Cantor Fitzgerald Nears $4 Billion Bitcoin Deal with Blockstream Founder Adam Back
Financial Times reported today that Cantor Fitzgerald, LP is close to a $4 billion SPAC deal that would aim to acquire billions of dollars worth of bitcoin, signaling one of the largest bitcoin and other crypto purchases ever made by a Wall Street linked firm.
The deal involves Cantor Equity Partners 1, a blank cheque vehicle that raised $200 million in January, and Adam Back, founder of Blockstream. Back, a pioneer in the industry and whose Hashcash proof-of-work system is foundational to securing the Bitcoin blockchain, is expected to contribute up to 30,000 Bitcoin to the Cantor Equity Partners 1, valued at over $3 billion.
The vehicle also plans to raise up to $800 million in outside capital to expand bitcoin purchases, bringing the total deal value to more than $4 billion. In exchange for the Bitcoin, Back and Blockstream Capital would receive shares in the Cantor Vehicle, which will be renamed BSTR Holdings.
“A deal could come as early as this week, said the people, who cautioned that terms could still change,” Financial Times reported. “If completed in the coming days, it would come during what Republican lawmakers have dubbed “crypto week” as they debate legislation tied to digital currencies.”
This would be Cantor’s second major bitcoin acquisition this year, following a $3.6 billion venture with SoftBank and Tether in April. Combined, Cantor’s total bitcoin and other crypto acquisitions this year could reach nearly $10 billion through BSTR Holdings and Twenty One Capital.
The firm is aggressively positioning itself as a leading institutional bitcoin and crypto buyer under the leadership of Brandon Lutnick, who was appointed chairman in February after his father, Howard Lutnick, became US Commerce Secretary.
“The Cantor deal would mark the latest in a series of high-profile deals where special purpose acquisition companies are used as vehicles to buy bitcoin, as investors seek to emulate billionaire bitcoin evangelist Michael Saylor’s company, called Strategy, in hoarding the digital currency,” Financial Times stated.
Back, who co-founded Blockstream in 2014 with backing from Khosla Ventures and Baillie Gifford, has also made recent personal investments in bitcoin firms across Europe. These include a €5 million equity investment in France’s The Blockchain Group and a $15 million convertible bond for Swedish health tech and Bitcoin treasury firm H100 Group.
This post Cantor Fitzgerald Nears $4 Billion Bitcoin Deal with Blockstream Founder Adam Back first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.
