or political parties, even though they may not always be subject to our control. It is our policy to implement safeguards to discourage these practices by our employees. However, our existing safeguards and any future improvements may prove to be less than effective, and the employees, consultants, sales agents, or distributors of our Company may engage in conduct for which we might be held responsible. Violations of the FCPA or Chinese anti-corruption laws may result in severe criminal or civil sanctions, and we may be subject to other liabilities, which could negatively affect our business, operating results and financial condition. In addition, the U.S. government may seek to hold our Company liable for FCPA violations committed by companies in which we invest or that we acquire.

If we become directly subject to the scrutiny, criticism, and negative publicity involving U.S.-listed Chinese companies, we may have to expend significant resources to investigate and resolve the matter, which could harm our business operations, stock price, and reputation. It could result in a loss of your investment in our stock, especially if such matter cannot be addressed and resolved favorably.

In the past few years, U.S. publicly traded companies that have substantially all of their operations in China, particularly companies like us have been the subject of intense scrutiny, criticism, and negative publicity by investors, financial commentators, and regulatory agencies, such as the SEC. Much of the scrutiny, criticism, and negative publicity has centered around financial and accounting irregularities and mistakes, lack of effective internal controls over financial accounting, inadequate corporate governance policies or lack of adherence thereto and, in many cases, allegations of fraud. As a result of the scrutiny, criticism, and negative publicity, the publicly traded stocks of many U.S. listed Chinese companies have sharply decreased in value and, in some cases, have become virtually worthless. Many of these companies are now subject to shareholder lawsuits and SEC enforcement actions, and are conducting internal and external investigations into the allegations. It is not clear the effect of this sector-wide scrutiny, criticism, and negative publicity will have on our Company, our business, and our stock price. If we become the subject of any unfavorable allegations, whether such allegations are proven to be true or untrue, we will have to expend significant resources to investigate such allegations defending our Company. This situation will be costly, time consuming, and distract our management from growing our company.

The disclosures in our reports and other filings with the SEC and our other public pronouncements are not subject to the scrutiny of any regulatory bodies in the PRC. Accordingly, our public disclosure should be reviewed in light of the fact that no governmental agency that is located in China where substantially all of our operations and business are located has conducted any due diligence on our operations, or reviewed or passed upon the accuracy and completeness of any of our disclosures.

Since we are regulated by the SEC, our reports and other filings with the SEC are subject to SEC’s review in accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the SEC under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act. Unlike publicly traded companies whose operations are located primarily in the United States, substantially all of our operations are located in China. Since substantially all of our operations and business take place in China, it may be more difficult for the SEC staff to overcome the geographic and cultural obstacles, when they review our disclosures. Such obstacles are not present for similar companies whose operations and business take place entirely or primarily in the United States. Furthermore, our SEC reports and other disclosures and public announcements are not subject to the review or scrutiny of any PRC regulatory authority. For example, the disclosures in our SEC reports and other filings are not subject to the review of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, a PRC regulator that is tasked with oversight of the capital markets in China. Accordingly, you should review our SEC reports, filings, and other public announcements with the understanding that no local regulator has done any due diligence on our company and that none of our SEC reports, other filings, or any of our other public announcements has been reviewed or otherwise been scrutinized by any local regulator.

Risks Relating to Our Securities

If we fail to comply with the continued listing requirements of NASDAQ, we would face possible delisting, which would result in a limited public market for our shares and make obtaining future debt or equity financing more difficult for us.

Our ordinary shares are traded and listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol of “TAOP.” We received a notification from Nasdaq Listing Qualifications on June 18, 2019,September 16, 2022, as announced in a report with the SEC on a 6-K Form filed on June 19, 2019,September 16, 2022, that we were not in compliance with the minimum bid price requirements set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) for continued listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market. Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) requires listed securities to maintain a minimum bid price of $1.00 per share, and Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A) provides that a failure to meet the minimum bid price requirement exists if the deficiency continues for a period of 30 consecutive business days. Based on the closing bid price of the Company’s ordinary shares for the 30 consecutive business days prior to the date of the notification letter from Nasdaq, the Company no longer satisfied the minimum bid price requirement. The notification letter provided that the Company had 180 calendar days, or until December 16, 2019,March 15, 2023, to regain compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). To regain compliance, the Company’s ordinary shares must have a closing bid price of at least $1.00 per share for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days (Nasdaq may monitor the price for as long as 20 consecutive business days prior to making a final compliance determination).

In the event the Company does not regain compliance with the minimum bid price requirement by March 15, 2023, the Company may be eligible for an additional 180 calendar day grace period. On December 17, 2019,March 16, 2023, we received a second notice from the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications, in which Nasdaq granted us an additional 180 days, or until June 15, 2020,September 11, 2023, to regain compliance, because the Company met the continued listing requirement for public float and other applicable requirements, except the bid price requirement, and the Company had indicated its intention of curing the deficiency by effecting a reverse stock split, if necessary. The compliance deadline was thereafter extended from June 15, 2020 to August 28, 2020 according to SR-NASDAQ-2020-021. On July 30, 2020, we effectuated a share combination of our ordinary shares at a ratio of one-for-six in order to increase the per share trading price of our ordinary shares to satisfy the $1.00 minimum bid price requirement. We regained compliance with the minimum bid price rule on August 20, 2020.

However, there is no assurance that we will be able to continue to maintain our compliance with the NASDAQ continued listing requirements. If we fail to do so,cure this deficiency within the time limits, the Company’s ordinary shares may lose their status on NASDAQ Capital Market and they would likely be traded on the over-the-counter markets, including the Pink Sheets market. As a result, selling the Company’s ordinary shares could be more difficult because smaller quantities of shares would likely be bought and sold, transactions could be delayed, and security analysts’ coverage of us may be reduced. In addition, in the event that the Company’s ordinary shares are delisted, broker dealers would bear certain regulatory burdens which may discourage broker dealers from effecting transactions in the Company’s ordinary shares and further limit the liquidity of the Company’s shares. These factors could result in lower prices and larger spreads in the bid and ask prices for the Company’s ordinary shares. Such delisting from NASDAQ and continued or further declines in the Company’s ordinary share price could also greatly impair our ability to raise additional necessary capital through equity or debt financing and could significantly increase the ownership dilution to shareholders caused by the Company’s issuing equity in financing or other transactions.

If we were delisted from NASDAQ, we may become subject to the trading complications experienced by “Penny Stocks” in the over-the-counter market.

Delisting from NASDAQ may cause the Company’s shares to become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules. The SEC generally defines a penny stock as an equity security that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share or an exercise price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exemptions. One such exemption is to be listed on NASDAQ. Therefore, were we to be delisted from NASDAQ, the Company’s ordinary shares may become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules. These rules require, among other things, that any broker engaging in a purchase or sale of the Company’s securities provide its customers with: (i) a risk disclosure document, (ii) disclosure of market quotations, if any, (iii) disclosure of the compensation of the broker and its salespersons in the transaction, and (iv) monthly account statements showing the market values of the Company’s securities held in the customer’s accounts. A broker would be required to provide the bid and offer quotations and compensation information before effecting the transaction. This information must be contained on the customer’s confirmation. Generally, brokers are less willing to effect transactions in penny stocks due to these additional delivery requirements. These requirements may make it more difficult for shareholders to purchase or sell the Company’s ordinary shares. Since the broker, not us, prepares this information, we would not be able to assure that such information is accurate, complete or current.

We have issued convertible note that contains variable conversion prices which could result in substantial dilution to the Company’s existing shareholders.

On September 10, 2020, we and an individual investor entered into a securities purchase agreement, pursuant to which we sold to the investor 222,222 ordinary shares at a purchase price of $2.70 per share, in a registered direct offering. In a concurrent private placement, for a purchase price of $1,400,000, we sold and issued to the investor a convertible promissory note in a principal amount of $1,480,000 and a warrant to purchase 53,333 ordinary shares at $9.00 per share within three years following the issue date. The note carries an original issue discount of $80,000 matures in 12 months from the issue date, bearing interest at a rate of 5.0% per annum. At any time prior to the maturity, the note, at the investor’s option, may be convertible into fully paid ordinary shares at a conversion price of $9.00 per share. At any time after the occurrence of an event of default (as defined in the note), the investor may convert all of the outstanding balance of the note into ordinary shares in an aggregate amount not exceeding 1.0 million shares. At the maturity, the investors may also covert all of the outstanding balance of the note into ordinary shares at a price no less than $2.40 per share. In addition, if the note remains outstanding and due in each of the months of March and June 2021, the investor has a one-time option during the first three weeks in each of March and June 2021, respectively, to convert no more than one half of the then outstanding balance of the note into ordinary shares at a price no less than $2.40 per share.

On July 12, 2021, we and investors entered into a securities purchase agreement, pursuant to which we sold to the investor 1,200,000 ordinary shares at a purchase price of $4.15 per share, in a registered direct offering. In a concurrent private placement, we are also selling to the same investors warrants to purchase an aggregate of up to 360,000 Ordinary Shares at an exercise price of $4.56 per share. The Warrants will be exercisable for a period of three years commencing on the issue date. At any time prior to the maturity, the note, at the investor’s option, may be convertible into fully paid ordinary shares at a conversion price of $4.56 per share.

Therefore, if the investor elects to convert the then-outstanding balance of the note into the Company ordinary shares at or prior to maturity, such conversion may be made at a significant discount to the then market price of the Company’s shares. In the event that the investor converts any or all of the above note, the Company’s existing shareholders will experience immediate dilution in their ownership of the Company’s shares, as a result of the discounted price at which the note may be converted.

The trading price of the Company’s ordinary shares is highly volatile, leading to the possibility of itstheir value being depressed at a time when you want to sell your holdings.

The market price of the Company’s ordinary shares is volatile, and this volatility may continue. Numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, may cause the market price of the Company’s ordinary shares to fluctuate significantly. These factors include:

In the past, shareholders of a public company often brought securities class action suits against the company following periods of instability in the market price of that company’s securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could divert a significant amount of our management’s attention and other resources from our business and operations, which could harm our results of operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit. Any such class action suit, whether or not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

The Company’s outstanding warrants may adversely affect the market price of the Company’s ordinary shares.

As of the date of this report, there are warrants outstanding to purchase 508,334413,333 ordinary shares of the Company. These warrants consist of warrants exercisable for three years for 133,33453,333 ordinary shares at an exercise price of $9.0 per share, warrants exercisable for 15,000 ordinary shares at an exercise price of $6.3 per share, warrants exercisable for 360,000 ordinary shares at an exercise price of $4.56 per share. Most of the warrants could be exercised on a cashless basis. The sale or possibility of sale of the shares underlying the warrants could have an adverse effect on the market price of our ordinary shares or our ability to obtain future financing. If and to the extent these warrants are exercised, you may experience dilution to your holdings.

Techniques employed by short sellers may drive down the market price of the Company’s ordinary shares.

Short selling is the practice of selling securities that the seller does not own but rather has borrowed from a third party with the intention of buying identical securities back at a later date to return to the lender. The short seller hopes to profit from a decline in the value of the securities between the sale of the borrowed securities and the purchase of the replacement shares, as the short seller expects to pay less in that purchase than it received in the sale. As it is in the short seller’s interest for the price of the security to decline, many short sellers publish, or arrange for the publication of, negative opinions regarding the relevant issuer and its business prospects in order to create negative market momentum and generate profits for themselves after selling a security short. These short attacks have, in the past, led to selling of shares in the market.

Public companies that have substantially all of their operations in China have been the subject of short selling. Much of the scrutiny and negative publicity has centered on allegations of a lack of effective internal control over financial reporting resulting in financial and accounting irregularities and mistakes, inadequate corporate governance policies or a lack of adherence thereto and, in many cases, allegations of fraud. As a result, a number of targets of such efforts are now conducting internal and external investigations into the allegations and, in the interim, are subject to shareholder lawsuits and/or SEC enforcement actions.

If we were to become the subject of any unfavorable allegations, whether such allegations are proven to be true or untrue, we could have to expend a significant amount of resources to investigate such allegations and/or defend ourselves. While we would vigorously defend against any such short seller attacks, we may be constrained in the manner in which we can proceed against the relevant short seller by principles of freedom of speech, applicable state law or issues of commercial confidentiality. Such a situation could be costly and time-consuming, and could distract our management from growing our business. Even if such allegations are ultimately proven to be groundless, allegations against us could severely impact our business operations, and any investment in the Company’s ordinary shares could be greatly reduced or even rendered worthless.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the market price and trading volume for the Company’s shares could decline.

