DJT shares fall 10% as company pivots further into crypto finance, deepening Trump’s bitcoin ties

Trump Media and Technology Group, the owner of Truth Social and chaired by former US president Donald Trump, has announced a US$2.5bn capital raise to fund one of the largest bitcoin treasury allocations ever attempted by a public company.

Trump Media & Technology (NASDAQ:) shares fell 10% on Thursday as the company announced a $2.5 billion capital raise to fund one of the largest bitcoin treasury allocations ever attempted by a public company.

The funding includes $1.5 billion from a private placement of common stock and $1 billion in convertible notes, secured from around 50 institutional investors. Trump Media plans to use the proceeds to purchase bitcoin, which will be held as a core treasury asset. Anchorage Digital and Crypto.com will provide custody services.

Shares in Trump Media fell 9.6% following the announcement. The stock is already down 29% year-to-date, despite the company’s $5.3 billion market capitalization and modest 2024 revenue of just $3.6 million. It reported a $400 million loss for the same period.

Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman, described bitcoin as an “apex instrument of financial freedom” and called the investment a defensive response to what he described as institutional bias against conservative firms.

“This investment will help defend our Company against harassment and discrimination by financial institutions, who have shown an unwillingness to invest in a highly successful, yet politically targeted, common stock,” Nunes said in a statement.

The company says the move will also support the development of crypto-native products, including subscription payment mechanisms and a proposed utility token for its social and streaming platforms, Truth Social and Truth+.

The announcement comes ahead of the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas later this year, a major crypto event that has become closely tied to Trump’s political brand.

The conference is expected to feature Vice President JD Vance, Donald Trump Jr., and other administration figures.

Trump himself has significantly shifted his stance on digital assets since his first term, when he dismissed cryptocurrencies as being “based on thin air.” He now backs several crypto ventures, including the $Trump memecoin, World Liberty Financial, and American Bitcoin, a newly formed bitcoin producer co-founded by Eric Trump.

The strategy mirrors that of (NASDAQ:) CEO Michael Saylor, who popularised the bitcoin treasury reserve model in 2020 with his company’s massive bitcoin holdings. It also builds on efforts to align Trump’s political capital with the cryptocurrency market, a $3.5 trillion sector he increasingly courts through both policy and personal investment.

Last month, Trump Media signed a deal with Crypto.com to launch exchange-traded funds tied to cryptocurrencies and Trump-aligned assets. The move has drawn scrutiny from regulators and Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, who questioned the oversight of such politically affiliated crypto ETFs.

With Trump’s revocable trust holding over 114 million shares in Trump Media, the latest announcement continues a broader pattern of crypto being integrated into both the president’s business empire and political messaging.