Tether Takes Control of Twenty One Capital After Buying Out SoftBank

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Tether International has acquired SoftBank’s entire stake in Twenty One Capital, the Bitcoin treasury company co-founded by Jack Mallers, consolidating control over one of the most prominent public Bitcoin vehicles to emerge in the past year. The transaction, announced May 20, removes the last major outside ownership bloc from Twenty One’s founding three-party structure. SoftBank’s representatives on the company’s board stepped down at closing, per the terms of XXI’s shareholder agreement. No financial details of the deal were disclosed. Twenty One Capital launched in April 2025 through a business combination with Cantor Equity Partners, with the three founding sponsors — Tether, SoftBank, and Bitfinex — contributing Bitcoin in exchange for shares priced at $10 each. At inception, Tether was expected to contribute roughly 24,000 BTC, SoftBank 10,500 BTC, and Bitfinex around 7,000 BTC. The company was built to debut with more than 42,000 BTC — enough to rank as the third-largest corporate Bitcoin treasury in the world at the time, with an implied enterprise value of $3.6 billion based on an 84-day average Bitcoin reference price. Before its listing, Tether added a further 4,812 BTC worth approximately $458.7 million to Twenty One’s treasury, bringing its holdings to 36,312 BTC at that stage. With SoftBank’s exit, Twenty One moves from a coalition-backed vehicle to what is, in practical terms, Tether’s public Bitcoin operating arm. The shift is structural: a company once held up by three institutional pillars now rests almost entirely on Tether’s balance sheet and strategic direction. Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CEO, acknowledged SoftBank’s role in shaping the company’s early formation but framed the buyout as the beginning of a new phase. “They leave behind a company with a stronger foundation, a clearer mandate, and an ambitious path ahead,” he said in a statement. More than a bitcoin treasury That path appears to extend well beyond Bitcoin treasury accumulation. In April, Tether proposed merging Twenty One with Strike — Jack Mallers’ Bitcoin payments company — and Elektron Energy, a Bitcoin mining operation. The combination would place a Bitcoin treasury, a payments and financial services layer, and mining infrastructure under one corporate umbrella, transforming Twenty One from a balance-sheet trade into an integrated Bitcoin holding company. Twenty One has positioned itself as a direct counterpoint to Michael Saylor’s Strategy, adopting performance metrics like Bitcoin Per Share and Bitcoin Return Rate rather than conventional earnings benchmarks.

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