The trading market for the Company’s ordinary shares will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If research analysts do not establish and maintain adequate research coverage or if one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades the Company’s ordinary shares or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the market price for the Company’s ordinary shares would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of the Company or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which, in turn, could cause the market price or trading volume for the Company’s ordinary shares to decline.

We do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future.

For the foreseeable future, we intend to retain any earnings to finance the development and expansion of our business, and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on the Company’s shares. Accordingly, investors must be prepared to rely on sales of their shares after price appreciation to earn an investment return, which may never occur. Investors seeking cash dividends should not purchase the Company’s shares. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be made at the discretion of our Board of Directors, and will depend on our results of operations, financial condition, contractual restrictions, restrictions imposed by applicable laws, and other factors our board deems relevant.

The Company’s outstanding voting securities are concentrated in a few shareholders.

Mr. Jianghuai Lin, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, is the beneficial owner of approximately 26.9%27.1% of the Company’s outstanding voting securities. As a result, he possesses significant influence, and can elect a majority of our board of directors and authorize or prevent proposed significant corporate transactions. His ownership and control may also have the effect of delaying or preventing a future change in control, impeding a merger, consolidation, takeover, or other business combination, or discourage a potential acquirer from making a tender offer.

We are a “foreign private issuer” and have disclosure obligations that are different than those of U.S. domestic reporting companies. Therefore, you should not expect to receive the same information about us as a U.S. domestic reporting company may provide. Furthermore, if we lose our status as a foreign private issuer, we would be required to fully comply with the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act applicable to U.S. domestic issuers and incur significant operational, administrative, legal, and accounting costs that we would not incur as a foreign private issuer.

We are a foreign private issuer. As a result, we are not subject to certain of the requirements imposed upon U.S. domestic issuers by the SEC. For example, we are not required by the SEC or the federal securities laws to issue quarterly reports or file proxy statements with the SEC. We are also allowed to file our annual report with the SEC within four months of our fiscal year end. We are also not required to disclose certain detailed information regarding executive compensation that is required from U.S. domestic issuers. Further, our directors and executive officers are not required to report equity holdings under Section 16 of the Securities Act. As a foreign private issuer, we are also exempt from the requirements of Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure) which, generally, aim to ensure that select groups of investors are not privy to specific information about an issuer before other investors. We are, however, still subject to the anti-fraud and anti-manipulation rules of the SEC, such as Rule 10b-5. Since many of the disclosure obligations required of us as a foreign private issuer are different than those required by U.S. domestic reporting companies, our shareholders should not expect to receive all of the same types of information about us and at the same time as information is received from, or provided by, U.S. domestic reporting companies. We are liable for violations of the rules and regulations of the SEC, which do apply to us as a foreign private issuer. Violations of these rules could affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

As a foreign private issuer, we are permitted to rely on exemptions from certain NASDAQ corporate governance standards applicable to domestic U.S. issuers.issuers and are subject to reporting obligations that, to some extent, are more lenient and less frequent than those of a U.S. issuer. This may afford less protection to holders of the Company’s securities.

We are exempted from certain corporate governance requirements of the Nasdaq StockCapital Market by virtue of being a foreign private issuer. As a foreign private issuer, we are permitted to follow the governance practices of our home country, the BVI in lieu of certain corporate governance requirements of NASDAQ.the Nasdaq Capital Market. As a result, the standards applicable to us are considerably different than the standards applied to domestic U.S. issuers. For instance, we are not required to:

The information we are required to file with or furnish to the SEC will be less extensive and less timely as compared to that required to be filed with the SEC by U.S. domestic issuers. Certain corporate governance practices in the British Virgin Islands, which is our home country, may differ significantly from the NASDAQ Capital Market corporate governance listing standards.

As a result, you may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of the Nasdaq corporate governance requirements.

You may have difficulty enforcing judgments obtained against us or our directors and officers.

Taoping is a BVI company with executive offices in Hong Kong and substantially all of our assets areand operations located outside of the United States. In addition, a significant majority of our current business operations are conducted in the PRC and all of Taoping’s directors and officers are nationals and residents of countries other than the United States. A substantial portion of the assets of these persons is also located outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult for you to effect service of process within the United States upon us or these persons. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for you to bring an action against us or against these individuals in the United States. It may also be difficult for you to enforce the U.S. courts judgments obtained in U.S. courts including judgments based on the civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws against us or our officers and directors. In addition, there is uncertainty as to whether the courts of the BVI or Hong Kong would (i) recognize or enforce judgments of United States courts obtained against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States or (ii) entertain original actions brought in the BVI or Hong Kong against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States. The courts of the BVI or Hong Kong may enforce a foreign judgment subject to various conditions, including but not limited to, that the foreign judgment is a final judgment conclusive upon the merits of the claim, the judgment is for a liquidated amount in a civil matter and not in respect of taxes, fines, penalties, or similar charges, the proceedings in which the judgment was obtained were not contrary to natural justice, and the enforcement of the judgment is not contrary to public policy of the BVI or Hong Kong.

The recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in mainland China are provided for under the PRC Civil Procedures Law. PRC courts may recognize and enforce foreign judgments in accordance with the requirements of the PRC Civil Procedures Law based either on treaties between China and the country where the judgment is made or on principles of reciprocity between jurisdictions. China does not have any treaties or other forms of reciprocity with the United States that provide for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. In addition, according to the PRC Civil Procedures Law, the PRC courts will not enforce a foreign judgment against us or our director and officers if they decide that the judgment violates the basic principles of PRC laws or national sovereignty, security or public interest. As a result, it is uncertain whether and on what basis a PRC court would enforce a judgment rendered by a court in the United States.

As we were incorporatedWe are a BVI company and, because judicial precedent regarding the rights of shareholders is more limited under the laws of the BVI itlaw than that under U.S. law, you may be more difficulthave less protection for our shareholders to protect theiryour shareholder rights than ityou would be for a shareholder of a corporation incorporated in another jurisdiction.under U.S. law.

Our corporate affairs are governed by the Company’s Memorandumour memorandum and Articlesarticles of Association, by the BVI Business Companies Act (as amended), orassociation, as amended and restated from time to time, the BVI Act and the common law of the BVI. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us under BVI law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the BVI. The common law of the BVI Principles ofis derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the BVI as well as that from English common law, relating to such matters aswhich has persuasive, but not binding, authority on a court in the validity of corporate procedures, the fiduciary duties of management, and theBVI. The rights of our shareholders. Such matters differ from those that would apply, had we been incorporated inshareholders and the United States or another jurisdiction. The rightsfiduciary responsibilities of shareholdersour directors under BVI law mayare not be as clearly established as the rights of shareholders arethey would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States or other jurisdictions. U.S. In particular, the BVI has a less exhaustive body of securities laws than the U.S. In addition, some U.S. states, such as Delaware, have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law than the BVI. There is no statutory recognition in the BVI of judgments obtained in the U.S., although the courts of the BVI will in certain circumstances recognize and enforce a non-penal judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits.

Under the laws of most jurisdictions in the United States, majority and controlling shareholders generally have certain fiduciary responsibilities to the minority shareholders. Shareholders’ actions must be taken in good faith. Obviouslyfaith and any unreasonable actions by controlling shareholders may be declared null and void. BVI law protecting the interests of minority shareholders may not be as vigorous in all circumstances as the law protecting minority shareholders in United States or other jurisdictions. Although a shareholder of a BVI company may sue the company derivatively, the procedures and defenses available to the company may result in the rights of shareholders of a BVI company being more limited than those of shareholders of a company organized in the United States. Furthermore, our directors have the power to take certain actions without shareholders’ approval, which would require shareholders’ approval under the laws of most United States or other jurisdictions. The directors of a BVI corporation,company, subject in certain cases to the court’s approval but without shareholders’ approval, may implement a reorganization, merger or consolidation, or sale of assets, property, business or securities of the corporationcompany which sale is subject to a limit of up to 50% in total value of such assets.the company. The ability of our board of directors to create new classes or series of shares and the rights attached by amending the Company’s Memorandummemorandum and Articlesarticles of Association without shareholders’ approvalassociation could have the effect of delaying, deterring or preventing a change in our control, without any further action by the shareholders, including a tender offer to purchase the Company’s ordinary shares at a premium over then market prices. Thus, our

As a result of all of the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by ourmanagement, members of the board of directors or our controlling shareholders than they would have as shareholders of a corporation incorporated in another jurisdiction.U.S. public company.

General Risk Factors

We are subject to changing law and regulations regarding regulatory matters, corporate governance and public disclosure that have increased both our costs and the risk of non-compliance.

We are subject to rules and regulations by various governing bodies, including, for example, the SEC, which are charged with the protection of investors and the oversight of companies whose securities are publicly traded, and to new and evolving regulatory measures under applicable law, including the laws of the BVI. Our efforts to comply with new and changing laws and regulations have resulted in and are likely to continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities.

Moreover, because these laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance becomes available. This evolution may result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and additional costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to our disclosure and governance practices. If we fail to address and comply with these regulations and any subsequent changes, we may be subject to penalty and our business may be harmed.

Taoping employs a mail forwarding service, which may delay or disrupt our ability to receive mail in a timely manner.

Mail addressed to Taoping and received at its registered office in the BVI will be forwarded unopened to the forwarding address supplied by Taoping to be dealt with. None of Taoping, its directors, officers, advisors or service providers (including the organization which provides registered office services in the BVI) will bear any responsibility for any delay howsoever caused in mail reaching the forwarding address, which may impair your ability to communicate with us.

Political risks associated with conducting business in Hong Kong.

Taoping’ s executive offices and most of its officers and directors are located inOur current corporate structure include certain Hong Kong.Kong subsidiaries. Accordingly, our business operation willcould be affected by the political and legal developments in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the PRC and the basic policies of the PRC regarding Hong Kong are reflected in the Basic Law, namely, Hong Kong’s constitutional document, which provides Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy and executive, legislative and independent judicial powers, including that of final adjudication under the principle of “one country, two systems”. However, there is no assurance that there will not be any changes in the economic, political and legal environment in Hong Kong in the future.

Under the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the PRC, Hong Kong is exclusively in charge of its internal affairs and external relations, while the government of the PRC is responsible for its foreign affairs and defense. As a separate customs territory, Hong Kong maintains and develops relations with foreign states and regions. Based on certain recent development including the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region issued by the Standing Committee of the PRC National People’s Congress in June 2020, the U.S. State Department has indicated that the United States no longer considers Hong Kong to have significant autonomy from PRC and President Trump signed an executive order and Hong Kong Autonomy Act, or HKAA, to remove Hong Kong’s preferential trade status and to authorize the U.S. administration to impose blocking sanctions against individuals and entities who are determined to have materially contributed to the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy. The United States may impose the same tariffs and other trade restrictions on exports from Hong Kong that it places on goods from mainland China. These and other recent actions may represent an escalation in political and trade tensions involving the U.S., mainland China and Hong Kong, which could potentially harm our business.

Given the relatively small geographical size of Hong Kong, any of such incidents may have a widespread effect on our business operations, which could in turn adversely and materially affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. It is difficult to predict the full impact of the HKAA on Hong Kong and companies with operations in Hong Kong like us. Furthermore, legislative or administrative actions in respect of China-U.S. relations could cause investor uncertainty for affected issuers, including us, and the market price of Taoping’sthe Company’s ordinary shares could be adversely affected.

Adverse developments affecting the financial services industry, such as actual events or concerns involving liquidity, defaults, or non-performance by financial institutions or transactional counterparties, could adversely affect our current and projected business operations and our financial condition and results of operations.

Actual events involving limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance or other adverse developments that affect financial institutions, transactional counterparties or other companies in the financial services industry or the financial services industry generally, or concerns or rumors about any events of these kinds or other similar risks, have in the past and may in the future lead to market-wide liquidity problems. For example, on March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank failed and was taken into receivership by the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; on March 12, 2023, Signature Bank and Silvergate Capital Corp. were each swept into receivership; the following week, a syndicate of U.S. banks infused $30 billion in First Republic Bank; and later that same week, the Swiss Central Bank provided $54 billion in covered loan and short-term liquidity facilities to Credit Suisse Group AG, all in an attempt to reassure depositors and calm fears of a banking contagion. Our ability to effectively run our business could be adversely affected by general conditions in the global economy and in the financial services industry. Various macroeconomic factors could adversely affect our business, including fears concerning the banking sector, changes in inflation, interest rates and overall economic conditions and uncertainties. A severe or prolonged economic downturn could result in a variety of risks, including our ability to raise additional funding on a timely basis or on acceptable terms. A weak or declining economy could also impact third parties upon whom we depend to run our business. Increasing concerns over bank failures and bailouts and their potential broader effects and potential systemic risk on the global banking sector generally and its participants may adversely affect our access to capital and our business and operations more generally.

