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The company behind Donald Trump’s social network has announced plans to distribute a new cryptocurrency token to shareholders, sending its share price soaring on the final day of the year.
Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), controlled by Trump’s family, said on Wednesday it would distribute the tokens in partnership with “in the near future.” crypto.com exchange.
NASDAQ-listed TMTG shares rose more than 9 percent in New York following the announcement. The stock has declined in recent months and is down about 60 percent from the beginning of the year.
The announcement of a new token has increased interest in the cryptocurrency amassed by Trump and his family businesses.
These ventures, which include memecoins and a stablecoin, have raised more than $1 billion, according to a Financial Times analysis earlier this year, thanks in part to the White House’s crypto-friendly policies.
TMTG, which was founded in 2021 primarily as the holding company behind Trump’s Truth Social site, has since amassed nearly $2 billion in Bitcoin as part of a broader push into the crypto sector.
Earlier this month, the company also moved into the artificial intelligence sector, merging with Google-backed fusion energy company TAE Technologies in a $6 billion deal as part of a bet on nuclear energy powering the AI boom.
TMTG said its new tokens will not be transferable and “cannot be exchanged for cash”.
But it raised the possibility of “various rewards being made available to token holders from time to time throughout the year… (which) may include benefits or discounts associated with Trump Media products”.
Trump’s crypto activities have increased recently, with an Eric Trump-backed Bitcoin venture heading up its stock market debut in September.
TMTG has worked with Crypto.com on previous deals. In August, Trump’s company agreed to a $6.4 billion deal to buy tokens issued by the exchange, further deepening the ties between the president’s businesses and the digital asset industry.
crypto.com has been one of the largest donors to groups supporting Trump in the past year. In February, it donated $10 million to MAGA Inc, a Trump-linked super pack. The company also donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration.
The company had faced investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission under Joe Biden’s administration. The regulator closed the investigation in March.
