Trump Media and Technology Group Raises $2.5B to Accumulate a “bitcoin Treasury”

Trump Media and Technology Group, a publicly traded company in which US president Donald Trump and his family own a majority stake, has raised $2.5 billion to accumulate a “bitcoin treasury.”

Trump Media and Technology Group, a majority-owned entity of former president Donald Trump and his family, has secured an investment of $2.5 billion, which the company plans to use to add bitcoin to its treasury.

The move places TMTG in direct competition with a growing category of so-called bitcoin accumulation stocks, which act as a sort of proxy for investors who want to gain exposure to bitcoin without having to personally handle any crypto. In theory, as the price of bitcoin rises and falls, so should the stock price of the companies with large bitcoin treasuries.

According to a report by the Financial Times, TMTG initially denied any plans to accumulate bitcoin.

“The Financial Times has dumb writers listening to even dumber sources,” TMTG said on Monday.

But the company appears to have since changed its tune.

On Tuesday, TMTG confirmed in a press release that it has agreed to sell a $1.5 billion equity interest in the company and take on a $1 billion term loan. The company plans to use the proceeds to add "a substantial portion" of bitcoin to its balance sheet.

“We view bitcoin as an apex instrument of financial freedom, and now Trump Media will hold cryptocurrency as a crucial part of its assets,” said TMTG CEO Devin Nunes in a statement. “It's a big step forward in the company's plans to evolve into a holding company by acquiring additional profit-generating, crown jewel assets consistent with America First principles.”

TMTG’s embrace of crypto is a small part of a more elaborate picture: Over the past year, Trump and his family have moved into almost every segment of the crypto market, despite a chorus of complaints relating to alleged abuses of office and conflicts of interest.

In January, in the days leading up to the inauguration, Trump and his wife Melania both issued their own crypto coins, adding billions of dollars to their paper net worth. That same month, TMTG announced the launch of Truth.Fi, its new fintech division, which partnered shortly thereafter with crypto exchange Crypto.com to offer crypto-related investment products to the public.

The president’s sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., meanwhile, have promoted a separate crypto services company, World Liberty Financial, and recently established a bitcoin mining business, American Bitcoin.

The crypto ventures associated with the Trump family have collectively raised hundreds of millions of dollars, partly through direct sales of crypto coins to the investing public and partly through asset acquisitions in deals cut with business partners.

“If you look back at some of Donald Trump’s ventures over time … he essentially brings the marketing and a built-in audience in return for a relatively large cut of the company,” says Austin Campbell, adjunct professor at NYU Stern School of Business and managing partner at crypto consultancy Zero Knowledge. “American Bitcoin is literally that playbook.”

In May, Eric Trump announced plans to take American Bitcoin public. Like TMTG, the company intends to accrue a large bitcoin treasury and turn itself into a bitcoin accumulation stock.

"Our vision for American Bitcoin is to create the most investable bitcoin accumulation platform in the market," he said when he announced the plan.