😓 All DAT glitters...

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Happy Monday!

I’m handing today’s edition over to my colleague, Jack Kubinec, who broke some news on Friday.

I’m recovering from the Hawaii sun, but I’ll be back later this week.

Anyway, let’s chat about some changes that are quietly happening…

🥣 No SPAC for you

This morning, I reported that a proposed deal to take a Joe McCann-led Solana digital-asset treasury (DAT) company public via a SPAC has been called off, citing three sources with knowledge of the matter.

The situation regarding the digital asset treasury company is still fluid, one source told me, noting the DAT may try to find a different path forward.

I was unable to determine why exactly the SPAC deal died, but it doesn’t feel like a coincidence that the news came two weeks after a limited partner in Asymmetric, which is McCann’s hedge fund, posted on X that the fund is down nearly 80% on the year. Shortly after, McCann said he’d informed the fund’s limited partners that Asymmetric would be shifting away from liquid trading.

The hedge fund’s demise made shockwaves online. Many (fairly) wondered how the crypto-focused firm was down so much in the past two quarters, during which simply holding bitcoin would have netted a roughly 14% gain in the first half of 2025. McCann has publicly championed some memecoin projects that have performed poorly, but to my mind, it seems unlikely that Asymmetric pulled a full port on MOTHER.

Either way, McCann announced on X that Asymmetric LPs had been given the choice to exit or “roll over available capital into a specific illiquid investment,” presumably referring to the Solana DAT. Now, it seems, that won’t be an option.

The DAT was set to be called Accelerate, according to an investor pitch deck viewed by Blockworks. The firm had ambitions to raise up to $1.5 billion, according to Unchained, which first reported on the deal. Accelerate planned to go public via a SPAC with Gores Holdings X, which is a blank check company, Unchained added.

According to the pitch deck, McCann was set to serve as Accelerate’s co-founder and CEO. Komal Sethi, who the deck says is a board member at CoinList, would have served as co-founder and chief strategy officer. 

McCann did not return a request for comment. Sethi did not respond to a LinkedIn message asking for comment.

My story this morning set off a round of schadenfreude for some Ethereum fans online, but Solana fans are likely none too happy. One source told me McCann was expected to perform a Michael Saylor-like role at Accelerate by hyping up Solana on Wall Street. The project’s pitch deck listed a number of notable Solana ecosystem names as part of an advisory board that may have been bought into the mission as well.

But as ETH crosses $4,000 — partly on the back of a couple successful DATs — Solana is still largely waiting for its breakout hit in the sector.

— Jack Kubinec

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It’s the summer of DATs and the party is going strong. 

But when October rolls around, everyone will be looking to DAS: London to hear from these meta-defining voices on where things stand and where they’re headed.

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📅 October 13-15 | London