Jack Mallers, founder of Bitcoin payments company Strike, stepped down as CEO of Twenty One Capital on July 20 and returned to Strike to focus on Bitcoin payment and financial services. Yahoo Finance and CoinDesk reported that Twenty One Capital, or XXI, named Raphael Zagury as the new CEO at the same time.
Mallers exits XXI and returns to Strike
Mallers is the founder of Strike, a Bitcoin payments and financial services platform that previously played an important role in El Salvador’s national Bitcoin adoption initiative. According to the ABMedia report, Tether selected him in the second half of 2025 to lead Twenty One Capital as chief executive.
The leadership change took effect on July 20. After leaving the CEO role at XXI, Mallers moved back to Strike to focus on BTC payment-related operations.
Tether’s original three-company merger plan is no longer proceeding
Strike’s exit has ended the three-way merger structure that Tether proposed in April. The original plan involved three businesses:
- Twenty One Capital, described as a Bitcoin treasury company
- Strike, a Bitcoin financial services company founded by Mallers
- Elektron Energy, a Bitcoin mining company
ABMedia cited an April 30 report saying the proposal was designed to bring Bitcoin treasury operations, mining, payments, lending and capital markets activities into one listed company.
With Strike no longer part of the structure, Twenty One Capital is now only in talks with Elektron Energy on a two-party merger and is also reshaping its broader corporate strategy.
Zagury takes over while Tether keeps control
XXI has appointed Raphael Zagury as its new CEO. Specific details about his background and the scope of his authority have not yet been publicly disclosed.
ABMedia also noted that a May 21 report by Chain News said Tether completed the purchase of SoftBank’s stake in Twenty One Capital in May, strengthening its control over XXI. That leaves Tether as the main controlling shareholder even as the company changes leadership and revises its merger path.