New crypto stock XXI plunges 19% on NYSE debut
Shafaq News
Shares of crypto treasury firm Twenty One Capital plunged on their first day of trading on Tuesday following the completion of the company's merger with a blank-check firm as crypto-related stocks face mounting pressure.
The new company, trading under the ticker "XXI" on the NYSE, was last down 19.41% at $11.49.
Twenty One is majority-owned by stablecoin giant Tether and crypto exchange Bitfinex, with a minority stake held by Japanese technology investor SoftBank Group (9984.T). It was formed by merging into blank-check vehicle Cantor Equity Partners in a deal first announced in April.
CEO Jack Mallers said that like other bitcoin treasury companies, Twenty One will hold and buy bitcoin, but it also plans to launch products and "utility services" connected to the world's largest cryptocurrency.
"Yes, we own a lot of bitcoin. Yes, we're going to acquire as much as we possibly can, but we're also about to launch a ton of business lines and produce profit that's related to bitcoin, and that's a lot of why we created the company in the first place," Mallers said in an interview.
The new company holds over 43,500 bitcoins , making it the world's third-largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency, according to crypto publication The Block.
Twenty One's holdings are worth more than $3.97 billion based on bitcoin's last closing price of $91,350.84, according to Reuters' calculations.
Cantor Equity is a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) backed by Cantor Fitzgerald, an investment banking and brokerage firm chaired by Brandon Lutnick, the son of U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
SPACs merge with privately held startups, offering them an alternative route to go public. Cantor Equity shares had surged as much as 380% for the year in April before paring much of those gains, and are now up just 3.9% year-to-date.
Twenty One joins public markets as cryptocurrencies are facing selling pressure, with bitcoin having fallen more than 28% from its record high of $126,223.18 on October 6.
"Digital asset treasury" or DAT companies have lost ground amid the broader crypto drawdown, stoking concerns over stress in the niche but fast-growing sector, with focus also on the "mNAV" metric, a company's enterprise value relative to its crypto holdings.
"It's becoming harder for DATs to raise capital and we are in an environment now where DATs need to show material differentiation to warrant the mNAV multiples they were trading at earlier in 2025," said John Todaro, senior research analyst at Needham.
Buoyed by U.S. President Donald Trump's crypto-friendly stance and inspired by Michael Saylor's Strategy (MSTR.O), a number of publicly traded companies have started investing in cryptocurrencies in hopes of higher returns.
(Reuters)
Only the headline is edited by Shafaq News Agency.
