SoftBank Teams Up with Tether, Bitfinex, and Cantor to Launch $3B Bitcoin Venture

SoftBank is making a major move in the cryptocurrency sector by joining forces with Tether, Bitfinex, and Cantor Fitzgerald to form a new Bitcoin-focused joint venture named 21 Capital.

SoftBank is joining forces with Tether, Bitfinex, and Cantor Fitzgerald to launch a new Bitcoin-focused joint venture named 21 Capital, which will be seeded with $3 billion worth of BTC and is expected to go public through a SPAC listing.

As part of the deal, Tether will contribute $1.5 billion, while SoftBank is committing $900 million to buy Bitcoin at a valuation of $85,000 per BTC. This bold investment signals Masayoshi Son’s biggest Bitcoin bet to date, according to VanEck’s Matthew Sigel.

“It seems to me that Masa’s looking to build a Bitcoin-AI-energy flywheel,” Sigel mused, referencing a potential strategy to leverage crypto, artificial intelligence, and sustainable energy in a unified ecosystem.

The partnership with crypto giants Bitfinex and Tether, both of which are owned by the same parent company (iFinex), suggests that 21 Capital may aim to become a leading player in BTC liquidity, infrastructure, and energy-related blockchain ventures.

The SPAC route will allow the new entity to access public market capital quickly while leveraging the reputations and balance sheets of its founding firms.

However, details on the venture’s business model and long-term plans remain scarce. Nonetheless, the size and makeup of the launch suggest ambitions well beyond passive Bitcoin holdings.

Earlier in 2025, SoftBank invested $50 million in Cipher Mining, acquiring a 3% stake (10.4 million shares) in the U.S.-based Bitcoin mining firm. Now, with 21 Capital, SoftBank appears to be taking a much larger, more strategic position in the digital asset economy.