Donald Trump’s social media group Trump Media is in talks to acquire crypto trading venue Bakkt (BKKT), a crypto platform owned by Intercontinental Exchange. According to sources familiar with the matter, the US president-elect’s Trump Media and Technology Group is close to an all-stakes purchase in Bakkt.
The valuation for the purchase remains unclear, but Bakkt’s market capitalization stood at just over $150M on Monday. Trump Media and Technology is one of the biggest growing stocks since the US election, where the namesake man won the Presidential nomination. TMTG has a $6bn equity valuation, giving its management a considerable stockpile to make purchases like the one in Bakkt.
With the President-elect’s recent decision to maintain his 53% stake in Trump Media, the purchase of Bakkt would solidify Trump’s next steps into cryptocurrency. Trump has labeled himself as the “crypto president,” backing the notion with multiple ventures in cryptocurrency. This includes his campaign accepting crypto in donations, his MAGA coin, and support for Bitcoin. In the past, Donald Trump promoted a new crypto venture set up by longtime business partners, World Liberty Financial. Bakkt has struggled for profitability since its launch, and ownership by Trump Media could be a catalyst for improvements in its business structure.
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One interesting note about the upcoming transaction is that Bakkt’s first chief executive was Kelly Loeffler. Loeffler was a Republican ex-senator for Georgia during Trump’s first presidency and is organizing his January inauguration.
Bakkt is a publicly traded company serving businesses and institutions in the crypto industry. The company builds solutions that enable clients to grow with the crypto economy. Trump Media nor Bakkt have issued public comments on the purchase proposal.
