Trump Media Inc. hoards $2 billion in Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies drive Trump's net worth up sharply

Trump Media & Technology Group said on Monday that it has accumulated about $2 billion in bitcoin and related assets. U.S. President Donald Trump's net worth has continued to grow during his presidency after he turned to the highly profitable field of cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin holdings now account for about two-thirds of Trump Media's total liquid assets, the company said in a press release.

Trump Media's stock price surged 9% at the opening of early trading on Monday, and was up about 4% as of 2 p.m. ET.

Trump's stake in the company (whose stock is traded on the Nasdaq under his initials "DJT") is worth nearly $2.3 billion.

The announcement further shows that Trump and his family have embraced digital currencies to such an extent that cryptocurrencies now account for the majority of the president's book wealth, according to a June analysis by Forbes.

Once a skeptic of digital currencies, Trump has vowed to make the United States the global capital of cryptocurrency. He has taken several steps in this direction, including signing an executive order to establish a "strategic bitcoin reserve," appointing a "crypto czar," and urging Congress to pass several cryptocurrency-related bills.

On Friday, Trump signed one of the bills, called the GENIUS Act, into law. The bill had previously received bipartisan support in the House of Representatives.

Trump has also made millions from other cryptocurrency investments, including decentralized finance entity World Freedom Finance and meme coin $TRUMP, which had its initial offering just days before his inauguration.

The Trump family holds a majority stake in World Freedom Finance through a business entity, and according to analysis, has made about $500 million in profits since the project launched in September.

A Trump spokesman said the president's association with World Freedom Finance does not create a conflict of interest because his assets are held in a trust managed by his son, Donald Trump Jr.

But the assets in the revocable trust still belong “indirectly” to the president, who established it and is its sole beneficiary. And the funds will be available to him after he leaves office in 2029.

Critics, including Democratic lawmakers and ethics experts, warn that Trump’s interests in cryptocurrencies, combined with his political power, are ripe for corruption.

“As a holder of crypto assets, President Trump is likely to profit from the policies he promotes,” the advocacy group Defenders of Democracy Fund said in an April report.

Before taking office in January, Trump transferred all of his DJT shares to a revocable trust managed by his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. Some experts do not believe that Trump has eliminated conflict of interest issues by giving up direct control of his shares.

Since then, Trump Media has effectively repositioned itself as a cryptocurrency and financial services company.

Its first product was a Twitter-like social media platform called Truth Social, which Trump himself uses, but it has failed to generate much revenue. Still, the company, which went public last year through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, has attracted thousands of retail investors.

In late January, the company announced the launch of a fintech brand called “Truth.Fi” and received a $250 million investment, including Bitcoin and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

In February, the company began to advance what it called a “strategic acquisition fund in partnership with select investors”; in March, it partnered with Crypto.com to launch a series of ETFs.

In late May, the company said it had raised more than $2.3 billion in net proceeds from the sale of shares and convertible bonds to about 50 institutional investors and would use the funds to build a Bitcoin reserve.

The announcement by Trump Media on Monday morning came days after Bitcoin hit an all-time high, making it the world’s most valuable and popular cryptocurrency.

The price of Bitcoin broke through $120,000 as investors expected the U.S. Congress to pass a new cryptocurrency bill to establish a clearer regulatory framework for the emerging industry.

"We are executing closely on our publicly announced strategy and moving forward with our plans to hold a reserve of bitcoin," Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes said in a press release on Monday.

"These assets will help ensure the financial freedom of our company, help us resist discrimination from financial institutions, and will create synergies with the utility tokens we plan to launch in our 'Real Social' ecosystem," Nunes said.