FranchiseVerdict
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FV-00316·CAUTIONStandard67Pre-opening

Bitcoin STEM

Education - Children's ProgramsFranchising since 2023Website
Investment
$48K – $140K
17th pct Children's Pr…
Avg revenue
69th pct Children's Pr…
Royalty
7.0%
29th pct Children's Pr…
Units
0
0th pct Children's Pr…
SBA default

Bottom line

  • Total investment $48K – $140K including a $30K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated CAUTION with a risk score of 74/100.
  • Auditor disclosed a going-concern note — flagged doubt about the franchisor's ability to continue operations. Verify against the latest FDD.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
Bitcoin STEM, LLC
Incorporated in
Virginia
HQ
5706 Captain Jones Court, Fairfax Station, Virginia 22039
Auditor
Wegley, Higginbotham & Associates, PLC
Audited financials
⚠ Going-concern note
Disclosed in FDD 2023
Status as of 2023; may have been resolved in a later filing we don't yet have.

Yale framework · single-unit ROIC

Returns Analysis

Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.

The model · Yale framework

What would one Bitcoin STEM unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
Item 19 not disclosed — typing your own estimate
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: education
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $48K–$140K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $4K–$10K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

104%

Above typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%
ROIC above 100% usually means the revenue figure is a system-wide aggregate or top-cohort number rather than a single-unit average. Verify the "Revenue · per unit" field against the brand's FDD Item 19 detail tables before relying on this output.

Store EBITDA · annual
$105K
EBITDA margin
14.0%
Total invested
$101K
Payback
12 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Overview

About

Bitcoin STEM franchisees likely operate educational programs teaching cryptocurrency, blockchain, and STEM concepts to students (K-12 or adult learners), delivered through in-person classes, workshops, coding bootcamps, or online courses. Revenue models typically depend on course fees, enrollment volume, or corporate training contracts within a protected local territory.

CEO
Zachary Shelton
Founded
2022
FDD year
2023
States available
0

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$48K – $140K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$4K – $10K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$30K
Royalty
7.0%
Percentage of Gross Sales · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
2.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
9.0%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

This franchisor did not disclose financial performance representations in Item 19, or our extractor could not parse them.

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
0
Opened
0
Last reporting year
Closed
0
Company-owned
0
Corporate units in the system
2021
0±0
Franchised units
2022
0
Franchised units
2023
0
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

No SBA loan data available for this brand.

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

74
Risk · 0-100
CAUTION74 / 100

Pre-revenue or hidden-unit franchisor with going concern issues, zero financial benchmarks, and undisclosed unit count creates extreme due diligence blind spots and probable negative ROI.

Score breakdown · what drove the 74 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDZero disclosed franchise units with unknown growth trajectory indicates brand is either pre-revenue or deliberately concealing unit data
  2. 02MINORNo average revenue or net income disclosure (Item 19) prevents validation of $48k-$139.5k investment ROI
  3. 03HIGHGoing concern status suggests financial instability at franchisor level despite operating franchise model
  4. 04MEDTiered royalty structure (7%-5%) on undisclosed revenue baseline makes it impossible to model franchisee profitability
  5. 05MEDBitcoin/cryptocurrency education niche has volatile demand, regulatory uncertainty, and limited addressable market
  6. 06HIGHNo litigation disclosure required language suggests either new brand with minimal franchise history or franchisor avoiding disclosure obligations
  7. 07MINOR5-year term is shorter than industry standard (10 years), suggesting higher franchisor exit risk or franchisee turnover concerns

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Geographic area containing approximately 100 schools
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
5 years
Renewal term
5 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
No
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
Virginia

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
91 hrs
On-the-job training
0 hrs
POS system
Jumbula
Operating tech stack

Item 20

Franchisee Contacts

Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.

No franchisee contacts available for Bitcoin STEM. This brand's FDD Item 20 did not include a contactable franchisee list.

FDD download

Bitcoin STEM · FDD (2023) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above