Tether-backed Twenty One Capital slides in trading debut

By Shashwat ‌Chauhan

Dec 9 (Reuters) - Shares of crypto treasury firm Twenty One Capital plunged on their ‍first day ‌of trading on Tuesday following the completion of the company's planned merger with a blank-check ⁠firm as crypto-related stocks face mounting pressure.

The ‌new company, trading under the ticker "XXI" on the NYSE, was last down 24.3% at $10.8.

Twenty One is majority-owned by stablecoin giant Tether and crypto exchange Bitfinex, with minority stakes held by Japanese technology investor SoftBank ⁠Group. It was formed by merging into blank-check vehicle Cantor Equity Partners in a deal first announced in April.

The ​new company holds over 43,500 bitcoins, making it the world's ‌third-largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency, according ⁠to crypto publication The Block.

Its holdings are worth more than $3.97 billion based on bitcoin's last closing price of $91,350.84, according to Reuters' calculations.

Cantor Equity is a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) ​backed by Cantor Fitzgerald, an investment banking and brokerage firm chaired by Brandon Lutnick, the son of U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.

SPACs merge with privately held startups, offering them an alternative route to go public. Cantor Equity shares had surged as much as ​380% for ‍the year in April before ​paring much of those gains, and are now up just 3.9% year-to-date.

Twenty One joins public markets as cryptocurrencies are facing selling pressure, with bitcoin itself having fallen more than 28% from its record high of $126,223.18 on October 6.

"Digital asset treasury" or DAT companies have lost ground amid the broader crypto drawdown, stoking concerns over stress in the niche but fast-growing sector, with ⁠focus also on the "mNAV" metric, a company's enterprise value relative to its crypto holdings.

"It's becoming harder for DATs to raise capital and ​we are in an environment now where DATs need to show material differentiation to warrant the mNAV multiples they were trading at earlier in 2025," said John Todaro, senior research analyst at Needham.

Buoyed by U.S. President Donald Trump's crypto-friendly stance ‌and inspired by Michael Saylor's Strategy, a number of publicly traded companies have started investing in cryptocurrencies in hopes of higher returns.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)