Finance
Tether-backed Twenty One Capital slides in trading debut
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on December 9, 2025
Last updated: January 8, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on December 9, 2025
Last updated: January 8, 2026
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)
A Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) is a type of investment vehicle that raises capital through an initial public offering (IPO) to acquire an existing company, allowing it to go public without the traditional IPO process.
A merger is a business combination where two companies join to form a single entity, often to enhance operational efficiency, expand market reach, or achieve synergies.
A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value by pegging it to a reserve of assets, such as fiat currency or commodities, to reduce volatility.
mNAV stands for market Net Asset Value, a metric used to evaluate a company's enterprise value relative to its cryptocurrency holdings, important for assessing digital asset treasury firms.
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