Strike’s Mallers to head firm seeking superior Bitcoin play to MSTR

Twenty One Capital, a new Bitcoin treasury company led by Strike founder Jack Mallers with the support of Tether, SoftBank and Cantor Fitzgerald, is looking to supplant Michael Saylor’s Strategy to become the “superior vehicle for investors seeking capital-efficient Bitcoin exposure.”

Twenty One revealed it plans to launch with 42,000 Bitcoin (BTC) (worth $3.9 billion) with roughly 23,950 BTC coming from Tether, 10,500 BTC from Softbank and 7,000 BTC from Bitfinex, which will be converted into equity at $10 per share, according to an April 23 statement.

The firm is seeking a public listing via a blank-check merger with Cantor Equity Partners and will trade under the ticker XXI on the Nasdaq once it finalizes an agreement with investors to raise $585 million through convertible bonds and equity financing.

“Our mission is simple: to become the most successful company in Bitcoin, the most valuable financial opportunity of our time. We’re not here to beat the market, we’re here to build a new one,” said Mallers, the founder and CEO of Bitcoin payments-focused firm Strike.

Twenty One specifically compared its business model to Strategy’s in an investor presentation to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, claiming it is potentially a “superior vehicle for investors seeking capital-efficient Bitcoin exposure.”

It claimed that Strategy’s ability to create shareholder value through future Bitcoin purchases will be limited because the firm — which holds 534,741 BTC — would need to make even larger investments to increase its Bitcoin Per Share, or BPS, thus diminishing the per-share dollar impact of future capital deployments.

Twenty One said it would be a more “pure play” for investors seeking Bitcoin exposure with Bitcoin-native operations and more “flexibility” for strategic capital raises. 

A launch of 42,000 Bitcoin would make Twenty One the third-largest corporate Bitcoin holder, trailing only Strategy and Bitcoin mining firm  MARA Holdings, which holds 47,600 BTC, according to BitcoinTreasuries.NET data.

Twenty One also intends to build out several Bitcoin-focused offerings, including Bitcoin debt and equity products, an advisory service, a lending platform and an educational platform.

“Twenty One’s mission will be to accelerate Bitcoin adoption and Bitcoin literacy at both institutional and retail levels,” the firm said.

Related: Bitcoin ETF inflows top 500 times 2025 average in 'significant deviation'

The firm will also partner with industry players to host Bitcoin conferences.

The news sparked a massive 54.2% price rally in Cantor Equity Partners (CEP) shares to $16.50 on April 23 and has risen another 25.1% in after-hours, Google Finance data shows. CEP will convert to XXI once the $585 million agreement is completed.

The venture strengthens Tether’s ties with Cantor, which manages US Treasury reserves backing Tether’s USDT, which boasts a market cap of $145.3 billion. Cantor also owns a 5% stake in the stablecoin issuer.

Twenty One will be majority-owned by Tether and crypto exchange Bitfinex, while Japanese investment holding firm SoftBank will own a “significant” minority share.

Magazine: Ethereum maxis should become ‘assholes’ to win TradFi tokenization race