According to a widely circulated Financial Times report from January 25, Circle “blamed” the SEC for its “canceled” public listing attempt.
A representative for USD Coin issuer Circle has rejected claims that the company blames the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its failed $9 billion IPO in December.
The stablecoin issuer’s representative was responding to a Financial Times piece published on January 25 that said Circle “blamed” the securities regulator for its “derailed” listing by delaying approval of a merger arrangement.
However, a Circle official explained to Cointelegraph that this was not the case and that the SEC bears no responsibility for the termination of its merger agreement.
“Circle has not and does not blame the SEC for anything related to the mutual termination of our SPAC merger agreement with Concord, and any statements to the contrary are inaccurate.”
Circle’s NYSE listing was contingent on their ability to merge with Concord, a business founded by banker Bob Diamond, through a Special Purpose Acquisition Company arrangement, also known as a SPAC deal.
According to the Financial Times, Circle stated that the merger did not go through because the SEC did not declare the relevant S-4 registration valid in time, causing the agreement to expire on December 10.
The spokeswoman for Circle, on the other hand, referred to earlier statements made by the firm in December, adding that “the arrangement was simply termed out.”
Concord had not publicly disclosed the reason for the failed business combination, but on Dec. 5 — the same day the deal was announced as terminated — it filed an 8-K form with the SEC, revealing that it was being delisted by the NYSE due to “abnormally low trading price levels.”
Indeed, Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire had nothing but positive words for the SEC in a Dec. 5 tweet, noting that while it was disappointing that they were unable to complete qualifications in time, the company was still planning on becoming a publicly traded company.
As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the acquisition was first announced in July 2021 with a valuation of $4.5 billion, before being raised up to $9 billion last February.
