Cantor Equity Partners I and Adam Back's Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company (BSTR) are revising the terms of their planned merger after weeks of delays as worsening market conditions put pressure on digital asset treasury companies.
Cantor, BSTR Rewrite Deal as Crypto Treasury Model Comes Under Pressure
9 July 2026 - 00:14 CEST
By Jona Jaupi
The companies said on 8 Jul they would not proceed with the merger under the original deal structure agreed in July 2025 and are instead negotiating new terms that "better reflect current market conditions."
BSTR, led by Bitcoin pioneer and Blockstream co-founder Adam Back, announced plans last year to go public by merging with Cantor Equity Partners I, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). A SPAC is a publicly traded shell company that merges with a private company to allow it to list on the stock market without an initial public offering (IPO).
Alongside the merger, BSTR planned to raise up to $1.5bn through private investments to buy more Bitcoin (BTC).
The companies now say private investment funding would no longer be a condition for closing the merger, but did not say whether BSTR still intends to raise fresh capital under the revised deal.
The changes put a key part of BSTR's original growth plan in doubt, as the company had paired its public listing with fresh capital to expand its Bitcoin holdings.
The announcement follows weeks of delays. A shareholder vote on the merger was originally scheduled for 26 Jun before being postponed to 2 Jul and then again to 10 Jul. The deal is now indefinitely postponed.
Shares of Cantor Equity Partners I (NASDAQ: CEPO) rose about 1.6% to close at $10.65 on 8 Jul, according to Yahoo Finance data.
Sandmark reached out to Cantor for comment but has not yet heard back.
Original deal
BSTR holds 30,021 BTC worth about $1.8bn on its balance sheet, making it the world's eighth-largest corporate holder of the crypto.
Bitcoin has fallen 43% over the past 12 months to trade at around $62,100 on 8 Jul, while Ether (ETH) has dropped about 34% to $1,735.
The declines have weighed on companies whose business is centred around holding digital assets.
More treasuries hit obstacles
The announcement comes as crypto treasury companies face a tougher market after several months of falling cryptocurrency prices and growing investor caution.
Several crypto treasury companies now trade below the value of the digital assets they hold, making it harder for them to raise new capital.
Strategy, the world's largest corporate holder of Bitcoin with holdings worth more than $52.2bn, recently scrapped its "never sell" policy by approving a plan that gives the company the option to sell BTC as needed to help fund operations and shareholder payouts.
The pressure has also affected several planned public listings. In April, Ether treasury company The Ether Machine ended its planned merger with Dynamix Corp. ReserveOne also cancelled its $1bn SPAC merger in June. Both companies cited market conditions.
Unlike those companies, BSTR said it still plans to complete a merger, although under new terms.
