The proposed merger between Twenty One Capital (XXI), Strike and Elektron Energy would make XXI the second most influential public Bitcoin company after MicroStrategy, said Alex Thorne, head of Galaxy Research.
Tether Investments, XXI’s majority shareholder, said this week that it would vote in favor of merging the company with financial services company Bitcoin Strike, followed by a merger with mining operator Elektron Energy.
Galaxy positions XXI as MicroStrategy’s closest competitor
XXI already owns 43,514 Bitcoin (BTC), making it the second-largest public company holding Bitcoin after MicroStrategy.
Strike adds bitcoin-backed brokerage, custody, and lending services across more than 100 countries. Meanwhile, Elektron Energy contributes about 50 EH/s of hash rate, about 5% of the Bitcoin network, and production costs are reported to be less than $60,000 per coin.
In Galaxy Research’s weekly brief issued on May 1, fork He argued that the combined entity would have something MicroStrategy lacks.
“Combined XXI/Strike/Elektron… is arguably the most strategically important company that is publicly traded in just Bitcoin other than Strategy, and unlike Strategy, will have meaningful operating cash flows alongside its treasury,” Thorne said. He explained.
Related party relationships and litigation over Swann weighed on the deal
Galaxy pointed to governance hurdles. Jack Mallers serves as CEO of both XXI and StrikeWhile Tether holds majority stakes in both XXI and Electron.
The board will likely need a special committee, fair opinions and a vote of a majority of minority shareholders, Thorne said.
Elektron CEO Rafael Zagori, who was recommended by Tether to serve as president of the combined company, is a defendant in parallel Swan Bitcoin lawsuits in California and the United Kingdom.
Swan alleges that Zagori and other former executives conspired with Tether in 2024 to expropriate a mining joint venture.
Tether revealed at Bitcoin 2026 that it now controls more than 140,000 BTC, suggesting that XXI may serve as the US-listed face of the broader repatriation effort.
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