A $3.9 billion transfer moving 43,033 BTC was recorded on-chain and flagged by Whale Alert, with the receiving cluster matching the label used in Twenty One's intelligence dashboard known as XXI.
The timing coincides with the company's stated plans to move over 43,500 Bitcoin from escrow to its own vaults before it begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker XXI.
According to Whale Alert, the transaction involved 43,033 BTC, and the monitoring page showed a spot reference price of nearly $91,374 and minimal network fees at the time the transaction was made.
A screenshot shared across X shows the recipient as 3MEa4sPyGLCf2xQR5k68gUsxYSosJ6UhJh, the address that on-chain investigative tools associate with TwentyOne's custody arrangement. Minutes after the warning, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino posted, “XXI, that's it,” reinforcing the connection in public comment.
TwentyOne is scheduled to begin trading on December 9, and will move “more than 43,500 Bitcoins out of escrow and into our custody” as part of the closing process, followed by a proof-of-reserve update, according to X's Jack Mallers.
This statement provides a direct operational explanation for the massive consolidation event prior to the listing date and narrows the interpretation from new market orders executed by Tether on the warning date.
Corporate documents explaining the funding structure show Twenty One's formal relationship with Tether. Transaction documents list Tether and its related parties as the majority owners of TwentyOne, with SoftBank as a significant minority investor.
The outline of the terms is that Tether agrees to pre-purchase Bitcoin in an amount equal to its private investment in public equity and related debt securities and sell those coins to TwentyOne at cost at closing. This structure creates an escrow-like path where the coins are stored in a Tether-controlled or affiliated wallet until the de-SPAC is completed, at which point the coins are transferred to TwentyOne's control.
How the transfer of 43,033 BTC fits into the transaction settlement schedule
Interpreted through that lens, the movement of 43,033 BTC appears to be a settlement and storage adjustment related to the end of the milestone, rather than new net demand from Tether today.
Most economic purchases of this Bitcoin would have been made early under pre-purchase obligations and then stored in a warehouse until remittance. Therefore, the on-chain footprint reflects accounting and management changes that prepare the balance sheet for public market disclosure and audit, and not a sudden change in Tether's financial strategy.
Mallard's transparency note concerns the renewal of reserve certificates, with a short timeline for external verification. When Twenty One publishes its address and inventory details, the recipient of the transaction can check it against the company's disclosures.
Market participants who track companies' Bitcoin finances will be able to more reliably pinpoint the cause of this large cluster and monitor spending, multisig staking, or shifts to cold storage patterns commonly seen after going public. In previous cycles, similar moves by public companies have resulted in a distinct coin age profile and lower spending behavior, which can be observed over time through standard on-chain analysis without drawing conclusions about price.
A key nuance in the public conversation was whether Tether had “purchased” 43,033 Bitcoins on the day of the warning. This distinction is important in interpreting flows.
Under the stated funding structure, Tether's role was to raise the Bitcoin equivalent of PIPE and paper money and sell those coins to TwentyOne at the end of the transaction. This alert corresponds to inventory moving from an escrow or Tether-related holding point to an address used by TwentyOne, which coincides with back-office milestones associated with the listing calendar.
Mr. Ardoino's post and Mr. Mallards' previous statements provide the necessary support for that interpretation without relying on third-party commentary.
Chain data suggests: Moving inventory instead of buying on the spot market
For readers tracking how things work, on-chain reviews typically focus on configuration of inputs, changes to outputs, and clustering across recent transactions associated with labeled wallets.
The address 3MEa4sPyGLCf2xQR5k68gUsxYSosJ6UhJh can be cross-referenced with previous inflows from sources tagged as Twenty One Capital or Tether PIPE wallets on the intelligence platform and can be tracked forward as the coins are redistributed into cold storage.
If these movements occur, they will manifest as a series of peel transactions or bulk consolidations as managers finalize vault layouts for long-term storage prior to the revenue cycle.
Corporate relationships remain central. Majority ownership by Tether and Bitfinex, along with a reported minority stake in SoftBank, would tie TwentyOne's financial policies to an entity that already maintains large Bitcoin balances and infrastructure.
Pre-purchase clauses, combined with cost resale, reduce pre- and post-closing execution risk as non-SPACs modify their procurement mechanisms before closing. It also explains why the most important observable footprint is a transfer rather than a series of market orders at the time of listing.
For observers of market structure, this distinction helps distinguish between liquidity events and changes in control and avoids misclassifying custody movements as buying impulses.
The listing date clearly indicates the following checkpoints. According to Mallers, the company plans to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on December 9 under the ticker XXI, after which an updated proof of reserves will allow for a public adjustment of its holdings, which are currently valued at more than 43,500 BTC.
At that point, applications and investor communications can be compared to on-chain data to confirm the final status of the transfer sequence.
| item | detail |
|---|---|
| transaction size | 43,033 BTC, approximately $3.93 billion at the time of alert |
| observed receiver | 3MEa4sPyGLCf2xQR5k68gUsxYSosJ6UhJh |
| Stated retention goals | 43,500BTC or more |
| corporate link | Majority ownership in Tether and Bitfinex, minority ownership in SoftBank |
| mechanism | Tether pre-purchased BTC equivalent to PIPE and banknotes and resell to Twenty One at the end of the transaction |
| list | NYSE, ticker XXI, expected start date December 9 |
Whale Alert therefore flagged the on-chain transfer as using standard fee economics typical of high-value integrations, reinforcing the view that this was a planned settlement rather than a time-sensitive execution.
Mr. Mallards frames the transition from escrow to Twenty One's control as part of a logistics closure, and Mr. Ardoino's post publicly links this activity to XXI.
Transaction monitoring across intelligence platforms shows that the receiving address matches the cluster used by Twenty One, and further redistribution to cold wallets would be a typical next step before the company releases proof of reserve files.
The transfer therefore reads as a custody and management realignment tied to Twenty One's non-SPAC closure and listing calendar.
