Twenty One Capital holds 43,514 bitcoins, worth about $3.3 billion, and its CEO wants to tell the world why.
Direct attacks on card networks
Jack Mallers took the stage at the Bitcoin 2026 conference with one clear message: The reality is that the payment system that most Americans rely on every day is rigged against the people who run the businesses.
Mallers, who leads Twenty One Capital, said card networks such as Visa and Mastercard have built a structure that puts pressure on merchants while keeping consumers unaware of the perks. He argued that Bitcoin was the way out.
The math he presents is simple. Every time a customer swipes their credit card, the merchant on the other side loses 3-5% of their sales.
The money doesn’t disappear. It is recycled back to consumers in the form of cashback, airline miles, lounge access, etc. Rewards that feel like bonuses are actually funded by the businesses that accept the cards.
“They are holding merchants hostage and abusing customers,” Mallers said.
JUST IN: JACK MALLERS has just unloaded at Big Bank Live. #Bitcoin meeting
They are “holding merchants hostage” and “abusing customers.”
They want to control the system.
They want to stop cryptocurrency.BTC solved this problem 🔥 pic.twitter.com/JD6NPk6rDU
— Bitcoin Historian (@pete_rizzo_) April 29, 2026
What Bitcoin Offers Instead
Mallers said Bitcoin can move money around the world quickly and at a much lower cost than traditional card infrastructure allows.
This made it, he argued, more useful than gold, which was slow to transmit and difficult to use in everyday transactions. Gold deposit value. Bitcoin stores and moves value.
He also pointed out why most people are not yet using cryptocurrencies for daily purchases. His explanation was straightforward. People spend money they think will lose value and hold on to money they think will gain value.
The supply of Bitcoin is limited to 21 million coins, so holders hold rather than spend their Bitcoins in the expectation that their value will rise. Dollars, on the other hand, are spent because their value depreciates over time due to inflation.
Mallers said his goals aren’t just personal. He wants BTC payments to become a viable option for every entrepreneur and consumer in the country, breaking what he calls the “chokehold” card networks and centralized authorities have on how money moves.
More than just a conversation
Twenty One Capital’s Bitcoin holdings make Mallers the second-largest public cryptocurrency holder, according to data from Bitcoin Treasuries. At current prices, these 43,514 coins are worth approximately $3.3 billion.
His company’s stance makes it clear that his push for BTC adoption is not purely philosophical.
Still, the argument he makes — that small businesses absorb hidden costs every time they swipe their rewards cards — is one that merchants across the country have been making for years, long before cryptocurrencies entered the conversation.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
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