Coinspeaker
Fold Inc Poised for $500M IPO through SPAC Merger
Bitcoin reward company Fold Inc is getting closer to finalizing a deal that will make it go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which could surge Fold’s value to around $500 million.
The deal was made alongside FTAC Emerald Acquisition Corp led by Betsy Cohen. Sources revealed that the official announcement will be released this week, but the details are still private for now.
Fold Inc. was founded in 2014. Its features allow users to earn BTC rewards through purchases made with their debit cards, similar to the cash-back programs on regular credit cards. The company has been able to attract the attention of people interested in this system of earning, gaining around 574,000 accounts for its users.
The company’s merger is part of the wider trend of cryptocurrency firms gearing towards public offerings. This move comes after the crypto market recovered from the recent downturn. Other top companies planning on going public include Bitcoin mining firm Genesis Digital Assets and Northern Data AG, an artificial intelligence computing service provider.
Fold’s Merger Reflects Crypto Industry’s Growing Mainstream Acceptance
The Fold Inc merger indicates that traditional businesses are becoming more interested in the crypto industry, which signals the growing adoption of digital currency. It also shows the continuous demand for integrating cryptocurrency into everyday transactions.
Thus, the merger stems from the growth in crypto startup funding, as the valuation of crypto startups reached $2.4 billion in the first quarter of 2024, which can be ascribed to lower interest rates and the launch of the first US Ишtcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The US Securities Exchange Commission’s approval of the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs has increased the acceptance of cryptocurrencies as assets, which could place the digital currency into the mainstream financial ecosystem. Before now, the SPAC market has slowed down, with many deals falling through or stocks crashing after mergers.
SPAC Deals Face Challenges
SPAC peaked in 2021 and has greatly decreased since then, with many deals not going through or leading to a big drop in stock prices after the merger. In 2021, SPAC mergers in the US increased to around $128 billion, but this number dropped to only $9.5 billion in announced deals last year.
Despite the difficulties the SPAC has faced in the past, a potential merger for Fold Inc. could be an important step for the crypto industry. This would show that cryptocurrencies are becoming more accepted, and the journey to clearer regulation is getting closer.
As more details about the deal come out, the crypto community will be watching how it could impact the crypto sector and how it could also propel other large institutions and countries to adopt cryptocurrency.
