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By Stephen Alpher, James Van Straten|Edited by Stephen Alpher
Jul 16, 2025, 3:23 p.m.
- Cantor Equity Partners 1 (CEPO) is trading sharply higher since an FT report hit late yesterday of an investment by Bitcoin pioneer Adam Back.
- According to the story, Back will help seed CEPO with 30,000 bitcoin belonging to him and his company Blockstream Partners.
- Far from being a liquidity event for Back, the move is another example of his desire to bring Bitcoin adoption more into the mainstream, said CoinDesk Senior Analyst James Van Straten.
Cantor Equity Partners I (CEPO) is changing hands just shy of $15 in morning U.S. action, up about 25% from the $12 level it traded at prior to a late-Tuesday story from the FT that the company and Adam Back were nearing a $3.5 billion funding deal.
To review, CEPO is the blank check bitcoin treasury company headed by Brandon Lutnick — chairman of Wall Street investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and son of Trump administration Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
According to the FT report, Cantor Equity Partners 1 would acquire 30,000 BTC (nearly $3.5 billion at current prices) from Back. In return, Back would receive equity in the vehicle, which would be renamed BSTR Holdings. CEPO is also seeking to raise another $800 million of additional capital to acquire even more BTC, the report said.
Cynics might believe that the move signals a desire by Back — one of Bitcoin’s OGs whose cryptography work was used by the network’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto — to cash in on some of his vast BTC holdings.
This couldn’t be further from the truth, according to CoinDesk Senior Analyst James Van Straten.
“Far from being a mere liquidity event for Back, this partnership underscores his long-term conviction that Bitcoin should become a core asset class in traditional finance portfolios,” said Van Straten. “Rather than cashing out, Back seems intent on leveraging institutional vehicles to push Bitcoin further into the financial mainstream, bridging the gap between btc-native innovation and Wall Street capital.”
Van Straten further noted that Back has invested his own cash in the funding of other bitcoin treasury strategy companies. “This deal reinforces the notion that Back’s priorities lie in expanding Bitcoin’s institutional use cases, not simply realizing gains on his holdings,” he concluded.
Stephen is CoinDesk’s managing editor for Markets. He previously served as managing editor at Seeking Alpha. A native of suburban Washington, D.C., Stephen went to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, majoring in finance. He holds BTC above CoinDesk’s disclosure threshold of $1,000.
James Van Straten is a Senior Analyst at CoinDesk, specializing in Bitcoin and its interplay with the macroeconomic environment. Previously, James worked as a Research Analyst at Saidler & Co., a Swiss hedge fund, where he developed expertise in on-chain analytics. His work focuses on monitoring flows to analyze Bitcoin’s role within the broader financial system.
In addition to his professional endeavors, James serves as an advisor to Coinsilium, a UK publicly traded company, where he provides guidance on their Bitcoin treasury strategy. He also holds investments in Bitcoin and Strategy (MSTR).
