28th June 2025 > > Crypto reserve SPAC & New York City.

tl;dr

A crypto reserve SPAC could be an interesting investment opportunity for some. The race to be the next Mayor of NYC has opened a crypto divide which we want settled in our favour.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

Perpetual futures funding rates are on the cusp of turning negative, increasing the risk of a short-squeeze higher which would put the previous ATH just shy of $112k firmly within our sights.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Crypto Reserve SPAC

Some of you may remember the rise of SPACs (Special Purpose Acquisition Vehicles) a few years back. The idea is a relatively simple one – a shell company is created solely to raise funds through an IPO with the objective of buying a private company, simplifying the process of taking a company public. Wildly successful for a while, a few badly managed and/or badly designed deals took much of the gloss off this form of fund-raising, for it was not uncommon for later investors to be used as exit liquidity for the founders. Nonetheless, the concept remains sound in certain circumstances.

In a slight twist of the normal process, Bloomberg has reported that Chinh Chu, previously an executive at Blackstone Inc. and Reeve Collins, co-founder of stablecoin giant Tether, have a launched a SPAC (M3 Brigade Acquisition V Corporation) with the aim of raising $1bn from investors to buy a portfolio of digital assets. Details will be divulged later.

The shares trade on Nasdaq, offering investors the opportunity to gain exposure to the market performance (minus the costs of running the business which I suspect will include the potential for significant remuneration for some of the individuals involved) of a crypto portfolio within a tax-free wrapper, which might make it an interesting proposition for some.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – New York City

Last month the CCC reported that the current Mayor of NYC, Eric Adams, now faced with an impending election in November to retain his position, has suddenly renewed his pro-crypto credentials:

https://www.curiouscryptos.com/post/21st-may-2025-genius-the-sec

You will recall that the same election four years ago was the very first time that support or otherwise for cryptos played a significant part in the election process. Eric is now standing as an independent, which severely curtails the likelihood of his remaining as Mayor, for NYC is an almost impregnable Democrat stronghold.

Last Tuesday, Zohran Mamdani emerged as the winner of the Democratic primary defeating former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to the nomination. Mamdani is the overwhelming favourite to be the next Mayor of NYC according to Polymarket, and so his crypto views are important:

Mamdani is standing on a platform of raising a wealth tax, probably the most disruptive and damaging form of taxation known to humankind, directly impacting productivity, and making us all poorer as a result. Those who support this form of wealth destruction are usually anti-crypto, and virulently so. Mamdani is no exception, criticising both the industry itself, and all the other candidates standing to be the next Mayor of NYC for their pro-crypto stance.

We saw in the Presidential election last autumn that cryptos played a leading role in the defenestration of at least one prominent crypto-sceptic. Could it be possible that Mamdani also falls for the same reason? Hedge Fund manager and multi-billionaire Bill Ackman is on our side in this debate:

“There are hundreds of millions of dollars of capital available to back a competitor to Mamdani that can be put together overnight … so that a great alternative candidate won’t spend any time raising funds. So, if the right candidate would raise his or her hand tomorrow, the funds will pour in."