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The cryptocurrency trading platform Bullish Ltd. and special-purpose acquisition company Far Peak Acquisition Corp. announced Thursday that the companies agreed to call off a planned merger deal that would have valued Bullish at $9 billion.
The original merger agreement was inked in July 2021 and would have seen Bullish traded publicly on the New York Stock Exchange.
A cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform, Bullish describes itself as “a technology company focused on developing financial services for the digital assets sector that make earning, investing and transacting more accessible and rewarding.”
According to the press statement, the merger was terminated because of an amendment to the original agreement that allows the two companies to stop the deal if it could not be completed by the end of 2022.
The reason given is that Bullish could not negotiate its Securities and Exchange Commission F-4 registration. These forms are required for the registration of securities issued by parties outside of the United States and are filed during mergers, consolidations and similar transactions. Bullish is based in the Cayman Islands and Peak Acquisitions is in the U.S.
“Our quest to become a public company is taking longer than expected, but we respect the SEC’s ongoing work to lay new digital asset frameworks and clarify industry-specific disclosure and accounting complexities,” said Brendan Blumer, chairman and chief executive of Bullish.
It’s most likely that it was taking longer than usual because of increased regulatory scrutiny of the crypto industry following recent events.
The dissolution of this SPAC deal comes at a tumultuous time for the crypto industry following the catastrophic collapse and bankruptcy of the crypto exchange FTX and the subsequent arrest of its CEO and charges against several executives. Earlier this year, the implosion of the “algorithmic” stablecoin TerraUSD led to cryptocurrency markets crashing, such as bitcoin and Ethereum, falling more than 70% from all-time highs in November.
Thomas Farley, chairman and chief executive of Far Peak expressed disappointment at the termination of the deal but praised Bullish. However, given the time constraints and market conditions, the company does not intend to seek a new merger.
“We are disappointed that we were unable to present the Bullish transaction to our Far Peak shareholders,” said Farley. “Bullish’s accomplishments since its launch have lived up to our expectations, and their daily trading volumes highlight their remarkable growth.”
The ending of the merger also follows a recent trend of similar deals in the crypto industry being pulled with high volatility in the markets and increasing regulatory attention. Israeli crypto platform eToro mutually agreed to cancel its SPAC deal with acquisition firm FinTech Acquisition Corp V in July and USDC stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Financial Inc. and Concord Acquisition Corp. terminated their proposed merger earlier this month.
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