Trump Media is winding down its cryptocurrency ambitions: focus shifts to data and Truth Social
Trump Media and Technology Group has officially abandoned its plans to create a treasury based on the Cronos (CRO) blockchain in partnership with Crypto.com and Yorkville Acquisition Corp. This decision, made under the leadership of interim CEO Kevin McGern, marks a significant reversal in the strategy of the media giant, which now intends to focus on developing Truth Social, data licensing, and the anticipated merger with fusion energy company TAE.
Reasons for Abandoning the Crypto Project
The launch of the ambitious project, which was positioned as the first and largest public treasury based on CRO, was announced last year. However, as I have learned, the partners decided to terminate the collaboration due to oversaturation in the treasury crypto product sector. Yorkville Acquisition Corp, the SPAC structure created to take the project public, supported this decision, although its America First ETFs division with the Truth Social Funds brand will continue its operations.
This move was a logical continuation of a poor start to the year: cryptocurrency write-downs led to a quarterly loss of $406 million. McGern directly stated that it was the excess of treasury companies, not regulatory requirements, that prompted the strategy review. "We wanted to focus," he characterized the situation, emphasizing that CRO staking is gradually losing relevance for Crypto.com, making the termination of the agreement mutually beneficial.
Market Reaction and New Priorities
At the time of publication, the CRO token held at $0.0513, down 0.4% over the past day. The asset's market capitalization stands at approximately $2.4 billion, placing it 38th in the rankings. Market reaction was subdued, suggesting that investors had already priced in the possible abandonment of the project.
Instead of cryptocurrency experiments, Trump Media is now betting on data monetization. The data sales business through the Truth Social API already serves about 10 clients, although recently there were only five. These are mainly high-frequency trading firms using this data in algorithmic strategies. Additionally, the company is targeting language model developers and prediction platforms.
The partners also abandoned plans to integrate event betting features into Truth Social. Instead, users will be promoted Crypto.com's prediction services. According to McGern, this market is already occupied by major players, so building proprietary infrastructure would not yield benefits. Trump Media now views itself not as a market operator, but as a distribution partner and data provider.
My analysis: this reversal looks pragmatic. The treasury crypto product market is indeed overheated, and attempting to compete with established players like Tether or Circle would have been risky. Instead, Trump Media is leveraging its main asset—the Truth Social audience—to create a revenue stream through data and APIs. This is a more sustainable model, especially given the anticipated merger with TAE by the end of the year. The question is whether the company can scale this business quickly enough to justify its current valuation.