Tether proposes merging with Twenty One’s three parties: treasury + mining + finance

Tether Investments on April 29 proposed a three-way merger of Twenty One Capital (XXI, the bitcoin custody company listed on Nasdaq), Strike, a bitcoin financial services platform founded by Jack Mallers, and private bitcoin mining company Elektron Energy. Tether’s official announcement said the move is intended to strengthen XXI’s structure, capital allocation, and long-term roadmap. After the news was released, the share price of XXI rose.

After the merger: a full “one-stop” business lineup of custody, mining, and financial services

The three companies each have different core business areas, and the integration will form a single publicly listed company covering the entire bitcoin industry—from upstream to downstream:

Twenty One Capital (XXI) is a bitcoin custody company. It was originally jointly launched by Tether, SoftBank Group, and Jack Mallers in 2025, and obtained its Nasdaq listing status through a merger with Cantor Equity Partners. Its business model is similar to Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy)—raising funds through capital market instruments and allocating bitcoin as the primary asset on its balance sheet.

Strike is a bitcoin financial services company founded personally by Mallers, offering trading, custody, transfers, and bitcoin-collateralized lending. According to Tether’s announcement, Strike is currently in a profitable state and is one of the most well-known providers among bitcoin consumer-facing brands.

Elektron Energy is led by Raphael Zagury and is one of the largest private bitcoin mining operators in the world. Tether’s announcement figures: Elektron manages about 50 EH/s of hashrate (approximately 5% of the current bitcoin network) and has cumulatively mined more than 5,500 bitcoins. The all-in full cost to produce each bitcoin is currently below $60,000—one of the most efficient cost structures in the industry.

Leadership: Mallers as CEO, Zagury as President

The post-merger senior management structure proposed by Tether: Jack Mallers would remain CEO, leading product and brand; Raphael Zagury would become President, responsible for capital markets operations and execution. In its announcement, Tether said this division of responsibilities “combines Mallers’ leadership in product, brand, and the consumer end of Bitcoin with Zagury’s experience in capital markets, operations, and execution.”

Merger terms and timing are not yet disclosed—Tether’s announcement only states it is at the “proposal” stage, without publishing delivery schedules, valuation, or details of the equity structure. This means the three-way merger still needs approval by the board of directors, a shareholder vote, and possibly review by regulators. Overall, the process is expected to take several months.

Significance for the bitcoin industry: If the integration is completed smoothly, the new company would be one of the few firms to simultaneously hold large-scale mining hashrate (Elektron), a public-company capital markets channel (XXI), and mature consumer-end/lending financial services (Strike) in a “one-stop” setup. From a traditional finance perspective, this structure is similar to integrating an “energy company + investment bank + retail broker,” and it is the first attempt of its kind in the bitcoin industry. Key items to watch next include: how the merger valuation will be set, the positions of other existing shareholders such as SoftBank and Cantor Equity Partners, and whether regulators have concerns about an integration structure “dominated by Tether.”

This article about Tether’s proposal for a three-way merger of Twenty One first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.