Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (TMTG), primarily owned by U.S. President Donald Trump, is in talks to purchase Georgian-based cryptocurrency platform Bakkt Holdings, Inc. The report was published by the Financial Times on Monday, igniting huge demand for the shares of Trump Media and Bakkt.
The Trump Media & Technology Group Corp is up 16.65% today and Bakkt soared around 162.46%. Although the final official confirmation is not yet out, this move is considered a part of larger changes in the cryptocurrency realm, as promised by Trump before the elections.
How Will This Move Benefit Trump’s Media?
Founded 3 years ago as a media and technology company to rival X (then Twitter) for banning Trump from the platform, the Trump Media & Technology Group Corporation launched its social media network Truth Social in February 2022. However, the corporation failed to gain a significant number of customers, reporting 327 million dollars in losses as of May 2024.
The recent developments hope for a revival from its double dip, and the company has a long way to go. If Trump Media & Technology (DJT) closes the deal to buy Bakkt, it will enhance the trading opportunities to the federally regulated markets and warehousing, incorporating blockchain technology into all these areas.
There are rumors that Bakkt will be integrated into X (Twitter) instead of Truth Social, and the platform will begin payments in cryptocurrencies like BTC and DOGE. Since Trump is the president now, and Elon Musk is in collaboration with him, there is a strong possibility for this to happen, and also we can see more and more acquisitions in the coming months.
Trump’s Acquisition Of Bakkt: Is This Real Or Just A Speculation?
According to the Financial Times, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) is close to an all-share takeover of Bakkt. This news reportedly came from two anonymous people who have knowledge of the ongoing talks.
Kelly Loeffler, ex-senator for Georgia during Trump’s first presidency, was the first chief executive of Bakkt. Also, Bakkt is owned by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which also owns the New York Stock Exchange. ICE’s founder is Jeff Sprecher, who is married to Kelly Loeffler.
According to insider sources, this deal is going to be true, however, ICE, Bakkt, and TMTG refused to comment on this. This deal, with the New York Stock Exchange and ICE in the team as a bonus, will increase the power of the newly formed government.
The Integration of Politics, Economy, and Blockchain Technology in Trump’s Administration
Blockchain Technology was a major plot point of the 2024 U.S. Election narrative. Donald Trump, who trashed Bitcoin in 2019, embraced it because he realized that it is an inevitable part of the future economy.
The public was looking for a candidate who embraced crypto, and the former government’s conflicts with it detached the citizens from them. Trump arrived at the right time with his pro-crypto stance. He even rolled out his own crypto business called World Liberty Financial, just a month ahead of the elections. His 18-year-old son Barron Trump, is listed as the project’s “DeFi visionary”.
Donald Trump, after the elections, further enhanced his pro-crypto stands by creating the Department of Government Efficiency, nicknamed DOGE, which is associated with Elon Musk-backed meme coin Dogecoin. He called it the Manhattan Project of Our Time, and the objective is to clean the government’s economy to efficiency within July 4th, 2026, which marks the United States Semiquincentennial.
The potential acquisition of Bakkt can be considered as a small part of the larger plans of Donald Trump’s administration that widely popularized the slogan “Make America Great Again”.