Circle, which owns Poloniex crypto exchange, will go public through merger with SPAC
The operator of the crypto exchange Poloniex and the main issuer of the dollar pegged stablecoin USDC, Circle, decided to go public through a merger with SPAC based Concord Acquisition Corp., which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
SPAC such as Concord Acquisition Corp, are created specifically to merge with private companies that want to go public bypassing the IPO process.
Circle will be valued at $ 4.5 billion as part of the agreement. Current stockholders will own around 86 percent of the company after it goes public. Circle will receive approximately $ 1.1 billion as a result of the deal, which includes $ 276 million raised on the stock exchange, bond financing, and $ 415 million in private investments from hedge fund Marshall Wace, Katie Wood’s investment company ARK Investment Management, as well as management companies Fidelity and Adage Capital Management.
Circle was founded in 2013 by Jeremy Allair. The company provided services for the storage and trading of digital assets. In 2015, Circle was licensed by the State of New York to conduct cryptocurrency transactions.
In February 2018, the company bought the Poloniex crypto exchange. Since 2015, Goldman Sachs has become one of Circle’s investors. The investment bank invested $ 50 million in the company.
In April, Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, became the first public platform for trading digital assets.
On April 14, the company listed its shares directly on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The plans to become a public company have been repeatedly announced by the head of the Kraken crypto exchange Jesse Powell. According to his forecast, this will happen in the second half of 2022.
