The Trump Media and Technology Group said on Monday it had accumulated about $2 billion in Bitcoin and related assets. U.S. President Donald Trump's net worth has continued to grow during his term in office after he turned to the highly profitable field of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin holdings now account for approximately two-thirds of Trump Media’s total liquid assets, the company said in a press release.
Shares of Trump Media surged as much as 9% at the open early Monday morning and were up about 4% as of 2 p.m. ET.
Trump's stake in the company (whose stock trades on Nasdaq under his initials "DJT") is worth nearly $2.3 billion.
The announcement is further evidence of Trump and his family's embrace of digital currencies to such an extent that cryptocurrencies now make up the majority of the president's documented wealth, according to a June analysis by Forbes.
Once skeptical of digital currencies, Trump now vows to make the United States the global cryptocurrency capital. He has taken multiple steps in this direction, including signing an executive order to establish a “strategic Bitcoin reserve,” appointing a “crypto czar,” and urging Congress to pass multiple cryptocurrency-related bills.
On Friday, Trump signed one of the bills, called the GENIUS Act, into law. The bill previously had bipartisan support in the House.
Trump has also made millions from other cryptocurrency investments, including the decentralized finance entity World Free Finance and the meme coin $TRUMP - the initial release of which came just days before his inauguration.
The Trump family owns a majority stake in World Free Finance through a business entity and has made about $500 million in profits since the project launched in September, according to analysts.
A spokesman for Trump said the president's ties to World Free Finance did not create a conflict of interest because his assets are held in a trust managed by his son, Donald Trump Jr.
But the assets in the revocable trust still belong “indirectly” to the president, who is the creator and sole beneficiary of the trust. And the funds will be available to him after he leaves office in 2029.
Critics, including Democratic lawmakers and ethics experts, have warned that Trump’s interests in cryptocurrency, combined with his political power, could breed corruption.
“As a holder of crypto assets, President Trump is likely to profit from the policies he pursues,” advocacy group Democracy Defenders said in an April report.
Before taking office in January, Trump transferred all of his DJT shares into a revocable trust managed by his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. Some experts don't think Trump will eliminate conflict-of-interest concerns by giving up direct control of his shares.
Since then, Trump Media has effectively repositioned itself as a cryptocurrency and financial services company.
The company's first product was Truth Social, a Twitter-like social media platform that Trump himself used, but it failed to generate much revenue. Still, the company, which went public last year through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, has attracted thousands of retail investors.
In late January, the company announced the launch of a fintech brand called “Truth.Fi” and received $250 million in investment, including Bitcoin and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
In February, the company began advancing what it called a “strategic acquisition fund with select investors,” and in March, it partnered with Crypto.com to launch a series of ETFs.
In late May, the company said it had raised more than $2.3 billion in net proceeds from the sale of stock and convertible bonds to about 50 institutional investors and would use the funds to build a Bitcoin reserve.
Trump Media's announcement Monday morning comes just days after the price of Bitcoin hit an all-time high, making it currently the world's most valuable and popular cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin price topped $120,000 as investors expected the U.S. Congress to pass a new cryptocurrency bill that would create a clearer regulatory framework for the nascent industry.
"We are rigorously executing on our publicly announced strategy and advancing our Bitcoin reserve plan," Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes said in a press release on Monday.
“These assets help secure our company’s financial freedom, help us withstand discrimination from financial institutions, and will create synergies with the utility tokens we plan to launch in the ‘True Social’ ecosystem,” Nunez said.