Jack Mallers steps down as XXI Capital CEO as Tether’s plans to merge three bitcoin firms falls

Twenty One Capital (XXI), backed by Tether, has appointed Raphael Zagury as its new Chief Executive Officer. He takes over from Jack Mallers. The company also announced it is no longer pursuing a planned merger with Strike.

Jack Mallers is leaving his position on July 20th to concentrate on Strike, the bitcoin payment company he started. A recent announcement confirmed that Strike will continue operating as its own independent entity and will not be merging with Twenty One.

Tether, Twenty One’s controlling shareholder, confirmed the changes in a separate announcement.

As an analyst, I’ve been following Tether’s plan, announced back in April, to consolidate several of its businesses. They’re aiming to bring together Twenty One, Strike, and Elektron into a single, publicly traded company. The idea is to create a unified entity that covers their bitcoin holdings, financial services, and mining operations.

Twenty One plans to grow by buying existing companies, strengthening its financial services, and offering loans secured by Bitcoin.

XXI is little changed in pre-market trading.

CoinDesk has reached out to all three companies, but hasn’t heard back at the time of writing.