Special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, are making a comeback in 2025. SPACs experienced a surge in popularity between 2020-2021 before falling out of fashion. The recent resurgence in SPACs has been driven by factors such as stock market volatility and optimism about the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) being more receptive to new SPAC deals under the Trump administration.

SPACs are publicly listed corporate shells formed for the purpose of combining with a privately held target company so that the target company’s stock may be publicly traded. The merger between the SPAC and the target company is known as a “de-SPAC” transaction. Compared with an initial public offering (IPO), a de-SPAC transaction is a faster route for a private company to become publicly listed.

The SPAC boom in 2020-2021 was followed by a SPAC bust in 2022, as hundreds of SPACs could not find a private target company to complete a business combination with and concerns increased about conflicts of interest between SPAC sponsors and unaffiliated public shareholders.

In 2024, the SEC introduced rules adding enhanced disclosure requirements for SPACs and shell companies. In particular, the SEC mandated stricter financial and accounting reporting standards and heightened disclosure about SPAC sponsors.

The return of SPACs in 2025 has been driven by experienced sponsors. Many new launches have involved sponsor teams that have launched a number of SPACs in the past. Unlike during the SPAC frenzy in 2020-2021, valuations in recent de-SPAC deals have been more conservative. Crypto treasury-related SPAC deals have drawn particular interest. Crypto treasury companies accumulate crypto assets on their balance sheet.

“SPACs, which may have been the ugly stepchild of the past, are now front and center,” stated Douglas Ellenoff, a partner at Ellenoff, Grossman & Schole LLP, the leading law firm for SPAC deals.

A SPAC called Cantor Equity Partners II has been among the best performing SPACs of 2025. The SPAC vehicle is sponsored by Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services firm that has been heavily involved in crypto. At the end of October 2025, it was announced that Securitize, a fintech company that is a leader in tokenizing real-world assets, would merge with Cantor Equity Partners II to become a publicly listed company on Nasdaq.

Chamath Palihapitiya, dubbed the SPAC king for his role in the 2019-2021 SPAC boom, raised $345 billion for a new SPAC called the American Exceptionalism Acquisition Corp. Launched in September 2025, the SPAC will target companies in the AI, energy, defense, and decentralized finance sectors.

Two prominent de-SPAC transactions that closed in 2025 involved target companies that develop small modular nuclear reactors. The merger of a SPAC called HCM II Acquisition Corp. and Terrestrial Energy successfully closed in October 2025. Terrestrial Energy, now a publicly listed company on Nasdaq, develops nuclear reactors that use advanced molten salt reactor technology. Also in October 2025, a SPAC called GSR II Acquisition Corp. completed its merger with Terra Innovatum, a developer of micro-modular nuclear reactors that support both low enriched uranium (LEU+) and high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel.