A proposed merger between Twenty One Capital, Strike and Bitcoin miner Elektron Energy has been abandoned, Bloomberg reported.
- Twenty One Capital stock fell more than 18% on Tuesday after founder Jack Mallers resigned as chief executive officer.
- Mallers resigned while citing disagreements with the board about the company’s direction, but will continue as CEO of Strike.
- Meanwhile, Raphael Zagury, CEO of Elektron Energy, will succeed him as head of Twenty One Capital.
Twenty One Capital (XXI) shares crashed in morning trade on Tuesday after founder Jack Mallers resigned as chief executive officer, citing disagreements with the board.
XXI stock slid more than 18% to a record low of $4.46 on Tuesday amid news of the merger collapse and leadership change. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around XXI shifted to ‘neutral’ from ‘bearish’ territory, while chatter around it remained at the ‘high’ levels over the past day. Message volume for the stock was down by 62.5% in the last seven days.
The stock has been on a steady decline since it peaked at an all-time high of nearly $47 in May 2025, sliding through the rest of 2025 and into 2026, with a short-term rebound to around $9 in early May before resuming its slide. XXI stock is now trading roughly 90.6% off that all-time high.
Jack Mallers Cites Board Disagreement As Reason
Mallers said his decision to step down wasn’t easy but was “the right one” for himself and shareholders, announcing his resignation Tuesday on X. According to him, the board didn’t have his vision for the company.
"However, over time, it became clear that the board and I did not agree on the path toward building for that vision. Not in bad faith. Not because anyone was wrong," said Maller. Maller added that he will continue as CEO of Strike, the Bitcoin (BTC) payments company he founded. Strike will remain a standalone company, and there are no plans to merge with Twenty One Capital, he said.
Three-Way Merger Scrapped
According to a Bloomberg report, a planned three-way merger between the Tether-backed company and Strike and Elektron Energy has now reportedly fallen apart. Twenty One Capital, Strike and Elektron Energy have canceled plans to merge. The deal, which Tether (USDT) first proposed in April, would have combined Twenty One’s digital-asset treasury, Strike’s crypto trading platform and Elektron’s Bitcoin mining operations under one roof.
Elektron CEO Raphael Zagury will be taking over as CEO of Twenty One Capital. The world’s largest issuer of stablecoin USDT, Tether, has majority stakes in both Twenty One and Elektron. Tether had bought out SoftBank’s remaining interest in Twenty One Capital to become the sole owner of the firm in May. SoftBank’s representatives on the XXI board resigned on the closing of the deal, as required by the shareholder agreement. However, no financial terms were disclosed.
Now, while the original three-way structure is off, talks between the two companies continue, Zagury told Bloomberg.
Tether CEO Credits Maller’s Journey
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino credited Mallers with building XXI into a public company, calling Zagury "one of the best operators in this industry" with "a track record of building businesses with strong cash flows and disciplined execution."
The stock has been down over 50% so far this year. One user, among many, on Stocktwits said they were still bullish.
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