Bitcoin mining tech startup Core Scientific is going public via SPAC deal at about $4.3 billion valuation

Back in May, we wrote about crypto mining startup Core Scientific after its CEO suddenly resigned from the company. Kevin Turner resigned from his role as the CEO after nearly three years running the Bellevue, Washington-based blockchain and artificial intelligence startup. Core Scientific’s co-founder and chairman, Mike Levitt, has stepped in as CEO.

Fast forward two months later, Core Scientific announced Wednesday it is listing on the Nasdaq through a merger with Power & Digital Infrastructure Acquisition Corp in a SPAC deal that will value the company at about $4.3 billion.

A blank-check company sometimes called a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), is a shell company that has no operations but plans to go public with the intention of acquiring or merging with a company utilizing the proceeds of the SPAC’s initial public offering (IPO).

Core Scientific is one of the largest providers of blockchain infrastructure and hosting, as well as one of the largest digital asset miners, in North America. It currently has mining operations in North Dakota, North Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky. So far this year, Core Scientific has minted more than 3,000 bitcoin, including 1,683 for its own account, Levitt said in an interview.

Core Scientific becomes one of the many startups to join the SPAC bandwagon. So far this year, there are more than 362 SPAC IPOs of the 463 IPOs, a 70 percent increase, according to data from the SPAC analytics firm,  SPACAnalytics.com.

“We’re all sold out. Every bit of infrastructure we can build — and we’re the biggest — we have demand for,” Levitt said. “We’re basically sold out of capacity through 2022, and we’re building more.”

Core Scientific was founded in 2017 by former Myspace CTO and co-founder, Aber Whitcomb. The company provides blockchain and artificial intelligence hosting, transaction processing, and application development. Its platform is used by large-scale partners around the world to deliver reliable solutions that quickly adapt to dynamic market conditions. The company has more than 100 employees, according to its LinkedIn profile page.