Shares of Twenty One Capital (XXI), the newest U.S. crypto-treasury player, dropped 20% in their market debut following its merger with blank-check firm Cantor Equity Partners.
The stock began trading Tuesday at $10.74—below the $14.27 closing price of Cantor’s SPAC the previous day. By Wednesday’s close, Twenty One Capital had slipped to $11.42, marking a 19.97% decline over 24 hours. It later edged up 2.2% in after-hours trading to $11.67, valuing the company at roughly $4 billion based on outstanding shares.
The listing was among the most anticipated crypto debuts of the year, backed by stablecoin giant Tether, crypto exchange Bitfinex, and Japan’s SoftBank Group. Jack Mallers, founder and CEO of Bitcoin payments platform Strike, now leads the company as CEO.
Twenty One Capital holds more than 43,500 Bitcoin—worth over $4 billion—ranking it as the third-largest corporate BTC holder, behind Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings, according to BitcoinTreasuries.NET.
Despite its sizable Bitcoin reserves, the company has yet to outline a public business plan. Mallers told CNBC that Twenty One is “not a treasury company,” stressing that the market should not value it solely as a Bitcoin-holding vehicle. “We do have a lot of Bitcoin,” he said, “but we’re also building a business.”
“We’re building an operating company, bringing a range of Bitcoin products to market with the goal of generating cash flow,” Mallers said, noting that he sees “significant opportunities in brokerage, exchange, credit, and lending.”
Pressed for specifics, Mallers declined to reveal details, saying only, “We’ll roll these out sooner rather than later.”
The U.S. has seen a wave of so-called crypto treasury companies debut this year, following a model popularized by MicroStrategy—buying and holding crypto while raising capital to acquire more. These firms drew strong investor interest earlier in the year as Bitcoin surged to fresh highs in October, but the subsequent market pullback has weighed heavily on companies tied to digital-asset prices.
Mallers is banking on his track record, Tether’s backing, and his conviction in Bitcoin to help steady Twenty One in the interim.
“We see Bitcoin as the forest through the trees,” he told CNBC. “It’s the opportunity, and no one seems to be focused on it. The story of this equity is to focus solely on Bitcoin and create shareholder value primarily through Bitcoin.”
