Cantor Fitzgerald to Acquire $3 Billion in Bitcoin from Adam Back

Cantor Fitzgerald is on the verge of finalizing a significant deal worth approximately $4 billion with Adam Back, a prominent figure in the bitcoin community. This deal involves Cantor Equity Partners 1, a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that raised $200 million in its January IPO, acquiring over $3 billion worth of bitcoin from Back. The negotiations are in their final stages, with terms being discussed that would see Back, the founder of Blockstream Capital, contribute up to 30,000 bitcoins valued at over $3 billion to Cantor Equity Partners 1. In return, Back and Blockstream Capital would receive equity in the SPAC, which is set to be renamed BSTR Holdings.

This move aligns with Cantor Fitzgerald’s broader strategy of leveraging publicly listed shell vehicles to accumulate bitcoin, following a previous initiative led by Brandon Lutnick, the 27-year-old son of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, alongside SoftBank and Tether, where about $3.6 billion was invested in bitcoin. The deal is expected to be completed within days, coinciding with what some lawmakers have dubbed “crypto week” as Congress considers digital-currency legislation. If finalized, Cantor would rank among the globe’s leading purchasers of cryptocurrency.

Brandon Lutnick, who took the chairmanship in February after his father’s confirmation as the administration’s chief trade representative, is leading Cantor’s crypto push. Combined with acquisitions through a second listed vehicle, Twenty One Capital, Cantor’s total bitcoin purchases could approach $10 billion by year-end. Adam Back, widely recognized as one of the earliest champions of cryptocurrency technology, introduced the Hashcash proof-of-work mechanism in 1997, which was cited by Satoshi Nakamoto in the original Bitcoin white paper. He co-founded Blockstream in 2014, a blockchain-technology company backed by investors such as Khosla Ventures and Baillie Gifford.

This transaction reflects a broader movement in which SPAC structures are deployed to acquire bitcoin, as investors look to mirror Michael Saylor’s approach at MicroStrategy Ltd. Other recent players include a blank-check enterprise led by crypto advocate Anthony Pompliano. The deal comes amid a pro-crypto shift in Washington, with the GOP pushing forward a suite of blockchain-friendly legislation. The timing positions Cantor and Blockstream at the forefront of institutional Bitcoin accumulation, a strategy popularized by Strategy's Michael Saylor. Back, a longtime cryptography expert and the inventor of Hashcash, has been an early force in Bitcoin infrastructure through his company, Blockstream, which was founded in 2014 and backed by firms like Khosla Ventures and Baillie Gifford. Back has also recently funded multiple crypto-treasury projects across Europe, further reinforcing his commitment to institutional Bitcoin adoption.