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The Trump family media company plans to raise $3bn to buy cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, in a bet on the kind of digital assets that have been championed by the US president’s administration.
Trump Media & Technology Group, which is behind the Truth Social app and controlled by the president’s family, aims to raise $2bn in fresh equity and another $1bn via a convertible bond, according to six people briefed on the matter.
TMTG’s capital raising could be announced ahead of a big meeting of crypto investors and advocates in Las Vegas this week, where vice-president JD Vance, Trump’s sons Donald Jr and Eric, and Trump’s crypto tsar David Sacks are expected to speak.
The terms, timing and size of TMTG’s capital raising could still change. Two people familiar with the plans told the Financial Times that the offering had been increased in size in recent weeks due to strong demand.
TMTG said in a statement that “apparently the Financial Times has dumb writers listening to even dumber sources” but did not comment further. Representatives for Donald Trump Jr did not respond to requests for comment. A White House spokesperson declined to comment.
The plan is the latest example of the Trump family’s push into cryptocurrency, which has sparked concerns about conflicts of interest. The president has vowed to make the US the “crypto capital of the world”.
His interest in crypto has spurred a wave of dealmaking aimed at seizing on a revival in cryptocurrencies. The price of bitcoin eclipsed a record-high price of $109,000 last week.
TMTG’s approach is similar to that used by Strategy, previously called MicroStrategy, a former software company whose market value has surged to more than $100bn after using debt and equity offerings to buy tens of billions of dollars in bitcoin.
The secondary share offering will be carried out on at-the-market terms, meaning shares are expected to be sold near their price at the close of trading on Friday. TMTG shares closed Friday at $25.72, or a market value of nearly $6bn.
The Trump family’s involvement in crypto has included an NFT trading card, two memecoins, and stakes in crypto mining venture American Bitcoin and in stablecoin backer World Liberty Financial.
TMTG also plans to launch an exchange-traded fund focused on cryptocurrency. Last week, Trump hosted a private gala dinner for the top investors in his memecoin at his resort outside Washington.
ClearStreet and BTIG are among the brokers that could serve as underwriters on the deal, two people said.
After winning re-election to the White House last year, Trump transferred his 53 per cent stake in TMTG, currently worth about $3bn, to a revocable trust overseen by his son Donald Jr, who has sole investment and voting power over the shareholdings held by the entity.
A publicly traded blank cheque vehicle led by Brandon Lutnick, son of commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, struck a deal last month to create a bitcoin buying vehicle called Twenty One Capital in a $3.6bn deal involving Tether and SoftBank.
Cryptocurrency firm Ripple last month also struck a $1.25bn deal to buy digital currency-focused prime brokerage firm Hidden Road, in a bet that institutional investors will push further into crypto under the Trump administration.
Industry executives have told the FT that a wave of similar crypto-focused deals, especially among blank cheque companies, is expected in the coming weeks.
Additional reporting from Alex Rogers in Washington
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