Back
Twenty One Capital appoints Raphael Zagury as CEO as Jack Mallers steps down

Twenty One Capital appoints Raphael Zagury as CEO as Jack Mallers steps down

A Tether-backed plan to combine Twenty One, Strike and Elektron has been abandoned, while a separate deal with Elektron remains under review and Strike stays independent.

BTC
USDT

Fact Check
The primary official source, the Tether.io announcement dated 21 July 2026, directly confirms every element of the claim: Raphael Zagury appointed CEO of Twenty One Capital, Jack Mallers stepping down to focus on Strike, and the planned merger being ended with XXI and Strike remaining independent. This is corroborated by the cryptobriefing article and the PANews report (citing Bloomberg, July 21, 2026). The April 2026 CoinDesk article establishes the original three-way merger proposal now reversed. All sources are consistent.
Summary

Twenty One Capital has named Raphael Zagury chief executive officer after Jack Mallers stepped down, while abandoning plans for a Tether-backed combination with Strike and Elektron. Strike will remain independent, and Twenty One said a separate transaction with Elektron is still under review but has not reached a definitive agreement. The change unwinds an April proposal that would have combined Twenty One’s Bitcoin treasury business, Strike’s financial services platform and Elektron’s mining infrastructure under one corporate group spanning treasury management, payments, lending and mining. Mallers said he stepped down to focus on Strike, the company he founded, while Zagury took over as CEO effective July 20 after previously serving as a Twenty One director and leading the team behind Elektron Energy. Twenty One is now repositioning itself as a broader Bitcoin-focused operating company centered on operating businesses, capital markets services, Bitcoin-backed financial products and lending. The shift comes after Tether increased its control of the company by acquiring SoftBank’s entire stake in May, and after Twenty One received an NYSE compliance notice following board departures that left its audit committee below required independence levels.

Terms & Concepts
  • Bitcoin treasury: A company strategy built around holding Bitcoin on its balance sheet as a core corporate asset.
  • Bitcoin-backed financial products: Financial offerings that use Bitcoin as collateral or as the underlying asset for lending or other services.
  • related-party transactions: Deals between companies or individuals with existing connections that typically require additional review to address potential conflicts of interest.