Currently, we do not have a business relationship with any of the banking institutions mentioned above, and our cash, cash equivalents and short term investments that are mostly concentrated in China have been unaffected by the turmoil in the financial industry in the US and Europe; however, we cannot guarantee that the banking institution with which we do business will not face similar circumstances in the future, or that the third parties with whom we do business will not be negatively affected by such circumstances.

ITEM 4. INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY

A. History and Development of the Company

General Information

The current legal and commercial name of the Company is Taoping Inc. Taoping Inc. was incorporated in the BVI under the BVI Act on June 18, 2012. The address of our principal place of business Unit 3102, 31/F, Citicorp Centre, 18 Whitefield Road, Hong Kong.is 21^st Floor, Everbright Bank Building, Zhuzilin, Futian District, Shenzhen 518040 Guangdong China. Our telephone number is 852-36117837.86-755-83708333. Taoping’s registered agent in the British Virgin Islands is Maples Corporate Services (BVI) Limited of Kingston Chambers, PO Box 173, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. The office located in Shenzhen, China is the Company’s regional headquarters in mainland China.

Corporate History

Taoping’sTaoping Inc.’s predecessor company was originally organized under the laws of the State of Florida on September 19, 1979 under the name Mark Thomas Publishing Inc. On April 29, 2003, we changed our name to Irish Mag, Inc. From our inception through October 8, 2006, we provided consulting services in the offset printing industry, targeting individual retail consumers as well as small to medium sized companies.

On April 7, 2008, we re-incorporated in the State of Nevada by merging into China Information Security Technology, Inc., a subsidiary that we established in Nevada to effect the re-incorporation. As a result, the Company’s name was changed to China Information Security Technology, Inc. and we became a Nevada corporation.

On August 26, 2010, the Company changed its name to China Information Technology, Inc., or CITN.

On October 31, 2012, we completed a corporate reorganization, whereby the Company, which was established as a subsidiary of CITN under the laws of the BVI to effect the reorganization, became the parent company of a publicly held entity. Consequently, CITN became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. In connection with the reorganization, each outstanding share of the common stock of CITN was converted into the right to receive one ordinary share of the Company. The ordinary shares of the Company were listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the trading symbol of “CNIT,” the same symbol under which the common stock of CITN were listed. Prior to the reorganization, shares of CITN’s common stock were registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act. On October 31, 2012, the Company filed a Form 8-K12B under cover of a Form 6-K to establish the Company as the successor issuer to CITN pursuant to Rule 12g-3 under the Exchange Act. Pursuant to Rule 12g-3(a) under the Exchange Act, the ordinary shares of the Company, as successor issuer, were deemed registered under Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act. On November 13, 2012, CITN filed a Form 15 with the SEC to terminate the registration of the shares of its common stock and suspend its reporting obligations under Sections 13 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act. On November 19, 2012, we changed the name of CITN to China Information Technology (Nevada), Inc., which was liquidated and dissolved in July 2014.

At the Company’s 2017 Annual Meeting of Members, which was held on September 19, 2017, the shareholders of the Company approved an amendment to the Company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association to remove the par value of the Company’s ordinary shares. On October 12, 2017, the Company filed an amended and restated Memorandum and Articles of Association with the Registrar of Corporate Affairs in the British Virgin Islands, pursuant to which the par value per share of the Company’s ordinary shares has been removed.

On May 25, 2018, the Company held its 2018 Annual Meeting of Members and its shareholders approved the change of company name to “Taoping Inc.” and an amendment and restatement of its Memorandum and Articles of Association to reflect such change of name. In connection with the name change, the trading symbol of its ordinary shares was changed to “TAOP,” effective on June 1, 2018.

On July 30, 2020, Taoping completed a share combination of the Company’s ordinary shares at a ratio of one-for-six, which decreased its outstanding ordinary shares to approximately 7,332,434 shares. This share combination did not change Taoping’s authorized amountthe maximum number of shares Taoping is authorised to issue or the par value of its ordinary shares. Accordingly, except as otherwise indicated, all share and per share information contained in this annual report has been restated to retroactively show the effect of the share combination.

Management Services Agreement

On July 1, 2007, our subsidiary IST entered into a management services agreement, or MSA, with iASPEC and its shareholders. Pursuant to the MSA, iASPEC granted IST an exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, worldwide license to use and install certain iASPEC software, along with copies of source and object codes relating to such software in any manner permitted by applicable laws for ten years. Under the MSA, IST was entitled to receive 100% of the modified net profit of iASPEC, and would reimburse iASPEC for all net losses incurred. In connection with the MSA, IST also entered into a purchase option agreement, or Option Agreement, with iASPEC and its shareholders, effective as of July 1, 2007. Pursuant to the Option Agreement, the iASPEC shareholders granted IST, or its designee(s), an exclusive, irrevocable option to purchase from the iASPEC shareholders, from time to time, all or part of iASPEC’s shares, according to an equity transfer agreement, or to purchase all or part of iASPEC’s assets, according to an asset purchase and transfer agreement. Under the terms of the Option Agreement, the option is immediately exercisable at an exercise price of $1,800,000, in the aggregate, which is subject to regulatory approval.

As a result of the relationship with iASPEC, iASPEC became a variable interest entity of the Company.

On July 1, 2008, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Jianghuai Lin, entered into an Equity Transfer Agreement with Mr. Jin Zhu Cai, the owner of a 24% minority interest in iASPEC. Pursuant to the Agreement, Mr. Lin purchased Mr. Cai’s minority interest for a total consideration of RMB 60 million (approximately $8.7 million). As a result of the Equity Transfer Agreement, Mr. Lin holds 100% of the equity interests of iASPEC.

On December 13, 2009, IST, iASPEC and Mr. Lin, as the sole shareholder of iASPEC, amended and restated the MSA, pursuant to which IST would continue to provide management and consulting services to iASPEC.

Dissolution of the Variable Interest Entity Structure

In September 2021, we dissolved the variable interest entity structure by exercising the purchase option under the Option Agreement to purchase all of the equity interests in iASPEC at an aggregate exercise price of $1,800,000. On September 18, 2021, Taoping and IST entered into an equity transfer agreement with iASPEC and iASPEC’s then sole shareholder, Mr. Lin, under which Mr. Lin sold and transferred to IST all of the equity interests in and any and all rights and benefits relating thereto of iASPEC in exchange for 612,245 unregistered ordinary shares of Taoping as determined by dividing $1,800,000 by the volume-weighted average closing price of ordinary shares for the consecutive five (5) trading days immediately prior to September 18, 2021. The parties thereafter completed the equity transfer through applicable PRC governmental registration(s).

Upon the closing of the equity transfer, the Company’s variable interest entity structure was dissolved and iASPEC became a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of the Company. The amended and restated MSA was automatically terminated.

In June 2022, as a result of the Company’s business transformation and its exit from the TIT business, the Company disposed of 100% equity interests of iASPEC (excluding iASPEC’s subsidiaries) which mainly conducted the Company’s TIT business to an unrelated third party for nil consideration.

Corporate Structure

The following diagram illustrates our corporate structure as of the date of this report.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.

Our web site address is http://www.taop.com. Information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website does not constitute a part of this Annual Report.

Principal Capital Expenditures and Divestitures

For the year ended December 31, 2022, our total capital expenditures and divestitures were $7.2 million and $1.2 million, respectively. For the year ended December 31, 2021, our total capital expenditures and divestitures were $11.3 million and $0 million, respectively. For the year ended December 31, 2020, our total capital expenditures and divestitures were $1.7 million and $0 million, respectively. For the year ended December 31, 2019, our total capital expenditures and divestitures were $1.6 million and $0 million, respectively. Such expenditures and divestitures were primarily related to the purchase and sale of long-lived assets and business acquisitions. These capital expenditures were mainly funded by our operating cash flow.

B. Business Overview

General

Executive Offices of the Company are located in Hong Kong.Shenzhen, China. As of December 31, 2021,2022, we had approximately 7663 full-time employees.

We are a leading provider of cloud-app technologies for Smart City IoT platforms, digital advertising delivery, and other internet-based information distribution systems in China. Our Internet ecosystem enables all participants of the new media community to efficiently promote branding, disseminate information, and exchange resources. In addition, we provide a broad portfolio of software and hardware with fully integrated solutions, including Information Technology infrastructure, Internet-enabled display technologies, and IoT platforms to customers in government, education, residential community management, media, transportation, and other private sectors.

Prior to 2014, we generated the majority of our revenues through selling our products and services mostly to the public service entities to help them improve their operational efficiency and service quality. Our representative customers included the China Ministry of Public Security, provincial bureaus of public security, fire departments, traffic bureaus, police stations, human resource departments, urban planning boards, civic administrations, land resource administrations, mapping and surveying bureaus, and the Shenzhen General Station of Immigration Frontier Inspection.

Since 2014, we have expanded and diversified our customer base into the private sector as well. Our customers in the private sector include, among others, elevator maintenance companies, residential community management, advertising agencies, auto dealerships, and educational institutes. Our new corporate mission is to make publicity accessible and affordable for businesses of all sizes.

We generated revenues from sales of hardware products, software products, system integration services, and related maintenance and support services. In 2015, with the introduction of our cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) offering, we expected to generate additional recurring monthly revenues from SaaS fees. In 2019 and 2020, only a very small portion of our revenue was generated from SaaS, which is expected to increase in the coming years with the nationwide roll-out of our cloud-based ad display terminal network.

In May 2017, we completed our transformation to a provider of CAT and IoT technology based digital advertising distribution network and new media resource sharing platform, and offered an end-to-end digital advertising solution enabling customers to efficiently and cost-effectively direct advertisements to specific interactive ad display terminals in the out-of-home advertising market across China. In 2017, we became profitable as a result of a successful transition of our business model. We continued to improve our financial position in 2018. However, due to the unfavorable macro-economic environment and the slowdown of the out-of-home advertising market in China, we had net loss of approximately $9.3$7.1 million, $9.9 million and $18.3 million respectively in 2022, 2021, and 2020. For years going forward, we willintend to continue to execute our business plan and build a nationwide cloud-based ad terminal network by penetrating into more cities throughout China, which is expected to generate recurring service revenue for the Company, in addition to equipment sales.

Starting from January 2020, the coronavirus outbreak, also known as COVID-19, has caused the Chinese government to take quarantine measures, such as nationwide lockdowns, transportation restrictions, public gathering prohibitions and temporary closures of non-essential businesses, which had put economic activities in a suspension mode until late March 2020. Although the COVID-19 epidemic has largely been contained in China since then and businesses have gradually resumed to operations, regional outbreaks of infection persisted in various localities. The adverse impact from the pandemic to the out-of-home advertising business and China macro-economy continued throughout 2021. China’s economic recovery still faces challenges.

On June 9, 2021, the Company consummated an acquisition of 100% of the equity interest of Taoping New Media Co., Ltd (“TNM”), a leading media operator in China’s out-of-home digital advertising industry. Mr. Jianghuai Lin, the Chairman and CEO of TAOP,the Company, who owns approximately 26.9%27.1% of total shares outstanding of the Company, owned approximately 51% of TNM. TNM focuses on digital life scenes and mainly engaged in selling out-of-home advertising time slots on its networked smart digital advertising display terminals with artificial intelligence and big data technologies. The acquisition of TNM is expected to enhance TAOP’sthe Company’s presence in the new media and advertising sectors.

In 2021, the Company launchedventured into blockchain related new business inthrough the launch of cryptocurrency mining operations and newly established new subsidiaries in Hong Kong to supplementdiversity revenue streams, following a decline in its diminished Traditional Information Technology (TIT) business segment as a part of new business transformation. With multiple cloud data centers deployed overseas, currently in Hong Kong, the Company continues to improve computing power and create value for the encrypted digital currency industry.segment.

In September 2021, the Company and the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Information Security Technology (China) Co., Ltd. (“IST”) entered into an equity transfer agreement with Mr. Jianghuai Lin, the sole shareholder of iASPEC. Upon closing of the equity transfer, the Company’s existing variable interest entity structure was dissolved and iASPEC became a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of the Company.

