Tether just made itself the dominant force behind one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin holders. The stablecoin issuer announced Wednesday that it purchased SoftBank Group’s roughly 26% stake in Twenty One Capital, the Bitcoin treasury company led by Jack Mallers and backed by Cantor Fitzgerald.
The purchase price was not disclosed. But the strategic signal is hard to miss: Tether is aggressively expanding beyond stablecoins and into the plumbing of Bitcoin-native finance.
From backer to boss
SoftBank was one of the earliest investors in Twenty One Capital, which launched in 2025 as a vehicle designed to accumulate and hold Bitcoin on a public balance sheet. Think of it as the MicroStrategy playbook, but with ambitions that stretch further, into lending, mining, and capital markets services.
By absorbing SoftBank’s entire position, Tether now wields significantly greater control over that operation. It’s the difference between being a shareholder and being the shareholder.
