Trump Media Scraps Major Crypto.
com Deals Amid Shifting Priorities
More than a year after announcing ambitious plans for several deals with the popular cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com, Trump Media, the company behind Truth Social, has withdrawn from the agreements. The entity is now reportedly focusing on internal developments and an upcoming merger.
The native token of the platform, CRO, experienced an immediate sharp decline following the news, falling to just under $0.05.
Following the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the newly inaugurated President began exploring significant cryptocurrency initiatives through entities linked to his family. Some of these involved Crypto.com, including a proposed Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) deal and plans to acquire $6.4 billion worth of CRO. However, this initiative, which was slated to be named the Trump Media Group CRO Strategy and involve Trump Media, Crypto.com, and Yorkville Acquisition, appears to be the most significant casualty of the recent shift.
In a joint announcement from all three parties, the plan has been mutually terminated, with the companies citing “prevailing market conditions” as well as evolving business and stakeholder priorities. This decision effectively scraps the original proposal to receive $1 billion worth of CRO from Crypto.com and a $5 billion credit facility.
Crypto.com was also expected to provide services for certain anticipated ETFs from Yorkville America, but the parties have now agreed not to proceed with that collaboration.
Axios reported that Trump Media’s interim CEO, Kevin McGurn, intends for the company to concentrate on its technology infrastructure surrounding the media arm and its pending merger with fusion energy company TAE.
The dissolution of the partnership with Crypto.com marks the latest instance of Trump-linked companies scaling back their involvement in the cryptocurrency sector. Most recently, one of these firms divested another portion of its Bitcoin holdings, incurring a substantial loss after acquiring the assets at prices near their all-time highs.
The initial announcements of these deals last year had propelled the exchange’s native token to surge by double- and even triple-digit percentages, reaching a peak of nearly $0.40 in late August. The current impact, however, is the inverse, as the token has plummeted to its lowest price point since October 2023, trading at just under $0.05.
The token’s market capitalization has fallen below $2.4 billion, and it has dropped to the 37th position among cryptocurrencies by market cap. The broader market context for CRO is also challenging, with the token down by over 94% from its all-time high of $0.89, recorded in late 2021.
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