Morning Edition · Monday, July 13, 2026Published at 1:24 AM EDT · New York

Cantor and Adam Back Abandon Original Terms of 30,021-Bitcoin Treasury Merger

The scrapped financing package, alongside a 95% collapse in Eric Trump's American Bitcoin, exposes the funding strain in debt-and-preferred Bitcoin treasury vehicles.

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Cantor and Adam Back Abandon Original Terms of 30,021-Bitcoin Treasury Merger

The vehicle meant to become one of the largest corporate holders of Bitcoin has lost the financing structure the deal depended on. Cantor Equity Partners I, a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) tied to Cantor Fitzgerald, and Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company (BSTR), led by Blockstream co-founder Adam Back, confirmed they will not close their combination under the original July 2025 terms. A July 8 Form 8-K said the two are negotiating a revised structure, that the private placements tied to the deal are no longer required to close, and that a shareholder vote set for July 10 was postponed indefinitely.

The deal was built around a balance sheet of 30,021 Bitcoin, worth more than $3.5 billion, and more than $1.5 billion in additional financing. What changed is not the Bitcoin, which BSTR's founders already hold, but investor appetite for the equity and preferred instruments meant to fund further accumulation. The companies said the new terms are intended to reflect current market conditions, which is the language of a transaction repriced downward.

The strain is not isolated. American Bitcoin, the mining and treasury firm backed by Eric Trump, has fallen more than 95% from its peak, a roughly $600 million paper loss on one insider stake, even as the company expanded its own reserve past 8,000 Bitcoin. At Strategy, the largest corporate holder, Michael Saylor revived buy-or-sell speculation with an ambiguous social post after the firm sold 3,588 Bitcoin and its shares traded near support around $95.

The shared problem is the gap between holding Bitcoin and financing the purchase of more of it. These vehicles raise capital through convertible debt, preferred shares, and at-the-market equity sales, then buy Bitcoin. When the funding instruments trade below par because investors doubt dividend coverage, the company cannot issue new paper to buy more coins, regardless of where the underlying asset trades. Bitcoin near $63,800 is not the immediate problem. The premium these companies once commanded over the coins they hold is.

What this means

The treasury-company model transmits capital-market conditions, not Bitcoin's spot price, into forced behavior. When preferred shares and convertibles trade below par, a vehicle cannot issue new paper to buy more coins, and under stress it becomes a potential seller rather than a reliable buyer. The exposed parties are common shareholders of these firms, who sit junior to the debt and preferred holders, and the broader Bitcoin market, which has come to rely on treasury-company demand as a marginal buyer. If several vehicles reprice or unwind at once, that source of demand weakens through the equity-issuance channel.

What to watch

Whether the revised BSTR-Cantor terms disclose a lower conversion price or reduced financing, which would confirm investors are demanding a discount to fund treasury accumulation.
Whether Strategy reports further Bitcoin sales rather than purchases in coming filings, a signal that even the largest holder is managing funding rather than adding.

Observations to monitor, not financial advice.

3 sources

Synthesized from: CryptoSlate · crypto.news · crypto.news (Saylor)

Part of a tracked trend

Leveraged Bitcoin Treasury Vehicles Show Financing Strain

Over ~3-9 months, Bitcoin treasury companies face mounting financing stress as their funding instruments trade below par on dividend-coverage doubts, testing the sustainability of the debt/preferred-funded accumulation model.