The company behind Donald Trump’s social media platform Truth Social has suffered a staggering paper loss of more than $400m (£305m) after the value of its vast Bitcoin holdings plunged amid a brutal sell-off across the cryptocurrency market.
Trump Media & Technology Group held 11,542 Bitcoin at the end of September, filings show. Those digital coins were worth nearly $1.37bn when acquired over the summer. Today, their value has slumped to just over $950m — a drop of more than 30pc.
Bitcoin itself has been in freefall, sliding to as low as $82,070 on Friday, down more than 5pc in a single day and over 33pc from its October peak, when the cryptocurrency briefly soared above $125,000.
The rout has spread across the sector. The total value of the global cryptocurrency market has shrunk by roughly $1.5 trillion since October, as investors flee risk assets amid a wider technology stock sell-off.
Trump Media shares spiral
The turmoil has hammered Trump Media’s stock too. Shares in the company, which operates Truth Social, fell to all-time lows this week, trading just above $10. The stock is now down 70pc this year and has slid 35pc since the end of October, tracking the wider market downturn.
Despite once boasting a valuation of more than $10bn following its flashy 2024 market debut, Trump Media is now worth around $2.9bn. The Trump family retains about half of the business, with Donald Trump’s shares held in a trust controlled by his son, Donald Jr.
Bitcoin gamble backfires
Trump Media had aggressively pursued a “Bitcoin Treasury” strategy, hoarding the crypto asset as prices surged. In July, chief executive Devin Nunes confirmed the firm had bought $2bn worth of Bitcoin, claiming it would give the company “financial freedom” and shield it from “discrimination by financial institutions”.
However, just under $500m of that Bitcoin stash is now serving as collateral for convertible debt, increasing financial risk as prices fall.
Alongside its Bitcoin exposure, Trump Media also disclosed holdings of roughly $146m in Cronos, another cryptocurrency — whose value has nearly halved since September.
Losses mount despite bullish claims
In its latest financial results, Trump Media reported a quarterly net loss of $54.8m for the three months to September — before the most recent wave of crypto volatility. Despite this, the company insisted it was still “earning significant income from its unique bitcoin strategy”.
With both its share price and crypto holdings under pressure, Trump Media now finds itself exposed on multiple fronts — a stark reversal for what was once hailed as a bold bet on the future of digital finance.
