Jack Mallers is out as CEO of Twenty One Capital, the NYSE-listed Bitcoin treasury firm. Raphael Zagury, founder of mining firm Elektron Energy, takes over immediately. The move comes as Twenty One Capital scraps its planned merger with Mallers' payment company Strike and Elektron Energy, and sets a new course toward becoming an institutional-grade operating company.
The CEO transition
Mallers stepped down to focus fully on Strike, the Bitcoin payments platform he founded. He had been running both companies. Zagury, who previously worked at Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, and Goldman Sachs, brings a traditional finance background to the role. He also founded Elektron Energy, a Bitcoin mining and infrastructure firm, which was part of the now-dead merger.
Three-way deal abandoned
The planned combination of Twenty One Capital, Strike, and Elektron Energy is off. Strike will remain a standalone business. The deal was scrapped without explanation, but the move lets Mallers double down on payments while Twenty One Capital focuses on a different strategy.
New direction for Twenty One Capital
Twenty One Capital holds 43,514 Bitcoin — roughly $2.8 billion. It went public via a SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners and is backed by Tether, Bitfinex, Cantor Fitzgerald, and SoftBank. Zagury says the firm will now be judged on cash flow and capital allocation, not just its Bitcoin stash. The model is inspired by Berkshire Hathaway: build a diversified operating company, not a single-asset holding vehicle.
Mallers' focus on Strike
Mallers said in a statement: 'Serving Bitcoiners has always been the mission, and that doesn't change. Strike is where I carry it forward.' Strike remains a payments-focused operation, separate from Twenty One Capital's new institutional push. What comes next for the treasury firm is a concrete shift: Zagury will now have to execute on the Berkshire-style pivot, with no merger distractions.
