Trump Media company announces plans to award shareholders digital tokens

The Trump Media and Technology Group successful the United States has announced a concern with a cryptocurrency speech to grant its shareholders integer tokens.

The announcement corresponded with a tiny leap connected Wednesday successful the company’s shares, which were up 5 percent arsenic of 11am US East Coast clip (16:00 GMT).

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The bulk of Trump Media’s shares are owned by its namesake, US President Donald Trump, who has been a vocal advocator for cryptocurrency, peculiarly during his 2nd term.

In a quality release, the institution explained that it would enactment with the Singapore-based steadfast Crypto.com to supply shareholders with 1 integer token for each full stock they own.

There was nary timeline for the plan, but Trump Media said the tokens would go disposable “in the adjacent future”.

It added that “various awards” would beryllium “made disposable to token holders periodically passim the year”, including “benefits and discounts” related to Trump’s societal media level Truth Social and its affiliated streaming platform, Truth+.

“We look guardant to utilizing Crypto.com’s blockchain exertion and improving regulatory clarity to instrumentality this first-of-its benignant token distribution,” Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes said successful the quality release.

Crypto.com is slated to spouse with the Trump Media and Technology Group to administer integer tokens to shareholders [File: Jae C Hong/AP Photo]

Building a ‘crypto capital’

Wednesday’s announcement is not Trump’s archetypal foray into the realm of cryptocurrency, nor is it Trump Media’s archetypal concern with Crypto.com.

If anything, Trump has described himself arsenic a “crypto president” during his 2nd term.

Part of his caller docket has been to peel backmost regulations and extremity investigations that helium believes person impeded cryptocurrency development.

In truthful doing, Trump has repeatedly promised to marque the US the “crypto superior of the world”, echoing akin pledges from different right-wing leaders including Argentina’s Javier Milei and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele.

Crypto.com is among the companies that person benefitted from that push.

In October 2024, Crypto.com announced it had filed a suit against the national government, aft the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) allegedly issued the institution a “Wells notice”, signalling the likelihood of upcoming regulatory action.

But the authorities investigations into Crypto.com and different integer currency platforms were rapidly dropped aft the commencement of Trump’s 2nd word successful January.

Trump, a Republican, described the probes and prosecutions arsenic an onslaught connected innovation, and helium blamed his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, for unfairly targeting the crypto industry.

“My medication is besides moving to extremity the national bureaucracy’s warfare connected crypto, which was truly going connected beauteous wildly during Biden,” Trump told a roundtable of cryptocurrency leaders successful March, whom helium praised arsenic “high-IQ people”.

That aforesaid month, the Trump medication announced a “strategic reserve” astatine the US Treasury, consisting of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, arsenic good arsenic a integer plus stockpile.

The medication has taken different steps to propel cryptocurrency into the mainstream, including by promoting its usage successful status accounts.

This month, Trump issued an enforcement bid to discourage states from implementing their ain restrictions connected cryptocurrency, arguing that specified actions would make a burdensome patchwork of rules.

But critics pass that the deficiency of regularisation surrounding cryptocurrency — and the industry’s reliance connected loans — could marque investments volatile. That, successful turn, could permission consumers susceptible to cratering losses.

The societal media level Truth Social is the flagship task for the Trump Media and Technology Group [File: John Minchillo/AP Photo]

Still, the integer currency manufacture has responded to Trump’s efforts by embracing the Republican leader, with firms donating millions to his 2025 inauguration fund.

Crypto.com was among the companies that donated to the inauguration arsenic good arsenic ace PACs (political enactment committees) related to the president.

Separately, Trump Media has fostered an progressively adjacent narration with Crypto.com.

In August, for instance, the 2 companies announced that Trump Media would service arsenic a treasury for 1 of Crypto.com’s assets, the integer currency Cronos.

Then, successful October, Trump Media unveiled a program with Crypto.com to make a marketplace prediction level called Truth Predict.

Such platforms are sometimes called betting markets due to the fact that they let users to involvement wealth connected the result of satellite events, including governmental elections.

While Trump has placed galore of his shares successful Trump Media successful a revocable trust, overseen by his lad Eric, helium inactive stands to payment from immoderate gains the institution makes.

Critics person accused concern leaders of attempting to sway the president by supporting his family’s fiscal interests and firm ventures.

Nevertheless, Trump Media has struggled to find its footing since its motorboat successful 2021.

Its signature product, the societal media level Truth Social, continues to lag down its competitors, with a comparatively humble 6 cardinal estimated monthly users.

In caller weeks, however, the institution has sought to diversify its portfolio and make caller momentum, including by announcing a merger with the fusion vigor institution TAE Technologies.