A Difficult First Trading Session

Shares of Twenty One opened publicly on the New York Stock Exchange today under the ticker XXI. The company began trading through a SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners, but its first session was challenging. The stock fell roughly twenty five percent and settled near the private investment pricing level of ten dollars per share.

Despite strong anticipation around the listing, the market reaction showed caution from early investors.

Led by Strike CEO Jack Mallers

The company is led by Jack Mallers, best known as the founder and CEO of Strike, a payments platform built around Bitcoin rails. His involvement brought early attention to Twenty One, positioning it as a treasury business focused on holding and allocating Bitcoin at scale.

Mallers has long promoted the idea that companies should store value in digital assets rather than cash or short-term instruments. Twenty One is designed to be a listed vehicle aligned with that idea.

A Public Treasury Vehicle

Twenty One operates as a treasury company that holds Bitcoin as its core balance-sheet asset. It gives public market investors a way to gain exposure to BTC through traditional brokerage accounts while avoiding custody and transfer requirements.

The listing via SPAC created a straightforward path to the exchange, but public pricing now rests with open market sentiment rather than private valuation.

Trading Near PIPE Pricing Signals Market Skepticism

PIPE investors paid ten dollars per share in the financing round tied to the merger. With the stock now sitting near that level, the market is effectively stripping out most of the expected premium that typically follows a SPAC completion.

Trading near PIPE valuation often means investors are unconvinced that:

• Execution will scale quickly

• Bitcoin exposure alone justifies a higher premium

• The company will differentiate itself in future rounds

What remains is a starting point defined by fundamentals rather than optimism.

Why the Drop Matters

Public treasury companies tied to digital assets tend to move with Bitcoin cycles, institutional trends and equity sentiment. A weak debut does not determine long-term value, but it highlights that investors currently prefer visible cash flow or strong growth expectations.

For Twenty One, the market will want clarity on:

• Capital deployment strategy

• Bitcoin accumulation pace

• Balance sheet structure

• Operating costs and runway

• Potential institutional partnerships

Those details will shape how public markets price XXI over time.

What Comes Next

The company now begins its post-listing phase. That includes initial disclosures, upcoming quarterly reporting and potential Bitcoin allocation updates. If new treasury activity is announced, investor sentiment may shift.

For now, Twenty One enters the market with strong leadership credibility and a clear mission, but investors appear reluctant to assign a premium until real execution takes shape.