Early Bitcoin investor and billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya has filed to raise $250 million through the blank check company "American Exceptionalism Acquisition Corp A," targeting decentralized finance, AI, energy, and defense sectors.
According to a registration statement submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, this special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) will be led by Social Capital managing partner Steven Trieu as CEO, with Palihapitiya serving as chairman.
The $250 million fundraising plan will issue 25 million shares at $10 each on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker AEXA.
Palihapitiya and Trieu are betting on decentralized finance rather than Bitcoin to lead the next wave of financial innovation, focusing on solutions that connect traditional markets with blockchain technology:
The two noted that stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group recently went public successfully, stating that this "demonstrates how decentralized finance can be used to disintermediate traditional financial intermediaries and provide clear value to customers by reducing friction."
These venture capitalists acknowledge that the path for cryptocurrencies and stablecoins to mainstream acceptance "has taken longer than expected," but that path "now seems inevitable."
Palihapitiya led several high-profile SPACs during 2020 and 2021, including successful mergers involving Social Capital Suvretta Holdings I and Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings V, which now operates under the name SoFi Technologies.
However, other SPACs led by Palihapitiya, such as Social Capital Suvretta Holdings II, III, and IV, have been liquidated, leaving his record mixed.
SPACs face challenges as they are under strict time constraints to find private companies for mergers, often struggling to identify companies worthy of high valuations, and operating under significant regulatory scrutiny.
The naming of Palihapitiya's U.S.-themed SPAC comes two years after he declared the cryptocurrency industry in the U.S. "dead," pointing fingers at former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who has filed dozens of high-profile lawsuits against cryptocurrency companies.
Critics have labeled Gensler's crackdown as part of "Operation Choke Point 2.0"—allegedly a coordinated effort by regulators to pressure banks to distance themselves from cryptocurrency companies.
Many of these cases, including those against Coinbase and Ripple, have been dismissed under the new cryptocurrency-friendly SEC led by Paul Atkins, which has also created a cryptocurrency working group to provide clearer rules while balancing innovation and consumer protection.
Related: Google increases its stake in TeraWulf to 14%, becoming the largest shareholder
Original article: “Bitcoin Bull, Billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya Files for $250M SPAC Targeting DeFi, AI”
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