Tether-controlled Twenty One Capital ( XXI ) named Raphael Zagury as CEO, replacing Jack Mallers, and dropped Strike from a proposed three-way merger, the companies said.
Mallers stepped down effective July 20 to focus on Strike, the bitcoin payments company he founded. Strike remains independent and is no longer being considered for a business combination with Twenty One, according to a press release.
Tether, Twenty One’s controlling shareholder, confirmed the changes in a separate announcement.
Tether proposed combining Twenty One, Strike and Elektron in April, seeking to place bitcoin treasury, financial services and mining under one publicly traded company.
Twenty One’s revised strategy will focus on acquiring operating businesses, expanding capital markets opportunities and developing bitcoin-backed loans.
XXI is little changed in premarket trading.
CoinDesk has reached out to all three companies, but has not heard back at the time of writing.
