Bitcoin treasury Twenty One Capital has named Raphael Zagury as chief executive officer, a leadership change that arrives seven months after the firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Jack Mallers, founder and outgoing CEO, is stepping down to focus entirely on Strike, his Bitcoin payments company. “I’m grateful to everyone at XXI and everyone who believed in what we built. Serving Bitcoiners has always been the mission, and that doesn’t change. Strike is where I carry it forward,” Mallers said in a statement.
Twenty One Capital, which trades under ticker XXI on the NYSE, holds 43,514 Bitcoin coins valued at approximately $2.8 billion at the time of the announcement. The firm is the second-largest public Bitcoin treasury according to Bitcointreasuries.net and is based in Austin, Texas.
Zagury previously founded and led Elektron Energy, a large-scale Bitcoin mining and infrastructure business. He held roles as managing director at Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch, and as vice president at Goldman Sachs. He also co-founded OpenCo, a fintech company that was among Brazil’s largest lenders at one point.
In his new role, Zagury outlined a shift in operational focus. “My job is to build the operating company around [Twenty One], with the discipline, governance, and executional rigor of an institution. I believe our business will perform best when we also focus on the cash flow we generate and the rigor with which we allocate capital, not only by the Bitcoin we hold,” Zagury said.
Twenty One Capital was formed through a joint effort by Tether, Bitfinex, Cantor Fitzgerald, and SoftBank. The company debuted on public markets in July 2025 through a SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners, a blank check company affiliated with Cantor Fitzgerald.
In April 2026, Twenty One had floated a plan to consolidate the firm, Strike, and Elektron Energy into a single Bitcoin-native platform. According to Bloomberg reporting, that deal has been scrapped. Strike will remain a standalone business and is no longer under consideration for a merger.
Mallers added in a separate statement: “XXI was built by Bitcoiners, for Bitcoiners. During my role as CEO, we defined a vision for a Bitcoin-native financial enterprise. As I focus my efforts fully at Strike, I look forward to watching the next phase of growth at XXI.”