In December 2022, the Company entered into a series of contracts with certain third parties to sell its cryptocurrency mining and related equipment for a total sale price of approximately $1.08 million. The Company also terminated the leases for both the office facility and the storage rooms, which were previously used to house most of its mining machines for its cryptocurrency mining operations, and laid off relevant employees. As a result, the Company had ceased its cryptocurrency mining business by December 31, 2022.

We report financial and operational information in the following three segments:

Industry Overview

General

Urbanization is the primary driver for the demand of our Cloud-based solutions for advertising placement and public information dissemination. China’s urbanization rate has accelerated in the past 30 years. The Chinese urban population has grown by over 170 million in the past five years to more than 1 billion in 2020. According to Chinese Social Development Research, approximately 70% of the Chinese population is expected to live in urban areas by 2035. Urban lifestyle revolves around consumption of information, goods, and services that necessitates advertising and public information dissemination. At the same time, urbanization has imposed considerable pressure on land use, environment protection, and municipal infrastructure. Urbanization has also led to increasing demands for equitable treatment for all dwellers in the cities.

In the first quarter of 2014, China’s State Council unveiled a new urbanization plan for the period from 2014 to 2020 in an effort to steer the country onto a more humanistic and environmentally friendly urbanization path. The plan increases the country’s investment in urban infrastructure, public service facilities, and affordable housing constructions. It also calls for closer coordination between urban and rural developments, optimization of city planning, and tighter integration of environmental protection measures into urbanization efforts. The plan also projects new construction of 20,000 to 50,000 skyscrapers around the country, as well as implementation of mass transit systems in more than 170 cities by 2025. In addition, it requires construction of regular railways to connect all medium sized cities of over 200,000 in population and high-speed railways to connect large cities of over 500,000 in population by 2020. Also, it plans to expand the nation’s civil aviation network to cover 90 percent of its total population.

Out-of-Home Digital Advertising Market in China

Rising urbanization has resulted in prevalent traffic congestions throughout China. In medium to large sized cities, people on an average spend 39 minutes of commuting time to work. According to China New-type Urbanization Report (2014-2018), in densely populated tier one cities including Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai, it costs commuters 14, 12, and 11 minutes every day in traffic jams, respectively. In Beijing, a megacity of over 21 million residents, the daily commute takes 45 minutes, the worst of all Chinese cities.

While traffic jams are a headache for urban commuters and city planners, they present revenue generating opportunities for out-of-home advertisers, who seek attentive audience in high traffic areas. According to China Industry Information Net, the estimated total market size of China’s out-of-home advertising is expected to reach RMB 227 billion in 2021, with a CAGR of 14%. Cosmetics, beverage, and financial service companies are ranked as top spenders consistently. Internet and real estate companies also increased their advertisement spending significantly.

The growth, starting in 2013, can be attributed to three factors: 1) macroeconomic recovery in China has encouraged businesses to increase their advertising spending; 2) industry leaders have led consolidation in the out-of-home advertising market and grown their market share in tier one cities like Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen; 3) rapid advancement in Internet and mobile technologies has resulted in new O2O (offline-to-online) advertising opportunities.

Over 50% of the advertisers rated commercial buildings and public transportation hubs as the top two prime locations for advertisement placement. There are over 200 million people riding elevators every day in China. The number of advertisers opting for residential buildings also increased considerably. Precision advertisement uses digital technologies, such as internet-based ads management and distribution and big data analysis, to target its audience, and continues to be the advertisers’ focal point, which resulted in the increasing demands for digital advertising.

Market Trends

In addition to urbanization, two technological developments further accelerate the demand for our CBT products and services: 1) offline-to-online migration of display terminals and 2) adoption of Quick Response (QR) codes.

Currently, most of the advertising display terminals in China are not connected to any network. Consequently, updating their media contents requires onsite manual operation through flash drives or other means. They also tend to have low asset utilization rates. Based on our own primary research, we have estimated that offline terminals have an average asset utilization rate of 40% in tier-one cities, 30% in tier-two cities, and 20% in tier-three and smaller cities. In comparison, content on cloud-based terminals can be remotely uploaded, updated, and managed resulting in substantial labor cost savings for terminal operators, i.e. advertising agencies. In addition, cloud-based terminals offer advertising agencies the flexibility of fine-tuning advertisement schedules on the fly and customizing advertisement content at each location as specific as one single office building. More importantly, idle time slots on cloud-based terminals can be discovered and sold on Taoping, an online resource exchange platform of ours that was released in the fourth quarter of 2015 as a module of our Yunfa Net (www.pubds.com), an information distribution and advertising delivery system. Therefore, asset utilization rate of advertising agencies can be greatly improved. As a result, there is a growing demand to convert offline terminals into networked terminals using our CBT products and services. In January 2018, we separated Taoping module from Yunfa Net and officially launched the Taoping Net (www.taoping.cn) and Taoping App. Taoping Net provides an advertising-resources trading service platform which connects screen owners, advertisers and consumers. Taoping Net integrates nationwide high-quality screen resources of Taoping Alliance, a new media operating organization founded by us and Taoping New Media Co., Ltd. (“Taoping New Media”), a company controlled by Mr. Jianghuai Lin. Taoping App, which enables customers to distribute and manage ads from mobile terminals, effectively satisfies the need to distribute fragmented ads. Using Taoping App, anyone can buy and distribute real-time ads to designated terminals.

Furthermore, the wide adoption of QR codes is also positively impacting the demand for our cloud-based products and services. A QR code is a digital barcode that contains merchants’ information. By incentivizing consumers to scan the QR code embedded in advertisement, advertising agencies can analyze the effectiveness of their advertisements and adjust their sales and marketing tactics on a real-time basis. In China, the application of QR codes is permeating from tier-one cities to the rest of the country. Although QR codes have frequently appeared in print ads as well as in digital ads displayed on offline terminals, the codes can be changed only as frequently as the advertisement itself. The data brought in to advertising agencies by the QR codes cannot be segmented by precise locations or time slots, and thus can generate only limited insight into viewer behavior. In contrast, individualized QR codes embedded in advertisement displayed on networked terminals can vary by location and time slot, and offer advertising agencies deeper insights at a much higher precision than offline terminals or print ads. Consequently, the adoption of QR codes is further driving the demand for our cloud-based ad display terminals.

Our Products and Services

In the CBT segment, we provide cloud-based ecosystem solutions mainly to the new media in out-of-home digital advertising customers. Underpinning our ecosystems are our industry-specific integrated advertisement display terminal product, digital advertising distribution technology platform, resource exchange and sharing, and big data analysis services. In 2014, we sold our cloud-based solutions predominately to the Chinese new media industry. Starting from 2016, we have also focused our efforts in selling IoT ads display terminal hardware and providing digital ads distribution and resource sharing services for out-of-home advertising market. As a result of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, city lockdowns, travel restrictions, and other preventive measures and persistent outbreaks of infection in regional localities through 2021 had negatively impacted on the China out-of-home advertising business and significantly dampened customers’ demand for ads display terminals. Nevertheless, mandatory home stays and work from remote locations triggered a steep surge in on-line gaming, on-line shopping, on-line entertainment, and electronic communication that created a great demand for high-end data storage servers to accommodate internet information transmission. We have stabilized supply chains for the high-end data storage server to meet market demands supplementing the declining revenue from ads display terminals and included the revenue and cost of revenue of high-end data storage servers in the CBT segment.

For the out-of-home new media industry, we provide our software as a service to automate the entire interactive workflows between advertising agencies and their customers, including, among others, establishing new advertising projects, submitting advertisement proposals, revising and approving advertising proposals, processing payment online, remotely uploading advertisement content, and tracking and analyzing performance data.

Our Technology Platform

The foundation of our product offerings is our proprietary technology platform called Cloud-Application-Terminal (CAT). Its trademark has been registered in PRC. Our CAT platform includes three layers of technology: 1) cloud infrastructure, 2) software application, and 3) high-definition digital display terminals ranging from 18.5 to 84 inches in display size. Bundled together, three layers of technology serve as a turnkey solution for our customers to improve their operational efficiency and maximize their revenue.

Our CAT platform can be accessed from a variety of devices, including networked display terminals, desktop computers, and mobile devices. It can operate in all operating systems, including Windows, Android and iOS. It unifies all access points into one unique user account, through which a user can log onto our cloud system and enjoy all available software features and functions.

Our Resource Exchange and Sharing

Building on top of our CAT platform is our industry-specific resource sharing functionality. For the out-of-home new media industry, in the fourth quarter of 2015, we released a resource exchange called “Taoping” as a module of our proprietary cloud-based information distribution and ad delivery platform - Yunfa Net (www.pubds.com). Taoping in Chinese means “search and select display terminals.” Taoping pairs those who seek, with those who own out-of-home advertisement resources of interactive display terminals, and facilitates their transactions online.

For example, a local advertising agency based in Shenzhen City may need to place advertisement in Guangzhou City, but does not own any display terminals in Guangzhou. Through Taoping, the advertising agency can search available display terminals by location, venue, and time slots, find suitable resources, negotiate rental prices with terminal owners, and process payments online. Then through Taoping, the advertising agency can upload advertisement content onto remote terminals, monitor advertisement performances, make necessary editing to the advertisement, and update advertisement content.

Taoping enables advertising terminal resource owners to improve their asset utilization rates and returns on investments. At the same time, Taoping allows advertisement promoters to leverage available advertising resources in other geographic regions, and cost effectively expand into new business territories.

Our Big Data Services

Building on top of our resource sharing capability is our big data analysis service. After releasing our resource sharing feature, we have been compiling and analyzing data related to buyer/seller behavioral preferences, so that we can provide value-added services to our customers.

For example, through big data analyses, we are able to make insightful suggestions to advertising resource owners on which specific types of venues being displayed at specific time slots likely garner high rental fees as well as the optimal range of rental fees they could charge for each type of resources they own. For advertising promoters, we are able to provide advice such as the optimal combinations of terminals to rent in order to reach the biggest possible audience they desire, and attain the greatest impact while staying within their advertising budget.

Our Industry-Specific Ecosystems

In combining our proprietary CAT technology platform, resource sharing functionality, and big data services with our industry expertise, we provide integrated ecosystem solutions to the industries of out-of-home digital advertising new media, healthcare, education, and residential community management. As described above, starting from the out-of-home digital advertising new media industry, we have been in the process of rolling out product offerings to all of those four industries.

Product Warranty

For our TIT segment, we usually offer a one-year or three-year warranty for our system integration services depending on the project. Our warranty includes support services, minimal updates and system maintenance. No rights of return are allowed except for non-conforming products, which have been insignificant based on historical experiences. If nonconforming products are returned due to software issues, we will provide upgrades or additional customization to suit the customers’ needs, which is infrequent with immaterial costs. The original vendors of hardware are ultimately liable for replacement of defective or non-conforming hardware products. In cases where non-conformity is due to the integrated hardware, we return the hardware to the original vendor for replacement. Based on our past experience, the cost of our warranty provision has been immaterial.

For our CBT segment, we provide a one-year warranty for our digital displays and high-end data servers. The actual warranty service is carried out by our OEM partners, with whom we have obtained a contractual guarantee that they will repair or replace any defective hardware products that we have purchased on behalf of our customers. Our OEM partners ultimately bear and are liable for the costs of product warranty. Consequently, our own cost of warranty for this segment has been minimal.

Sales and Marketing

We develop new businesses by identifying and contacting potential new customers and through referrals, or by direct contacts from new customers as a result of our strong brand recognition and reputation in the industry. We solidify our market presence through various types of marketing campaigns, such as participating in exhibitions, trade shows, and seminars, developing distributors and dealers, and presenting solutions to prospective customers. We founded and played a key role in the Taoping Alliance, a new media operating organization that includes numerous advertising agencies throughout China, which greatly improved our market expansion capability and industry reputation.

Customers and Related Parties

In fiscal year 2022, 2021 2020 and 2019,2020, no single customer represented 10% or more of our total revenue.revenue of continuing operations. The following tables provide revenue by our major customers of continuing operations for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 2020 and 2019.2020.

Year 2022

Year 2021

Year 2020

Year 2019

Competition

In the CBT segment, there are many small IT service companies in China providing one-off software packages to solve one aspect of the problems, but not integrated solutions combining technology platform, resource exchange and sharing, and big data services like ours. For example, in the new media industry, we encounter competition from 56iq.com, Fujian Star-net Communication Co., Ltd, Shanghai View Show Technology Co., Ltd., and Maipu Communications Technology Co., Ltd. After completion of acquisition of Taoping New Media Co., Ltd, we compete with advertising agencies, such as Focus Media, Air Media, and Vision China in some geographic regions in China.

