Company: FLDDW
Filing Date: 2025-03-28
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001013762-25-004107
Chunk: 91

Company: Fold Holdings, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-28
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 91
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 against us, we could be required to pay substantial damages or ongoing royalty
payments, we could be prevented from offering our products or services or using certain technologies, or we could be forced to implement
expensive work-arounds. We expect that the occurrence of infringement claims related to our Bitcoin related products and services is likely
to grow as the Bitcoin market grows and matures. Accordingly, our exposure to damages resulting from infringement claims could increase
and potentially exhaust our financial and management resources. Further, during the course of any litigation, we may make announcements
regarding the results of hearings and motions, and other interim developments. If securities analysts and investors regard these announcements
as negative, the market price of our common stock may decline. Even if intellectual property claims are meritless, do not result in litigation
or are resolved in our favor, these claims, and the time and resources necessary to resolve them, could divert the resources of our management
and require significant expenditures. Any of the foregoing could prevent us from competing effectively and could have an adverse effect
on our business, operating results, and financial condition.

52

Our platform contains third-party open source software components,
and failure to comply with the terms of the underlying open source software licenses could harm our business.

Our technology platform includes software licensed
to us by third-party authors under “open source” licenses. Use and distribution of open source software may entail greater
risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide support, warranties, indemnification
or other contractual protections regarding infringement claims or the quality of the code. In addition, the public availability of such
software may make it easier for others to compromise our technology or services.

Some open source licenses contain requirements that
we make available source code for modifications or derivative works we create based upon the type of open source software we use, or grant
other licenses to our intellectual property. If we combine our proprietary software with open source software in a certain manner, we
could, under certain open source licenses, be required to release the source code of our proprietary software to the public, be precluded
from charging fees to users of our proprietary software, or be required to license our proprietary software for purposes of making derivative
works. Among other things, this would allow our competitors to create similar offerings with lower development effort and time and ultimately
could result in a loss of competitive advantage. While we try to avoid subjecting our proprietary software to such open-source licenses,
we cannot guarantee we will always be