Shares of a Major Bitcoin Holder Plummeted 20% on the First Day of Trading

RBK-cryptoPublished on 2025-12-10Last updated on 2025-12-10

Abstract

The shares of Twenty One (ticker XXI), the third-largest corporate holder of bitcoin, plummeted 20% on their first day of trading on the NYSE on December 9th. The company went public via a merger with a SPAC, Cantor Equity Partners, raising approximately $850 million. Founded with backing from Tether, Bitfinex, and SoftBank, Twenty One acquired $4 billion worth of bitcoin from industry pioneer Adam Back in exchange for its shares. Despite bitcoin's price rising over 2% on the same day, XXI's stock began trading at $10.74, a 25% drop from Cantor's pre-merger closing price. The company holds 43,500 BTC (over $4 billion), with an average purchase price of $87,280 per bitcoin. CEO Jack Mallers, founder of Strike, emphasized that the company's goal extends beyond just holding bitcoin; it aims to develop revenue-generating products in brokerage services and lending. He differentiated Twenty One from Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy, stating the company plans to be a hybrid between MicroStrategy and Coinbase. A key differentiator is its commitment to transparent, real-time proof of reserves for its bitcoin holdings.

"RBC-Crypto" does not provide investment advice; the material is published for informational purposes only. Cryptocurrency is a volatile asset that can lead to financial losses.

Shares of the third-largest corporate holder of bitcoin, the company Twenty One (ticker XXI), fell 20% on the first day of trading. On December 9, the company went public on the NYSE through a merger with the SPAC company Cantor Equity Partners. The deal attracted about $850 million through convertible bonds and stock sales, and the head of the company became Strike founder Jack Mallers.

Twenty One was created with the support of Tether, the Bitfinex exchange, SoftBank, and Brandon Lattner, the son of US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lattner. It is known that as part of the merger, $4 billion worth of bitcoins were purchased from crypto industry pioneer Adam Back in exchange for shares.

XXI started trading at $10.74, which is 25% lower than the closing price of Cantor Equity Partners shares before the merger. According to Tradingview data as of December 10 at 17:00 Moscow time, XXI quotes have slightly recovered, trading 20% lower than before the merger.

The decline occurred against the backdrop of bitcoin rising more than 2% over the same period on December 9. By 17:00, BTC is trading around $92,000.

Twenty One's balance sheet holds 43.5 thousand bitcoins or more than $4 billion at the exchange rate on December 10, according to Bitcointreasuries. This places it among the largest BTC holders among exchange-traded companies after the miner MARA ($4.9 billion) and Strategy ($60.8 billion).

The average purchase price of bitcoin for Twenty One is $87,280 per 1 BTC, as reported in July. All bitcoins will be stored transparently, with real-time reserve proof—this distinguishes them from competitors. For example, Strategy has never disclosed the addresses where its bitcoins are stored.

Despite a similar bitcoin accumulation strategy, Mallers refuted comparisons of Twenty One with companies like Michael Saylor's Strategy, writes The Block.

The organization's goal is not only to accumulate bitcoin but also to create products that generate income in the field of brokerage services, lending, and loans based on the main cryptocurrency, he emphasized.

Mallers noted that the company plans to become something between Strategy and the largest crypto exchange, Coinbase.

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