Peter Thiel-Backed Bullish Pulls the Plug on $9B SPAC Deal

Crypto exchange Bullish has called off the planned merger worth $9 billion with Far Peak Acquisition Corp.

According to an official statement, the two entities have mutually agreed to terminate their proposed business combination.

Far Peak is led by Thomas Farley, a former president of the New York Stock Exchange.

Terminated Merger

Bullish is audited by Deloitte and recently assured that it has no exposure to FTX or related entities. The Gibraltar-based exchange, which is backed by tech investor Peter Thiel, had planned to go public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Far Peak Acquisition (FPAC), in July 2021

Since then, its merger prospectus has undergone several amendments, but the SEC remains unsatisfied. The latest allowed the two companies to terminate the merger agreement on December 31 if not completed before then. But that deadline now appears moot, given Friday’s announcement.

Commenting on the terminated SPAC merger, Brendan Blumer, Chairman and CEO of Bullish, said that the “quest to become a public company” is taking longer than previously anticipated. He added that he “respects” the ongoing work by the securities watchdogs in bringing out a relevant framework on digital asset space. The exec also noted,

“I’m proud of the dedicated team of Bullish employees and advisors who have devoted countless hours to ensure Bullish operates with the highest standards of transparency and responsibility. This work has formed the operating foundation required to service our customers in the best and safest possible way.”

Crypto-SPAC Deals

As a result of the ongoing market rout, several planned mergers between Web 3 companies and SPACs have been either delayed or canceled. SPACs, also known as blank-check firms, are essentially publicly traded shell companies that are created to take private firms public.

These entities have a reputation for being a backdoor way of going public and gained traction during the pandemic-driven market boom. In fact, SPAC deals skyrocketed at 81, climbing over $155 billion last year.

Over the last two years, SPACs have become a preferred route for crypto companies looking to sidestep a traditional initial public offering. Several prominent players, including Cipher Mining, Bakkt, and Core Scientific entering merger agreements with SPACs but only five out of 14 deals have actually been successful since 2019.

A crypto mining and infrastructure company Prime Blockchain mutually ended its $1.25 billion merger deal Blank-check vehicle 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp II in August this year.

More recently, USDC stablecoin issuer Circle mutually terminated its merger agreement with SPAC partner Concord Acquisition.