DeFi Technologies has failed to meet Nasdaq’s minimum bid-price requirement, leaving its US-listed DEFT shares subject to a formal eligibility review and potentially a further compliance period or delisting determination.
The company’s shares closed at $0.6032 on 31 August, meaning they could not complete the required run of 10 consecutive business days at or above $1 by the 1 September deadline.
Nasdaq’s next formal step is expected to be either the grant of a second compliance period or written notification that the shares are subject to delisting.
Nasdaq informed DeFi Technologies on 5 March that DEFT had closed below $1 for 30 consecutive business days as of 4 March. The exchange then gave the company an initial 180-calendar-day period to restore compliance, ending on 1 September.
However, DEFT’s daily trading history showed that every August closing price was below $1. As a result, even a rise above the required level during the 1 September trading session could not have produced the necessary consecutive closing-price record before the deadline.
The Nasdaq test is based on closing prices rather than intraday movements. DEFT entered its final day without an active qualifying streak, while the 31 August close was about 40% below the $1 threshold.
A company filing in March said Nasdaq staff may generally require up to 20 consecutive business days before confirming that compliance has been restored.
Nasdaq may grant DeFi Technologies another 180-calendar-day period if the company meets the continued-listing requirement for the market value of its publicly held shares and satisfies all other applicable initial listing standards for the Nasdaq Capital Market, excluding the minimum bid-price rule.
DeFi Technologies would also have to notify Nasdaq in writing that it intends to correct the deficiency during the additional period.
If the company fails to qualify for a second window, or Nasdaq staff determines that it cannot remedy the shortfall during that period, the exchange would issue written notice that DEFT shares are liable to be delisted. DeFi Technologies would have the right to appeal that decision to a Nasdaq hearings panel.
Share consolidation remains an option
Shareholders have already authorised DeFi Technologies’ board to carry out a share consolidation of up to 12-for-1. The company’s annual meeting circular gave the board discretion over whether and when to use that authority, so the measure remains a contingency rather than a confirmed corporate action.
The authorisation allows the board to select any consolidation ratio up to the approved limit before the next annual meeting, or to take no action. That gives DeFi Technologies a possible way to address the per-share price requirement, while leaving the timing dependent on the company’s Nasdaq compliance process.
In its 13 August management filing, DeFi Technologies still described itself as non-compliant. The filing identified the authorised consolidation as a mechanism that could be used to address the bid-price deficiency.
Company materials available through 1 September showed no scheduled or completed consolidation.
At 11:19 UTC on 1 September, neither the company’s public newsroom nor its submissions to the US Securities and Exchange Commission contained an announcement confirming a second compliance period, a delisting determination, restored compliance or an executed consolidation.
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