Twenty One Capital: Strategy's New Challenger

Twenty One Capital (ticker XXI) launched in 2025 as a bitcoin-only company set to challenge Strategy: with bitcoin from Tether and Bitfinex, money from SoftBank, Cantor Fitzgerald's SPAC and Jack Mallers as CEO. The stock has traded on the New York Stock Exchange since December 2025. As of November 2026 Twenty One holds 43’514 BTC, the same as on day one. Mallers has not been CEO since July 2026, the planned merger with his company Strike is off, and the new CEO is focused on cash flow rather than buying bitcoin. So far Twenty One is a challenger only on paper.

What a treasury company is and how it raises money for bitcoin is explained in Bitcoin treasury companies explained. This article is about one company that set out in 2025 to take the lead from Strategy, and about what is left of that ambition in November 2026.

Who is behind Twenty One Capital

Twenty One Capital was announced in April 2025. Behind it stand four names with a lot of weight in bitcoin and finance:

• Tether, issuer of the largest stablecoin USDT, as the main shareholder. Tether itself holds a little over 100’000 BTC (as of 30 Sep 2026) and contributed most of the bitcoin.
• Bitfinex, the exchange from the same group as Tether, as a further contributor of bitcoin.
• SoftBank, the Japanese technology investor, as a significant minority shareholder.
• Cantor Fitzgerald, the New York investment bank whose long-time chief Howard Lutnick became US Commerce Secretary in 2025. Its listed shell, Cantor Equity Partners, took Twenty One public.

The CEO was Jack Mallers, founder of the bitcoin payments app Strike and one of the best-known bitcoin entrepreneurs in the US. His promise: a company that holds only bitcoin, grows bitcoin per share and builds financial products for bitcoin holders on top.

The route to the market: a SPAC with Cantor Equity Partners

Twenty One did not go public through a classic IPO but through a SPAC. A SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) is a listed shell with no business of its own that raises money and then merges with a company. Afterwards the company is listed, without the long process of its own IPO.

The sequence at Twenty One, per the quarterly report for 30 June 2026:

The cost is notable: on average the bitcoin is on the books at about $84’900. On 30 June 2026 a bitcoin cost $58’628, at the end of September $83’618. Much of the holding was therefore contributed near the 2025 high.

Twenty One has two share classes. About 346.6m Class A shares trade. There are also about 215.7m Class B shares, which according to the quarterly report carry no economic rights, neither dividends nor a share of the assets, and are not listed. Only Class A shares therefore count for bitcoin per share.

Bitcoin holdings: 43’514 BTC and not a single purchase since

With 43’514 BTC, Twenty One ranked second among listed companies behind Strategy at launch. By November 2026 three companies are close together:

Per company filings. The site's treasury overview still shows Twenty One as of 30 June 2026; the third-quarter shareholder letter gives the same figure.

The difference is direction. Strategy bought over 100’000 BTC with money from preferreds in the twelve months to November 2026, according to its filings; Strive grew in 2026, partly through the acquisition of Semler Scientific in January 2026. Twenty One has not bought any bitcoin since the merger. In the first half of 2026 a single bitcoin left the balance sheet, used for a payment.

The reason is simple: a treasury company can only buy bitcoin with new shares without diluting its shareholders if the stock is worth more than the bitcoin behind it. That ratio is called mNAV. For Twenty One it stood at about 0.56× on 13 November 2026. Every new share would lower bitcoin per share.

Jack Mallers leaves, Raphael Zagury takes over

In April 2026 Twenty One announced a major overhaul: it wanted to acquire Strike and the bitcoin miner Elektron Energy and combine everything into one bitcoin platform. Three months later the plan was off.

On 20 July 2026 Jack Mallers stepped down as CEO and director to focus fully on Strike again. On 21 July 2026 Twenty One said it would no longer pursue the Strike acquisition; Strike remains independent. According to the quarterly report, the resignation was not related to disagreements over operations, policies or finances. The stock fell 15% to 18% on the news, according to reports.

The new CEO is Raphael Zagury, previously a director and head of the company that manages Elektron Energy. The quarterly report explicitly points to a possible conflict of interest: an Elektron acquisition would be a related-party transaction, and there are no binding commitments.

Zagury's first shareholder letter, for the third quarter (13 Nov 2026), sets different priorities from Mallers:

1. build a cash-generating business around the bitcoin holdings, with mining, lending, treasury and energy under review,
2. hold bitcoin as the long-term reserve,
3. strengthen the team in financial reporting, communications and technology,
4. capital discipline: walk away from deals on poor terms,
5. explore support for independent bitcoin open-source development.

Buying more bitcoin is not on the list. Bitcoin remains the benchmark, Zagury writes: any capital deployed must justify the risk and opportunity cost of not simply owning more bitcoin. Buybacks deserve serious consideration while the stock trades below the value of its assets.

Twenty One Capital and Strategy compared

mNAV as of 13 Nov 2026, from the treasury overview. Sats: 1 BTC = 100’000’000 satoshis.

With different share counts, bitcoin per share says little about value. Three differences matter:

Growth. Strategy keeps buying bitcoin, now mainly with money from preferreds, because MSTR also trades below 1×. How that works is shown in Strategy's capital structure. Twenty One has no such channel.

Leverage and collateral. Per bitcoin, Twenty One carries more debt than Strategy, and a good third of its coins sit as collateral with the noteholders. If bitcoin falls sharply, the secured creditor ranks ahead of everyone else, as described in What happens when a treasury company goes bust?. At a price of about $30’200, the 16’116 pledged BTC would be worth just the amount of the notes.

Control. At Strategy, Michael Saylor decides through his Class B shares with ten votes each. At Twenty One the big stakes sit with Tether, SoftBank and Bitfinex. The company's future does not hinge on a single founder.

Opportunities and risks of XXI stock

What speaks for Twenty One:

• Discount to bitcoin value. At 0.56×, a dollar of bitcoin costs about 56 cents through the stock, before debt. If the company buys back shares, bitcoin per share rises.
• Deep-pocketed shareholders. Tether earns billions on its reserves and has an interest in the project not failing.
• A simple structure. No preferreds, one note issue, one bitcoin holding.

What speaks against Twenty One:

• No business model yet. The shareholder letter names mining, lending and energy as fields under review. There is no operating business yet.
• Conflicts of interest. Buying Elektron Energy would steer money to a company the CEO himself works for.
• Dependence on Tether. Problems at the main shareholder, regulatory or commercial, would also hit Twenty One.
• Pledged coins and a 2030 maturity. If the stock is below the conversion price then, the company must repay $486.5m, if need be from its bitcoin.

Is Twenty One still a challenger?

Measured against its 2025 ambition: no. Twenty One set out to challenge Strategy with bitcoin purchases and bitcoin financial products. A year and a half after the announcement, it holds the same coins as on day one, has lost its founder and is looking for a business model. The market prices that with a deeper discount than Strategy's.

Measured by size: yes. With 43’514 BTC, Twenty One is among the four largest listed bitcoin holders, financed by some of the industry's best-capitalised firms. Whether it becomes a company that grows bitcoin per share or a holding that administers bitcoin will be decided by its next steps: buybacks, a business with real cash flow, and how it handles Elektron.

If you compare bitcoin treasury stocks, the current figures of all companies are on the treasury overview. How the leading company developed is shown in Strategy stock (MSTR).