Crypto Company Circle Comes Back Around On SPAC Deal While Doubling Its Valuation To $9B

The crypto market remains bumpy, but Boston-based Circle Internet Financial seems to have found a way around that.

The company announced it has terminated its previously announced merger agreement with special-purpose acquisition company Concord Acquisition Corp., but has agreed to new terms that will double the crypto company’s valuation to $9 billion.

Many large public companies operating in the crypto space such as Coinbase and Bakkt have watched their shares drop more than 20 percent since the start of the year. Robinhood shares are down more than 30 percent.

The original deal with Concord was announced last July and valued the company—an issuer of USD Coin, a type of stablecoin—at $4.5 billion. However, USD Coin’s circulation has more than doubled since the original deal was announced and has now reached $52.5 billion, according to the company.

“The increase in value reflects improvements in Circle’s financial outlook and competitive position – particularly the growth and market share of USDC, one of the fastest growing dollar digital currencies,” the company said in a statement.

Coinbase, whose shares are down nearly 22 percent since the start of the year, is a founding member along with the Circle of the Centre consortium which manages USD Coin.

Circle said the previous deal could not be completed for “a variety of reasons outside of the parties’ control” by its termination date of April.

The new deal for Circle is expected to close in December, but could extend to the end of January 2023.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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