The Vision Behind Jack Mallers' New Bitcoin Treasury Company Twenty One

At just 31 years old, Jack Mallers has already left an indelible mark on the cryptocurrency landscape. Beyond his entrepreneurial ventures and role in bringing Bitcoin to El Salvador as legal tender, he’s now spearheading Twenty One, an ambitious new firm designed to compete among the world’s largest Bitcoin-holding institutions. In a recent conversation with CoinDesk, Mallers revealed how this venture came to life and what Bitcoin truly represents to him beyond markets and valuations.

From Bitcoin Philosophy to Corporate Reality

Before Twenty One existed, Jack Mallers had already built a track record that few in the industry could match. His previous projects—Strike, a payment platform, and his involvement with Zap—demonstrated his commitment to bringing Bitcoin and its underlying principles into mainstream adoption. But his motivation extends far deeper than commercial success.

Mallers traces his Bitcoin journey back to formative conversations with his father, a futures trader, who taught him how monetary systems actually function. This education sparked an obsession with a fundamental problem: how governments debase currency through endless printing and inflation. That concern remains the engine driving his current work. “My message is Bitcoin before its computer code, before it’s an asset, before it’s an ETF,” he explained. “To me, it’s moral code.”

Building Twenty One: A Telegram Conversation That Changed Everything

The story of Twenty One began in an unlikely place—a group chat on Telegram with executives from Tether. Jack Mallers and Paolo Ardoino, who leads Tether from its headquarters in El Salvador, had already collaborated on multiple initiatives spanning open-source development, Bitcoin infrastructure, and their shared vision for El Salvador’s future.

"We were watching this space evolve and thought, ‘surely there’s going to be a blue chip, credible Bitcoin treasury company—one that’s actually capitalized on Bitcoin,’ " Mallers recalled. Over time, their casual discussion evolved into a challenge: if no one was building what the market needed, why not them? “Friends should be the change they want to see in the world,” he said, capturing the collaborative spirit that launched the venture.

The company came together remarkably quickly. What began as a conceptual discussion in mid-2025 crystallized into a fully formed partnership within weeks.

SoftBank’s Billion-Dollar Bitcoin Wager

The real turning point came with SoftBank’s decision to join as a launch partner. The Japanese investment giant committed to investing $1 billion—an extraordinary validation of Bitcoin’s role in institutional portfolios. But Jack Mallers and his team had one condition: the contribution had to be denominated in Bitcoin, not dollars.

“I don’t think in dollars, I think in Bitcoin,” Mallers emphasized. At the time of the arrangement, a billion dollars converted to approximately 10,500 BTC. This approach wasn’t merely symbolic; it reflected a fundamental difference in how Twenty One approaches value storage and corporate strategy.

The company officially launched with a minimum of 2,000 Bitcoin, positioning it as the third-largest Bitcoin treasury globally. This ranking places Twenty One among an elite group of institutions—corporate and otherwise—that have chosen to hold significant Bitcoin reserves.

Bitcoin as Moral Code, Not Just Asset

What distinguishes Jack Mallers’ approach is his refusal to reduce Bitcoin to financial terminology. Rather than viewing it as a commodity or investment vehicle, he frames it as a set of principles embedded in its protocol: no censorship, no inflation, no confiscation, no counterfeiting, no theft.

“Think of it as ethical, moral code that we’re all working on to create a place in this world where we can safely exist,” Mallers stated. This philosophy reflects a growing movement within institutional Bitcoin holders who view the technology not as a speculative asset but as infrastructure for a fundamentally different approach to money.

What Twenty One Signals About Bitcoin’s Evolution

The emergence of Twenty One—backed by major institutional players like SoftBank and led by figures like Jack Mallers who combine entrepreneurial success with philosophical conviction—represents a milestone in Bitcoin’s journey toward the center of global finance. It signals that serious institutional players now see Bitcoin treasury holdings as a core business function, not a fringe experiment.

For Jack Mallers specifically, Twenty One represents the latest chapter in a career dedicated to proving that Bitcoin’s value extends far beyond price appreciation. It’s about removing politics from money issuance and creating systems where financial freedom isn’t a luxury but a fundamental right. Whether through Strike, involvement in El Salvador’s adoption, or now through Twenty One, his mission remains consistent: bringing the principles embedded in Bitcoin code to the real world.