American financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald is reportedly planning to acquire more than $3.5 billion worth of Bitcoin from Adam Back’s Blockstream Capital.
Brandon Lutnick, the 27-year-old son of US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, is close to finalizing a deal to purchase Bitcoin (BTC) through his firm Cantor Fitzgerald, according to reports in the Financial Times and Bloomberg on Tuesday that cited people familiar with the matter.
The deal involves Cantor Equity Partners 1, a blank-check special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that raised $200 million in January, and Blockstream Capital, a crypto trading group founded by Bitcoin pioneer Adam Back.
BlockStream could swap 30,000 BTC for Cantor stake
BlockStream would reportedly contribute as much as 30,000 Bitcoin, currently worth $3.5 billion, in exchange for shares in the Cantor vehicle, which would be renamed BSTR Holdings.
The deal also includes plans to raise up to $800 million in additional outside capital for further Bitcoin purchases.
The Financial Times reported a deal could come as early as this week, but the terms of it could still change.
Cantor diving into Bitcoin
If completed, the deal would make Cantor one of the world’s top Bitcoin buyers, and its combined crypto purchases between its two vehicles, BSTR Holdings and Twenty One Capital, could reach nearly $10 billion this year, the reports noted.
The latest news follows a previous $3.6 billion crypto deal Cantor Fitzgerald made with SoftBank and Tether in April to create the Bitcoin acquisition company.
Brandon Lutnick became chair of the finance firm in February after his father was confirmed as Trump’s trade official.
Strategy copycats emerging
The move is part of a broader trend of Bitcoin-native capital formation as companies strategize around maximizing BTC per share rather than just earnings per share.
Related: Maple Finance, FalconX secure Bitcoin-backed loans from Cantor Fitzgerald
Twenty One Capital aims to emulate Michael Saylor’s Strategy, which has accumulated $70 billion worth of Bitcoin since 2020. Cantor closed its first Bitcoin lending deal in May.
Back is a notable figure in the history of Bitcoin, as his 1997 Hashcash cryptographic work was cited by Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, and became foundational to Bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus.
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