Tether purchases SoftBank’s stake in shared venture

Tether and Japanese tech investor SoftBank launched Twenty One Capital last year, contributing enough bitcoin—42,000, valued at $3.6 billion at the time—to make it the one of the largest corporate holders of the digital currency

Tether has purchased SoftBank’s stake in their shared venture, crypto investment company Twenty One Capital.

This transaction reflects the continued development of XXI as the company builds on its foundation and advances its long-term bitcoin strategy, the stablecoin issuer said in a Wednesday news release. Tether’s increased commitment reflects its conviction that XXI represents one of the most important opportunities to build a public company around bitcoin from the ground up.

Tether and Japanese tech investor SoftBank launched Twenty One Capital (or XXI, as Tether calls it) last year, contributing enough bitcoin—42,000, valued at $3.6 billion at the time—to make it the one of the largest corporate holders of the digital currency.

SoftBank’s involvement gave XXI the kind of institutional depth that few early-stage companies ever have, said Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CEO. Their experience backing some of the most consequential technology companies in the world brought credibility, perspective, and discipline to XXI during a critical period of formation. They leave behind a company with a stronger foundation, a clearer mandate and an ambitious path ahead.

A report on the deal by Bloomberg News included the news outlet’s calculations that SoftBank had owned around 26% of Twenty One’s publicly-listed shares, worth nearly $679 million.

The report also noted that Twenty One’s core business of investing in bitcoin has fallen out of favour since the company’s launch. The declining price of the world’s most popular crypto has diminished the model’s appeal, with shares in Twenty One down more than 80% since a record high last year.

Many digital-asset treasury companies have either shut down or simply moved away from the model, the report added.