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By James Van Straten, AI Boost|Edited by Parikshit Mishra
Apr 24, 2025, 12:49 p.m.
- Market cap still trails intrinsic BTC exposure, with Twenty One set to control over 42,000 BTC — the third-largest public treasury.
- Post-convert ownership heavily favors insiders, with public shareholders retaining just 2.7% but positioned for high-leverage BTC upside.
Shares of Cantor Equity Partners (CEP) surged 55% on Tuesday and are up an additional 15% in pre-market trading, trading below $19.
The skyward movement was driven by investor optimism around its proposed merger with Twenty One Capital a bitcoin (BTC) native investment vehicle backed by Tether, Bitfinex, and SoftBank.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Led by Strike CEO Jack Mallers and Brandon Lutnick, Twenty One Capital is being positioned as a public proxy for bitcoin, potentially holding over 42,000 BTC at launch and introducing metrics like Bitcoin Per Share (BPS) and Bitcoin Return Rate (BRR) to measure shareholder value in BTC terms.
According to the latest pro forma ownership tables, Tether will control 42.8% of equity and 51.7% of voting power, while Bitfinex and SoftBank hold 16.0% and 24.0% of the company respectively, post-convert. Public SPAC shareholders will retain just 2.7% ownership, underscoring the extreme dilution but significant upside if BTC rises.
With BTC trading near $94,000, and the entity holding nearly $4B in BTC exposure, investors are re-rating CEP as a high-leverage bet on institutional bitcoin adoption. The stock is set to re-list under ticker “XXI” once the merger is finalized.
Disclaimer: This article, or parts of it, was generated with assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
James Van Straten is a Senior Analyst at CoinDesk, specializing in Bitcoin and its interplay with the macroeconomic environment. Previously, James worked as a Research Analyst at Saidler & Co., a Swiss hedge fund, where he developed expertise in on-chain analytics. His work focuses on monitoring flows to analyze Bitcoin’s role within the broader financial system.
In addition to his professional endeavors, James serves as an advisor to Coinsilium, a UK publicly traded company, where he provides guidance on their Bitcoin treasury strategy. He also holds investments in Bitcoin, MicroStrategy (MSTR), and Semler Scientific (SMLR).
“AI Boost” indicates a generative text tool, typically an AI chatbot, contributed to the article. In each and every case, the article was edited, fact-checked and published by a human. Read more about CoinDesk’s AI Policy.
