Truth Social and Truth.Fi
Trump Media & Technology Group, behind Trumpโs Truth Social platform, is also newly exploring the cryptocurrency world. Trump owns about 53% of the shares, estimated to be worth around $2 billion, in the publicly traded company, which recently submitted filings to allow the trust holding his shares (controlled by Donald Trump Jr.) to sell them [I81].
In January, the company announced it would enter the fintech space with a brand called Truth.Fi, focusing on โAmerica First investment vehiclesโ.6 On March 24, TMTG announced a partnership with Singapore-based crypto exchange Crypto.com โ a company under SEC investigation, that had in August 2024 received a Wells notice informing them of an impending enforcement action [I68]. On March 27, only three days after the partnership announcement, Crypto.com revealed that the SEC had dropped its investigation [I81].
Simultaneously with its announcement about entering fintech, TMTG announced it would allocate up to $250 million of its cash reserves into investment vehicles including bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.7 By investing in crypto, the company (and thus Trump) stands to profit from Trumpโs own actions to pump crypto prices, including announcing a bitcoin strategic reserve to โelevate this critical industryโ, and exploring avenues to use government money to buy bitcoin [I80].
![Truth Social and Truth.Fi
Trump Media & Technology Group, behind Trumpโs Truth Social platform, is also newly exploring the cryptocurrency world. Trump owns about 53% of the shares, estimated to be worth around $2 billion, in the publicly traded company, which recently submitted filings to allow the trust holding his shares (controlled by Donald Trump Jr.) to sell them [I81].
In January, the company announced it would enter the fintech space with a brand called Truth.Fi, focusing on โAmerica First investment vehiclesโ.6 On March 24, TMTG announced a partnership with Singapore-based crypto exchange Crypto.com โ a company under SEC investigation, that had in August 2024 received a Wells notice informing them of an impending enforcement action [I68]. On March 27, only three days after the partnership announcement, Crypto.com revealed that the SEC had dropped its investigation [I81].
Simultaneously with its announcement about entering fintech, TMTG announced it would allocate up to $250 million of its cash reserves into investment vehicles including bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.7 By investing in crypto, the company (and thus Trump) stands to profit from Trumpโs own actions to pump crypto prices, including announcing a bitcoin strategic reserve to โelevate this critical industryโ, and exploring avenues to use government money to buy bitcoin [I80].](https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/114/355/780/088/847/446/original/f71ed3f480e2c50d.png)
![When Trump was inaugurated, he dropped the pretense and took majority control of the company with a 60% stake.2
The project hasnโt launched a trading platform, but the Trumps have discussed a decentralized finance platform for crypto financial services with promises of โdemocratiz[ing] financeโ.2 Recently, World Liberty announced its own stablecoin, USD1 (despite Trumpโs past warnings about similar cryptocurrencies, which he described as currencies that โwould give a federal government โ our federal government โ absolute control over your moneyโ [I80]).
And not having any actual platform to speak of has of course not limited World Liberty Financial from raking in money โ it raised $550 million in its initial $WLFI token sale, putting Trumpโs 75% cut at almost $400 million. $75 million came from Justin Sun, a crypto entrepreneur with a shady past [I71] who, as a foreign national, couldnโt contribute to Trumpโs campaign. He was, at the time, facing a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging fraud. Recent reporting also suggests he was under investigation by the Justice Department, at least as of late 2024.3 With his investment, he earned an advisory position with World Liberty Financial, and shortly after Trump was inaugurated, the SEC case against him and his company was stayed pending potential resolution [I78].](https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/114/355/776/194/394/953/original/a5316277f0f31770.png)
![Allegations of insider trading and quid pro quo deals [I76] have plagued the project, particularly amid reports of unusual token swaps with other cryptocurrency companies. For example, a World Liberty deal to acquire around $2 million of a Movement Labs token coincided with rumors of Movementโs talks with Elon Muskโs Department of Government Efficiency about integrating blockchain technology into government operations. (Both World Liberty and Movement Labs denied these allegations.)4 But an April 8 memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, citing Trumpโs executive order on crypto, dismantled the Department of Justiceโs cryptocurrency investigations team and directed the Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit to โcease cryptocurrency enforcementโ. This may well have eliminated any remaining chance of a federal investigation into allegations of malfeasance in a business venture controlled by the president and his family [I81].
As for the stablecoin, the timing is significant: World Liberty Financial announced plans to issue USD1 on March 25, and just ten days later the Securities and Exchange Commission published a statement declaring that "covered" stablecoins fall outside its authority, and that companies issuing stablecoins need not register.5 Meanwhile, a Trump-aligned Congress is working to pass new, friendly stablecoin legislation [I79] with substantial direction from the cryptocurrency industry, which spent over $130 million installing crypto-friendly legislators](https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/114/355/777/214/775/738/original/f150e82be4123c6c.png)
