Strike three: Twenty One merger with Strike and Elektron called off, Mallers exits CEO seat 🚫

A planned merger between Tether-backed Twenty One Capital, the Bitcoin payments firm Strike, and Bitcoin miner Elektron Energy has been scrapped, according to Bloomberg. Jack Mallers will step down as CEO of Twenty One Capital while continuing to lead Strike, which will keep operating as a standalone company rather than combine with Twenty One.

Discussions between Twenty One Capital and Elektron Energy remain ongoing, Bloomberg reported. Tether holds majority stakes in both Twenty One and Elektron. Twenty One Capital's (XXI) shares were little changed in Tuesday's premarket activity on the NYSE.

The proposal, which had been backed by Tether in April, envisioned combining Twenty One Capital with Strike and then merging the combined entity with Elektron Energy. Twenty One Capital launched in 2025 with backing from Tether, Cantor Fitzgerald, and SoftBank. Tether acquired SoftBank's stake in the company in May.

Twenty One held 43,514 Bitcoin at the time of writing, according to tracking website BitcoinTreasuries, making it the world's second-largest corporate BTC holder behind Michael Saylor's Strategy.