The merger between GRIID, a Bitcoin mining firm, and a blank check company was again delayed.
Adit EdTech is a special purpose acquisition (SPAC), that was announced in November 2021 It would purchase GRIID. said in an SEC filing Last week, it had extended the deadline to combine the business from January 14th to Februar 14th.
It’s the third official delay in the process. They missed the May 2022 deadline, which was set for the closing of the deal. They then agreed to formally extend The deadline was October 1, last year. Adit requested that shareholders approve any further delays and then put the deadline back.
The latest extension is the first of six one-month delays granted at a meeting of the company’s stockholders held in December.
GRIID has loaned $148,045.32 to its potential buyer as part of the delay. This money will be used to open a trust fund. Stakeholders will receive their shares of the trust account if no deal is reached.
SPACs, which are listed shell companies, seek to acquire businesses in order to make them public. Adit and GRIID made a $3.3 billion deal. GRIID became a New York Stock Exchange-listed company.
That now looks less likely as Adit also revealed in the new filing that it anticipates it will no longer satisfy the NYSE’s listing standards.
The filing states that “The Company expects that it won’t be able to satisfy the New York Stock Exchange’s continued listing standard that the Company maintain an aggregate global market capitalization attributable in part to its publicly-held shares over a continuous 30 trading day period of at minimum $40,000,000.”
The company is evaluating its options. This could include voluntary transfer of its shares to another exchange.
Decrypt GRIID and Adit EdTech were contacted for comment.
SPACs in decline
SPAC is a quicker and cheaper alternative for traditional Initial Public Offerings (IPO) in the early 2020s.
This process has come under greater scrutiny over the years and received less enthusiasm from a market that is more cautious. Many deals have been delayed, some cancelled entirely, while others SPACs have liquidated and failed to find an acquisition target.
According to SPAC Research14 SPACs with a combined value of $3.7 Billion were liquidated in November 2013.
Bitdeer, another crypto-specific SPAC target, is also facing delays. This $4 billion merger was A third delay November USDC stablecoin is currently being issued by Circle Plans to go public were canceled Last month, through a SPAC
Nevertheless, the conditions for crypto miners that are publicly listed have drastically changed since the GRIID deal’s inception. announced at the peak of Bitcoin’s 2021 price rally.
Lower crypto prices, higher mining difficulty and higher energy cost have all squeezed the industry. Some are forced to find alternative revenue streams.