Compared with our competitors, we believe we have the following advantages:

Business Transformation Efforts

Prior to 2014, we predominately sold large-scale customized IT solutions to the Chinese public service sector through various build-and-transfer projects. Due to changes in policies and regulations in China in 2012, various local governments started postponing IT projects they had previously contracted with us indefinitely. As a result, many of our existing receivables became uncollectable.

In early 2013, our management team made a strategic decision to transition our business from servicing the public sector to focusing on the private sector. We started completing our in-process IT projects and ceased taking on new customers in the public sector. In addition, we wrote off accounts receivable that we deemed no longer collectable. At the same time, we decided to transform our business from a build-and-transfer IT service company into a standardized IT product company. Leveraging our experience and expertise in handling large-scale IT projects for the public sector, we started investing in research and development of our own software products suitable for the private sector.

In 2014, continuing our transition from the public sector to the private sector, we identified new media, healthcare, education, and residential community management as the four core end markets on which we would focus. After fortifying our own software R&D efforts through our acquisition of Biznest in September 2014, we decided to exit the hardware manufacturing business and complete our transformation into a software company. In November 2014, we initiated the process of closing our own manufacturing facilities and transferring hardware production to our OEM partners. Transferring hardware production to our OEM partners was completed during 2015. As a result, we wrote off a large amount of accounts receivable and took substantial goodwill and identifiable intangible asset impairment charges in 2015 and 2016.

As part of transition from the traditional IT business to the cloud-based business, we sold iASPEC’s 100% equity holding in Zhongtian and 54.89% equity holding in Geo in 2015. Proceeds from these sales totaling $19.5 million have been invested in the development and market expansion of our new cloud-based business, as well as repayment of a portion of our short-term debts.

In 2017, we completed our business transformation to a leading products and services provider of CAT and IoT technology based digital advertising distribution network and new media resource sharing platform in the out-of-home Advertising Market in China. In 2017, we gained profitability as a result of the successful transition of our business model. In 2018, we continued to prove the sustainability of the new business model and increased the net income to be approximately $1.7 million. In 2021, 2020 and 2019, due to the unfavorable macro-economic environment and the slowdown of the out-of-home advertising market in China, we had net loss of approximately $9.9 million, $18.3 million and $3.6 million respectively. For years going forward, we will continue to execute our business plan and build a nationwide cloud-based ad terminal network by penetrating into more cities throughout China, which is expected to generate recurring service revenue for the Company, in addition to equipment sales. In addition, we have been actively exploring other cloud-based solutions including the smart charging pile business throughout China, by leveraging our TAOP smart cloud and the Taoping Alliance national distribution network.

In 2021, we have expanded our CAT based new media sharing platform into digital advertising and smart community sectors by acquiring Taoping New Media Co., Ltd. to provide out-of-home digital advertising. Also, we have engagedexplored business opportunities in blockchain, digital assets, and cryptocurrency mining operations by recruiting seasoned executives, contracting various well-known consulting firms, suppliers, and operators in these areas, We have newlyareas. In addition, we formed a Blockchain Business Division to manage blockchain development, digital assets NFT (None Fungible Token) and cryptocurrency mining operations, and a Digital Culture Business Division to cover on-line education and digital advertising operations. We have generated revenues of $5.5 million from the new blockchain business forduring the year ended December 31, 2021.

However, due to a decrease in output and the highly volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market, in December 2022, the Company entered into a series of contracts with certain third parties to sell its cryptocurrency mining and related equipment for a total sale price of approximately $1.08 million. The Company also terminated the leases for both the office facility and the storage rooms, which were previously used to house most of its mining machines for its cryptocurrency mining operations, and laid off relevant employees. As a result, the Company had ceased its cryptocurrency mining business by December 31, 2022.

Intellectual Property

Our success depends, in part, on our ability to maintain and protect our proprietary technology and to conduct our business without infringing on the proprietary rights of others. We rely primarily on a combination of copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets, as well as executions of employee and third-party confidentiality agreements, to safeguard our intellectual property.

As of December 31, 2021,2022, through our wholly-owned subsidiaries IST, TopCloud, iASPEC, Biznest, Bocom, and Bocom,ISIOT, we had 151177 registered and copyrighted software products, 528 registered trademarks and held 2830 patents. We also own twothree domain names (http://www.taop.com; http://www.taoping.cn; and http://www.pubds.com).

We protect our know-how and technologies through confidentiality provisions in the employment contracts we enter into with our employees. In addition, our engineers are generally divided into different project groups, each of which generally handles only a portion of the project. As a result, no one engineer generally has access to the entire design process and documentation for a particular product.

We have funded a vendor to develop vehicular display terminal using our digital new media sharing platform to deliver advertisements. The development of vehicular display terminal was completed in September 2020 and started earning advertising revenue. According to modified contract, we have capitalized the funding as purchased software enjoying the intellectual property of the vehicular display terminal and shared advertising revenue generated from the vehicular display terminal within the four-year modified contract termterm.

Regulation

Because all of our operating entities are located in the PRC, we are regulated by the national and local laws of the PRC. This section summarizes the major PRC regulations relating to our business.

Permits and Certificates

Through our subsidiaries, we hold the following permits and certificates:

The establishment, operation and management of corporate entities in mainland China are governed by the Company Law of the People’s Republic of China, or the China Company Law, which was adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (“SCNPC”)SCNPC in December 1993, implemented in July 1994, and subsequently amended in December 1999, August 2004, October 2005, December 2013 and October 2018. Under the China Company Law, companies are generally classified into two categories: limited liability companies and companies limited by shares. The China Company Law also applies to foreign-invested limited liability companiesboth domestic and foreign-invested companies limited by shares. Pursuant to the China Company Law, where laws on foreign investment have other stipulations, such stipulations shall prevail. In December 2021, the SCNPC issued the draft amendment to the China Company Law for comment. The draft amended China Company Law has made roughly 70 substantive changes to the 13 chapters and 218 articles of the current Company Law (rev. 2018). It would (i) refine special provisions on state-funded companies; (ii) improve the company establishment and exit system; (iii) optimize corporate structure and corporate governance; (iv) optimize the capital structure; (v) tighten the responsibilities of controlling shareholders and management personnel; and (vi) strengthen corporate social responsibility.companies.

Investment activities in mainland China by foreign investors are governed by the Guiding Foreign Investment Direction, which was promulgated by the State Council on February 11, 2002, and came into effect on April 1, 2002, and the latest Special Administrative Measures (Negative List) for Foreign Investment Access (2021)(2022), or the Negative List, which was promulgated by the MOFCOM and the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”)NDRC on December 27, 2021,March 12, 2022, and took effect on January 1, 2022.the same date. The Negative List setsets out in a unified manner the restrictive measures, such as the requirements on shareholding percentages and management, for the access of foreign investments, and the industries that are prohibited for foreign investment. The Negative List covers 12 industries, and anyAny field not falling in the Negative List shall be administered under the principle of equal treatment to domestic and foreign investment.

The Foreign Investment Law of the People’s Republic of China, or the Foreign Investment Law was promulgated by the NPC in March 2019 and become effective in January 2020. After the Foreign Investment Law came into force, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Sino-foreign Equity Joint Ventures and the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Sino-foreign Contractual Joint Ventures have been repealed simultaneously. The investment activities of foreign natural persons, enterprises or other organizations (hereinafter referred to as foreign investors) directly or indirectly within the territory of mainland China shall comply with and beare governed by the Foreign Investment Law, including: 1) establishing by foreign investors of foreign-invested enterprises in mainland China alone or jointly with other investors; 2) acquiring by foreign investors of shares, equity, property shares, or other similar interests of Chinese domestic enterprises; 3) investing by foreign investors in new projects in mainland China alone or jointly with other investors; and 4) other forms of investment prescribed by laws, administrative regulations or the State Council.

In December 2019, the State Council issued the Regulations on Implementing the Foreign Investment Law, which came into effect in January 2020. After the Regulations on Implementing the Foreign Investment Law came into effect, the Regulation on Implementing the Law on Sino-foreign Equity Joint Ventures, Provisional Regulations on the Duration of Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Ventures, the Regulations on Implementing the Law on Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises and the Regulations on Implementing the Law on Sino-Foreign Cooperative Joint Ventures have been repealed simultaneously.

In December 2019, the MOFCOM and the State Administration for Market Regulation (“SAMR”)SAMR issued the Measures for the Reporting of Foreign Investment Information, which came into effect in January 2020. After the Measures for the Reporting of Foreign Investment Information came into effect, the Interim Measures on the Administration of Filing for Establishment and Change of Foreign Invested Enterprises has been repealed simultaneously. Since January 1, 2020, for foreign investors carrying out investment activities directly or indirectly in mainland China, the foreign investors or foreign-invested enterprises shall submit investment information to the relevant commerce administrative authorities pursuant to these measures.

In light of the above restrictions and requirements, prior to the dissolution of our VIE structure in September 2021, we had conducted our value-added telecommunications businesses through our then consolidated VIEs. As a result of the dissolution of our VIE structure, we ceased the e-commerce and related businesses which had constituted a minor portion of revenueour consolidated revenue. Based on the legal analysis of Taoping New Media. Wethe Company’s in-house legal counsel, who is a licensed attorney in the PRC, we believe that none of our PRC subsidiaries’ current business is stipulated on the Negative List (2021 Version). Therefore,List.

As a result, according to the laws and regulations currently in effect, our PRC subsidiaries are able to conduct their business without being subject to restrictions imposed by the foreign investment laws and regulations of the PRC.

We believe, according to the lawsPRC and regulations currently in effect, none of Taoping or our subsidiaries is required to obtain additional licenses or permits beyond a regular business license for each PRC subsidiary’s operations. Each of our PRC subsidiaries is required to obtain and has obtained asuch regular business license from the local branch of the State Administration for Market Regulation.SAMR. No application for any such license has been denied.

Regulations on Mobile Internet Applications Information Services

Mobile Internet applications and the Internet application store are especially regulated by the Administrative Provisions on Mobile Internet Applications Information Services, or the APP Provisions, which was promulgated by the Cyberspace Administration of China, or the CAC, on June 28, 2016 and entered into force on August 1, 2016. The APP Provisions regulate the APP information and the APP store service providers, and the CAC and local offices of cyberspace administration are responsible for the supervision and administration of nationwide or local APP information respectively.

The APP information service providers shall acquire relevant qualifications in accordance with laws and regulations and fulfil the information security management obligations as follows: (1) shall authenticate the identity information of the registered users including their mobile telephone number and other identity information under the principle of mandatory real name registration at the back-office end, and voluntary real name display at the front-office end; (2) shall establish and perfect the mechanism for the protection of users’ information, and follow the principle of legality, rightfulness and necessity, indicate expressly the purpose, method and scope of collection and use and obtain the consent of users while collecting and using users’ personal information; (3) shall establish and perfect the mechanism for the examination and management of information content, and in terms of any information content released that violates laws or regulations, take such measures as warning, restricting the functions, suspending the update and closing the accounts as the case may be, keep relevant records and report the same to relevant competent authorities; (4) shall safeguard users’ right to know and to make choices when users are installing or using such applications, and shall neither start such functions as collecting the information of users’ positions, accessing users’ contacts, turning on the camera and recording the sound, or any other function irrelevant to the services, nor forcefully install any other irrelevant applications without prior consent of users when noticed expressly; (5) shall respect and protect the intellectual properties and shall neither produce nor release any application that infringes others’ intellectual properties; and (6) shall record the users’ log information and keep the same for 60 days.

We have established necessary mechanisms and adopted data encryption and protection technology in our mobile application to ensure the collection, protection and storage of user information are in compliance with the requirements of the APP Provisions in all material aspects.

Regulations on Internet Information Security

In 1997, the Ministry of Public Security promulgated measures that prohibit use of the internet in ways which, among other things, result in a leakage of state secrets or a spread of socially destabilizing content. If an internet information service provider violates these measures, the Ministry of Public Security and the local security bureaus may revoke its operating license and shut down its websites.

Internet information in China is regulated and restricted from a national security standpoint. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, or the SCNPC, has enacted the Decisions on Maintaining Internet Security on December 28, 2000 and further amended on August 27, 2009, which may subject violators to criminal punishment in China for any effort to: (i) gain improper entry into a computer or system of strategic importance; (ii) disseminate politically disruptive information; (iii) leak state secrets; (iv) spread false commercial information; or (v) infringe intellectual property rights.

