** Shares of blank-check vehicle Cantor Equity Partners CEP.O rise 23.6% to $20.33 premarket

** CEP shares soared 55.4% on Wednesday

** Wall Street brokerage Cantor Fitzgerald teams up with Tether and SoftBank Group 9984.T for $3.6 bln crypto venture, wagering that interest in bitcoin BTC= will expand under U.S. President Donald Trump

** The deal, announced on Wednesday, has CEP merging into newly formed Twenty One Capital

** Combined vehicle valued at $3.6 bln, based on a bitcoin price of ~$85,000 and Twenty One launching with more than 42,000 bitcoins, which will make it the world's third-largest bitcoin treasury, Twenty One says

** Tether will contribute $1.6 bln worth of bitcoin to the venture, while Bitfinex, a crypto exchange linked to Tether, and SoftBank will put up $600 mln and $900 mln, respectively

** Twenty One will be majority owned by Tether and Bitfinex, while SoftBank will have a minority ownership

** Twenty One will trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol "XXI" after the deal closes

(Reporting by Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru)

((Sukriti.Gupta@thomsonreuters.com;))