Tether Goes Full Bull: Stablecoin Giant Drops $459M on Bitcoin Treasury Play
Tether—the controversial stablecoin issuer that somehow always has cash—just made its biggest Bitcoin bet yet. The $459 million purchase signals a strategic pivot into crypto reserves, with newly formed subsidiary 21 Capital managing the stash.
Wall Street analysts are already sharpening their knives: ’Nothing boosts confidence like a stablecoin backer gambling 9% of its reserves on volatile assets,’ quipped one hedge fund manager. Meanwhile, Bitcoin maximalists are popping champagne—this is institutional adoption on crypto’s terms.
The move comes as Tether quietly builds a shadow financial empire. From financing emerging market dollar demand to now hoarding BTC, the company operates like a central bank—just without the transparency or accountability. Love it or hate it, they’re writing the playbook for crypto’s next act.
Tether’s Treasury Firm
Twenty One Capital plans to launch with a substantial treasury of more than 42,000 BTC worth approximately $4.4 billion. Tether and Bitfinex will be the majority owners, with SoftBank holding a minority stake.
Under incoming CEO Jack Mallers, who also runs Bitcoin payments firm Strike, the venture aims to raise nearly $600 million through convertible notes and private-equity investments. It intends to offer Bitcoin lending services alongside other financial products.
The big Bitcoin buy also comes shortly after Tether reported more than $1 billion in revenue in the first quarter.
Tether is among several large companies that have been aggressively scooping up BTC this month. Michael Saylor’s Strategy hoovered up a whopping 13,390 Bitcoin for $1.34 billion while Japanese investment firm Metaplanet added a further 1,241 BTC to its treasury, which surpassed that of El Salvador on May 12.
Corporate Buying Outpaces Retail
Bitcoin investment firm River reported that businesses were outpacing exchange-traded products, governments, and even individual investors for overall Bitcoin accumulation growth this year.
It noted that overall corporate holdings growth so far in 2025 totalled 157,000 BTC, worth more than $16 billion at current prices.
Last month, Bitwise reported that at least twelve public companies bought Bitcoin for the first time in Q1 2025, and the amount of BTC held by publicly traded companies ROSE by 16% for the period.
Over the weekend, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju said Strategy had turned Bitcoin into a deflationary asset as it was buying at a faster rate than total miner output, giving the asset a -2.3% annual deflation rate.
