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US President Donald Trump’s Truth Social is expanding beyond social media with plans to launch a financial services business that will invest up to $250mn into cryptocurrency and other assets.
Trump Media and Technology Group, in which the president is a majority shareholder, on Wednesday said it would launch Truth.Fi, a financial services platform that potentially plans to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, as well as traditional assets. TMTG shares closed up 6.8 per cent in New York.
The company added Truth.Fi would “focus on investments in American growth, manufacturing, and energy companies as well as investments that strengthen the patriot economy”.
It comes after the president has championed the crypto industry during his campaign and since becoming president. Alongside his sons, Trump set up a crypto platform called World Liberty Financial last year, and earlier this month he and first lady Melania Trump both launched memecoins — a type of cryptocurrency with no underlying business model or cash flow.
TMTG runs the Truth Social media platform, as well as a television streaming service and unsuccessfully tried to buy Bakkt, a cryptocurrency trading venue, last November. Its chief executive is Devin Nunes, chair of the president’s intelligence advisory board and former Republican congressman.
Truth.Fi is a “natural expansion of the Truth Social movement”, Nunes said. “American patriots can protect themselves from the ever-present threat of cancellation, censorship, debanking, and privacy violations committed by Big Tech and woke corporations.”
Charles Schwab, the brokerage, will custody the assets and “broadly advise” on Truth.Fi’s investment plans. The broker does not offer direct trading in bitcoin or other similar currencies but indicated it would move into crypto if rules permitted.
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission repealed an accounting rule in order to make it easier for traditional banks to hold crypto assets on behalf of their clients. TMTG said it had more than $700mn in cash reserves at the end of 2024.
“As a matter of policy, we do not comment on any current or former client activities,” Schwab said in a statement to the Financial Times.
Samantha Schwab, the granddaughter of billionaire founder Charles Schwab, was named deputy chief of staff at the US Treasury earlier this month.
TMTG’s announcement came one day after Elon Musk’s X announced a partnership with Visa to launch a financial services platform for the social media company, which it said would be called X Money Account.
X plans to launch a peer-to-peer payment platform powered by Visa later this year.
Also on Wednesday, Chris LaCivita, co-campaign manager on Trump’s presidential bid, was appointed to the global advisory board of crypto exchange Coinbase, further underscoring the link between the digital asset industry and Trump loyalists.
