Truth social’s CRO bet: Trump media group announces $6.4B token acquisition

The Trump family’s media group is making a significant move into the crypto world with a proposed multi-billion dollar deal to acquire the native token of the Crypto.com exchange. This development further strengthens the connection between the US president’s business ventures and the digital asset industry.

Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the company behind the Truth Social app and controlled by Donald Trump’s family, announced on Tuesday that it had agreed to a $6.4 billion deal. The aim is to create what they’re calling the “first and largest publicly traded CRO treasury company.” CRO is the native token of Cronos, Crypto.com’s blockchain.

This move comes at a time when Trump has been increasingly vocal in his support for the crypto industry, even welcoming executives to the White House and pushing for legislation overseeing the sector. Simultaneously, he has reportedly received millions of dollars in campaign funding from crypto companies.

The deal is also the latest example of a “crypto treasury company” strategy, where companies acquire significant amounts of tokens to potentially boost their share prices. Following the announcement, the price of CRO jumped 35% to $0.21, while TMTG shares rose 6%.

Kris Marszalek, the CEO of Crypto.com, revealed that the exchange had also purchased $50 million worth of TMTG stock, while TMTG bought $105 million in CRO tokens. He added that CRO would become “the platform token of Truth Social as a part of this broad, strategic partnership,” though further details were scarce.

TMTG and Crypto.com stated that Yorkville Acquisition Corp, a blank-check company listed on Nasdaq, would purchase $1 billion worth of CRO tokens and change its stock market ticker to “Make CRO Great Again.” The companies also claimed to have $420 million in cash and warrants, along with access to a $5 billion equity line of credit from YA II PN, a hedge fund operated by Yorkville Advisors, which they intend to use to buy more CRO tokens.

TMTG is also reportedly raising $2.5 billion separately to buy Bitcoin as part of its own Bitcoin treasury strategy. Crypto.com is set to provide custody and technology services for Bitcoin exchange-traded funds being launched by TMTG.

The Trump family’s involvement in crypto doesn’t end there. Trump and his wife Melania have launched memecoins, and his sons run a digital asset company with its own treasury strategy, token, and stablecoin.

Under the Biden administration, Crypto.com faced an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, the SEC dropped its investigation into the exchange in March of this year.