How Jack Mallers Launched Twenty One, the New Frontier of Bitcoin Treasury

At just 31 years old, Jack Mallers has already built an entrepreneurial legacy that few can boast in the cryptocurrency sector. Founder of Strike and involved in El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender, the visionary entrepreneur is now writing a new chapter in his career: the creation of Twenty One, a treasury company entirely dedicated to Bitcoin. In a recent interview, Mallers revealed how a simple chat on Telegram with Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino sparked the idea that led to the birth of this new enterprise.

The Genesis: From a Group Chat to an Entrepreneurial Decision

The story of Twenty One begins in a surprisingly informal way. Mallers and Ardoino, longtime friends sharing a similar vision of Bitcoin’s role in global finance, were in a group conversation on Telegram with other Tether executives. During these exchanges, they discussed common projects related to Bitcoin, open source, and how they could push the world toward a direction aligned with their values.

“We considered companies like Evolve and thought: surely a credible Bitcoin treasury company, capitalized in Bitcoin, will emerge,” Mallers recounts. “At some point, we started asking each other: why don’t we create it? If no one else intends to do it, then we should.” Twenty One was established within a few weeks of that crucial decision, marking a turning point in the Bitcoin asset management landscape.

SoftBank’s Entry: 10,500 Bitcoin and a New Scale

The catalyst that transformed Twenty One from an ambitious idea into a concrete reality was SoftBank’s interest, the Japanese investment giant. The Japanese company joined the project as a strategic launch partner, but with a proposal that caught Mallers’ attention: a one-billion-dollar investment.

“They wanted to invest one billion dollars,” Mallers explains, “and we responded: we are a Bitcoin company, so we accept your contribution in Bitcoin.” This approach reflects Mallers’ core philosophy: think not in terms of traditional currencies, but exclusively in Bitcoin. At the time of capitalization, one billion dollars was equivalent to about 10,500 Bitcoin, a figure SoftBank accepted as a reference point for its investment.

With this operation, Twenty One entered the world of top-tier Bitcoin asset management. The company is preparing to operate with at least 2,000 Bitcoin in its treasury, positioning itself as the third-largest Bitcoin reserve globally—a significant achievement given the company’s young age.

From Futures Trader to Money Mission

To fully understand the motivation driving Mallers to build Twenty One, it is essential to trace back to his origins in the financial sector. Mallers entered the Bitcoin world through futures trading experience, when an announcer explained to him the real mechanisms of money and how governments erode the value of currencies through printing new money and inflation.

This awareness catalyzed a profound transformation in Mallers’ thinking. What started as curiosity about Bitcoin evolved into a personal mission: to demonstrate that depoliticizing money issuance could free humanity from economic distortions imposed by centralized monetary systems.

Bitcoin as a Moral Code: Mallers’ Vision

When Mallers talks about Bitcoin, he doesn’t simply describe it as a digital asset or an investment opportunity. His perspective is deeper and more philosophical. “Bitcoin, before its computer code, before it is an asset, before it is an ETF, for me represents a moral code,” Mallers affirms with conviction.

According to his vision, Bitcoin’s fundamental principles revolve around five pillars: you must not censor, you must not inflate, you must not confiscate, you must not counterfeit, and you must not steal. These values transcend the purely financial context and take the form of a declaration of ethical principles.

“Bitcoin is not just a group of hedge funds discussing in Miami clubs,” Mallers continues, “Think of it as an ethical and moral code that we are all working on to create a safe space in the world where we can exist freely.” This rhetoric links Twenty One’s business enterprise to a higher purpose: building a financial ecosystem based on freedom and transparency, rather than centralization and control.