Trump Media and Technology Group in the US has announced a partnership with a cryptocurrency exchange to grant digital tokens to shareholders.
The announcement coincided with a modest rise in the company’s shares on Wednesday, with shares up 5% as of 11:00 a.m. ET (16:00 GMT).
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The majority of Trump Media’s shares are owned by its namesake, US President Donald Trump, who has been an active supporter of cryptocurrencies, especially during his second term.
The company said in a news release that it is working with Singapore-based company Crypto.com to provide shareholders with one digital token for every share they own.
No timeline for the plan was disclosed, but Trump Media said the tokens would be available “in the near future.”
It added that “a variety of benefits” including “perks and discounts” related to President Trump’s social media platform Truth Social and its affiliated streaming platform Truth+ “will be provided to token holders periodically throughout the year.”
“We look forward to leveraging Crypto.com’s blockchain technology and improving regulatory clarity to implement a first-of-its-kind token distribution,” Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes said in a news release.
Building “crypto assets”
Wednesday’s announcement is not Trump’s first foray into the cryptocurrency space, nor is it Trump Media’s first partnership with Crypto.com.
In fact, Trump has referred to himself as the “crypto president” during his second term.
Part of his recent agenda has been to roll back regulations and end investigations that he believes are hindering the development of cryptocurrencies.
At the time, President Trump repeatedly pledged to make the United States the “crypto capital of the world,” echoing similar pledges from other right-wing leaders such as Argentina’s Javier Milei and El Salvador’s Nayib Boucle.
Crypto.com is one of the companies that benefited from that push.
In October 2024, Crypto.com announced that it had filed a lawsuit against the federal government after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) allegedly issued a “Notice of Wells” to the company indicating possible future regulatory action.
However, government investigations into Crypto.com and other digital currency platforms were quickly halted after the start of President Trump’s second term in January.
Trump, a Republican, described the investigation and prosecution as an attack on innovation and accused his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, of unfairly targeting the cryptocurrency industry.
“My administration is also working to end the crypto wars by the federal bureaucracy, which were actually being waged pretty intensely under the Biden administration,” President Trump said at a roundtable of crypto leaders in March, praising them as “high IQ people.”
That same month, the Trump administration announced that it would create a “strategic reserve” in the U.S. Treasury consisting of the virtual currency Bitcoin and a stockpile of digital assets.
The administration has taken other steps to push cryptocurrencies into the mainstream, including promoting their use in retirement accounts.
President Trump this month issued an executive order blocking states from enacting their own regulations for cryptocurrencies, arguing that such measures would create a patchwork of burdensome rules.
But critics warn that the lack of regulation around cryptocurrencies and the industry’s reliance on loans could destabilize investment. As a result, consumers may be more susceptible to cratering losses.
Still, the digital currency industry responded to Trump’s efforts by supporting Republican leaders, with companies contributing millions of dollars to the 2025 presidential inaugural fund.
Companies that donated to the inauguration included Crypto.com as well as a super PAC (political action committee) associated with the president.
Separately, Trump Media has an increasingly close relationship with Crypto.com.
For example, in August, the companies announced that Trump Media would serve as a vault for the digital currency Kronos, one of Crypto.com’s assets.
And in October, Trump Media announced plans to work with Crypto.com to build a market prediction platform called “Truth Predict.”
Such platforms are sometimes referred to as betting markets, as they allow users to bet funds on the outcome of world events, including political elections.
Mr. Trump has placed much of his stock in Trump Media in a revocable trust overseen by his son Eric, but he still stands to benefit from the company’s profits.
Critics have accused the businessmen of trying to influence the president by supporting his family’s financial interests and corporate ventures.
Nevertheless, Trump Media has struggled to gain a foothold since its launch in 2021.
The company’s flagship product, social media platform Truth Social, continues to lag behind its competitors, with a relatively modest number of estimated 6 million monthly users.
But in recent weeks, the company has sought to diversify its portfolio and generate new momentum, including by announcing a merger with fusion energy company TAE Technologies.
