Original author: BitpushNews
As he prepares to take office in the White House around January 20, 2025, Trump continues to expand into new areas of encryption.
According to the Financial Times, Donald Trumps social media company Trump Media Technology Group is in advanced negotiations to acquire cryptocurrency trading platform Bakkt.
Trump Media will acquire Bakkt in full, with Trump pledging to retain a 53% stake, according to two people familiar with the negotiations. The valuation and financial terms have not been disclosed.
The news sent shares of both companies soaring.
Trump Media (NASDAQ DJT), which is majority owned by Trump, surged double digits minutes after the report was published. The company, which operates the Truth Social app, closed up more than 16%. Bakkt, which experienced several circuit breakers due to excessive volatility, closed up more than 163%.
The performance was mediocre and it was once on the verge of delisting.
Launched by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Bakkt was founded in 2018 and went public in October 2021. Its main business is to provide technical services to cryptocurrency investors. Before going public through SPAC, Bakkt had raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors such as Boston Consulting Group, Galaxy Digital, ICE and Microsofts M12 Venture Fund, but it has been difficult to make a profit. Its latest fiscal quarter report stated that total revenue was US$328.4 million and operating losses were US$27.4 million, a 48% reduction from the losses in the same period last year.
The relationship between Trump and Bakkt is extraordinary. Kelly Loeffler, former CEO of Bakkt, is the co-chair of Trumps inaugural committee.
Loefflers husband is Jeffrey Sprecher, CEO of Intercontinental Exchange. In 2019, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp appointed Loeffler to replace Senator Johnny Isakson, who resigned for health reasons, in the Senate. Loeffler subsequently resigned from his position as a Bakkt executive. However, in the runoff for the special election for the Senate seat, Loeffler was defeated by Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock.
Bakkt has previously said its cryptocurrency custody business, which has regulatory approval from New York authorities, may be shut down. People familiar with TMTG’s negotiations said the business would not be included in the deal. The custody business had an operating loss of $27,000 on revenue of $328,000 in the three months ended Sept. 30.
Bakkt had faced delisting from the New York Stock Exchange due to its depressed share price until it conducted a 25-for-1 reverse stock split in April. Last week, its shares rose 15%.
The expanding crypto landscape, with stock prices outperforming fundamentals
The Trump family is accelerating its pace in the cryptocurrency market. The cryptocurrency project World Liberty Financial, launched in September, and the multiple digital asset-related promises he made during the campaign (such as establishing a Bitcoin reserve, creating a mining-friendly environment, and replacing the SEC chairman) all show Trumps strong interest in the cryptocurrency industry.
This interest is directly reflected in the market. With Trumps victory in the election, retail investors expectations for the Republican Party and optimistic expectations that the Trump administration may introduce policies that are favorable to cryptocurrencies have caused the stock price of TMTG, the parent company of Trumps social media platform Truth Social, to fluctuate sharply, rising and falling by billions of dollars on the eve of the election. TMTG has also become one of the most actively traded US stocks. However, TMTGs revenue this year is only $2.6 million, with a net loss of $363 million, but its equity valuation exceeds $7 billion.
Truth Social also has a relatively small user base, with an average of 646,000 daily visits to the Truth Social site this month, according to Similarweb, compared with 155 million daily visits to Musks X platform.
