Tether Acquires 4,812 BTC for Twenty One Capital Ahead of Public Listing

With Tether’s assistance, U.S. Bitcoin investment company Twenty One Capital secured 4,812 BTC at a total value of $458 million. The transaction, executed at an average price of roughly $95,319 per coin, positions the firm ahead of its upcoming public listing.

While Tether handled the purchase itself, transferring all 4,812 BTC to a dedicated wallet, the coins will be resold to Twenty One Capital post-merger at the same price. The transaction has already been disclosed to the U.S. SEC. Notably, this isn’t the firm’s first major holding—some 31,500 BTC, formally under Twenty One Capital’s name, were previously in custodial storage with Cantor Equity Partners for the benefit of its upcoming public entity.

When Twenty One Capital hits the public markets, it plans to do so with a war chest of nearly 42,000 BTC—worth about $4.3 billion. That stash puts it in striking distance of Strategy, the company once known as MicroStrategy, and Michael Saylor’s famously aggressive Bitcoin strategy. For over four years, Saylor has been buying BTC for the company’s books—and now, he may finally have a rival.

Twenty One Capital, valued at $3 billion, is on track to become a public company via a merger with Cantor Equity Partners, a SPAC already trading on public markets under the symbol CEP. SPACs—short for Special Purpose Acquisition Companies—serve as vehicles to raise capital through IPOs and merge with private businesses, streamlining the process of going public.

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Tether and Bitfinex are set to lead the cap table of the newly merged entity, controlling the majority stake. SoftBank joins as a minority shareholder after injecting $900 million, while Cantor Fitzgerald—SPAC sponsor and Wall Street mainstay—brought in $585 million to back the transaction. In its SEC presentation, Twenty One Capital pitched itself as a no-frills, direct-access tool for Bitcoin-focused investors.

The announcement of the sizeable acquisition sent Cantor Equity Partners’ stock on a rollercoaster: soaring from $10.65 to $59.73 at the height of the merger buzz, falling back to $29.84, and recovering 5.2% in after-hours movement. Strengthened reserves seem to have reassured investors about the long-term thesis of strategic Bitcoin accumulation.

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At 36,312 BTC, Twenty One Capital currently ranks as the third-largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, behind Strategy (568,840 BTC) and Marathon Digital (48,237 BTC). The next key development will be the completion of its SPAC merger and its stock listing under the symbol XXI.