Chamath Palihapitiya has filed an S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for American Exceptionalism Acquisition Corp. A, a blank-check company that aims to raise up to $250 million. The vehicle plans to sell 25 million shares at $10 apiece and list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker AEXA, with Santander acting as sole book-runner. According to the prospectus, the SPAC will look for merger targets in four areas—energy production, artificial intelligence, decentralized finance and defense—which Palihapitiya says are "instrumental in maintaining U.S. global leadership for the next century." The filing contains an unusually blunt caution to retail investors, advising them to "only invest what you can afford to lose" and warning there will be "no crying in the casino" if the deal sours. The move marks Palihapitiya’s return to the SPAC market nearly three years after he wound down two larger vehicles that failed to find targets. Investors in his earlier deals have endured steep losses: shares of Opendoor and Clover Health are down roughly 65% and 74% from their respective debuts, while Virgin Galactic has also fallen sharply. Even so, interest in blank-check listings is rebounding, with 17 SPACs filing for U.S. IPOs so far in August, surpassing July’s total of 12.