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Tether Investments, XXI's majority shareholder, proposed merging Twenty One Capital (NYSE: XXI) with Jack Mallers' Strike, then with Raphael Zagury's Elektron Energy (~50 EH/s, ~5% of network hashrate, all-in <$60K/BTC). Combined entity: 43,514 BTC treasury, 50 EH/s mining, 100+ country financial-services distribution, $2.1B Tether-funded Bitcoin-backed lending facility. Mallers stays CEO, Zagury proposed as President. Announced at Bitcoin 2026 keynote — same slot Mallers used for the El Salvador legal-tender announcement in 2021.

Strategic read (Galaxy's): the pure-play DAT trade is dead. Most DATs (including Strategy at times) now trade ≤1.0x mNAV; XXI listed at $10 PIPE in Dec, has drifted lower. Controlling shareholders are converting treasury vehicles into operating companies that can generate cash flow and justify a multiple on something other than BTC-per-share growth. Mining + financial services are the two highest-cashflow Bitcoin-only verticals, so XXI is targeting the right surfaces first.

Bigger picture: this is Tether's onshoring vehicle into US public markets. Tether now controls 140K+ BTC, USDT circulation hit ~$189B, and most of that operating empire has been opaque, El Salvador-domiciled, outside US securities reach. Rolling Strike + Elektron into NYSE-listed XXI migrates significant pieces onshore into a regulated, audited, US-reporting structure. If executed, this is arguably the most strategically significant publicly-traded Bitcoin-only company outside Strategy — and unlike Strategy, it has real operating cash flow alongside the treasury. Governance complications: Mallers is on both sides of Strike, Tether on both sides of Elektron — special committee, fairness opinions, and majority-of-the-minority vote needed. Zagury is also a central figure in pending Swan/Tether litigation.

DeFi yields are in survival mode — Aave stables 2%, Ethena/Sky under 4%, Pendle PTs can't clear 6%. STRC (Strategy's perpetual preferred, 11.5% monthly dividend, backed by 767K+ BTC) breaks the ceiling. Three protocols bring it onchain: Apyx Finance ($121M supply; apxUSD/apyUSD), Saturn Credit ($44.6M TVL in under a month; USDat/sUSDat), Buck ($2.2M). Flywheel: deposits → protocols buy STRC → Strategy issues shares → buys BTC → attention flows back to DeFi. This is the catalyst that brings liquidity back onchain.

Lorenzo argues the market prices durability over near-term fees when valuing blockchains, rewarding ecosystems like Ethereum and Solana that demonstrate deeper capital, stronger moats, and broader on-chain economies rather than those with higher immediate revenue.

Guy and Liz argue Bitcoin remains underutilized as digital collateral—thousands of BTC sit dormant rather than active in DeFi due to limited programmability. Babylon's trustless vaults architecture using witness encryption and garbled circuits enables native Bitcoin lending without wrapping or custodians, unlocking the largest source of untapped onchain capital. They're backing Babylon with a $15M $BABY purchase, betting on expansion into lending and eventually perpetual futures and stablecoins.

MONK sees Wall Street entering crypto as traditional finance exhausts growth narratives, with everyone overexposed to AI and software companies no longer captivating investors. This shift positions $ETH to capture institutional capital fleeing saturated markets.

Felipe argues that while the crypto industry's future looks promising, a repeat of the 2020 bubble is unlikely. He expects fundamentally strong assets to perform well, distinguishing between quality projects that will succeed and speculative froth that won't return.