Original author: KarenZ, Foresight News
Against the backdrop of the Trump administration sending positive policy signals on cryptocurrencies, the US financial services giant Cantor Fitzgerald is working with SoftBank Group, stablecoin issuer Tether and its affiliated exchange Bitfinex to prepare a $3 billion Bitcoin joint venture, aiming to seize the opportunity of the Trump administrations loose cryptocurrency policy and replicate Strategys successful model of achieving a surge in market value through investment in Bitcoin. This move is seen as a landmark event for traditional financial capital to accelerate its embrace of the digital currency market.
What are the transaction details?
According to the Financial Times, citing three people familiar with the matter, the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) named Cantor Equity Partners is led by Brandon Lutnick, the current chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald. Brandon Lutnick is the son of Howard Lutnick, the current US Secretary of Commerce. After Howard Lutnick stepped down as chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald in February 2025 and became Secretary of Commerce, Brandon Lutnick took over as chairman of the company.
As a long-established financial services company founded in 1945, Cantor Fitzgerald focuses on institutional equity, fixed income sales and trading, investment banking, real estate financing and brokerage services. In the past two years, it has actively expanded the integration of cryptocurrency and traditional finance. In July 2024, Cantor Fitzgerald announced plans to launch a Bitcoin financing business, which will launch a $2 billion loan and increase the loan amount by $2 billion in batches as needed to provide leverage for Bitcoin investors. Howard Lutnick said at the time that the company also holds a large amount of Bitcoin.
The Financial Times said that according to the latest plan, Cantor Equity Partners raised US$200 million in January this year and planned to use these funds to create a new company called 21 Capital to build a publicly listed cryptocurrency investment platform by absorbing US$3 billion in Bitcoin from SoftBank, Tether and Bitfinex.
The specific investment plan is: Tether promises to provide $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, SoftBank and Bitfinex inject $900 million and $600 million in Bitcoin respectively. According to the terms, SoftBank, Tether and Bitfinexs Bitcoin investments will be converted into shares of 21 Capital at $10 per share, and the valuation of Bitcoin will be set at $85,000 per coin. In addition, Cantor Equity Partners will issue $350 million in convertible bonds and $200 million (it is not clear whether it is the same as the fundraising in January) in private equity financing to further increase its holdings of Bitcoin. The Financial Times quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that although the agreement may be announced in the next few weeks, it may not be realized and the transaction figures may change.
Replicate Micro Strategy?
It can be seen that the inspiration for the establishment of 21 Capital largely comes from the transformation miracle of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy). MicroStrategy was originally a software company. Since 2020, it has been buying Bitcoin in large quantities by issuing stocks and bonds. Now it has become a benchmark for Bitcoin investment in the corporate world, and its market value has soared to US$91 billion. As of April 20, 2025, Strategy holds 538,200 BTC, with an average purchase price of US$67,766.
The Financial Times reported that this transaction is just the beginning of Cantor Fitzgeralds layout in the SPAC field. In addition to Cantor Equity Partners, Cantor Fitzgerald has also launched two other SPACs led by Brandon Lutnick, and both SPACs are currently actively looking for investment opportunities.
The market speculates that 21 Capital will subsequently complete a backdoor listing through Cantor Equity Partners, using the flexibility of SPAC and the financing capabilities of the public market to attract more institutional investors into the cryptocurrency market.
Cantor Fitzgerald has a long history of collaboration with Tether
Cantor Fitzgerald has a deep history of cooperation and association with Tether. In November 2024, a report in the Wall Street Journal revealed the close business ties between the two. At that time, one of the most important clients of Cantor Fitzgeralds then-chairman Howard Lutnick (currently the US Secretary of Commerce) was Tethers mysterious boss Giancarlo Devasini (according to Tethers official website, Giancarlo Devasini is currently the chairman of Tether and previously served as chief financial officer). Most of Tethers $134 billion in assets are held by Cantor Fitzgerald, most of which are US Treasuries. Because Tether holds these US Treasuries through Cantor Fitzgeralds custodial business to support the value of the stablecoin Tether, and this custodial relationship can bring Cantor tens of millions of dollars in revenue each year.
