Superhero Cancels Merger with Swyftx Due to Regulatory Scrutiny and “Lack of Investor Appetite” for Cryptocurrencies

A rough year for Swyftx has just gotten rougher.  After months of anticipation, an announced $1.5B merger between the Australian exchange and trading platform, Superhero, has been made null and void.  Superhero elaborated on its decision to do so, stating,

“As a direct result of the current headwinds in the market environment, the leadership teams at Superhero and Swyftx have made the decision that the best thing for our customers and respective businesses is to unwind the merger and to move forward as separate, unrelated companies.”

The deal originally would have seen the duo combine capabilities, offering investors a platform through which they could access opportunities in both Traditional and Decentralized Finance (DeFi).

What Happened?

So exactly what headwinds did the pair of companies run in to since the deal was first announced?  Superhero notes these as being,

• market disruption and volatility
• increased regulatory scrutiny
• overall bearish market sentiment

Basically, it appears as though Superhero was prepared to dive in to the world of digital assets before the markets unwound, and when they did, it got cold feet.  This however is perfectly understandable, as the future of digital assets has not appeared as precarious as it is now in quite some time.  With the fallout from collapses involving 3AC, FTX, and more, still unfolding, it may be quite some time before more traditional platforms are ready to once again try their hand at offering access to digital assets.

Moving Forward

In its statement announcing the cancellation of this merger, Superhero notes that while the companies had already combined on a corporate level months ago, each continued to operate independently.

As stated, this has already been a rough year for Swyftx.  Not only was this cancelled merger meant to result in a near-million customer strong platform, it also took part in a mass layoff that saw over 1/5 of its employees axed in August, 2022.  If this wasn't bad enough, a second layoff took place in December, 2022 amounting to over 1/3 of its remaining employees.

While Swyftx has not yet addressed its plan for moving forward, Superhero indicates that it ensure that, “…all Australians have access to investing opporutinties across the Australian and US markets,”.