Ex-Blackstone, Tether Execs Seek $1B to Build Multitoken Crypto Treasury: Bloomberg

A blank-check company backed by former Blackstone dealmaker Chinh Chu and Tether co-founder Reeve Collins is looking to raise $1 billion to build a publicly traded cryptocurrency treasury firm, Bloomberg reported citing sources familiar with the plans.

The vehicle, M3-Brigade Acquisition V, plans to rebrand and use the cash to buy a basket of tokens including bitcoin BTC$68,992.92, ether ETH$2,056.18 and Solana's sol SOL$85.05.

The move comes as public companies worldwide are rushing to add cryptocurrencies as treasury assets. Many, however, are focusing on bitcoin, the largest crypto by market cap, alone. Among them, Anthony Pompliano's ProCap BTC this week said it planned to go public through a SPAC and stock up on BTC. Multitoken companies are rarer and Brigade Acquisition would be among the first.

Former Hut 8 Mining CEO Jaime Leverton will run the company. Wilbur Ross, who served as U.S. Commerce Secretary, and Gabriel Abed, Barbados’s former ambassador to the UAE and current chair of Binance’s board, will act as vice chairs.

Cantor Fitzgerald is among the advisers, and both the fundraising target and token mix could still change, Bloomberg said.

The biggest name companies with single-coin strategies include Strategy (MSTR) and Metaplanet (3350), whose focus is on bitcoin. Other single tokens firms are exploring alternative coins, for example SharpLink Gaming (SBET) accumulating ether and Nano Labs piling into BNB.

Shares of M3-Brigade fell 12% after news of the plan surfaced on Wednesday, and were recently up 5% pre-market.