Crypto Currents: Tether buys out SoftBank’s Twenty One Capital stake

Tether International’s buyout of SoftBank’s stake in Twenty One Capital reshapes the governance of the most ambitious bitcoin treasury vehicle yet assembled, concentrating control in the hands of a bitcoin-native operator as the company works toward a proposed three-way merger with Strike and Elektron Energy. Meanwhile, Nakamoto Inc. opted for the aggressive end of its board-authorized range on a reverse split needed to preserve its Nasdaq listing, BitGo Holdings brought regulated Lightning Network rails to enterprise clients. Stay up on the crypto news that matters with “Crypto Currents,” daily from The Fly. Join us at 2 PM ET for your essential briefing on the fast-moving world of cryptocurrency on FlyCast radio.

TETHER TIGHTENS GRIP ON XXI: Tether International, issuer of stablecoin USDT (USDT-USD), has acquired SoftBank’s (XXI), the filing revealed. The transaction triggered the resignation of SoftBank’s board representatives at Twenty One Capital, consolidating governance under Tether ahead of the company’s proposed three-way merger with Strike and Elektron Energy to form what it describes as a unified bitcoin treasury, financial services, mining, lending, capital markets, and M&A platform, per Bloomberg. SoftBank had been one of the marquee institutional names attached to Twenty One Capital at formation, lending the venture credibility with traditional equity investors. Its exit narrows the institutional breadth of the cap table and concentrates ownership squarely in the bitcoin-native camp, a shift that reframes Twenty One Capital as a Tether-controlled vehicle rather than a multi-stakeholder coalition. Investors tracking the emerging bitcoin treasury company category should note that Twenty One Capital’s governance structure now more closely resembles that of a strategic holding company than a diversified institutional partnership.

BITCOIN TREASURY GOVERNANCE: Twenty One Capital also used its announcement to outline its integrated operating strategy, describing a platform designed to combine bitcoin treasury accumulation with financial services, a lending desk, capital markets capabilities, and acquisition activity under one roof, the company press release confirmed. The company frames itself as building “the bitcoin company,” language that positions it explicitly as a full-stack financial institution anchored to bitcoin rather than a passive holding vehicle.
The combination of Tether’s tightened ownership and this operational blueprint puts Twenty One Capital in direct conceptual competition with Strategy NAKA” style=””>(NAKA) announced a 1-for-40 reverse stock split effective May 22, the announcement confirmed. The action reduces shares outstanding from approximately 696.1M to approximately 17.4M and is expressly intended to regain compliance with Nasdaq’s $1.00 minimum bid price requirement, per the company press release. Stockholders had previously authorized a ratio anywhere from 1-for-20 to 1-for-50, and management chose the more aggressive end of the range.

BITGO LIGHTNING LAUNCH: BitGo Holdings press release. The service enables fintechs, exchanges, and consumer apps to embed near-instant, low-cost bitcoin payments through BitGo Holdings’ OCC-supervised, 50-state-licensed infrastructure, combining regulated custody with Lightning settlement in what the company describes as a purpose-built enterprise offering.
The significance is the regulated wrapper. Lightning Network integrations are common among pure-play crypto firms, but access through an OCC-chartered, nationally licensed custodian lowers the compliance barrier for banks, brokers, and fintech platforms that cannot or will not touch unregulated providers. That positions BitGo Holdings to compete for institutional bitcoin payment mandates that would be out of reach for unlicensed alternatives.

PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin was trading at $77,423.10, while ether was trading at $2,135.50, according to price data from TipRanks.