If you thought Wall Street was done trying to shotgun marry TradFi and crypto after FTX torched half the industry’s credibility and half of Tom Brady’s net worth, think again. Cantor Fitzgerald just said “hold my T-bills” and walked into the room with $3.6 billion in Bitcoin, two crypto cowboys, and a Japanese VC behemoth that once thought WeWork was a good idea (Spoiler: I will never let Masa Son live that down). 

(Source: Giphy) 

In short, Twenty One Capital is the newest, loudest, and possibly most unhinged Bitcoin investment vehicle this side of Michael Saylor’s two brain cells. And yeah, it’s bigly big. Basically, Cantor Fitzgerald, Tether, Bitfinex, and Softbank are all forming a literal Bitcoin orgy—stuffing over 42,000 BTC (roughly $3.6B at current prices) into a newly-formed public company that will trade under the ticker “XXI.” Which is latin for 21. As in 21 million BTC max supply. As in 21st century finance. As in we just gave a cesspool of 21 year old crypto mouth breathers another reason to pop a Zyn and chant the word “trenches”. Their words, not mine… well, kind of mine. 

But alas, Cantor Fitzgerald is the suit in the room. They’re the SPAC guys. They raised $200 million earlier this year through Cantor Equity Partners, which is now merging into this new crypto Frankenstein. They're also the same firm that holds 99% of Tether’s U.S. Treasury reserves. So yeah, the ties were always there. Now they're just monetizing the hell out of them.

(Source: Yahoo Finance) 

Additionally, Tether’s throwing in $1.6 billion in BTC. Bitfinex, its shady-but-somehow-still-alive sibling, is kicking in $600 million. And SoftBank, not surprisingly, is dropping $900 million into the pot. For those of you doing the math at home, that’s $3.1 billion in Bitcoin, pre-dump. So here’s to the man steering the ship: Jack Mallers. A.k.a. The Strike CEO who says this public stock was created “by Bitcoiners, for Bitcoiners”. Which, depending on your level of crypto trauma, either sounds like a revolution or a liquidity trap disguised as a meme.

Now of course, anyone can take one look at this and see the writing on the wall: This is a shot across the bow. A middle finger to the ETF crowd. And a direct competitor to MicroStrategy’s model, but with more institutions, more liquidity, and fewer people trying to cosplay as Bitcoin Jesus—all while valuing the BTC-to-share conversion at $85,000 per coin. 

(Source: PYMTS) 

And yet, while this is definitely exciting to some—keep in mind that this is a public company with a Bitcoin balance sheet and a Wall Street pedigree. Whereas, in my personal opinion, it’s a trojan horse. It’s a liquidity funnel/way for institutional investors to get exposure without having to touch the actual crypto or talk to a guy in a neon hoodie at a conference in Lisbon. And now, they’re raising another $585 million through a combo of convertible bonds and private equity placements to do it. 

So yeah, this is a BFD in the crypto world. Meaning this is either the beginning of a new financial model or the most expensive group chat experiment in market history. But one thing’s for sure—Cantor, Tether, SoftBank, and Bitfinex didn’t show up with $3.6 billion in BTC just to “F’ around and find out”. They’re here for the blood and to squeeze out as much exit liquidity from you as possible. 

(Source: Giphy) 

Which means, do your due diligence before ape-ing into a ticker symbol that looks like a middle school boy's favorite newfound website, and place your bets accordingly. Until next time, friends… 

P.S. Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know you liked getting rekt. Let’s face it, retail investors get the short end of the stick all day everyday. It’s the smart money’s world, and we are just living in it–only useful when it comes to liquidity purposes in the market. Meaning, if you’re as pissed off as I was when I found out Milli Vanilli was lip syncing the whole time, then it’s time to go from investing blind, to investing smart. Luckily for you, the key is right here as a Stocks.News premium member. Click here to see exactly how our premium members are printing while others quake in the face of today’s market chaos. 

Stocks.News does not hold positions in companies mentioned in the article.