In short
- Tether, Bitfinex, Cantor Fitzgerald, and SoftBank are launching Twenty One, a publicly traded Bitcoin-focused firm with a deliberate treasury of greater than 42,000 BTC (value $3.9 billion).
- The corporate can be listed on Nasdaq by way of a SPAC merger with Cantor Fairness Companions below ticker XXI, with Strike founder Jack Mallers as CEO, providing Bitcoin lending providers and different monetary merchandise.
- Twenty One will observe a enterprise mannequin much like Technique (previously MicroStrategy), permitting traders to achieve Bitcoin publicity by way of firm shares quite than direct crypto asset possession.
In a team-up of crypto and TradFi giants, Tether, Bitfinex, Cantor Fitzgerald, and SoftBank Group introduced Wednesday that they’ll workforce as much as launch Twenty One, a publicly traded, Bitcoin-centric firm that plans to launch with a treasury of greater than 42,000 BTC—or about $3.9 billion value.
Tether and Bitfinex can be majority house owners, with a minority stake owned by funding holding agency SoftBank.
Twenty One can be launched by way of a deliberate SPAC merger with Cantor Fairness Companions, which trades on the Nasdaq below the ticker CEP and is affiliated with monetary providers agency Cantor Fitzgerald.
Along with amassing Bitcoin in its treasury, Twenty One goals to supply native Bitcoin lending providers and different monetary merchandise, together with producing Bitcoin-centric content material.
Twenty One didn’t instantly reply to Decrypt’s questions.
Jack Mallers, who runs Bitcoin funds firm Strike, can be Twenty One’s CEO, in keeping with an announcement.
The announcement mentioned that CEP will work with Twenty One to lift $385 million by way of convertible senior notes and $200 million by way of non-public funding in public fairness, or PIPE, to purchase Bitcoin and fund “normal company functions.”
Buyers will then be capable of get returns from shopping for shares within the firm, the announcement famous. Twenty One will commerce below the ticker “XXI.”
“Our mission is straightforward: to change into probably the most profitable firm in Bitcoin, probably the most precious monetary alternative of our time,” he mentioned in a press release. “We’re not right here to beat the market, we’re right here to construct a brand new one.”
The anticipated transfer was first reported late Tuesday by the Monetary Occasions.
Tether, the corporate behind USDT, the third-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, will present Twenty One with Bitcoin purchased by way of debt. El Salvador-based Tether’s USDT product is the largest stablecoin within the business—a digital token that the agency claims is backed by {dollars}, treasuries, and different belongings.
Cantor Fitzgerald, an funding agency beforehand run by President Trump ally and present Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, is in control of custodying Tether’s U.S. Treasuries reserves. The agency may even use debt to assist Twenty One purchase Bitcoin.
Brandon Lutnick, Howard's son, is the chairman and CEO of Cantor Fairness Companions and chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald.
Stablecoins are actually a scorching matter: Lawmakers are at the moment debating two items of stablecoin-related laws. President Trump’s new administration has taken a pleasant strategy to regulating the digital asset business thus far, with the SEC scrapping most of its lawsuits towards and investigations into crypto firms.
Twenty One’s enterprise mannequin echoes that of Technique (previously MicroStrategy), a Nasdaq-listed software program firm that began shopping for Bitcoin in 2020. The agency now holds 538,000 BTC, or about $50 billion value, making it the biggest company holder of the asset. Buyers purchase the corporate’s shares to get Bitcoin publicity—a mannequin that Twenty One apparently goals to emulate.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
Editor's notice: This story was up to date after publication with further particulars.
