Donald Trump’s social media startup has announced plans to branch out into financial services including cryptocurrencies, drawing the president’s business empire further into crypto as his administration looks to boost the space.
Shares in Trump Media & Technology Group, owner of Trump’s Truth Social platform, jumped 15% during pre-market trading after it announced the launch of Truth.Fi, a financial technology brand Truth.Fi, in a brief statement.
In a move likely to prompt fresh conflict of interest concerns, Trump Media, or TMTG, said it plans to invest up to $250m into investment accounts and “Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies or crypto-related securities”.
The funds will be managed by the brokerage Charles Schwab, it said.
The president has already faced criticism for launching a multibillion-dollar cryptocurrency meme coin on the eve of his inauguration last week. Former government ethics officials and presidential experts said the venture amounted to a “shameful” conflict, as Trump had pledged to transform the US into the crypto capital of the world.
Trump Media has struggled to build a social network that comes anywhere close to that created by Facebook and Instagram, owned by Meta Platforms; or X, owned by Elon Musk. But its status as a “meme stock” has helped it raise tens of millions since it went public on the stock market last year.
The firm, which is majority-owned by Trump, plans to roll out “multiple investment vehicles” under its Truth.Fi brand this year, according to Wednesday’s announcement.
“Truth.Fi is a natural expansion of the Truth Social movement,” claimed Devin Nunes, CEO of Trump Media. “We began by creating a free-speech social media platform, added an ultra-fast TV streaming service, and now we’re moving into investment products and decentralized finance.
“Developing American First investment vehicles is another step toward our goal of creating a robust ecosystem through which American patriots can protect themselves from the ever-present threat of cancellation, censorship, debanking, and privacy violations committed by big tech and woke corporations.”
