Irish businessman Gary Quin hits paydirt with $1bn US bitcoin venture

Irish Independent

6 days ago

Mr Quin is chief executive of special purpose acquisition corporation (Spac) Columbus Circle Capital Corporation, a blank-cheque firm that floated on the Nasdaq last month. It is backed by New York-based boutique investment bank Cohen & Company Capital Markets.
Columbus Circle Capital raised $250m in gross proceeds when it floated, with Mr Quin retaining a 10pc stake in the business through founder shares.
Now the Spac has confirmed it has signed a deal with cryptocurrency evangelist Anthony Pompliano, where a company called ProCap BTC, a bitcoin-focused financial services firm, will combine with the Spac to secure a stock-market listing.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to regulatory approval.
Once it does, the combined company will operate as ProCap Financial, with up to $1bn of bitcoin on its balance sheet.
With 1.7 million followers on social media platform X, Mr Pompliano is the founder and chief executive of Professional Capital Management.
ProCap Financial said it aims to become the leading financial services firm 'at the intersection of bitcoin and traditional finance'.
It said it plans to use its bitcoin balance to 'generate revenue and profit through a variety of strategies'.
A total of $516.5m in equity and $235m in convertible notes has been raised between the companies involved in the deal.
It has been billed as the largest ever initial fundraise for a publicly-listed bitcoin treasury company.
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'From day one we sought to partner with a platform and a leader that could develop a transformative organisation – and we found that in ProCap BTC and Anthony Pompliano,' said Mr Quin.
'Anthony's track record as an innovative investor, operator, and early advocate in the bitcoin ecosystem speaks for itself,' he added. 'We believe his deep expertise and relentless conviction will help continue to transform an industry undergoing rapid evolution.'
Mr Pompliano said the merged entity will 'develop a platform that will not only acquire bitcoin for our balance sheet, but will also implement risk-mitigated solutions to generate revenue and profits from our bitcoin holdings'.
Mr Quin has previously held senior roles with companies including Digicel, the telecoms company that was founded by Denis O'Brien.
He was a senior adviser to private equity giant Blackstone between 2011 and 2012, when the firm spearheaded a group of investors that bought Eircom out of examinership for $3.8bn.
In early 2021, Mr Quin floated another Spac, the North Atlantic Acquisition Corporation, on the stock market in the US, raising almost $400m.
Another key co-founder of NAAC was Irish businessman Patrick Doran.
NAAC had planned to merge in 2022 with US-based tech business Telesign, which was owned by Belgian mobile phone company Proximus.
However, NAAC later returned all its cash to shareholders after failing to cement a merger deal.
Mr Quin is joined on the board of Columbus Circle Capital I by Garrett Curran. He is the former chief executive of Credit Suisse in the UK. Mr Quin worked for Credit Suisse between 2010 and 2019.