Stablecoin issuer Tether bought $458.7 million worth of Bitcoin for Twenty One Capital, a Bitcoin investment firm it backed that’s awaiting the completion of a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) merger with Cantor Equity Partners.

Tether snapped up 4,812.2 Bitcoin (BTC) at $95,319 each and transferred it to an escrow wallet on May 9, Cantor Equity Partners disclosed in a May 13 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

It brings Twenty One’s total Bitcoin holdings to 36,312 BTC, as Cantor Equity Partners holds 31,500 BTC on behalf of the firm, which will trade under the ticker XXI once the SPAC merger is complete.

Twenty One’s CEO, Jack Mallers, said on May 13 that they’re already in the approval process of the merger, but didn’t give an exact estimate on when the transaction would be complete.

Twenty One is already the third largest corporate Bitcoin holder, trailing only Strategy and Bitcoin mining firm MARA Holdings at 568,840 Bitcoin and 48,237 Bitcoin, respectively, BitcoinTreasuries.net data shows.

Tether is a majority stakeholder in Twenty One alongside crypto exchange Bitfinex. The Wall Street heavyweight Cantor Fitzgerald is sponsoring the merger, providing financial advisory services and securing $585 million in funding to support Twenty One’s Bitcoin investments.

Japanese investment holding firm SoftBank also invested $900 million into Twenty One, which is led by Strike CEO Jack Mallers.

Strategy may have a legitimate competitor

Twenty One said in an April presentation to the SEC that is looking to supplant Michael Saylor’s Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, to become the “superior vehicle” for investors seeking “capital-efficient Bitcoin exposure.”

The company is among many Bitcoin buying firms, but promises to be a “pure play” for investors seeking Bitcoin exposure with Bitcoin-native operations and more flexibility for strategic capital raises. 

Twenty One Capital’s comparison of its Bitcoin treasury plan to that of Strategy’s. Source: SEC

Twenty One said its key success metric will be Bitcoin per share and not the traditional earnings per share metric, as it will prioritize buying up Bitcoin over making a profit.

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Twenty One is aiming to reach 42,000 Bitcoin by the time it launches. Earlier filings showed that 23,950 Bitcoin is expected to come from Tether, 10,500 Bitcoin from Softbank and about 7,000  Bitcoin from Bitfinex, which will be converted into equity at $10 per share.

Cantor Equity Partners’ (CEP) share price soared from $10.65 to $59.73 on May 2 but has since fallen back to $29.84, Google Finance data shows. CEP rose another 5.2% in after-hours following the recent purchase.

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CoinShares, a digital asset investment firm with offices in the United States and Europe, said its net profit fell to $24 million in the first quarter of 2025, a 42.2% decrease from the same period a year ago.

Although CoinShares’s profits and EBITDA remained positive in Q1 2025, the margins declined compared to the same period in 2024. Last year, CoinShares posted a net profit of $41.5 million and an EBITDA of $35.5 million in the first three months. Year-over-year, CoinShares’s net profit dropped 42.2% and its EBITDA fell 15.5%.

The firm’s ETPs contributed to the quarter’s performance. For Q1 2025, CoinShares’s ETPs saw net inflows of $268 million, with $202 million coming from its Physical Bitcoin (BITC) ETP. Revenue related to assets under management increased from $24.5 million to $29.6 million, a rise of 20.8%.

Year-to-date, CoinShares’s stock is down 9.4%, according to Google Finance.

CoinShares disclosed a $30 million EBITDA in Q125, despite market turbulence. Source. CoinShares

In a letter to shareholders, the company’s CEO, Jean-Marie Mognetti, said macroeconomic headwinds during the quarter exceeded market movements. “What we are witnessing is not mere market volatility — it is a wholesale transformation of the global economic order.”

According to Mognetti, Ether’s underperformance over the quarter led to $23 million in outflows from its CoinShares Physical Staked Ethereum ETP (ETHE). “Due to broader market corrections — including a 12.1% decline in Bitcoin prices — assets under management (AuM) fell 10.7%, closing Q1 at $1.52 billion.”

Related: Robinhood beats Q1 estimates despite revenue, crypto trading dip

Crypto companies show mixed results during market upheaval

The first wave of Q1 2025 earnings from crypto firms suggests a broadly negative quarter, with revenue declines across sectors.

Coinbase revenue, for instance, fell 10% quarter-over-quarter in Q1 2025, as transaction revenue plummeted 19% to $1.3 billion. Kraken, another US-based cryptocurrency exchange, saw its revenue decline 7% from Q4 2024. Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin treasury company, Strategy, also missed Wall Street’s estimates, alongside Bitcoin miner Core Scientific.

The quarter was marked by high volatility across financial markets after US President Donald Trump unleashed global tariffs on trade partners, dragging the BTC price to lows of $78,000 over the period. Ether (ETH) also experienced a significant pullback.

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Two US senators are calling on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “exercise [the department’s] authority” and change a provision affecting taxes on corporate holdings of digital assets.

In a May 12 letter, Senators Cynthia Lummis and Bernie Moreno suggested Bessent had the authority to change the definition of “adjusted financial statement income” under existing US law in a way that could reduce what digital asset companies pay in taxes. The proposed adjustment was suggested as a way to modify a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in 2022.

“Our edge in digital finance is at risk if US companies are taxed more than foreign competitors,” said Lummis in a May 13 X post.

May 12 letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Source: Cynthia Lummis

According to the two senators, the proposed modification would provide “relief to corporations that invest in digital assets.” Lummis has been one of the most outspoken digital asset advocates in Congress, while Moreno took office in January after crypto-backed political action committees spent roughly $40 million to support his 2024 Senate race.

Related: Arizona governor kills two crypto bills, cracks down on Bitcoin ATMs

The Inflation Reduction Act, which went into effect in 2023, imposes a 15% minimum tax on companies that report more than $1 billion in profits for three consecutive years. The measure would seemingly include unrealized crypto gains and losses, leading to Lummis’ and Moreno’s calls for the Treasury Department to “act swiftly.”

Senate awaiting second vote on stablecoin bill

The call from the two senators came as lawmakers in the Senate are expected to consider another vote on the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, or GENIUS Act — legislation to regulate payment stablecoins in the US. A motion for consideration failed to move forward in the Senate on May 8 due to Democratic lawmakers pushing back on Donald Trump’s ties to the crypto industry.

Lummis, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, suggested that she would continue to support digital asset regulation. The Senate could take up another vote in a matter of days.

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