The amicable termination follows more than a year and a half of discussion about Circle’s prospective multibillion-dollar listing terms.
Stablecoin USDC’s creator, Circle, has canceled its contract with special-purpose acquisition firm Concord Acquisition Corp. and abandoned its aim to go public. The move was accepted by the boards of both companies, the company reported on Monday.
The stablecoin issuer has previously stated that it intended to IPO in July 2021 with a $4.5 billion valuation. Later, when the firm revised its conditions in February, the valuation was doubled.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire claimed in a tweet that his company failed to qualify in time for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
“I believe that the SEC has been rigorous and thorough in understanding our business and many novel aspects of this industry. This kind of review is necessary to ultimately provide trust, transparency and accountability for major companies in crypto,” Allaire added.
The company also reported that it was profitable in the third quarter of this year, with $274 million in revenue, $43 million in net income, and approximately $400 million in unconstrained cash on hand.
Stablecoins like USDC will play a significant role as we definitively exit the speculative value phase and reach the utility value phase, according to Jeremy Allaiire, who added that there are many hurdles within the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries.
SPACs have increasingly been used by businesses to go public in recent years, with the SEC announcing in March that they made up half of all IPOs in 2020–21.
The SEC hinted that such listings would be subject to more stringent regulatory oversight in March when it announced that it would propose “specialized disclosure requirements with respect to, among other things, compensation paid to sponsors, conflicts of interest, dilution and the fairness of these business combination transactions.”