Shalini Nagarajan

<div id="highlights-block_62fb58d6c79e6" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Prime Blockchain agreed in April to be taken public via a SPAC deal</li>
 <li>More than 40 SPAC mergers have been nixed this year amid cooling markets</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Crypto mining and infrastructure startup Prime Blockchain is no longer going public through a $1.25 billion SPAC deal.



Prime and 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp II, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), mutually agreed to end the merger agreement, according to an <a href="https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001848898/000119312522220228/d545760d8k.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">8-K filing</a> published Monday.



It isn’t clear why both companies decided to end the agreement, but 10X said it plans to combine with another target.&nbsp;



SPACs are essentially publicly-traded firms that have no real operations. “Sponsors” set them up to raise money for acquiring an existing privately-held company, thereby taking it public.&nbsp;



They tend to reveal names of target companies only when they’re ready to file extensive paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.



San Francisco-headquartered Prime Blockchain promotes its services as diversified infrastructure for the Web3 and crypto economy. The firm, whose CEO is ex-Goldman Sachs investment banking veteran Gaurav Budharani, provides tech solutions for bitcoin mining, custody and DeFi.&nbsp;



Prime’s SPAC merger, <a href="https://www.spacalpha.com/n/primeblock-10x-capital-venture-acquisition-corp-ii-announce-yw64h" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> in April, would have listed the combined crypto company on the NASDAQ. The companies had secured a $300 million equity financing facility from Cantor Fitzgerald affiliate CF Principal Investments. 



The cancellation is indicative of cooling across SPAC markets, as high inflation and rising interest rates sap energy from a sector booming as recently as last year.&nbsp;



The SPAC IPO count has dwindled to just 64 so far this year, down from 613 last year and 248 in 2020, data from <a href="https://spacinsider.com/stats/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SPACInsider</a> shows. More than 40 SPAC mergers have <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-15/burst-of-broken-spac-deals-sends-jitters-through-battered-sector" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reportedly</a> been scratched so far this year.



Last month, social trading firm eToro’s planned public listing via a SPAC was <a href="https://www.etoro.com/news-and-analysis/press-releases/fintech-acquisition-corp-v-and-etoro-mutually-agree-to-terminate-merger-agreement/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">called off</a> due to “impracticable” circumstances. 



Even traditional merger deals have been affected. Crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/galaxy-digital-ends-agreement-to-buy-bitgo/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pulled out</a> of an acquisition agreement with BitGo this week. In response, BitGo is <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bitgo-plans-to-sue-galaxy-after-firm-ends-merger-agreement/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">preparing to sue</a> Galaxy and claims it is owed a $100 million termination fee.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.

Crypto Miner Prime Blockchain’s $1.25B SPAC Deal Fizzles Out

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_61f2cbee2adcc" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022</li>
 <li>Apifiny has partnered with over 20 of the top 100 crypto exchanges by trading volume including Huobi Global, OKEx, Kucoin, OKCoin and Blockchain.com</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Digital asset trading platform Apifiny Group is the latest crypto company to go public via a special purpose acquisition company.



Apifiny has entered a $530 million agreement with Abri SPAC I&nbsp; to become a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq.&nbsp;



The deal is expected to close in the third quarter, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. The combined company is valued at $530 million, including a contribution of up to $57 million of cash held in Abri’s trust account



“We aim to build a truly global digital asset trading network,” Haohan Xu, CEO of Apifiny, told Blockworks. “Going public is just the beginning of the journey.”&nbsp;



Apifiny sees going public as a means to accelerate growth, become fully regulated and acquire customers more quickly Erez Simha, the company’s president and CFO, told Blockworks.



“When you look at the profile of the team at Abri, they’re highly operational and have many years of private equity experience which I’m sure will contribute to us later on,” Simha said. “At the end of the day, we want to have fun with what we’re doing and want to focus on the business, and I think this has met the criteria we put to ourselves before choosing a partner.”



Founded in 2018, Apifiny, has partnered with over 20 of the top 100 crypto exchanges by trading volume including Huobi Global, OKEx, Kucoin, OKCoin and Blockchain.com.



Last year, Apifiny was <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/apifiny-reveals-pre-ipo-plans/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">granted</a> a US FINRA broker-dealer license, joining other crypto trading companies like Coinbase, Gemini and Circle. 



The company’s board of members include Tim Murphy, former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Laurence Charney, former partner of Ernst &amp; Young and; Samuel Shen, CEO of Vnet Group, among others. 



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.