A Coinbase challenger is being assembled in plain sight

Jack Mallers is a controversial, outspoken, brash bitcoiner. And he’s also done a lot for bringing bitcoin to the masses. So, when he got up on stage yesterday, you could kind of see what was coming a mile off. Mallers founded Strike, then became CEO of Twenty One Capital while still running Strike, then took Twenty One public on the NYSE in December via a SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners. It listed with 43,514 bitcoin on its balance sheet and Tether, Bitfinex and SoftBank behind it. What comes next has always been somewhat inevitable. Strike and Twenty One were always going to end up under one roof, the only question was when, and as it happens the answer is this week. On Wednesday, Tether, XXI’s majority shareholder, formally proposed a three-way merger between Twenty One Capital, Strike, and Bitcoin mining giant Elektron Energy… Featured by Fast Company and Nasdaq, RAD Intel continues to scale its AI platform, reporting growth from a $10M valuation to $225M+, over 20,000 investors, and recurring seven-figure enterprise contracts with Fortune 1000s. Backed by multiple institutional funds and supported by operators from Google, Meta, and Amazon. NASDAQ ticker reserved: $RADI. Allocations are limited and the share price is set to change again. Price Changes April 30 at 11:59pm PST. Invest at $0.91/share.* Mallers got up at the Bitcoin 2026 Conference and backed it on the spot, saying it was a great idea and that building a proper Bitcoin company, rather than a narrow payments app, was always the goal.[1] He’s right, but the more interesting question I think is with the clout of Tether behind it whether the combined business has the goods to challenge Coinbase as the world’s leading listed crypto company. Deal terms haven’t been published, and Tether is keeping the timeline vague, but the logic of what they’re stitching together is compelling. XXI brings a hefty bitcoin treasury, 43,514 BTC, second only to Strategy globally (by some margin we should add). Strike brings the financial services side, with bitcoin lending, payments, brokerage and custody, plus a fresh $2.1 billion credit facility and a new lending proof-of-reserves system built alongside Tether.[2] Elektron brings industrial-scale mining, around 50 EH/s of capacity, roughly 5% of global hashrate, all-in production costs under $60,000 per Bitcoin and over 5,500 bitcoin mined to date. Mallers calls it the four-pillar model. He drew a quadrant onstage in Las Vegas to make the point. Exchanges sit in the high-income, low-conviction corner, treasury companies sit in the high-conviction, low-income corner, and the merged XXI is being engineered to slot straight into the empty space in between. He even name-checked Coinbase as an exchange that ought to be holding more bitcoin on its balance sheet, which is about as close to declaring war on a competitor as you get in a keynote. XXI closed Wednesday at $7.83, down 1.7% on the day, and the stock is off more than 10% year-to-date as bitcoin’s recent slide has dragged the whole treasury sector lower. The merger announcement moved things though, with the stock jumping to $9.28 after hours before settling around $8.35.[3] Worth noting it’s also down from the SPAC $10 price, and from its early trading highs around $46 mid last year. So, what you’re looking at is a beaten-up stock that holds roughly $3 billion of bitcoin, is run by one of the most aggressive operators in the industry, has Tether as majority shareholder, and is about to potentially absorb a profitable lender and a top-five global miner. That sounds very appealing to me if you’re long-term view of bitcoin’s price is where I think it goes. It’s not without risks. Deal terms aren’t finalised, regulatory approval isn’t assured, SPAC-route stocks have an unflattering track record, and Strike’s valuation in any merger could dilute existing XXI holders. Until the structure is public, it’s also impossible to say whether the combined entity will trade at a premium to its bitcoin holdings or a discount. But if the next crypto cycle plays out anything like the last few, Bitcoin-native listed operators with real revenue, real hashrate, real lending books and a real treasury are going to be hunted by investors and the time to buy is always when everyone hates them the most. Coinbase has held it’s throne for a long time without much challenge, maybe XXI is now the first credible challenger and maybe XXI going from about $5 billion market cap to Coinbase’s $48 billion isn’t that big a leap the more you think about it. Trust in crypto, Adam Atlantic [1]https://tether.io/news/tether-investments-proposes-merger-plans-at-twenty-one-capital-to-accelerate-its-strategic-direction/ [2]https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/strike-ceo-jack-mallers-bitcoin-conference [3]https://cointelegraph.com/news/twenty-one-capital-proposed-merger-strike-elektron *Disclaimer: This is a paid advertisement for RAD Intel made pursuant to Regulation A+ offering and involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. The valuation is set by the Company and there is currently no public market for the Company’s Common Stock. Nasdaq ticker “$RADI” has been reserved by RAD Intel and any potential listing is subject to future regulatory approval and market conditions. Brand references reflect factual platform use, not endorsement. Investor references reflect factual individual or institutional participation and do not imply endorsement or sponsorship by the referenced companies. 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