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Donald Trump’s social media company is in talks to acquire Bakkt, a cryptocurrency exchange owned by Intercontinental Exchange, as it expands beyond online conversations.
Trump Media and Technology Group, which President-elect Trump has pledged to retain a 53% stake in, is close to buying all of Bakkt, two people familiar with the talks said. The valuation being discussed was not immediately clear, but as of Monday, Bakkt’s market capitalization was just over $150 million.
TMTG, which operates Truth Social, has become one of the most actively traded U.S. stocks since Mr. Trump’s election victory as retail investors seek to profit from the often volatile trade. Although it has reported only $2.6 million in revenue this year, TMTG’s stock is valued at $6 billion, making it valuable currency for management to acquire other companies.
Bakkt shares soared 86% after the FT reported the talks. TMTG stock rose about 15%.
President Trump has begun promoting a new cryptocurrency venture launched by his longtime business partner World Liberty Financial, from which he could earn significant fees and, if the deal is successful, gain access to the cryptocurrency market. will become even more involved. Cryptocurrency markets soared following his election victory, with Bitcoin rallying more than 30% on speculation that his administration would enact industry-friendly legislation.
Bakkt has struggled for profitability since its inception, but the ICE-founded and New York Stock Exchange owner still retains a 55 percent economic interest in the company.
Bakkt’s first chief executive was Kelly Loeffler, a former head of marketing for ICE and a former Republican state senator from Georgia during the Trump era. She is co-chair of the committee organizing January’s inauguration ceremony. She is also married to Jeff Sprecher, founder, chairman and CEO of ICE.
ICE and Bakkt declined to comment. TMTG did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Bakkt previously said its crypto custody business, which has a regulatory license from New York authorities, was likely to be curtailed. People familiar with the TMTG talks said this was not part of the deal.
The cryptocurrency business, founded to store digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ether on behalf of customers, has failed to gain traction, posting $328,000 in the three months to September 30. The company had an operating loss of $27,000 on revenue of $27,000. Bakkt is planning to build a trading structure. A platform for institutional investors.
Bakkt faced delisting from the NYSE due to its low stock price until it completed a 25-for-1 reverse stock split in April. Last week, the company’s stock rose 15%.
Truth Social remains small in terms of reach, with 155 million daily visits to Elon Musk’s X platform, compared to 155 million daily visits to its website this month, according to Similarweb. The average number of cases is 646,000 per day. Still, the president-elect’s stocks now account for more than half of his $5.7 billion fortune, according to Bloomberg calculations.
Additional reporting by James Fontanella-Khan
