Donald Trump’s social media group in talks to buy crypto trading site

On By Littum

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Donald Trump’s social media company is in advanced talks to buy Bakkt, a cryptocurrency trading venue owned by Intercontinental Exchange, as it pushes to expand beyond online conversation.

The incoming US president’s Trump Media and Technology Group, in which he has pledged to keep his 53 percent stake, is closing in on a purchase of Bakkt, two people with knowledge of the talks say. The valuation under discussion was not immediately clear, but Bakkt’s market value was just over $150 million on Monday.

TMTG, which runs Truth Social, has become one of the most actively traded US stocks since Trump’s election victory as retail investors seek to profit from its often volatile trading moves. Although it only reported $2.6 million in revenue this year, TMTG has a $6 billion valuation.

Bakkt shares surged 162 percent after the FT reported the talks. The TMTG share rose around 16.7 per cent.

A successful deal would deepen Trump’s move into the cryptocurrency market after he began promoting a new crypto venture set up by longtime business partners, World Liberty Financial, from which he can earn significant fees. Crypto markets have also rallied after his election victory, with bitcoin surging more than 30 percent on speculation that his administration would pass legislation favorable to the industry.

Bakkt, which has struggled for profitability since its launch, was created by ICE, and the owner of the New York Stock Exchange still has a 55 percent financial interest in it.

Bakkt’s first CEO was Kelly Loeffler, a former ICE marketing executive and a Republican former senator for Georgia during Trump’s first term. She is co-chairman of the committee that organizes his inauguration in January. She is also married to Jeff Sprecher, ICE’s founder, chairman and CEO.

ICE and Bakkt declined to comment. TMTG did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bakkt has previously said that its crypto custody business, which has a regulatory license from authorities in New York, is likely to be wound up. People familiar with the TMTG negotiations said it will not be included in the deal.

The crypto business had been set up to hold digital assets such as bitcoin and ether on behalf of clients, but failed to gain traction and posted an operating loss of $27,000 on revenue of $328,000 in the three months to 30 September. Bakkt plans to build a trading platform for institutional investors.

Bakkt faced a delisting from the NYSE due to its low stock price until it completed a 1 for 25 reverse stock split in April. Last week the share price rose by 15 per cent.

Truth Social remains small in terms of reach, averaging 646,000 daily visits to its website this month, according to Similarweb, compared with 155 million a day for Elon Musk’s X platform. Still, the president-elect’s stake now accounts for more than half of his $5.7 billion fortune, as calculated by Bloomberg.

Additional reporting by James Fontanella-Khan