Trump’s Media Group Reportedly Eying Bakkt Acquisition

The U.S. president-elect, Donald Trump, is reportedly the acquisition of a major crypto trading platform.

A Nov. 18 report from Financial Times claimed that Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of Trump’s Truth Social platform, is in advanced discussions to acquire Bakkt, a cryptocurrency trading platform owned by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).

The deal is expected to take the form of an all-stock purchase, meaning ICE would receive shares in TMTG rather than cash to settle the transaction. While TMTG currently boasts a $7.21 billion market cap, its valuation has slumped 36% from a giddy pre-election high. Donald Trump holds a 53% stake in TMTG.

Bakkt’s valuation for the deal is undisclosed, but data from Yahoo Finance indicates the company’s market cap is $192.4 million. News of the talks triggered Bakkt’s share price to surge 162%, while TMTG’s bounced 16.7%.

Purchasing Bakkt would mark a major expansion in Trump’s crypto operations.

Despite Trump’s pro-crypto campaign platform, the controversial businessman’s crypto involvement has largely been limited to receiving a roughly 50% cut of revenue from the sale of four collections of NFT trading cards, and enjoying a 75% claim on the revenue generated by the upcoming World Liberty Financial DeFi platform in exchange for promotional duties.

Bakkt’s resurgence

Bakkt was founded in August 2018 by ICE, and originally south to offer a platform for regulated digital asset trading alongside merchant services.

Bakkt made headlines in September 2019 when it launched physically-settled Bitcoin futures, making it the first platform in the U.S. to offer regulated futures contracts tracking BTC. Volume for Bakkt’s futures volume peaked at $170.1 million in September 2020.

In March 2021, Bakkt pivoted to focus on consumer services with the launch of a digital wallet app.

In November 2023, Bakkt relaunched its crypto-custody services. However, the company’s crypto custody business has struggled to gain traction and reported a net loss of $27,000 on revenue of $328,000 in the third quarter of 2024. According to FT, Bakkt’s custody business will likely be excluded from the potential acquisition.

Bakkt has recently hosted a surge in crypto trading volume, with $279 million traded in the first 12 days of November alone — an increase of $114 million compared to October. Additionally, Bakkt’s third-quarter revenue grew by 60% year-on-year to $328.4 million, while losses narrowed to $6.3 million from $51.7 million compared to the same period last year.

Trump to meet Coinbase CEO

On the same day, the Wall Street Journal reported that President-elect Donald Trump is set to meet privately with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.

In the lead-up to the 2024 election, Coinbase and Armstrong contributed at least $49 million to Fairshake, a crypto industry-backed PAC, and affiliated committees, according to Federal Election Commission filings and OpenSecrets data.