In a major move within the cryptocurrency news space, Brandon Lutnick – the chair of investment banking firm Cantor Fitzgerald – is teaming with Tether, BitFinex, and SoftBank to create a new crypto acquisition company worth roughly $3 billion.
Lutnick and this partnership group hope to create a crypto acquisition company that is publicly listed in order to take advantage of moves that are friendly to the cryptocurrency market since President Donald Trump took office for his second term. The hope is to replicate Strategy, Michael Saylor’s company.
Cantor Equity Partners have already raise more than $200 million in capital in January alone for this new firm, a company to be named Capital 21. Stablecoin issuer Tether is using $1.5 billon in Bitcoin (BTC), Japanese investment holding firm Softbank Group will be making a contribution of $900 million, with crypto exchange BitFinex making an additional $600 million contribution.
This venture with Lutnick at the helm is hoping to raise $200 million in private equity placement and $350 million in convertible bonds in order to buy more Bitcoin. The goal is that eventually, the Bitcoin investments of SoftBank, BitFinex, and Tether will be moved into 21 Capital shares. The value of Bitcoin would be locked in at $85,000 per coin, with shares in the new venture being roughly $10 each.
Though the deal has yet to be finalized, it is expected to happen before long. Some of the details could change before then as well. Lutnick followed his father Howard Lutnick as the chair of Cantor Fitzgerald after the former became the US Secretary of Commerce.
Cantor Already a Major Crypto Player
Since 2021, Cantor Fitzgerald has managed the Treasury portfolio for Tether as well as $134 billion of reserves, most of it in the form of U.S. Treasury bills. That same firm also owns a 5% stake in Tether, a stablecoin issuer. Prior to that, Cantor was in an advisory role to Tether and its $775 million investment in an alternative to YouTube, Rumble, coming in December 2024.
On March 11, Cantor Fitzgerald announced that it was rolling out a Bitcoin financing business, using $2 billion in initial capital in order to help potential institutional investors borrow against existing crypto holdings. Initially, Anchorage Digital and Copper was selected as collateral managers and Bitcoin custodians.
With more than $5 billion in digital assets across more than 275 total holdings, Cantor Fitzgerald is a major name in the digital asset space.
What is BitFinex?
Acting as the native exchange for the new 21 Capital venture is BitFinex. This exchange already allows users to sell, buy, and trade a huge array of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.
It is notable because BitFinex became one of the first professional platforms to hit the market. It also started offering advanced features like margin funding, margin trading, derivatives trading, and over-the-counter markets, among other things.
There is a litany of key features to using BitFinex. With services for both individual and institutional traders, users can take part in exchange trading, margin trading, margin funding, etc. The BitFinex Borrow is a peer-to-peer platform that allows users to borrow funds from others while using crypto as collateral. Finally, BitFinex Securities is a sub-platform that allows for the trading and issuing of tokenized financial instruments.
What is Tether?
Tether, USDT, is a cryptocurrency that is pegged to the U.S. dollar. Because of that, USDT is a stablecoin, meaning that it will fluctuate in value as the U.S. dollar does. More importantly, USDT is backed by Tether’s own dollar reserves.
USDT is issued by Tether, which is owned by iFinex, a Hong Kong-registered company who happens to own BitFinex. As recently as 2024, Tether was the third-largest cryptocurrency in the world after Bitcoin and Ethereum. It is also the largest stablecoin in circulation, possessing a market cap of almost $99 billion.
Stablecoins are among the fastest-growing types of cryptocurrencies. Stablecoins don’t have the extreme volatility that traditional cryptocurrencies have, mostly because their values are tied to the price of more traditional forms of currency like the U.S. dollar.
Tether was initially launched back in July 2014 as RealCoin, rebranding to Tether as a few months later. Though it was initially based on the Bitcoin blockchain, Tether now supports the Omni and Liquid protocols of Bitcoin, plus Kava, Avalanche, Ethereum, TRON, Polka, Algorand, EOS, and Solana blockchains.
What is SoftBank?
SoftBank has been making a name for itself in recent years, specifically when it comes to tech and startups. With beginnings going back to 1981, it began as a telecommunications company. Now, SoftBank has its hands in areas like finance, marketing, broadband, e-commerce, and more.
Its current portfolio includes things like GungHo Online Entertainment, IDC Frontier, SoftBank BB, and others. SoftBank has been in acquisition mode for a few years, buying up chip manufacturer ARM, robotics companies like Boston Dynamics and Schaft, and other smaller companies.
SoftBank is headed by chair and CEO Masayoshi Son. During his time as the head of SoftBank, Son has established himself as someone with a willingness and assertiveness in the international tech scene. Given past acquisitions, it should come as no surprise that SoftBank is joining the fray with this new crypto acquisition company.
Prior to this venture, one of Son’s biggest ventures was investing in a ride-sharing company out of China known as Didi Chuxing. Son and SoftBank are not hesitant to invest in what it believes to be burgeoning technologies, and this is no different.
What 21 Capital Brings to the Table
In what is considered a major move, 21 Capital hopes to give institutional investors a means through which they can access Bitcoin exposure without having to rely on crypto ETFs. This could potentially change the way that institutions interact with Bitcoin.
Big Backers and Funding
The fact that 21 Capital is coming to the table with major backing is a positive sign. It is launching with $3.6 billion in assets, which is exponential for Bitcoin investment vehicles. Backed by SoftBank and Cantor Fitzgerald, this isn’t some startup venture.
ETF Alternative and Indirect Bitcoin Exposure
The major aim of the firm is to provide indirect exposure to Bitcoin while also providing an alternative to crypto ETFs. For institutional investors, this is a different route than what is currently available. The company is looking to provide a similar avenue to Bitcoin as MicroStrategy but with a much broader level of participation.
Crypto Disruption
The hope is that when 21 Capital enters the marketplace, it could potentially provide major disruption to the current digital asset landscape. Institutional investors that have been looking to engage with Bitcoin will now have another avenue through which to work.
At the end of the day, details are still sparse surrounding the new venture. With such substantial players involved, not to mention serious capital investment in play, this new venture could quickly become a major name in the digital asset space while providing new pathways within the industry.
