Bakkt, the digital asset marketplace, has announced the merger with Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) VPC Impact Holdings (VIH) as both the companies are set to go public next month.
SPACs are the preferred methods for many of the fintech companies nowadays which are looking to go public as it provides them with a easier path to achieve their goal. Bakkt helps its users to convert their holdings into digital assets and also allows them to pay merhcnats directly. It also works with various merchants and financial instritutions to help them with regulatory practices being followed in different parts of the world and also with risk management. The merger will come into effect once the shareholders of VIH approve the same.
“We are thrilled to have reached this milestone and look forward to successfully completing the proposed business combination with VIH,” said Bakkt CEO Gavin Michael. “I want to thank our team members for their dedication, as we would not be here without their tremendous efforts. Now more than ever, we remain excited about the unique growth opportunities ahead for our business and are laser focused on furthering our vision of connecting the digital economy.”
The share prices of VIH has not reacted much to the news so far as the impact of the merger is as yet unknown. Another factor for the unchanged share price could be that this kind of a merger was announced more than a month back and hence this is just a formaility as this point of time. It is estimated that the exchange would be valued at over $2 billion once it goes public next month though its share prices might face some headwind from the investors as many of the crypto exchanges around the world, including Coinbase and Binance, come under increased regulatory scrutinty and this has turned out to be a roadblock for the growth plans for many exchanges.
Bakkt has been pushing to get cryptos like Bitcoin to be accepted mainstream and it has been pushing the case for them to be accepted as a form of payments. Just last month, it had signed a deal with Quiznos restaurants to ensure that the restaurant chain would accept bitcoin as payment and it has pursued such deals with other businesses as well. All that is likely to come under the focus from the regulators in the coming months and it would be interesting to see how this pans out.
