Tether tightens control of Twenty One Capital after SoftBank sells 25% stake

Tether now holds more control over XXI after buying out SoftBank’s entire stake in Twenty One Capital (NYSE: XXI) for $711 million. Softbank paid $1 billion for its stake but sold it at a loss of $288 million.

Tether published a press release on its website confirming the deal and now wants XXI to merge with Strike and Elektron Energy to become a full Bitcoin business. 

What is Twenty One Capital?

Twenty One Capital is a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker XXI.

Its job is to buy and hold Bitcoin, and at launch, XXI entered the market with 43,514 Bitcoin in its treasury. Of this amount, Tether contributed 24,500, while its sister company, Bitfinex, contributed 7,000 Bitcoin.

At the time, the XXI was the third-largest corporate Bitcoin holder worldwide, with its Bitcoin valued at $4 billion. 

Today, the company ranks second after Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR) with a coin valuation of $3.4 billion.

Why did SoftBank sell, and what did it lose?

Softbank paid $999.3 millionfor the shares, but they later lost value and dropped to $771 million.

The cause of the drop is simple. XXI was going through a SPAC merger, and its stock peaked at $53 per share, which is common during such processes. 

But reality set in after the company began trading as a regular public stock in December 2025. Since then, the stock has fallen about 83% from that peak.

Bitcoin also fell from its late 2024 highs of $100,000 to around $77,470 on the day Tether bought SoftBank’s stake, and the valuation of XXI also fell with it. 

This is what Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, had to say,

As per the governance agreement that XXI signed at launch, two SoftBank board reps resigned immediately upon Tether closing the deal. But according to a filing, XXI plans to appoint replacements as soon as possible. 

What does Tether plan to do now that it controls the board?

Tether had always held a majority stake in XXI, even before this deal.

According to the SEC filing reviewed by Cryptopolitan, Tether controls the Class B shares, which carry voting power, unlike the Class A shares most outside investors hold.

The only thing buying SoftBank’s stake does is remove one external voice on the board who could ask difficult questions about Tether’s planned future for XXI.

Tether has approval power over any Bitcoin sale, changes to financial management, mergers or acquisitions over $1 million, positions for the new CEO and CFO, and the accounting firm that audits the books. 

The exchange already locked in these rights from day one, while Softbank only had a smaller version of these protections with its 20% stake. 

Tether wants to turn XXI into more than a Bitcoin bank account

Tether released a press release on April 29, 2026, saying it wants XXI to merge with Strike and Elektron Energy. 

Strike is a payments app by Jack Mallers that lets people transact in Bitcoin and even take out Bitcoin-backed loans. The company recently announced a $2.1 billion credit facility and offers loans with interest rates ranging from 10.5% per year for small positions to 7.49% for big players. 

Elektron Energy, on the other hand, is a Bitcoin mining company that controls about 5% of the entire global Bitcoin network. The company is profitable at current prices because its all-in mining cost per Bitcoin is $60,000.

The merger between XXI, Strike, and Elektron Energy will give XXI real operating revenue from payment fees at Strike, mining profits from Elektron, and from financial products such as loans. 

XXI won’t have to rely entirely on capital markets just to raise money to buy more Bitcoin. 

However, there is a conflict of interest in the deal because Jack Mallers is the CEO of both XXI and Strike, so the merger will require a shareholder vote to close. 

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