Trump Media, Crypto.com announce deal to form crypto treasury firm

(Reuters): Trump Media & Technology Group and Crypto.com have said they plan to launch a company that will implement a treasury-style strategy to accumulate Crypto.com’s native token, cronos, deepening the U.S. president’s ties to the crypto industry.

The new company, Trump Media Group CRO Strategy, will go public via a merger with blank-check firm Yorkville Acquisition Corp.

After the announcement on Tuesday, the crypto token shot up 22.6% to $0.19, according to CoinGecko. Trump Media’s shares jumped 4.2% to $17.94, while Yorkville’s shares fell 2.3%.

Cronos was last valued at $6.8 billion - a fraction of the $3.88 trillion global crypto market cap - according to CoinGecko data.

Funding for the strategy will consist of $1 billion in CRO token, $200 million in cash, $220 million in warrants and an additional $5 billion equity line of credit from an affiliate of Yorkville.

The three companies agreed to a mandatory one-year lockup period.

Trump Media, which runs U.S. President Donald Trump’s Truth Social streaming and social media platform, said earlier this year it was partnering with Crypto.com to launch exchange-traded funds and products through its Truth.Fi brand.