Twenty One Capital Pivots to Operating Model After Leadership Shakeup

Twenty One Capital is shifting its core business strategy to evolve beyond its role as a corporate bitcoin vault. The NYSE-listed firm, backed by Tether, is moving toward an operating model to diversify its revenue streams and stabilize its market valuation.

Following the departure of founder Jack Mallers, who stepped down to return to his payments company, Strike, Raphael Zagury has taken over as CEO. Under Zagury's leadership, the company is transitioning from a passive treasury into a diversified bitcoin operating company. This strategic pivot involves acquiring cash-flow-generating businesses to complement the firm's massive balance sheet, a move Zagury intends to model after the conglomerate approach of Berkshire Hathaway.

The Treasury Foundation

Twenty One Capital currently holds 43,514 BTC, positioning it as one of the largest publicly traded bitcoin treasuries in existence. Historically, the firm operated as a corporate counterpoint to MicroStrategy, focusing primarily on the accumulation of digital assets. However, the recent exit of Mallers—which also saw Strike abandon a proposed merger with Twenty One—has provided the catalyst for a fundamental change in how the company intends to create value for shareholders.

Solving the Valuation Gap

This pivot signals a significant shift in the "bitcoin treasury" playbook. By moving toward an operating model that incorporates diversified cash flows and lending services, Twenty One Capital is attempting to address a persistent industry challenge: the valuation discount. Many public treasuries find that the market values the company at less than the actual sum of its bitcoin holdings, a metric tracked via the multiple to net asset value (mNAV).

By integrating active business operations, the firm hopes to decouple its stock price from the volatile swings of the bitcoin market and provide a more sustainable financial structure. The transition aims to prove that a public bitcoin treasury can successfully evolve into a sustainable financial conglomerate rather than remaining a simple proxy for the underlying asset.

Future Expansion

As part of this new direction, the company is exploring a potential acquisition or combination with Elektron Energy, a bitcoin mining operation. Such a move would mark the first concrete step in Zagury's plan to acquire operating businesses that generate independent cash flow.

Investors are now watching to see if this hybrid model—combining a massive digital asset reserve with active industrial operations—can eliminate the valuation discount and create a new blueprint for corporate bitcoin adoption.