Twenty One Capital's board appointed Raphael Zagury chief executive effective July 20, 2026. He replaced founder Jack Mallers, who stepped down to focus on his other company, Strike. Twenty One said so in a press release filed with the SEC on July 211. Zagury had already sat on Twenty One's board as an independent director. He had chaired its audit committee on an interim basis. “Twenty One holds one of the largest Bitcoin balance sheets in the public markets,” Zagury said in the release. “My job is to build the operating company around it, with the discipline, governance, and executional rigor of an institution”.
The second CEO appointment at Twenty One Capital on the record since 2025
Every move CryptoLately has verified there, by the day it became public
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| April 23, 2025 | Mallers became CEO. Jack Mallers was named Chief Executive Officer of Twenty One Capital |
| June 8, 2026 | Lalljie joined the board. Paul S. Lalljie joined the board of Twenty One Capital |
| July 20, 2026 | Mallers left as CEO. Jack Mallers left as Chief Executive Officer of Twenty One Capital |
| July 20, 2026 | Zagury became CEO. Raphael Zagury was named Chief Executive Officer of Twenty One Capital |
18 CEO appointments on the record in 2026 so far
CEO appointments CryptoLately has verified, by year; 2026 through Oct. 2, 2026
- 2026: 18
- 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 8 |
| 2020 | 7 |
| 2021 | 6 |
| 2022 | 18 |
| 2023 | 17 |
| 2024 | 26 |
| 2025 | 35 |
| 2026 | 18 |
The move
Zagury resigned from the board's audit, compensation and nominating committees effective July 15, five days before his appointment took effect. He stayed on the board as a director1. CoinDesk reported that the change came after Tether's plan to combine Twenty One with Strike and the bitcoin mining company Elektron Energy fell apart. Strike dropped out of the proposed three-way merger entirely2. Zagury founded and leads Elektron. The release called it one of the largest and most efficient bitcoin mining companies in the world.
Zagury's background sits in finance rather than bitcoin mining alone. He began his career on Wall Street, the release said, as a managing director at Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch and a vice president at Goldman Sachs1. From there, he co-founded the boutique investment bank One Partners. A later venture, the Brazilian fintech lender OpenCo, made him chief financial officer. He led capital raises backed by SoftBank, IFC and LTS Investments. Yale gave him an MBA, and IBMEC gave him a bachelor's degree in economics, the release said.
Twenty One before and after
Mallers had run Twenty One since its April 2025 launch. Zagury worked the board's audit seat on the side during that stretch. Under Zagury, Twenty One named five priorities. The priorities cover governance infrastructure, operating businesses built on a model the release compared to Berkshire Hathaway's, capital markets work, a bitcoin-measured acquisition framework, and new lending products1. CoinDesk reported that Twenty One was weighing a two-way combination with Elektron alone, now that Strike had dropped out2.
What to watch
Zagury's own words set the bar his tenure will get measured against: "cash flow we generate" and “the rigor with which we allocate capital, not only by the Bitcoin we hold”1. Watch Twenty One's next financial filing for cash flow from an operating business. A combination announcement between Elektron Energy and Twenty One would be the next test, now that Strike has left the table.
Sources
- Twenty One Capital, "Twenty One Capital Appoints Raphael Zagury as Chief Executive Officer," SEC EX-99.1, July 21, 2026, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2070457/000121390026079805/ea029862901ex99-1.htm
- Francisco Rodrigues, "Twenty One Capital CEO steps down as Tether's plans to merge three bitcoin firms falls," CoinDesk, July 21, 2026, https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/07/21/jack-mallers-steps-down-as-xxi-capital-ceo-as-tether-s-plans-to-merge-three-bitcoin-firms-falls