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USDC issuer Circle terminates SPAC merger with Concord

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In keeping with a brand new press launch revealed on Dec. 5, USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle introduced the mutual termination of its proposed merger with particular objective acquisition firm, or SPAC, Harmony Acquisition. The deal was introduced in July 2021 with a preliminary valuation of $4.5 billion and was then amended in February 2022 when Circle’s valuation ballooned to $9 billion. USDC is presently the second largest stablecoin in circulation, with a market cap of $43 billion. 

Underneath the phrases of the agreements, Harmony had till Dec. 10 to consummate the transaction or search a shareholder vote for an extension. Nonetheless, it seems that Harmony selected to have the time restrict lapse as an alternative. As told by Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire:

“Harmony has been a powerful accomplice and has added worth all through this course of, and we’ll proceed to profit from the recommendation and help of Bob Diamond and the broader Harmony staff. We’re disillusioned the proposed transaction timed out; nonetheless, changing into a public firm stays a part of Circle’s core technique to boost belief and transparency, which has by no means been extra necessary.”

Circle additional reiterated that it “grew to become worthwhile within the third quarter of 2022, with complete income and reserve curiosity revenue of $274 million and internet revenue of $43 million.” The corporate presently has $400 million in unrestricted money.

Whereas the stakeholders did not instantly state the rationale behind the deal’s fallout, the continuing crypto winter has led to a spiral of downward revisions for a lot of firms’ valuations. On prime of that, SPAC mergers have additionally carried out poorly, with the IPOX SPAC index benchmark falling over 40% since reaching all-time highs in February 2021. Likewise, Israeli cryptocurrency change eToro terminated its $10 billion SPAC merger this July after a downward revision to its valuation.