Even more strikingly, the Wall Street Journal also cited information from informed business partners as saying that in 2023, Cantor Fitzgerald and Tether reached an agreement for Cantor Fitzgerald to hold a 5% stake in Tether, and Cantor valued these shares at as much as US$600 million at the time.
Giancarlo Devasini privately stated in 2024 that Howard Lutnick might use his political influence to ease the regulatory pressure faced by Tether. However, a Tether spokesperson later clarified that the cooperation with Cantor Fitzgerald was purely based on professional management of reserve relationships and denied speculation about regulatory influence. Howard Lutnick also publicly stated that in order to comply with government ethics regulations, he plans to divest his shares in Cantor Fitzgerald. It is worth noting that the U.S. Department of Commerce has historically played a limited role in cryptocurrency regulation.
In addition, Cantor Fitzgerald also facilitated Tethers $775 million investment in the right-wing video platform Rumble in December 2024, in which Cantor Fitzgerald served as the placement agent and transaction broker.
It is worth mentioning that Rumble is a conservative-leaning video sharing platform, whose main users include Trump supporters, libertarians, and anti-mainstream media groups. Although Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said at the time, Tethers investment in Rumble reflects our common values: decentralization, independence, transparency, and the fundamental right to freedom of speech. But the investment was seen by the outside world as a case of cryptocurrency capital expanding to politically-related media. At the end of November 2024, Rumbles board of directors approved a company treasury diversification strategy, in which the Bitcoin allocation strategy included the companys discretion to purchase up to $20 million in Bitcoin. Later, in January 2025, Rumble purchased $17.1 million worth of Bitcoin.
As a traditional investment bank, Cantor Fitzgerald has gradually deepened its involvement in the crypto ecosystem by participating in such transactions. The cooperation with SoftBank, Tether and Bitfinex is another major layout of Cantor Fitzgerald in the field of cryptocurrency.
SoftBank’s Journey into Crypto
The $3 billion Bitcoin joint venture between Cantor Fitzgerald, SoftBank, and Tether also reflects SoftBank’s official entry into the Bitcoin market. The investment giant’s crypto journey has been full of twists and turns:
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, founder Masayoshi Son made a big bet on Bitcoin in late 2017, only to liquidate his position at a loss of $130 million when prices plummeted in early 2018.
Its Vision Fund has invested nearly $100 million in FTX.
This participation in Bitcoin investment through the SPAC structure shows a more prudent and institutional investment strategy.
summary
For 21 Capital, its future success will depend on several key factors. The first is the long-term trend of Bitcoin prices. As the dominant currency in the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoins price fluctuations have a direct impact on 21 Capitals asset value and investment returns. Secondly, the specific implementation of the Trump administrations crypto policy is also crucial. If the policy can continue to maintain a friendly attitude towards cryptocurrencies and provide a clear regulatory framework, it will be beneficial to the development of 21 Capital. In addition, the execution effect of the SPAC transaction will also determine whether 21 Capital can successfully achieve its goals. If legal, financial and other issues arise during the transaction, it may hinder the advancement of the project. If the transaction is successfully completed, it is likely to trigger more traditional financial institutions to follow suit, thereby accelerating the integration of cryptocurrencies and traditional finance.
With the entry of traditional financial giants such as Cantor Fitzgerald and SoftBank, the cryptocurrency market is entering a new stage of development, and the demand for institutional investors to build compliant investment channels has surged. This cross-border cooperation has the potential to reshape the institutional allocation of digital assets, which may attract more traditional financial institutions to re-examine the cryptocurrency market, prompting more funds to flow into this field, and thus change the status and proportion of digital assets in institutional investment portfolios. Of course, 21 Capital has also caused heated discussions in the market because of the intricate political and business network behind it.
