Bullish SPAC: Everything you need to know about Bullish

When will Bullish go public?

Bullish is intending to go public via the SPAC route before the end of 2021. It announced its flotation plans in July 20201 and revealed Tom Farley, who oversaw the New York Stock Exchange for four years until 2018, would be its CEO. The SPAC has been named as Far Peak.

How much is Bullish worth?

Bullish will be worth approximately $9 billion following its merger with Far Peak. That's according to internal projections based on its pro forma equity value. Bullish expects to receive around $600 million in proceeds from Far Peak, plus another $300 million through a PIPE, or Private Investment in Public Equity.

Some well-known investors are participating in the PIPE. They include BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, and Mike Novogratz’s crypto-focused financial services firm Galaxy Digital.

How to trade shares in Bullish

Once Bullish starts trading on the NYSE, you will be able to trade shares in the same way you would any other publicly-traded company on the stock market.

You can trade stocks with us via these easy steps:

• Log in if you’re already a customer, otherwise:
• Open an account in the UK
• Open an account in Australia
• Open an account in Singapore

1. Search for the company you want to trade in our award-winning platform
2. Choose your position and size, and your stop and limit levels
3. Place the trade

What does Bullish do?

Bullish started life in May 2021. It was formed as a subsidiary of Block.one, a blockchain company supported by investors such as Peter Thiel, a PayPal co-founder and prominent venture capitalist.

It is planning to launch a cryptocurrency trading exchange which it says will offer an "unprecedented combination of deep liquidity, automated market making and industry-leading security and compliance."

On July 27, 2021 it launched a seven-week private pilot, essentially testing its platform. Bullish will be entering a market space dominated by well-established exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, Huobi, Kucoin and Kraken.

It does so in a year in which regulators have begun to look closely at cryptocurrency exchanges, with China leading the way.

Coinbase went public in April through a direct listing on the Nasdaq. It seemed to be a key moment in time for cryptocurrency sector, however the timing of the flotation was unfortunate as cryptocurrencies, led by Bitcoin, suffered significantly during May.

Bitcoin hit an all-time high of nearly $65,000 a coin in April but halved in value a few weeks later and continued its bearish journey in June before producing a recovery in July and August.

How does Bullish make money?

Once Bullish launches its exchange it will make money in the way all cryptocurrency exchanges do, namely:

• Deposit fees
• Withdrawal fees
• Commissions per trade
• Listing fees
• Market making

Farley told CNCB: “Digital assets are here to stay. The smartest engineering talent is going into digital assets; digital assets are solving very important problems.

"Anybody who tells you they know exactly how it’s going to turn out is lying or delusional, but you’re going to see more and more interesting use cases, more and more dollars go into the space,” he added.

What is Bullish's business strategy?

Bullish plans to build a cryptocurrency exchange that puts two things - security and regulation-proofing - at the top of its agenda.

Cyber-attacks and regulation crackdowns are two of the most significant worries that cryptocurrency traders, both new and established, have. Bullish will try to win over traders who already have plenty of options when it comes to choosing an exchange.

It can also seek to win over many institutional investors who have gradually become more prevalent in the sector.

• Read more: What is a SPAC and how do they work?

The institutional adoption of major cryptocurrencies has featured companies like Tesla and Square investing treasury funds in Bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital assets.

Meanwhile, Wall Street banks now provide crypto exposure for wealth management clients.

Why is regulation important in cryptocurrency?

The prospect of regulators restricting expansion in the cryptocurrency space is ever-present.

That’s why the involvement of Farley is noteworthy for Bullish. He has deep experience with financial regulators, such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, from his spell at NYSE.

Farley is a notable advocate of the crypto space, describing it as “the best kept secret in the world and maybe the history of the financial markets.”

In 2015, while he was still its president, the NYSE made a minority investment in Coinbase.

Is Bullish profitable?

Bullish is not yet profitable. When it builds out its exchange it will hope to raise consistently strong revenue, however. In time that could mean it's in position to reverse its start-up losses in a relatively short space of time and help push it towards a position of profitability.

• Read More: What is an IPO and how do they work?

Who owns Bullish?

Bullish is backed by a strong assortment of investors and leading names in the venture capital space. They include PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Alan Howard, Louis Bacon, Richard Li, Christian Angermayer's Apeiron Investment Group, Galaxy Digital, and global investment bank Nomura.

Board of Directors of Bullish

Incoming CEO Tom Farley is not slated to be a member of the Board of Directors of Bullish. Instead, he will form part of a 13-person executive team. The Board of Directors is comprised of:

• Brendan Blumer, chairman (also co-founder and CEO of Block.one)
• Kokuei Yuan, executive chairman of Block.one
• Andrew Bliss, chief strategy officer of Block.one