Twenty One Capital’s NYSE debut sees 20% fall – What scared investors?

The much-anticipated New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) debut of Twenty One Capital, was immediately met with a harsh market reality check on the first day. Trading under the ticker XXI, Twenty One Capital is a Bitcoin-native firm backed by power players like Tether, Bitfinex, and SoftBank, 

Shares of the crypto treasury company plunged by nearly 20% on 09 December, following the completion of its SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners.

CEO Jack Mallers on Twenty One Capital

While CEO Jack Mallers has publicly insisted the firm is building beyond simple Bitcoin accumulation, focusing on “utility services” and a corporate architecture for new financial products, investors might be unconvinced.

The massive drop, which saw the stock open at $10.74 and close at $11.42, suggested that Wall Street is doing more than just pricing in the broader pressure on crypto-related stocks.

Remarking on the same in an interview, CEO Maller noted,

“Yes, we own a lot of bitcoin. Yes, we’re going to acquire as much as we possibly can, but we’re also about to launch a ton of business lines and produce profit that’s related to bitcoin, and that’s a lot of why we created the company in the first place.”

What impact did it have?

Needless to say, the aforementioned fall hinted at a stunning and highly publicized valuation paradox.

According to Reuters’ calculations, the company’s core asset, a massive Bitcoin [BTC] treasury, is alone worth more than $3.97 billion, based on Bitcoin’s closing price of $91,350.

The fact that the newly public equity is trading at a significant discount to its underlying Bitcoin holdings spotlights Wall Street’s deeply cautious position on crypto-linked vehicles.

This skepticism has been compounded by the deal’s structure – A merger with Cantor Equity Partners (CEP), a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) backed by institutional powerhouse Cantor Fitzgerald and led by Brandon Lutnick.

While CEP’s stock had previously surged by a dramatic 380% for the year in April on the merger’s prospect, the ultimate market reaction has been a blunt commentary.

It also underlines the recent track record of high-profile crypto SPACs debuting during a period when Bitcoin has fallen by over 28% from its October high of $126,223.

Harder and harder for DATs…

Twenty One Capital’s difficult debut comes on the back of the entire Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) sector facing intense scrutiny.

Market observers are now placing renewed focus on the ‘mNAV’ metric, a company’s enterprise value relative to its raw crypto holdings, amid the broader cryptocurrency drawdown.

According to John Todaro, Senior Research Analyst at Needham,

“It’s becoming harder for DATs to raise capital and we are in an environment now where DATs need to show material differentiation to warrant the mNAV multiples they were trading at earlier in 2025,”  

The debut of Twenty One Capital, a highly anticipated event following its high-profile SPAC merger, serves as the most recent, stark indicator that the market’s honeymoon with the leveraged “Bitcoin Treasury” model may be officially over.

However, the struggles of Twenty One are not isolated.

How are other Bitcoin firms doing?

Both Metaplanet in Japan and Strategy itself are facing a silent reckoning driven by the punishing calculus of the market-to-NAV (mNAV) ratio.

Metaplanet’s abrupt pause on Bitcoin purchases, despite deep price dips, and its frantic $500 million credit line for stock buybacks demonstrate the near-crippling effect a sub-1x mNAV has on a company’s ability to finance new growth.

Similarly, Strategy’s swift $1.44 billion equity raise, designed to calm FUD and reinforce its “never sell” philosophy, underscores the intense liquidity stress caused by market volatility.

Final Thoughts

• Twenty One Capital’s rocky NYSE debut signals a major shift in market sentiment.
• Company’s steep discount to its own Bitcoin holdings highlights a growing disconnect between crypto assets and equity market confidence.