The special purpose acquisition companies boom has fizzled. The cryptocurrency bubble has burst. Leave it to Wall Street to find a way to merge these out of favour asset classes.
Bitcoin Depot is a bitcoin ATM operator that allows users to buy bitcoin or other digital currencies with cash at over 7,000 kiosks across North America. It is going public by merging with blank cheque company GSR II Meteora Acquisition at a $755mn enterprise value.
Higher interest rates, a weaker stock market and heightened regulatory scrutiny have dulled investor appetite for Spacs. Only 72 such investment vehicles have listed in the US so far this year, raising $11.9bn, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group. That is a fraction of the $116.8bn raised during the same period last year. Among this year’s newly listed Spacs just three have found a company to merge with. None have yet closed.