The PRC Cybersecurity Law was promulgated by the SCNPC on November 7, 2016 and became effective on June 1, 2017. Under this regulation, network operators, including online information service providers, shall comply with laws and regulations and fulfill their obligations to safeguard security of the network when conducting business and providing services, and take all necessary measures pursuant to laws, regulations and compulsory national requirements to safeguard the safe and stable operation of the networks, respond to network security incidents effectively, prevent illegal and criminal activities, and maintain the integrity, confidentiality and usability of network data.

We have, in accordance with relevant provisions on network security of the PRC, established necessary mechanisms to protect information security, including, among others, adopting necessary network security protection technologies such as anti-virus firewalls, intrusion detection and data encryption, keeping record of network logs, and implementing information classification framework.

Regulations on Privacy Protection

The Several Provisions on Regulating the Market Order of Internet Information Services, issued by the MIIT in December 2011, provide that, an internet information service provider may not collect any user personal information or provide any such information to third parties without the consent of a user. An internet information service provider must expressly inform the users of the method, content and purpose of the collection and processing of such user personal information and may only collect such information necessary for the provision of its services. An internet information service provider is also required to properly maintain the user personal information, and in case of any leak or likely leak of the user personal information, online lending service providers must take immediate remedial measures and, in severe circumstances, make an immediate report to the telecommunications regulatory authority.

In addition, pursuant to the Decision on Strengthening the Protection of Online Information issued by the SCNPC in December 2012 and the Order for the Protection of Telecommunication and Internet User Personal Information issued by the MIIT in July 2013, any collection and use of user personal information must be subject to the consent of the user, abide by the principles of legality, rationality and necessity and be within the specified purposes, methods and scopes.

The Guidelines jointly released by ten PRC regulatory agencies in July 2015 aim, among other things, to require service providers to improve technology security standards, and safeguard user and transaction information. The Guidelines also prohibit service providers from illegally selling or disclosing users’ personal information. Pursuant to the Ninth Amendment to the Criminal Law issued by the SCNPC in August 2015, which became effective in November 2015, any Internet service provider that fails to fulfill the obligations related to Internet information security administration as required by applicable laws and refuses to rectify upon orders is subject to criminal penalty for the result of (i) any dissemination of illegal information in large scale; (ii) any severe effect due to the leakage of the client’s information; (iii) any serious loss of criminal evidence; or (iv) other severe situation, and any individual or entity that (i) sells or provides personal information to others in a way violating the applicable law, or (ii) steals or illegally obtain any personal information is subject to criminal penalty in severe situation.

Our Taoping APP is used to facilitate cloud ads and content distribution to the designated terminal in our network, which does not invoice the collection and storage of any personal information.

Regulations Related to Intellectual Property

The SCNPC and the State Council have promulgated comprehensive laws and regulations to protect trademarks. The Trademark Law of the PRC (2019 revision, effective November 1, 2019) promulgated on August 23, 1982 and subsequently amended on February 22, 1993, October 27, 2001, August 30, 2013 and April 23, 2019 respectively, and the Implementation Regulation of the PRC Trademark Law (2014 revision) issued by the State Council on August 3, 2002 and amended on April 29, 2014, are the main regulations protecting registered trademarks. The Trademark Office under the SAIC administrates the registration of trademarks on a “first-to-file” basis, and grants a term of ten years to registered trademarks.

The PRC Copyright Law, adopted in 1990 and revised in 2001 and 2010 respectively, with its implementation rules adopted on August 8, 2002 and revised in 2011 and 2013 respectively, and the Regulations for the Protection of Computer Software as promulgated on December 20, 2001 and amended in 2011 and 2013 provide protection for copyright of computer software in the PRC. Under these rules and regulations, software owners, licensees and transferees may register their rights in software with the National Copyright Administration Center or its local branches to obtain software copyright registration certificates.

The Patent Law of the PRC was adopted by NPCSC in 1984 and amended in 1992, 2000 and 2008, respectively. A patentable invention, utility model or design must meet three conditions: novelty, inventiveness and practical applicability. Patents cannot be granted for scientific discoveries, rules and methods for intellectual activities, methods used to diagnose or treat diseases, animal and plant breeds or substances obtained by means of nuclear transformation. The Patent Office under the State Intellectual Property Office is responsible for receiving, examining and approving patent applications. A patent is valid for a term of twenty years for an invention and a term of ten years for a utility model or design, commencing on the application date. Subject to limited exceptions provided by law, any third-party user must obtain consent or a proper license from the patent owner to use the patent, or otherwise the use will constitute an infringement of the rights of the patent holder.

The MIIT, promulgated the Administrative Measures on Internet Domain Name, or the Domain Name Measures, on August 24, 2017 to protect domain names. According to the Domain Name Measures, domain name applicants are required to duly register their domain names with domain name registration service institutions. The applicants will become the holder of such domain names upon the completion of the registration procedure.

We have adopted necessary mechanisms to register, maintain and enforce intellectual property rights in China. However, we cannot assure you that we can prevent our intellectual property from all the unauthorized use by any third party, neither can we promise that none of our intellectual property rights would be challenged any third party.

Regulations Related to Employment

The PRC Labor Law and the Labor Contract Law require that employers execute written employment contracts with full-time employees. All employers must compensate their employees with wages equal to at least the local minimum wage standards. Violations of the PRC Labor Law and the Labor Contract Law may result in the imposition of fines and other administrative sanctions, and serious violations may constitute criminal offences.

On December 28, 2012, the PRC Labor Contract Law was amended, effective since July 1, 2013 to impose more stringent requirements on labor dispatch. Under such law, dispatched workers are entitled to pay equal to that of full-time employees for equal work, but the number of dispatched workers that an employer hires may not exceed a certain percentage of its total number of employees as determined by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. Additionally, dispatched workers are only permitted to engage in temporary, auxiliary or substitute work. According to the Interim Provisions on Labor Dispatch promulgated by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on January 24, 2014, which became effective on March 1, 2014, the number of dispatched workers hired by an employer shall not exceed 10% of the total number of its employees (including both directly hired employees and dispatched workers). The Interim Provisions on Labor Dispatch require employers not in compliance with the PRC Labor Contract Law in this regard to reduce the number of its dispatched workers to below 10% of the total number of its employees prior to March 1, 2016.

Enterprises in China are required by PRC laws and regulations to participate in certain employee benefit plans, including social insurance funds, namely a pension plan, a medical insurance plan, an unemployment insurance plan, a work-related injury insurance plan and a maternity insurance plan, and a housing provident fund, and contribute to the plans or funds in amounts equal to certain percentages of salaries, including bonuses and allowances, of the employees as specified by the local government from time to time at locations where they operate their businesses or where they are located.

According to the Interim Regulations on the Collection and Payment of Social Insurance Premiums, the Regulations on Work Injury Insurance, the Regulations on Unemployment Insurance and the Trial Measures on Employee Maternity Insurance of Enterprises, enterprises in the PRC shall provide benefit plans for their employees, which include basic pension insurance, unemployment insurance, maternity insurance, work injury insurance and basic medical insurance. An enterprise must provide social insurance by making social insurance registration with local social insurance agencies, and shall pay or withhold relevant social insurance premiums for and on behalf of employees. The Law on Social Insurance of the PRC, which was promulgated by the SCNPC on October 28, 2010, became effective on July 1, 2011, and was most recently updated on December 29, 2018, has consolidated pertinent provisions for basic pension insurance, unemployment insurance, maternity insurance, work injury insurance and basic medical insurance, and has elaborated in detail the legal obligations and liabilities of employers who do not comply with laws and regulations on social insurance.

According to the Regulations on the Administration of Housing Provident Fund, which was promulgated by the State Counsel and became effective on April 3, 1999, and was amended on March 24, 2002 and was partially revised on March 24, 2019 by the Decision of the State Council on Revising Some Administrative Regulations (Decree No. 710 of the State Council), housing provident fund contributions by an individual employee and housing provident fund contributions by his or her employer shall belong to the individual employee. Registration by PRC companies with the applicable housing provident fund management center is compulsory, and a special housing provident fund account for each of the employees shall be opened at an entrusted bank.

The employer shall timely pay up and deposit housing provident fund contributions in full amount and late or insufficient payments of such contributions are unlawful. The employer shall make the housing provident fund payment and deposit registrations with the housing provident fund administration center. With respect to companies which violate the above regulations and fail to complete housing provident fund payment and deposit registrations or open housing provident fund accounts for their employees, such companies shall be ordered by the housing provident fund administration center to complete such procedures within a designated time limit. Those who fail to complete their registrations within the designated period shall be levied a fine ranging from RMB 10,000 to RMB 50,000. When companies breach these regulations and fail to pay housing provident fund contributions in full amount that are due, the housing provident fund administration center shall order such companies to pay up within a designated period, and may further petition a People’s Court for mandatory enforcement against those who still fail to comply after the expiry of such period.

Regulations on Foreign Currency Exchange

Under the PRC Foreign Currency Administration Rules promulgated on January 29, 1996 and last amended on August 5, 2008 and various regulations issued by SAFE and other relevant PRC government authorities, payment of current account items in foreign currencies, such as trade and service payments, payment of interest and dividends can be made without prior approval from SAFE by following the appropriate procedural requirements. By contrast, the conversion of RMB into foreign currencies and remittance of the converted foreign currency outside the PRC for the purpose of capital account items, such as direct equity investments, loans and repatriation of investment, requires prior approval from SAFE or its local office.

On February 13, 2015, SAFE promulgated the Circular on Simplifying and Improving the Foreign Currency Management Policy on Direct Investment, effective from June 1, 2015, which cancels the requirement for obtaining approvals of foreign exchange registration of inbound foreign direct investment and outbound overseas direct investment from SAFE. The application for the registration of foreign exchange for the purpose of inbound foreign direct investment and outbound overseas direct investment may be filed with qualified banks, which, under the supervision of SAFE, may review the application and process the registration.

The Circular of the SAFE on Reforming the Management Approach regarding the Settlement of Foreign Capital of Foreign-invested Enterprise, or SAFE Circular 19, was promulgated on March 30, 2015 and became effective on June 1, 2015. According to SAFE Circular 19, a foreign-invested enterprise may, according to its actual business needs, settle with a bank the portion of the foreign exchange capital in its capital account for which the relevant foreign exchange bureau has confirmed monetary contribution rights and interests (or for which the bank has registered the account-crediting of monetary contribution). For the time being, foreign-invested enterprises are allowed to settle 100% of their foreign exchange capitals on a discretionary basis; a foreign-invested enterprise shall truthfully use its capital for its own operational purposes within the scope of business; where an ordinary foreign-invested enterprise makes domestic equity investment with the amount of foreign exchanges settled, the invested enterprise shall first go through domestic re-investment registration and open a corresponding Account for Foreign Exchange Settlement Pending Payment with the foreign exchange bureau (bank) at the place of registration. The Circular of the SAFE on Reforming and Regulating Policies on the Control over Foreign Exchange Settlement of Capital Accounts, or SAFE Circular 16, was promulgated and became effective on June 9, 2016. According to SAFE Circular 16, enterprises registered in PRC may also convert their foreign debts from foreign currency into Renminbi at the enterprise’s discretion. SAFE Circular 16 provides an integrated standard for conversion of foreign exchange under capital account items (including but not limited to foreign currency capital and foreign debts) at the enterprise’s discretion, which applies to all enterprises registered in the PRC. SAFE Circular 16 reiterates the principle that Renminbi converted from foreign currency-denominated capital of a company may not be directly or indirectly used for purposes beyond its business scope and may not be used for investments in securities or other investment with the exception of bank financial products that can guarantee the principal within the PRC unless otherwise specifically provided. Besides, the converted Renminbi shall not be used to make loans for related enterprises unless it is within the business scope or to build or to purchase any real estate that is not for the enterprise own use with the exception for the real estate enterprise.

On January 26, 2017, SAFE promulgated the Circular on Further Improving Reform of Foreign Exchange Administration and Optimizing Genuineness and Compliance Verification, or SAFE Circular 3, which stipulates several capital control measures with respect to the outbound remittance of profits from domestic entities to offshore entities, including (i) banks must check whether the transaction is genuine by reviewing board resolutions regarding profit distribution, original copies of tax filing records and audited financial statements, and (ii) domestic entities must retain income to account for previous years’ losses before remitting any profits. Moreover, pursuant to SAFE Circular 3, domestic entities must explain in detail the sources of capital and how the capital will be used, and provide board resolutions, contracts and other proof as a part of the registration procedure for outbound investment.

