Loss of 400 million, stock price 50% Slump, can Trump's media gamble on Bitcoin replicate the MicroStrategy myth?

Author: BitPush

On Friday local time, Trump Media & Technology Group (stock code DJT) announced that its submitted S-3 registration statement has been approved and is effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

This means that the equity and convertible note agreements the company previously reached with about 50 investors have officially entered the execution phase, with a total financing amount of approximately $2.3 billion. Most of this funding—according to the previously disclosed plan—will be used to purchase Bitcoin, making it the second publicly traded company after Strategy to use Bitcoin as a core asset reserve.

At the same time, financial documents from the U.S. Office of Government Ethics obtained by the New York Post show that Trump personally earned $57.35 million last year from the family-affiliated cryptocurrency platform World Liberty Financial, making it one of his most significant sources of income.

Trump’s crypto income far exceeds his traditional business. In addition to the $57.35 million earnings from World Liberty Financial, his derivatives business, including “45 Guitar” (which generated $1.05 million), “Trump Sneakers and Perfume” ($2.5 million), and Trump brand watches ($2.8 million), collectively makes up over $60 million in annual non-political income.

The document also discloses that it holds a substantial portfolio of stock and bond investments, with the relevant details occupying nearly 145 pages of the disclosure.

“Patriotic Economy”

Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes stated unambiguously his strategic intentions: “We are rapidly advancing our expansion plans, including enhancing our social media platform, developing streaming services, and establishing a Bitcoin reserve.”

He described this series of actions as making Trump Media an indispensable part of the “Patriot Economy.” Nunes emphasized multiple times that the company’s mission is to “end the suppression of free speech by big tech companies,” and Bitcoin is referred to as the “pinnacle tool of financial freedom.”

This move is not isolated. Since 2024, Trump’s media presence in the cryptocurrency field has gradually become clearer: first announcing the launch of the fintech brand Truth.Fi, and then collaborating with Crypto.com to plan the launch of a Bitcoin ETF.

At the recent “Bitcoin2025” held in Las Vegas, key figures from Trump’s inner circle—including Vice President J.D. Vance, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and the “Crypto King” David Sacks—attended prominently, further solidifying Trump’s image as the first “Crypto President” of the United States. This approach of intertwining political narratives with financial strategies has made DJT stand out on Wall Street.

However, the market’s reaction is not entirely optimistic. Although the price of Bitcoin has remained relatively stable, the stock price of Trump Media has dropped by 42% this year, and its 2024 financial report shows revenue of only 3.6 million dollars, with a loss of as much as 400 million dollars.

Some analysts question that the company’s valuation relies more on political narratives than on actual profitability.

The controversy of the president’s “call order”

What sparked further discussion was the role of Trump himself. As the company’s major shareholder (holding about 114 million shares through a trust), he had posted on Truth Social calling on investors to “buy DJT,” after which the company’s stock price rose in response. This action, which blurred the lines between presidential identity and business interests, raised concerns about market manipulation.

According to CNBC, DJT’s actions are closely related to the growing discontent within the Republican Party regarding the discrimination against conservative businesses in banking.

Several Republican leaders, including Trump himself, have publicly criticized traditional financial institutions for their “exclusionary” practices against conservative clients. The Truth.Fi platform launched by DJT, along with the rise of cryptocurrencies associated with Trump, is seen as a proactive response from the private sector to this trend of “de-banking.”

Converting a large amount of the company’s treasury assets into bitcoin is also a popular trend this year. Spearheaded by Michael Saylor’s Strategy in 2020, it is now being pushed to a climax by Trump’s political campaign and his crypto allies. The core goal of this strategy is to continuously increase your Bitcoin holdings per share and take advantage of Bitcoin’s potential appreciation. Jack Mallers, a new bitcoin company backed by Tether and SoftBank, and David Bailey’s Nakamoto Holdings, are aggressively deploying in this space in an attempt to replicate and surpass Strategy’s successful model.

Now, with the effectiveness of the S-3 registration statement, Trump’s media Bitcoin strategy has entered a substantive phase. If all goes well, it will become the third largest corporate holder of Bitcoin in the world.