Truth Social parent Trump Media & Technology Group has partnered with a SPAC called Yorkville Acquisition Corp. and Crypto.com to launch Trump Media Group CRO Strategy, a digital asset treasury company focused on the cryptocurrency CRO.
The deal calls for Trump Media to purchase about $105 million in CRO – the token of the Cronos ecosystem – repping about 2% of the total CRO market cap as of announcement, for its balance sheet. Crypto.com will purchase $50 million in shares of common stock in Trump Media.
President Trump and his family have been enthusiastic supporters of crypto. Donald and Melania Trump launched memecoins early this year – $TRUMP and $MELANIA – although both are well off their highs. His sons Donald Jr. and Eric have a crypto venture called World Liberty Financial.
Yorkville is a special purpose acquisition vehicle. Also called “blank check” entities, they go public as empty shells and search for companies to buy. It will acquire $1 billion worth of CRO tokens and change its stock market ticker from YORK to MCGA (standing for Make CRO Great Again).
The new venture is the latest in a continuing reversal of Trump’s views of cryptocurrency prior to returning to the White House this year. In the past, he had referred to it in disparaging terms, maintaining that it “isn’t money” and saying he intended to tightly regulate it. Now, he not only had championed a more laissez-faire regulatory approach but also has made significant investments in it alongside his family.
Trump Media said it will integrate the CRO token on its Truth Social and Truth+ platforms, introducing a rewards system that uses the Crypto.com digital wallet infrastructure and that adopts the Cronos digital currency as a utility token. Truth users will be able to pay for subscriptions and services with their Crypto.com CRO balance.
Both companies will co-market the Truth+ platform and the Crypto.com wallet.
Crypto.com is a cryptocurrency exchange and services company that supports the Cronos blockchain project and has incorporated the CRO among other tokens.
At the close of the deal, Trump Media Group CRO Strategy will be majority-owned by Yorkville, Trump Media and Crypto.com.
Total expected funding for the digital asset treasury will consist of $1 billion in CRO – about 19% of its total market cap; $200 million in cash; $220 million cash-in mandatory exercise warrants; and an additional $5 billion equity line of credit from an affiliate of Yorkville.
