This Thursday, the Thiel-Backed exchange Bullish issued a joint statement with Far Peak on their merger. According to the release, the firms decided to terminate their merger agreement in part due to time constraints.

The Bullish-Far Reach Agreement Falls Through

The merger between Bullish—a Peter Thiel-Backed cryptocurrency exchange intended for institutional investors—and Far Peak—a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC)—was initially announced in July 2021. The acquisition has, however, stalled since then.

Finally, on December 22nd, 2022, the companies issued a joint statement that their agreement—valued at $9 billion—would be terminated. According to the release, the decision is primarily motivated by a deadline for registration with the SEC. Due to this hurdle, Far Peak’s shareholders wouldn’t be able to take their vote prior to the year’s end.

Our quest to become a public company is taking longer than expected, but we respect the SEC’s ongoing work to lay new digital asset frameworks and clarify industry-specific disclosure and accounting complexities. I’m proud of the dedicated team of Bullish employees and advisors who have devoted countless hours to ensure Bullish operates with the highest standards of transparency and responsibility. This work has formed the operating foundation required to service our customers in the best and safest possible way.

Brendan Blumer, Chairman and CEO of Bullish

Thomas Farley, the previous president of the New York Stock Exchange and the current CEO of Far Reach was set to become the chief executive officer of Bullish after the acquisition. He also expressed his disappointment that they were “unable to present the Bullish transaction to our Far Peak shareholders”.

What is Bullish?

Bullish is a cryptocurrency exchange licensed in Gibraltar and aimed at “crypto whales”—unlike several other major exchanges, it primarily caters to institutional investors. It was launched in May 2021 by Block.One—another entity backed by Peter Thiel and hedge fund managers Alan Howard and Louis Bacon.

Several months after its initial launch, the exchange announced its plans to go public on the New York Stock Exchange through its now-terminated deal with Peak Reach. The exchange leverages a private EOSIO-based blockchain to deploy a custom trading engine that has been noted for high performance.

Bullish was Thiel’s first big foray into digital asset firms after backing the neobank N26. N26 is a German digital challenger bank that was launched in 2013 and had a valuation of $9 billion by late 2021. Earlier this year, it changed its classification from a German Limited Liability Company to a German Stock Corporation.

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