Since the beginning of December, around 70 special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have liquidated and returned the money to investors.

A SPAC company, also known as a blank check company, is raising money to merge with a private company and take it public. Following regulatory review, the company’s IPO will replace the SPAC on the stock exchange.

According to data from SPAC Research, SPAC founders lost more than $600 million to liquidations this month and more than $1.1 billion this year.

Related: Crypto exchange backed by Peter Thiel is exiting SPAC deal over new SEC practices.

The SPAC craze was nearing its end amid fewer deal prospects and looming tax bills. Around four SPACs pulled their shutters down daily, almost at the same rate they started when the sector peaked in early 2021.

Several more SPACs would be settled in the coming weeks, the Wall Street Journal wrote, hurting some of their supporters such as Chamath PalihapitiyaAlec Gores, Gary Cohn and Wall Street firms such as KKR & Co Inc KKR and TPG Inc TPG.

In September, Palihapitiya liquidated two SPACs citing valuation and volatility as the two biggest reasons.

About 150 other SPACs, worth about $25 billion in assets, have merger agreements in place but are yet to close, including Digital World Acquisition Corp DWACSPAC, which was hoping to merge with former President Donald Trump’s social media company, wrote The Wall Street Journal, citing SPAC Research.

Also read: Here’s how much Marjorie Taylor Greene lost on her Trump SPAC investment

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