Share this article
Strike CEO Mallers to Lead Bitcoin Investment Company Backed by Tether, Softbank, Brandon Lutnick
Crypto power players back $3B bitcoin SPAC as Trump-era policies spark new wave of institutional bets.
Updated Apr 24, 2025, 5:51 a.m. Published Apr 23, 2025, 5:30 a.m.
What to know:
- Brandon Lutnick is launching a bitcoin investment vehicle backed by SoftBank, Tether and Bitfinex.
- Strike CEO Jack Mallers is co-founding the company and will be CEO.
- The SPAC, Cantor Equity Partners, raised $200 million and will form Twenty One Capital with $3 billion in bitcoin.
Brandon Lutnick, son of U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and chair of Cantor Fitzgerald, is launching a listed bitcoin investment vehicle backed by SoftBank, Tether and Bitfinex and headed by co-founder Jack Mallers, the CEO of bitcoin-focused payments app Strike.
The company, to be called Twenty One Capital after merging with Cantor Equity Partners, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), will be majority owned by Tether, issuer of the largest stablecoin, and cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, the companies said in a statement. SoftBank, an investment-holding company, will own a "significant minority" stake.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Tether and Bitfinex are contributing $1.5 billion and $600 million, respectively, while SoftBank is adding $900 million, the FT reported earlier. The FT reported the venture plans to raise another $550 million through bonds and private equity to purchase more BTC, but the official press release later upped that number to $585 million.
Twenty One plans to have more than 42,000 BTC at launch, giving it the third-largest bitcoin treasury. Strategy (MSTR) has 538,200 and MARA Holdings (MARA) 47,531.
The deal mirrors Strategy’s bitcoin proxy model and would convert the BTC into equity at a valuation near $85,000 per coin, according to the release. It was announced amid renewed crypto optimism under the Trump administration, with bitcoin hovering near $93,000 and regulatory tailwinds shifting.
The company will measure its performance in BTC. Twenty One Capital is set to bring in two new metrics: Bitcoin Per Share (BPS), a measure of how much BTC each share represents, and Bitcoin Return Rate (BRR), which tracks BPS growth.
“We’re not here to beat the market, we’re here to build a new one," Mallers said in the statement. "A public stock, built by Bitcoiners, for Bitcoiners.”
Cantor Fitzgerald is one of Tether's custodians, holding the majority of its U.S. Treasuries.
Shares of Cantor Equity Partners are set to keep trading on Nasdaq under the CEP ticker until the transaction is finalized. Once the deal closes, Twenty One intends to trade under the ticker “XXI” on the exchange.
UPDATE (April 23, 15:30 UTC): Adds Mallers as CEO in headine, first paragraph, details from official release.
UPDATE (April 24, 05:50 UTC): Updates additional fundraising details
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Bulls beware — BofA Fund Manager Survey flashing contrarian sell signal
Bitcoin could see further declines if traditional markets sharply pull back, or just possibly a broad tumble in stocks could set the stage for a bull run in crypto.
What to know:
- Investor cash allocations fell to a record-low 3.3%, according to the Bank of America's latest Fund Manager Survey, while exposure to equities and commodities reached the highest levels since early 2022.
- Optimism about a soft landing and rising profits pushed sentiment to its strongest point since mid-2021.
- A decline in traditional markets might seem to point to further losses in crypto, but it could also be a bullish signal.
Top Stories
