Tether moves $3.9B in Bitcoin to Twenty One Capital

Tether has moved a combined 37,229.69 Bitcoin, worth approximately $3.9 billion, to addresses linked to the new Bitcoin-native financial platform, Twenty One Capital, led by Strike CEO Jack Mallers.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino posted two transfers totalling 11,417 BTC ($1.2 billion) in a June 3 X post.

In one transaction, the stablecoin issuer transferred 10,500 Bitcoin (about $1.1 billion) to an address linked to SoftBank’s investment option in Twenty One. The executive said this is part of the pre-funding of SoftBank’s investment in the Bitcoin platform.

In another post, Ardoino said Tether made a separate 917 BTC transfer to a wallet associated with convert investors holding equity rights in the venture. The coins were worth about $96 million at the time of writing. 

Tether moves $3.9 billion in Bitcoin

The largest batch was moved a day earlier, when Ardoino reported three transactions totaling 25,812 BTC, worth approximately $2.7 billion at the time.

That included a 7,000 BTC transfer, worth more than $730 million, from Bitfinex as part of its investment into Twenty One, followed by a 14,000 BTC transfer from Tether, and 4,812.22 BTC (about $500 million) representing pre-funding for an initial equity raise.

Twenty One Capital aims to develop Bitcoin-native capital markets infrastructure, allowing products like lending, custody and asset issuance to operate directly on Bitcoin rails. 

It plans to go public via a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) merger with Cantor Fitzgerald’s Cantor Equity Partners, which values the company at $3.6 billion.

Twenty One is already the third-largest corporate Bitcoin holder in the world, trailing only behind Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) and Bitcoin mining firm MARA Holdings. 

Strategy shies away from proof-of-reserves

The high-profile transactions also highlight a growing divide in the crypto industry’s approach to transparency.

At the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor said that posting onchain proof-of-reserves is a “bad idea” that could pose security risks. Saylor said this dilutes the security of everyone involved, including the issuer, the custodians, the exchanges and the investors. 

Despite Saylor’s commitment to privacy, blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence has attempted to identify the company’s wallets. On May 29, Arkham claimed it had managed to find 87% of Strategy’s Bitcoin onchain.