“Bullish”, a term used to characterize rising share prices in the stock market, is now the name of a new blockchain-based cryptocurrency exchange that has set its sights on going public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) by the end of this year.
This digital asset group has announced its merger with Far Peak Acquisition Corp which is a blank cheque company led by Tom Farley, former president of the NYSE, with the plans of taking the newly-created crypto exchange public through a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) deal.
This deal values Bullish at an astounding $9 billion, which is largely comprised of the $692 million in cash held at Far Peak and investments from various investors, as well as assets and investments from Block.one, the blockchain software developer and parent company of Bullish Global.
“We believe Bullish’s real-time portfolio balancing tools, deep predictable liquidity, and industry-leading security and compliance represent a new breed of exchange design and can redefine how investors trade and manage digital assets,” said Brendan Blumer, CEO of Block.one. “We are excited to be partnering with Far Peak to bring Bullish into the public markets to offer our customers the opportunity to own a part of our business.”
Former president of the NYSE and CEO of Far Peak Acquisitions, Tom Farley, who will take the position of CEO at Bullish
Bullish Global is backed by billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel’s Thiel Capital and Founders Fund, Alan Howard, a British hedge fund manager, U.S. hedge fund manager Louis Bacon, German investor Christian Angermayer’s Apeiron Investment Group, the New York-based broker-dealer Galaxy Digital, a Japanese bank called Nomura, and the Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li.
This move from Bullish will not be a first among crypto exchanges, as Coinbase had gone public on Wall Street in April this year with its much-talked-about IPO. And Circle, a US-based financial technology company that created the USDC stablecoin, has also announced plans to list on the NYSE with a similar SPAC deal later this year.
The Bullish group’s goal is to run a decentralized trading network that aims to cut out the middleman by allowing users to buy and sell digital assets directly with each other to bypass fees imposed by intermediaries such as exchanges.
It’s clear that Bullish is counting on the growth of the decentralized finance (DEFI) market that has seen major growth over the past few months. According to an estimate by analysts from JPMorgan, the DEFI market has grown from about $15 billion at the beginning of the year to a whopping $65 billion in May.
The Bullish exchange will run a private pilot program in the coming weeks leading up to its public launch anticipated later in 2021. The pilot program will see participants being able to test the platform first-hand and experience it within a simulated market environment.
“Focused on innovative financial services, Bullish seeks to rewire the traditional exchange in order to benefit asset holders, enable traders, and increase market integrity. As mainstream institutions increasingly embrace digital currencies, Bullish aims to make this asset class more accessible and rewarding to investors while developing the next-generation infrastructure required to better suit their needs.” according to a recent press release on BusinessWire.
Farley will take the position of CEO at Bullish, and Block.one CEO Brendan Blumer will fill the position as chair. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2021 and will certainly be making headlines in financial news in the months to come.
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