On October 25, 2019, SAFE promulgated the Notice on Further Facilitating Cross-Board Trade and Investment, which became effective on the same date (except for Article 8.2 thereof). The notice removed restrictions on the capital equity investment in China by non-investment foreign-invested enterprises. In addition, restrictions on the use of funds for foreign exchange settlement of domestic accounts for the realization of assets have been removed and restrictions on the use and foreign exchange settlement of foreign investors’ security deposits have been relaxed. Eligible enterprises in the pilot areas are also allowed to use revenues under capital accounts, such as capital funds, foreign debts and overseas listing revenues for domestic payments without providing materials to the bank in advance for authenticity verification on an item by item basis, while the use of funds should be true, in compliance with applicable rules and conforming to the current capital revenue management regulations.

Regulations on Foreign Exchange Registration of Overseas Investment by PRC Residents

SAFE issued the Circular on Relevant Issues Relating to Domestic Resident’s Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 37, which became effective in July 2014, to replace the Circular of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Issues Concerning the Regulation of Foreign Exchange in Equity Finance and Roundtrip Investments by Domestic Residents through Offshore Special Purpose Vehicles, to regulate foreign exchange matters in relation to the use of special purpose vehicles, or SPVs, by PRC residents or entities to seek offshore investment and financing or conduct round trip investment in China. SAFE Circular 37 defines a SPV as an offshore entity established or controlled, directly or indirectly, by PRC residents or entities for the purpose of seeking offshore financing or making offshore investment, using legitimate onshore or offshore assets or interests, while “round trip investment” is defined as direct investment in China by PRC residents or entities through SPVs, namely, establishing foreign-invested enterprises to obtain the ownership, control rights and management rights. SAFE Circular 37 stipulates that, prior to making contributions into an SPV, PRC residents or entities be required to complete foreign exchange registration with SAFE or its local branch. In addition, SAFE promulgated the Notice on Further Simplifying and Improving the Administration of the Foreign Exchange Concerning Direct Investment in February 2015, which amended SAFE Circular 37 and became effective on June 1, 2015, requiring PRC residents or entities to register with qualified banks rather than SAFE in connection with their establishment or control of an offshore entity established for the purpose of overseas investment or financing.

PRC residents or entities who had contributed legitimate onshore or offshore interests or assets to SPVs but had not obtained registration as required before the implementation of the SAFE Circular 37 must register their ownership interests or control in the SPVs with qualified banks. An amendment to the registration is required if there is a material change with respect to the SPV registered, such as any change of basic information (including change of the PRC residents, name and operation term), increases or decreases in investment amount, transfers or exchanges of shares, and mergers or divisions. Failure to comply with the registration procedures set forth in SAFE Circular 37 and the subsequent notice, or making misrepresentation on or failure to disclose controllers of the foreign-invested enterprise that is established through round-trip investment, may result in restrictions being imposed on the foreign exchange activities of the relevant foreign-invested enterprise, including payment of dividends and other distributions, such as proceeds from any reduction in capital, share transfer or liquidation, to its offshore parent or affiliate, and the capital inflow from the offshore parent, and may also subject relevant PRC residents or entities to penalties under PRC foreign exchange administration regulations. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—PRC regulations relating to investments in offshore companies by PRC residents may subject our PRC-resident beneficial owners or our PRC subsidiary to liability or penalties, limit our ability to inject capital into our PRC subsidiary or limit our PRC subsidiary’s ability to increase their registered capital or distribute profits.”

Regulations on Stock Incentive Plans

SAFE promulgated the Notice on Issues Concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Publicly Listed Company, or the Stock Incentive Plan Notice, in February 2012, replacing the previous rules issued by SAFE in March 2007. Pursuant to the Stock Incentive Plan Notice and other relevant rules and regulations, PRC residents participating in stock incentive plan in an overseas publicly-listed company are required to register with SAFE or its local branches and follow certain other procedures. Participants of a stock incentive plan who are PRC residents must conduct the SAFE registration and other procedures with respect to the stock incentive plan through a qualified PRC agent, which could be a PRC subsidiary of the overseas publicly listed company or another qualified institution appointed by the PRC subsidiary. In addition, the PRC agent is required to update the relevant SAFE registration should there be any material change to the stock incentive plan, the PRC agent or other material changes. The PRC agent must, on behalf of the PRC residents who have the right to exercise the employee stock options, apply to SAFE or its local branches for an annual quota for the payment of foreign currencies in connection with the PRC residents’ exercise of the employee stock options. The foreign exchange proceeds received by the PRC residents from the sale of shares under the stock incentive plans granted and dividends distributed by the overseas listed companies must be remitted into the bank accounts in the PRC opened by the PRC agents prior to distribution to such PRC residents.

We have adopted an equity incentive plan, under which we will have the discretion to award incentives and rewards to eligible participants. We have advised the recipients of awards under our equity incentive plan to handle relevant foreign exchange matters in accordance with the Stock Incentive Plan Notice. However, we cannot guarantee that all employees awarded equity-based incentives can successfully register with SAFE in full compliance with the Stock Incentive Plan Notice. See “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Doing Business in China—Any failure to comply with PRC regulations regarding employee share incentive plans may subject the PRC plan participants or us to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions.”

Regulations on Dividend Distribution

The principal laws, rulesDistribution of dividends of foreign investment enterprises are mainly governed by the Foreign Investment Enterprise Law, issued in 1986 and amended in 2000 and 2016 respectively, and the Implementation Rules under the Foreign Investment Enterprise Law, issued in 1990 and amended in 2001 and 2014 respectively. Under these regulations, governing dividend distribution by foreign-investedforeign investment enterprises in the PRC are the Company Law of the PRC, as amended, which applies to both PRC domestic companies and foreign-invested companies, and the Foreign Investment Law and its implementation rules, which apply to foreign-invested companies. Under these laws, rules and regulations, foreign-invested enterprises may paydistribute dividends only out of their accumulated profit,accumulative profits, if any, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. BothIn addition, no less than 10% of the accumulated profits of the foreign investment enterprises in the PRC domestic companies and wholly-foreign owned PRC enterprises are required to set aside as generalbe allocated to fund certain reserve funds each year unless these reserves at least 10% of their after-tax profit, until the cumulative amount of their reserves reacheshave reached 50% of theirthe registered capital.capital of the enterprises. A PRC company is not permitted to distribute any profits until any losses from priorprevious fiscal years have been offset. Profits retained from prior fiscal years may be distributed together with distributable profits from the current fiscal year. Under our current corporate structure, our BVI holding company may rely on dividend payments from IST, which is a wholly foreign-owned enterprise incorporated in China, to fund any cash and financing requirements we may have. Limitation on the ability of our consolidated VIEs to make remittance to IST and on the ability of IST to pay dividends to us could limit our ability to access cash generated by the operations of those entities. See “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Doing Business in China—— Restrictions under PRC law on our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to make dividends and other distributions could materially and adversely affect our ability to grow, make investments or acquisitions that could benefit our business, pay dividends to you, and otherwise fund and conduct our business.”

Dividend Withholding Tax

In March 2007, the National People’s Congress enacted the Enterprise Income Tax Law which became effective on January 1, 2008 and last amended on December 29, 2018. The PRC State Council promulgated the Implementation Rules of the Enterprise Income Tax Law on December 6, 2007, which became effective on January 1, 2008 and was partially amended on April 23, 2019. According to Enterprise Income Tax Law and its Implementation Rules, dividends payable by a foreign-invested enterprise in China to its foreign enterprise investors are subject to a 10% withholding tax, unless any such foreign investor’s jurisdiction of incorporation has a tax treaty with China that provides for a preferential withholding arrangement. Pursuant to the Notice of the State Administration of Taxation on Negotiated Reduction of Dividends and Interest Rates, issued on January 29, 2008 and supplemented and revised on February 29, 2008, and the Arrangement between Mainland China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income, which became effective on December 8, 2006 and applicable to income derived in any year of assessment commencing on or after April 1, 2007 in Hong Kong and in any year commencing on or after January 1, 2007 in the PRC, such withholding tax rate may be lowered to 5% if a Hong Kong enterprise is deemed the beneficial owner of any dividend paid by a PRC subsidiary by PRC tax authorities and holds at least 25% of the equity interest in that particular PRC subsidiary at all times within the 12-month period immediately prior to the distribution of the dividends. Furthermore, pursuant to the Announcement on Issues concerning “Beneficial Owners” in Tax Treaties issued on February 3, 2018 by the State Administration of Taxation, when determining the status of “beneficial owners,” a comprehensive analysis may be conducted through materials such as articles of association, financial statements, records of capital flows, minutes of board of directors, resolutions of board of directors, allocation of manpower and material resources, the relevant expenses, functions and risk assumption, loan contracts, royalty contracts or transfer contracts, patent registration certificates and copyright certificates, etc. However, even if an applicant has the status as a “beneficiary owner,” if the competent tax authority finds necessity to apply the principal purpose test clause in the tax treaties or the general anti-tax avoidance rules stipulated in domestic tax laws, the general anti-tax avoidance provisions shall apply.

Enterprise Income Tax

In December 2007, the State Council promulgated the Implementing Rules of the Enterprise Income Tax Law, or the Implementing Rules, which became effective on January 1, 2008. The Enterprise Income Tax Law and its relevant Implementing Rules (i) impose a uniform 25% enterprise income tax rate, which is applicable to both foreign invested enterprises and domestic enterprises (ii) permits companies to continue to enjoy their existing tax incentives, subject to certain transitional phase-out rules and (iii) introduces new tax incentives, subject to various qualification criteria.

The Enterprise Income Tax Law also provides that enterprises organized under the laws of jurisdictions outside China with their “de facto management bodies” located within China may be considered PRC resident enterprises and therefore be subject to PRC enterprise income tax at the rate of 25% on their worldwide income. The Implementing Rules further define the term “de facto management body” as the management body that exercises substantial and overall management and control over the production and operations, personnel, accounts and properties of an enterprise. If an enterprise organized under the laws of jurisdiction outside China is considered a PRC resident enterprise for PRC enterprise income tax purposes, a number of unfavorable PRC tax consequences could follow. First, it would be subject to the PRC enterprise income tax at the rate of 25% on its worldwide income. Second, a 10% withholding tax would be imposed on dividends it pays to its non-PRC enterprise shareholders and with respect to gains derived by its non-PRC enterprise shareholders from transfer of its shares. Dividends paid to non-PRC individual shareholders and any gain realized on the transfer of equity by such shareholders may be subject to PRC tax at a rate of 20%, if such income is deemed to be from PRC sources. See “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Doing Business in China—Under the Enterprise Income Tax Law, we may be classified as a “resident enterprise” of China. Such classification will likely result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders.”

On October 17, 2017, the State Administration of Taxation issued the Bulletin on Issues Concerning the Withholding of Non-PRC Resident Enterprise Income Tax at Source, or Bulletin 37, which replaced the Notice on Strengthening Administration of Enterprise Income Tax for Share Transfers by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises issued by the State Administration of Taxation on December 10, 2009, and partially replaced and supplemented rules under the Bulletin on Issues of Enterprise Income Tax on Indirect Transfers of Assets by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises, or Bulletin 7, issued by the State Administration of Taxation on February 3, 2015. Under Bulletin 7, an “indirect transfer” of assets, including equity interests in a PRC resident enterprise, by non-PRC resident enterprises may be re-characterized and treated as a direct transfer of PRC taxable assets, if such arrangement does not have a reasonable commercial purpose and was established for the purpose of avoiding payment of PRC enterprise income tax. As a result, gains derived from such indirect transfer may be subject to PRC enterprise income tax. In respect of an indirect offshore transfer of assets of a PRC establishment, the relevant gain is to be regarded as effectively connected with the PRC establishment and therefore included in its enterprise income tax filing, and would consequently be subject to PRC enterprise income tax at a rate of 25%. Where the underlying transfer relates to the immoveable properties in China or to equity investments in a PRC resident enterprise, which is not effectively connected to a PRC establishment of a non-resident enterprise, a PRC enterprise income tax at 10% would apply, subject to available preferential tax treatment under applicable tax treaties or similar arrangements, and the party who is obligated to make the transfer payments has the withholding obligation. Pursuant to Bulletin 37, the withholding party shall declare and pay the withheld tax to the competent tax authority in the place where such withholding party is located within 7 days from the date of occurrence of the withholding obligation. Both Bulletin 37 and Bulletin 7 do not apply to transactions of sale of shares by investors through a public stock exchange where such shares were acquired from a transaction through a public stock exchange. See “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Doing Business in China—We and our shareholders face uncertainties with respect to indirect transfers of equity interests in PRC resident enterprises or other assets attributed to a Chinese establishment of a non-Chinese company, or immovable properties located in China owned by non-Chinese companies.”

