President Donald Trump and his family are expanding their cryptocurrency empire with plans for a digital asset treasury company. The announcement comes as Eric Trump is heading on a crypto-focused trip to Japan.
Trump Media and Technology Group on Tuesday announced a partnership with Crypto.com to establish a treasury company holding CRO, called Trump Media Group CRO Strategy. CRO is the native token of the Cronos ecosystem, developed by Crypto.com.
The company plans to build a Cronos treasury with $6.42 billion in backing, with Trump Media, Yorkville Acquisition and Crypto.com as founding partners. The treasury holdings are to include $1 billion in CRO tokens, $200 million in cash, $220 million in warrants, along with a $5 billion equity line of credit from a Yorkville affiliate, the companies said.
The $1 billion in CRO tokens reportedly represented about 19% of the token's market capitalization at the time of the announcement.
Yorkville, a special purpose acquisition company, will apply at a later date to have its shares trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol "MCGA" and to change its name to Trump Media Group CRO Strategy. The Yorkville affiliate entered a backstop agreement to purchase up to 9.9% of the Class A shares. Trump Media, Yorkville and Crypto.com agreed to a mandatory one-year initial lockup period for their founding share holdings. That initial lockup period will be followed by a 3-year restrictive release schedule.
Trump Media on Tuesday also announced a mutual cooperation agreement with Crypto.com. Per that agreement, Trump Media will introduce a rewards system on Truth Social and Truth+ platforms. Trump Media plans to use Crypto.com for digital wallet infrastructure and adopt Cronos as the utility token. Trump Media will also purchase about $105 million in CRO, representing about 2% of the total marketcap. Crypto.com will purchase $50 million in Trump Media shares.
Trump Crypto Empire
The Yorkville news is the Trump family's latest step as it rapidly expands its cryptocurrency-related businesses. Trump Media on Aug. 11 said it filed an S-1 registration statement with the SEC for a bitcoin ETF. The ETF, called the Truth Social Bitcoin ETF, is expected to launch later this year once it receives proper approvals. Crypto.com is serving as the exclusive bitcoin custodian, prime execution agent and liquidity provider.
Trump Media in July announced that it accumulated about $2 billion in bitcoin and bitcoin-related securities for its bitcoin treasury strategy.
World Liberty Financial, another of the Trump family's crypto ventures, previously launched a stablecoin called USD1. An Abu Dhabi firm in May selected USD1 as the payment method for a $2 billion investment in Binance, providing World Liberty a significant boost. Justin Sun, founder of the Tron cryptocurrency, purchased $75 million of another World Liberty crypto, WLFI. Following the investment, the SEC paused its 2023 lawsuit against Sun for fraud, market manipulation, and not disclosing celebrity endorsements.
A firm called ALT5 Sigma on Aug. 11 announced plans to raise $1.5 billion to buy WLFI tokens from World Liberty. ALT5 also named Eric Trump to its board.
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have backed a bitcoin mining firm, American Bitcoin, which could go public in Q3.
President Trump and first lady Melania both launched meme coins based on their likeness ahead of the 2025 inauguration. Trump in May hosted a dinner and tour of the White House for the largest meme coin investors.
The Trump digital asset businesses have benefited from the president's agenda to make America the "crypto capital of the world." President Trump has formed a White House working group and issued a number of crypto-related executive orders, aimed at streamlining and reducing regulations while developing the industry. President Trump in July signed the Genius Act, which creates a framework for regulating stablecoins. A larger crypto market structure bill is working its way through the Senate.
Upcoming Japan Trip
Meanwhile, Eric Trump is set to visit Japan through the weekend. The eldest son of President Trump will stop in Tokyo and make an appearance at the Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong on Aug. 28-29, CoinDesk reported. On Sept. 1, the younger Trump is set to attend the shareholder meeting for Metaplanet, a Japan-based bitcoin treasury company, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
Trump last week at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium called himself a "bitcoin maxi," which is industry lingo for bitcoin maximalist — a firm believer in the value of bitcoin, according to CoinDesk. He predicts that bitcoin could hit $175,000 by the end of 2025 and eventually pass $1 million.
CRO, Cryptocurrency Price Action
Cronos on Thursday afternoon declined to 30 cents from its Thursday high near 39 cents. The token is still up more than 115% over the past week, according to CoinMarketCap data. The CRO token traded around 16 cents prior to the news.
DJT stock ticked up Thursday. Trump Media slid a bit more than 1% Wednesday, paring its 5.2% jump on Tuesday. Shares have tumbled 47% this year.
Bitcoin traded near $112,000 on Thursday after its weekend "flash crash." Bitcoin on Aug. 13 hit a record high near $124,500.
Ethereum traded near $4,500, not too far off its peak of $4,954 from Sunday.
You can follow Harrison Miller for more stock news and updates on X/Twitter @IBD_Harrison
