Trump Media turns Trump's posts into gold: early access service brings in over $1 million
Donald Trump's media company has found an unexpected source of monetization: selling early access to the president's posts on Truth Social has already generated over $1 million. These are confirmed figures that are forcing the market to reconsider its view of Trump Media's business model.
The service in question is Truth API, launched in early August. The concept is simple and cynical: subscribers gain accelerated access to posts from the platform's most influential accounts, including Trump himself. For this, they pay between $60,000 and $100,000 per month. More than ten companies operating in the high-frequency trading sector have already signed up. Combined revenue from them has surpassed the $1 million mark—and that is only for the first month of operation.
Interim CEO Kevin McGern confirmed these figures during the first quarterly report. He emphasized that the launch of Truth API is "in its early stages," but the company is already actively negotiating with AI companies and preparing a separate pricing tier for retail traders. The logic is clear: Trump's posts can move markets, so real-time access to them is a premium product.
Reaction from regulators and politicians
Of course, such a scheme has not gone unnoticed by lawmakers. Congressman Jamie Raskin sent a letter to McGern as early as late July demanding the full list of subscribers be disclosed. Democrats are pushing for an official investigation by the SEC, arguing that selling access to market information related to the U.S. president is a direct path to manipulation and insider trading. The issue is both ethical and legal: Trump controls the majority of the company's shares, meaning he has a personal interest in growing revenue from his own statements.
Losses and a crypto fund under the hood
Despite the new revenue source, Trump Media's core business remains deeply unprofitable. The net loss in the second quarter amounted to $238 million—more than 10 times higher than the figure from the previous year. Revenue grew 89% to $1.7 million, but that is a drop in the ocean. Most of the losses are tied to the revaluation of bitcoin and stocks on the company's balance sheet.
Analyst Markus Thielen from 10x Research gave a harsh assessment: Trump Media operates more like a crypto fund than a media company. And it is hard to argue with that—the company's balance sheet resembles a speculator's portfolio rather than the assets of a traditional publisher.
To top it all off, Trump Media recently backed out of a joint launch of a prediction markets platform with Crypto.com. This decision fits the broader trend of scaling back crypto initiatives under McGern's leadership. The company still plans to complete its merger with energy firm TAE Technologies, although timelines have been postponed multiple times.
Over the past five days, shares have lost 9% following a recent rally. Investors are now closely watching whether Truth API can become a stable source of revenue, as McGern promises.
My take: monetizing the president's public statements through a paid API is an unprecedented step that blurs the lines between information and a commodity. For the market, this is a double risk: on one hand, the legitimization of insider information; on the other, the transformation of political statements into a tool for manipulation. If the SEC intervenes, this case could set a precedent for the entire industry.