Crypto Miner Bitdeer Delays $4B SPAC Deal Again

The SPAC firm taking cryptocurrency miner Bitdeer public at a $4 billion valuation has filed for another three-month extension.

The Blue Safari Group, a special purpose acquisition company, was supposed to merge with BitDeer by June 14 but filed an extension to push the deadline back to September 14. The combination was originally announced in November 2021.

SPACs function as blank check companies. They’re set up and registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to raise capital and find a company to take public by acquisition or merger. These investment vehicles have become a popular way to take companies public because they bypass the longer process of an initial public offering, or IPO.

But the bear market has left many crypto firms waiting in the wings or worse.

Each delay has required a $575,000 cash infusion from Bitdeer. A press release filed with the SEC explains that “Bitdeer agreed to loan the Company [Blue Safari Group] an aggregate principal amount of $1.99 million in two tranches.”

According to the terms, this second extension is the last that can be covered by the loan. It bears no interest and doesn’t need to be repaid until the companies have completed their merger.

With its latest extension, Blue Safari Group will now have until December 14 to complete its combination with founder Jihan Wu’s Singapore-based mining firm Bitdeer.

What is Bitdeer?

Wu is something of a legend in the crypto community because of his role in translating Satoshi Nakamoto’s original Bitcoin whitepaper into Mandarin in 2011.

Then in 2013, he co-founded Bitmain, the Beijing-based hardware company that’s become synonymous with the application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips that power Bitcoin mining rigs.

After stepping down as co-CEO of Bitmain in 2019, he founded crypto financial services firm Matrixport. Then in 2020, he turned his attention to Bitdeer.

“As a leader in crypto mining, we will continue to solidify our leading position in the crypto mining space,” Wu said of the merger when it was first announced last year. “Today marks a significant milestone for Bitdeer, and we strive to create value for our broader group of stakeholders in the future, including our clients, employees and shareholders.”

Crypto SPACs miss the mark

The ongoing crypto winter has put a damper on recent SPAC deals in the crypto space.

USD Coin issuer Circle, trading platform eToro, and Bullish Group have all delayed their plans to go public through SPACs.

In July, VCV Digital Technology, a crypto miner valued at $294 million, terminated its plans to go public by combining with Fortune Rise Acquisition Corporation.

And last week, crypto miner PrimeBlock saw its CEO Gaurav Budhrani step down after canceling its plans to combine with 10X Capital Venture at a $1.3 billion valuation.