Stable-coin giant Tether has purchased 4,812.2 Bitcoin on behalf of Twenty One Capital, paying an average $95,319 per coin for a total outlay of $458.7 million.
The tokens were moved into an escrow wallet on May 9, according to a filing Cantor Equity Partners submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 13.
Growing Treasury
The deal lifts Twenty One’s holdings to 36,312 BTC, making the firm the third-largest corporate owner behind Strategy and mining outfit MARA Holdings.
Cantor Equity Partners already holds 31,500 BTC as custodian and will act as sponsor when Twenty One completes its special-purpose acquisition merger.
On closing, the combined entity is expected to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker “XXI.”
Strategic Backers
Tether is the majority shareholder in Twenty One alongside crypto exchange Bitfinex, while Wall Street stalwart Cantor Fitzgerald has arranged $585 million in financing to support the Bitcoin-accumulation strategy.
Japanese conglomerate SoftBank also injected $900 million, underscoring growing institutional hunger for direct Bitcoin exposure.
Competitive Ambition
In an April investor deck, Twenty One vowed to “supplant Michael Saylor’s Strategy” and present itself as the “superior vehicle” for “capital-efficient Bitcoin exposure.”
Executives insist “Bitcoin per share,” rather than traditional earnings, will be the firm’s primary yardstick.
Chief Executive Jack Mallers said on May 13 that regulators are reviewing the merger documents, though he offered no timeline for approval.
Roadmap to 42,000 BTC
Filings show Twenty One wants to hold 42,000 BTC at launch, including 23,950 BTC from Tether, 10,500 BTC from SoftBank and roughly 7,000 BTC from Bitfinex, converted into equity at $10 a share.
Cantor Equity Partners shares surged from $10.65 to $59.73 on May 2 before easing to around $29.84, and they added another five percent in after-hours trading once the latest purchase became public.
Market Implications
With Bitcoin hovering near record highs, the treasury strategy could give traditional investors a single-stock proxy for the cryptocurrency’s upside—and its notorious volatility.
Supporters argue that deep pockets and a pure-play mandate set Twenty One apart from Strategy, whose debt-funded approach has faced scrutiny.
If the merger clears regulatory hurdles, Wall Street will have a fresh test case for a public company that prioritizes coin accumulation over conventional profits.