After losing $130 million on Bitcoin, why did SoftBank's Masayoshi Son buy Bitcoin again?

The Japanese investment giant Soft Bank Group and its founder Masayoshi Son are once again closely linked to Bitcoin. This time, Soft Bank is not making a direct personal investment, but instead chooses to support an ambitious new Bitcoin investment company - Twenty One Capital. This move marks SoftBank's re-entry into the cryptocurrency space after suffering a painful lesson years ago when Masayoshi Son personally lost $130 million on Bitcoin investments. The market can't help but ask: what has made this former "victim" decide to return to the arena? Will this time really be different?

In April 2025, a U.S. Bitcoin company named Twenty One Capital officially announced its establishment. The company is clearly positioned as a "Bitcoin-First Company," aiming to create a company centered around Bitcoin as its core asset and business, with ambitions targeting the current leader in corporate Bitcoin holdings—Micro Strategy. The lineup of Twenty One Capital is indeed luxurious. First of all, the leader is Jack Mallers, the founder of the Bitcoin Lightning Network payment application Strike, who serves as the CEO. Mallers has long been an active advocate for Bitcoin payments and promoting government adoption. Secondly, the strong backers include stablecoin giant Tether, Japanese technology investment giant SoftBank Group, and Cantor Fitzgerald, which provides SPAC shell companies. According to reports, the company will go public by merging with Cantor Equity Partners (CEP), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) under the well-known financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald. Under the agreement, the merger will be accompanied by a large-scale financing activity, totaling up to $585 million, and the raised funds will primarily be used to purchase Bitcoin and support the company's daily operations. To ensure that the Bitcoin position can be in place in a timely manner, Tether has committed to sell an equivalent amount of Bitcoin to Twenty One after the merger is completed. This means that once the merger and financing are completed, Twenty One Capital will immediately hold over 42,000 Bitcoins. At the current price of approximately $95,000 per coin, the value of this batch of Bitcoins is close to $4 billion. This will propel Twenty One to become the world's third-largest publicly traded company holding Bitcoin, following MicroStrategy and Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital Holdings.

SoftBank, as one of the main supporters of Twenty One, is undoubtedly the focus of market attention. After all, Masayoshi Son's personal investment experience in Bitcoin has not been pleasant. Looking back to the end of 2017, during the ICO craze and Bitcoin's first surge to a historical high of $20,000, Masayoshi Son personally invested funds to buy Bitcoin. However, with the market crash at the beginning of 2018, he chose to cut his losses and exit, resulting in a short-lived speculation that led to a personal loss of up to $130 million. This painful experience once made Masayoshi Son cautious and even skeptical about cryptocurrency. So, why did SoftBank (and Masayoshi Son behind it) decide to re-enter a market that once cost them dearly many years later? Market analysis of SoftBank's motivation for this return may involve considerations on several levels: The market environment has changed dramatically: Compared to 2017-2018, the cryptocurrency market, especially Bitcoin, has changed dramatically. The successful listing of Bitcoin spot ETFs in the U.S. signifies that institutional-grade funds are entering the market on a large scale and compliantly. The regulatory framework, while still evolving, is clearer than it was back then. Market infrastructure, custody services, derivatives markets, etc. are also far more mature than they were back then. Wave of Institutional Adoption: The successful demonstration effect of microstrategies and the growing number of publicly traded companies, funds, and even sovereign wealth funds starting to incorporate Bitcoin into their balance sheets or portfolios have created a wave of institutional adoption that cannot be ignored. SoftBank's indirect participation by supporting Twenty One can be seen as a continuation of this trend and avoid missing out on potentially huge opportunities. Evolution of Investment Strategy: This time SoftBank is not a personal speculation of Masayoshi Son, but a strategic investor to support a company with a clear business model and a professional team. Twenty One's goal is to build an ecosystem around Bitcoin, not just holding assets waiting for appreciation. This more strategic layout is fundamentally different from Son's personal behavior of chasing up at a high point. SoftBank's own transformation and pressures: In recent years, SoftBank's portfolio, especially in tech start-ups, has faced challenges, and even incurred quarterly losses (such as a surprise loss of $2.4 billion in the most recent quarter). In the context of increasing pressure in the traditional investment field, looking for new areas with high growth potential, such as Bitcoin and related ecosystems, may become a strategic choice for SoftBank to diversify risks and seek breakthroughs. Re-evaluation of Bitcoin's value: After years of market education and validation, Bitcoin's value proposition as a potential store of value and a tool to hedge against the risks of the fiat currency system may have been re-recognized and accepted by SoftBank. The SoftBank Group's return to the Bitcoin stage by supporting Twenty One Capital is undoubtedly an important event in the trend of institutional adoption of Bitcoin. Compared to Masayoshi Son's personal speculative losses in 2018, this method of participation is more strategic, backed by strong partners, and has a clear plan for building an ecosystem around Bitcoin. The maturation of the market environment and the increasing institutional interest also provide a more favorable backdrop for this return. However, the shadows of history and market concerns still exist. Masayoshi Son and SoftBank are known for their high-risk, high-return investment style, and their past investment decisions have not always been successful. The inherent high volatility of the Bitcoin market, along with macroeconomic uncertainties, casts a shadow over the future of Twenty One.

Therefore, it may still be too early to answer the question of whether "this time is different." What is certain is that SoftBank's strategy has evolved and is no longer merely price speculation. Whether Twenty One can successfully challenge MicroStrategy's position, and whether it can achieve its growth target for "Bitcoin returns" in a volatile market, ultimately depends on the execution capability of its leadership team, the market's acceptance, and the long-term development of Bitcoin itself. For market observers, SoftBank's return provides an excellent case study to observe how traditional capital giants strategize and maneuver in the emerging digital asset world. #Cryptocurrency Market Rebound