Adam Back helped build Bitcoin’s foundations — now he’s taking BSTR to Nasdaq

Backed by Adam Back and built around a Bitcoin-per-share model, BSTR is set to enter the public markets through a Cantor Fitzgerald-led SPAC.

A $3.5 billion bet on Bitcoin

On Jul. 17, Bitcoin Standard Treasury Reserve (BSTR) announced plans to enter the public markets through a merger with Cantor Equity Partners I (CEPO), a special-purpose acquisition company affiliated with Cantor Fitzgerald.

CEPO is led by Brandon Lutnick, son of former U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and shows growing interest from traditional finance in structured Bitcoin exposure.

As part of the transaction, BSTR disclosed a reserve of 30,021 Bitcoin (BTC), currently valued at around $3.5 billion.

Of this, 25,000 bitcoin has been contributed by founding shareholders, including Blockstream Capital and Adam Back, while the remaining 5,021 bitcoin came through PIPE participation.

The company is also raising up to $1.5 billion in additional financing through the same private placement structure. At current prices, this could be used to acquire over 12,500 more bitcoin, substantially increasing its reserve base if the capital is fully deployed.

The deal is expected to close by the fourth quarter of 2025, pending regulatory approvals and the completion of PIPE commitments. Once finalized, CEPO will be renamed BSTR Holdings and listed on Nasdaq. The final ticker has not yet been confirmed.

The company has also added institutional experience to its leadership. Sean Bill, a veteran investor who previously helped a U.S. pension fund become one of the first to allocate to Bitcoin, is joining as chief investment officer.

BSTR’s announcement comes in the wake of new accounting standards. In December 2024, the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board approved a change allowing firms to mark digital assets to fair market value.

The new rule replaced the older impairment-only model and removed a longstanding barrier to holding volatile assets like Bitcoin on corporate balance sheets.

BSTR is more than just a treasury play

Unlike most public firms, BSTR does not plan to measure its performance through revenue or net income. Instead, it will use Bitcoin per share as its core financial metric.

BSTR’s approach is underpinned by its thesis that Bitcoin can function as a reliable economic base and treasury benchmark, even within a regulated, publicly listed corporate structure.

To fund its launch, BSTR is raising up to $1.5 billion across three instruments: $400 million in common equity, $750 million in convertible notes, and $350 million in convertible preferred stock. These offerings are expected to close ahead of the merger’s finalization in Q4 2025.

The PIPE investors contributing 5,021 BTC will hold equity exposure to a Bitcoin-native firm, allowing them to indirectly participate in BTC’s long-term monetization without holding the asset directly.

Market reaction to the announcement was corrective. CEPO’s stock price fell over 17% to $13.15 before recovering and closing at $14.28 on Jul. 17. 

Beyond treasury accumulation, Back envisions BSTR as a full-stack platform offering Bitcoin-native capital markets services, including in-kind yield strategies, Bitcoin-denominated lending, staking or yield-generation tools, and strategic advisory services for both corporate and sovereign treasury management.

The structure of the deal also cites Cantor Fitzgerald’s deepening involvement in Bitcoin-related capital markets.

Cantor Fitzgerald is already backing a $3.6 billion venture formed in April with Tether and SoftBank, known as “Twenty One Capital,” which initially amassed 42,000 BTC, making it a sibling project.

Cumulatively, Cantor’s crypto acquisition efforts for 2025 are projected to exceed $10 billion, pointing to its broader institutional ambitions.

The Adam Back continuum

Adam Back has been part of Bitcoin’s story since long before it entered the public conversation. 

Born in London in 1970, he earned a PhD in distributed systems from the University of Exeter, with early work centered on cryptographic libraries and peer-to-peer networking. 

In 1997, he created Hashcash, a proof-of-work mechanism designed to reduce email spam. 

More than a decade later, that same mechanism was cited directly by Satoshi Nakamoto in the Bitcoin white paper, making Back one of the few people named in the foundational document of the world’s first cryptocurrency.

In 2014, he co-founded Blockstream, a company dedicated to building infrastructure around Bitcoin. Under his leadership as CEO since 2016, Blockstream has expanded into mining, broadcasting, custody, and layer-2 innovation. 

The firm helped develop the Lightning Network for near-instant micropayments, built the Liquid sidechain for faster and more private transactions, and launched satellite-based nodes that allow Bitcoin to be accessed in remote or censored regions.

At recent industry events such as Paris Blockchain Week, Back outlined his view of Bitcoin as both “digital gold” and “super-collateral,” capable of supporting sovereign reserves, pensions, and new forms of credit.

In interviews, he often talks about earlier digital cash projects like DigiCash, noting how their centralized architectures ultimately failed and how that experience shaped Bitcoin’s emphasis on decentralization, proof-of-work, and incentive-driven design.

Back remains closely tied to the cypherpunk tradition. He has consistently advocated for privacy-preserving technologies, open-source development, and the importance of keeping financial infrastructure permissionless. 

His contributions span both theory and implementation, and his role in Bitcoin’s evolution remains both technical and philosophical. BSTR represents a continuation of this work in a new format.

BSTR joins growing list of public BTC-holding firms

With over proposed 30,000 BTC reserve, BSTR would enter the public markets as one of the largest corporate Bitcoin holders to date, trailing leaders like Strategy (previously MicroStrategy) and Marathon Digital.

As of this writing, Strategy remains the largest corporate holder, having accumulated over 600,000 BTC since its initial purchases in 2020.  The firm’s valuation continues to gauge investor sentiment tied to Bitcoin, trading at a price well above its net asset value.

Among public miners, Marathon Digital holds an estimated 49,000 BTC, while Riot Platforms and CleanSpark have reserves of approximately 19,000 and 12,600 BTC respectively. 

Other non-mining companies have followed a different path. Tesla, Block, Galaxy Digital, and Coinbase have each reported Bitcoin holdings ranging from 8,500 to 15,400 BTC, often as part of a diversification effort rather than a dedicated reserve strategy.

Several smaller or less expected companies have also entered the space. Firms such as GameStop, Next Technology, and Metaplanet have either redirected cash reserves or raised funds to acquire Bitcoin, adopting policies that mirror the early moves made by Strategy. 

BSTR’s model introduces a variation within this group. It is not focused on mining or product-based revenue and does not accumulate Bitcoin as a passive reserve. 

The SPAC route provides additional flexibility for future treasury growth. Similar to how exchange-traded products have attracted investor capital, BSTR is expected to use public market instruments such as PIPEs, convertibles, and equity offerings to increase its holdings. 

The overall regulatory environment is also becoming more favorable. Legislative proposals like the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act are under congressional review and are expected to bring clearer definitions and frameworks for digital asset holdings in public companies.

There are still structural risks. Companies that accumulate Bitcoin through external capital rather than internal revenue may be exposed to greater volatility if prices fall. 

Transparency around treasury management, funding strategy, and long-term planning will remain central to how firms like BSTR are evaluated going forward.