Can a wave of crypto SPACs shake the IPO market out of its doldrums? A group of blockchain startups and their merger partners is going to try. Despite a slow start for public listings this year, at least two crypto startups have already announced plans to go public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company this year. More are likely to follow.
Hong Kong-based crypto mining firm BitFuFu announced in late January it would go public in the U.S. by merging with Arisz Acquisition Corp. in a deal that would value the company at $1.5 billion. Along with the SPAC merger announcement, the company said it had secured $70 million in a private investment in public equity, or PIPE, from bitcoin mining materials producer Bitmain, an early investor in the company. Two days later, New York-based crypto exchange Apifiny said it would merge with Abri SPAC I to go public at a $530 million valuation.