Value-Added Tax

Pursuant to the Provisional Regulations on Value-Added Tax of the PRC, or the VAT Regulations, which were promulgated by the State Council on December 13, 1993, and took effect on January 1, 1994, and were amended on November 10, 2008, February 6, 2016, and November 19, 2017, respectively, and the Rules for the Implementation of the Provisional Regulations on Value Added Tax of the PRC, which were promulgated by the Ministry of Finance, on December 25, 1993, and were amended on December 15, 2008, and October 28, 2011, respectively, entities and individuals that sell goods or labor services of processing, repair or replacement, sell services, intangible assets, or immovables, or import goods within the territory of the People’s Republic of China are taxpayers of value-added tax. The VAT rate is 17% for taxpayers selling goods, labor services, or tangible movable property leasing services or importing goods, except otherwise specified; 11% for taxpayers selling goods, labor services, or tangible movable property leasing services or importing goods, except otherwise specified; 6% for taxpayers selling services or intangible assets.

According to Provisions in the Notice on Adjusting the Value added Tax Rates, or the Notice, issued by the State Administration of Taxation and the Ministry of Finance, where taxpayers make VAT taxable sales or import goods, the applicable tax rates shall be adjusted from 17% to 16% and from 11% to 10%, respectively. The Notice took effect on May 1, 2018, and the adjusted VAT rates took effect at the same time. Pursuant to the Notice of the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation and the General Administration of Customs of the PRC on Relevant Policies for Deepening the Value-Added Tax Reform, which was promulgated on March 20, 2019 and became effective on April 1, 2019, the tax rate of 16% applicable to the VAT taxable sale or import of goods by a general VAT taxpayer shall be adjusted to 13%, and the tax rate of 10% applicable thereto shall be adjusted to 9%.

In November 2011, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation promulgated the Pilot Plan for Imposition of Value-Added Tax to Replace Business Tax, or the Pilot Plan. The Notice of the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation on Implementing the Pilot Plan of Replacing Business Tax with Value-Added Tax in an All-round Manner, issued on March 23, 2016, took effect on May 1, 2016. Pursuant to the Pilot Plan and the subsequent Notice, VAT at a rate of 6% is applied nationwide to revenue generated from the provision of certain modern services in lieu of the prior Business Tax.

PRC Policies and Regulations relating toNew Overseas Listing Rules issued by the Bitcoin IndustryChinese Government

The policiesPRC government has recently indicated an intent to take actions to exert more oversight and regulations relating tocontrol over offerings that are conducted overseas and/or foreign investment in China-based issuers. For example, on July 6, 2021, the Bitcoin industry have a direct impactrelevant PRC government authorities made public the Opinions on Strictly Scrutinizing Illegal Securities Activities in Accordance with the Company the Company’s customers in the PRC, which could indirectly impact the demand for the Company’s Bitcoin mining machines. According to the Circular of the People’s Bank of China, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission, and China Insurance Regulatory Commission on the Prevention of Risks from Bitcoin jointly promulgated by People’s Bank of China, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China Banking Regulatory Commission, CSRC, and China Insurance Regulatory Commission on December 3, 2013,Law, or the Circular, Bitcoin shall be a kind of virtual commodity in nature, which shall not be inOpinions. These Opinions emphasized the same legal status with currencies and shall not be circulated as currencies and used in markets as currencies. The Circular also provides that financial institutions and payment institutions shall not engage in business in connection with Bitcoin. Accordingneed to Announcement ofstrengthen the People’s Bank of China, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commissionadministration over illegal securities activities and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission on Preventing Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) Risks promulgatedsupervision of overseas listings by seven PRC governmental authorities includingChina-based companies and proposed to take effective measures, such as promoting the People’s Bankconstruction of China on September 4, 2017, orrelevant regulatory systems to deal with the Announcement, activities of offeringrisks and financing of tokens, including initial coin offerings, have been forbidden in the PRC since they may be suspected to be considered as illegal offering of securities or illegal fundraising. All so-called token trading platform should not (i) engage in the exchange between any statutory currency with tokens and “virtual currencies,” (ii) trade or trade the tokens or “virtual currencies” as central counterparties, or (iii) provide pricing, information agency or other services for tokens or “virtual currencies.” The Announcement further provides that financial institutions and payment institutions shall not engage in business in connection with transactions of offering and financing of tokens.

In addition to various promulgations in the past, on September 24, 2021, ten Chinese regulatory authorities, including People’s Bank of China, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China Banking Regulatory Commission, the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and among five other regulatory agencies, collectively promulgated a guidance to further control and monitor cryptocurrency related trading, exchanges, transaction, banking and financial service, initial coin offering, and other intermediary and derivatives transactions, which are considered illegal in accordance with effectuated laws and regulations and may be subject to penalty criminally. The new guidance also bars foreign cryptocurrency trading platforms and related businesses to provide services to China domestic individuals and business entities, and expands the application of laws and regulations to Chinese employees or contractors of foreign operatives, that provide related services to individuals or business entities domiciled in China. Although, the legality of cryptocurrency mining activity was not specifically mentioned in the guidance, notably in recent events, where the government’s sudden interventions or modifications of the laws and regulations currently in effective could negatively impact the Company’s operations and financial results. The legality of cryptocurrency mining activity may be subject to challengeincidents faced by Chinese authorities. The Company has relocated its global headquarters to Hong Kong, where cryptocurrency mining operations and related trading, exchanges, transaction are lawful.China-based overseas-listed companies.

ChineseOn December 24, 2021, the CSRC issued the Provisions of the State Council on the Administration of Overseas Securities Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies (Draft for Comments) and the Administrative Measures for the Filing of Overseas Securities Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies (Draft for Comments), collectively the Draft Overseas Listing Regulations, on Cryptocurrency in Generalfor public comment until January 23, 2022.

According to the CircularFollowing issuance of the People’s BankDraft Overseas Listing Regulations, on February 17, 2023, the CSRC issued the Notice on Filing Arrangements for Overseas Securities Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies (the “CSRC Filing Notice”), stating that the CSRC has published the Trial Administrative Measures of China, Ministry of IndustryOverseas Securities Offering and Information Technology, China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission,Listing by Domestic Companies (the “Trial Measures”) and China Insurance Regulatory Commission on Guarding against Bitcoin Risks issued on December 3, 2013,five supporting guidelines (the “Listing Guidelines”), collectively the Trial Measures and Listing Guidelines or the 2013 Circular, Bitcoin should be regarded as a specific virtual commodity,Oversea Listing Rules. Among others, the Oversea Listing Rules provide that overseas offerings and it does not possess the status that a legal currency has, and cannot and should not be circulated in market as a currency. The 2013 Circular also provides that financial institutions and payment institutions shall not engage in business in connection with Bitcoin.listings by PRC domestic companies shall:

Another notable law(i) require submission of relevant materials that contain a filing report and a legal opinion, providing truthful, accurate and complete information on recognition of virtual property ismatters including but not limited to the PRC Civil Code, which became effective on January 1, 2021. Article 127 of PRC Civil Code provides that: “Where laws contain provisions in respectshareholders of the protectionissuer. Where the filing documents are complete and in compliance with stipulated requirements, the CSRC shall, within 20 working days after receipt of datafiling documents, conclude the filing procedure and network virtual property, such provisionspublish filing results on the CSRC website. Where filing documents are incomplete or do not conform to stipulated requirements, the CSRC shall apply.” We believe that this provision together withrequest supplementation and amendment thereto within five working days after receipt of the 2013 Circular recognizes the lawful possession by PRC citizensfiling documents. The issuer should then complete supplementation and organizations of Bitcoin as a kind of virtual property.amendment within 30 working days;

According(ii) abide by laws, administrative regulations and relevant state rules concerning foreign investment in China, state-owned asset administration, industry regulation and outbound investment, and shall not disrupt the PRC domestic market order, harm state or public interests or undermine the lawful rights and interests of PRC domestic investors;

(iii) abide by national secrecy laws and relevant provisions. Necessary measures shall be taken to fulfill confidentiality obligations. Divulgence of state secrets or working secrets of government agencies is strictly prohibited. Provision of personal information and important data, etc., to overseas parties in relation to overseas offering and listing of PRC domestic companies shall be in compliance with applicable laws, administrative regulations and relevant state rules; and

(iv) be made in strict compliance with relevant laws, administrative regulations and rules concerning national security in the spheres of foreign investment, cybersecurity, data security, etc., and issuers shall duly fulfill their obligations to protect national security. If the intended overseas offering and listing necessitates a national security review, relevant security review procedures shall be completed according to the Announcementlaw before the application for such offering and listing is submitted to any overseas parties such as securities regulatory agencies and trading venues;

The Trial Measures came into effect on March 31, 2023. PRC domestic companies seeking to offer and list securities (which, for the purposes of the People’s Bank of China,Trial Measures, are defined thereunder as equity shares, depository receipts, corporate bonds convertible to equity shares, and other equity securities that are offered and listed overseas, either directly or indirectly, by PRC domestic companies) in overseas markets, either via direct or indirect means, must file with the Office of the Central Cyberspace Security and Informatization Leading Group, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State AdministrationCSRC within three working days after their application for Industry and Commerce, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission on Preventing Token Fundraising Risks issued on September 4, 2017, or the 2017 Announcement, activities of offering and financing of tokens, including initial coin offerings, or ICOs, should be forbidden in the PRC since they are essentially illegal public financing activities, which are suspected to involve financial crimes such as illegal distribution of financial tokens, illegal issuance of securities, illegal fundraising, financial fraud or pyramid sales. All so-called token trading platforms should not (i) engage in any exchange between any fiat currency with tokens or “virtual currencies”, (ii) trade tokens or “virtual currencies” or trade them as central counterparties, or (iii) provide pricing, information agency or other services for tokens or “virtual currencies”. The 2017 Announcement further orders that financial institutions and non-banking payment institutions should not do any business related to token trading.an overseas listing is submitted.

According

The Trial Measures provide that where a PRC domestic company seeks to indirectly offer and list securities in overseas markets, the issuer shall designate a major domestic operating entity, which shall, as the domestic entity responsible, file with the CSRC. The Trial Measures stipulate that an overseas listing will be determined as “indirect” if the issuer meets both of the following conditions: (1) 50% or more of any of the issuer’s operating revenue, total profit, total assets or net assets as documented in its audited consolidated financial statements for the most recent accounting year are accounted for by PRC domestic companies (“Condition I”), and (2) the main parts of the issuer’s business activities are conducted in the PRC, or its main places of business are located in the PRC, or the senior managers in charge of its business operations and management are mostly Chinese citizens or domiciled in the PRC (“Condition II”); whether Chinese citizens from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau are included in the foregoing specification is not specified. The determination as to whether or not an overseas offering and listing by PRC domestic companies is indirect shall be made on a ‘substance over form’ basis; the Listing Guidelines further stipulate that if an issuer not satisfying Condition I submits an application for issuance and listing in overseas markets in accordance with relevant non-PRC issuance regulations requiring such issuer to disclose risk factors mainly related to the Risk Warning on Preventing Illegal Fundraising inPRC, the Name of “Virtual Currency” or “Blockchain” jointly promulgated by the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, the Ministry of Public Security, the People’s Bank of Chinasecurities firm(s) and the State Administration for Market Regulation on August 24, 2018, orissuer’s PRC counsel should follow the 2018 Warning, raising funds throughprinciple of “substance over form” in order to identify and argue whether the issuance of so-called “virtual currency”, “virtual asset” or “digital asset”issuer should complete a filing under the flagTrial Measures. Subsequent securities offerings of “financial innovation”an issuer in (i) the same overseas market where it has previously offered and listed securities, and (ii) an overseas market other than one where the issuer has previously offered and listed securities shall be filed with the CSRC within three working days after offerings are completed. Additionally, the Trial Measures stipulate that after an issuer has offered and listed securities in an overseas market, the issuer shall submit a report to the CSRC within three working days after the occurrence and public disclosure of (i) a change of control thereof, (ii) investigations of or “blockchain” is not based on real blockchain technology, but rather the practice of using speculative blockchain concepts for illegal fundraising, pyramid schemes, or fraud. The 2018 Warning reiterates the position of the Chinese government on ICOs.