Jack Mallers’ Twenty One Capital has become the second-largest publicly traded Bitcoin treasury, holding 43,514 BTC — valued at more than $2.9 billion at the time of reporting, according to BitcoinTreasuries data. The company went public late last year via a SPAC deal with Cantor Equity Partners and now trades on the NYSE under the ticker XXI; its shares are down more than 25% year-to-date.
The shift in rankings followed Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) selling 15,133 BTC (roughly $1.1 billion) in March 2026, which pushed Marathon from second to third place and left Japan’s Metaplanet trailing with 35,100 BTC. Bitcoin Treasuries analyst Tyler Rowe flagged Marathon’s sales as a warning sign: he says the miner “borrowed aggressively to stack sats during the bull run and is now selling Bitcoin at a loss to service that debt,” illustrating the risks of debt-fueled treasury strategies. Rowe contrasted that approach with treasury models that treat Bitcoin as collateral — using holdings to finance further acquisitions — and questioned whether miners can sustainably pivot into treasury operators without years of capital-markets infrastructure.
Observers view the reshuffle as part of broader strain across crypto treasuries and miners. A bear market that began in October 2025 and prolonged declines in equity prices have squeezed companies that relied on cheap financing.
That risk was flagged by venture firm Breed in June 2025, which warned only a few crypto treasury firms might survive a ‘‘death spiral’’ of contracting market net asset values (mNAVs). As access to inexpensive financing fades, companies trading at or below NAV could be forced to liquidate Bitcoin to meet debt obligations. Deng Chao, CEO of asset manager HashKey Capital, told Cointelegraph that firms treating crypto holdings as short-term speculative bets are most likely to capitulate between cycles, while treasuries that stick to disciplined, long-term strategies stand a better chance of weathering multiple market cycles.
The ranking change underscores growing scrutiny of balance-sheet strategies across the sector as companies adjust to tighter financing conditions and a more challenging market environment.