Trump Media & Technology Group (NYSE: DJT) shares rose 3% on Friday after reports emerged that the company is stepping back from two major cryptocurrency initiatives with digital asset platform Crypto.com.
The Truth Social parent company has mutually agreed with Crypto.com and special purpose acquisition company Yorkville Acquisition Corp. to terminate plans for the “Trump Media Group CRO Strategy.”
The proposed venture was originally conceived during the 2025 cryptocurrency treasury surge, designed to license the Trump Media brand to build a large treasury of Crypto.com’s native CRO token on its Cronos blockchain.
When initial plans were announced last year, the companies projected the entity would become the first and largest publicly traded CRO treasury firm.
However, all parties ultimately cited “prevailing market conditions and shifting business and stakeholder priorities” as the reason for abandoning the deal, according to an exclusive Axios report.
Beyond scrapping the CRO treasury initiative, Trump Media and Crypto.com are also scaling back plans to integrate prediction markets directly into the back-end infrastructure of Truth Social.
Rather than building proprietary exchange infrastructure, the two companies will instead enter a marketing partnership to promote Crypto.com’s existing prediction-market tools to Truth Social’s existing user base.
Interim CEO Kevin McGurn explained to Axios that establishing a proprietary back-end exchange in a crowded prediction market was an inefficient use of corporate capital.
McGurn also revealed to Axios that TMTG’s enterprise API business has grown to approximately 10 direct clients, up from roughly five, with those clients primarily being high-frequency quantitative trading firms that use Truth Social activity to inform algorithmic trading strategies.
Trump Media now sees greater opportunity in operating as a distribution and data partner rather than as an operator of financial platforms, a strategic simplification that McGurn told Axios is designed to streamline operations ahead of a major corporate milestone.
McGurn indicated to Axios that the company remains optimistic about finalizing its proposed merger with TAE, a nuclear fusion energy company, before the end of the year.
Retail sentiment on Stocktwits surrounding DJT stock was characterized as “bullish” with “low” message volumes following the news.
Despite Friday’s gains, DJT stock remains down approximately 23% year-to-date, reflecting the broader challenges the company has faced as it attempts to diversify beyond its core social media platform.
