Trump Media & Technology Group has tapped investors for $2.5 billion to fund a cryptocurrency reserve.

Institutional investors have bought shares in the firm under a private placement, the Trump family’s media company announced Tuesday, with the proceeds set to be invested in Bitcoin.

Around 50 investors purchased $1.5 billion worth of common shares, with a further $1 billion raised via convertible bonds. Shares in TMTG dropped almost 14% following the announcement.

The move continues the trend of publicly-traded companies raising capital to stockpile Bitcoin as treasury assets. There are currently 30 companies with Bitcoin reserves listed on the Nasdaq, with treasuries worth a combined total of more than $85 billion — about 2% of the coin’s total market cap.

Bitcoin on the balance sheet

The token has had staggering returns — up 60% in the past year, thereby boosting balance sheets for many companies. Meanwhile, the pitch for investors in the stock market is that treasuries provide exposure to crypto’s steep gains without needing to hold the assets.

Business intelligence company Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy (MSTR-0.77%), is considered the blueprint. Its CEO Michael Saylor has spearheaded using stock sales and debt financing to build a Bitcoin war chest worth over $40 billion, a move that has made the firm the 40th largest on the Nasdaq 100 index.

Many of them are crypto mining firms such as MARA (MARA-6.54%), Riot Platforms (RIOT-3.30%), and CleanSpark (CLSK-4.09%). Amid narrowing margins, it cost more to mint a Bitcoin than purchase one during the last quarter of 2024, according to a report by CoinShares. Miners have raised more than $3.7 billion via convertible bonds since November in order to purchase tokens.

Crypto-related firms like Galaxy Digital Holdings, Coinbase (COIN-3.06%), and Block (SQ+0.67%) have also bolstered reserves, with a combined total of $3.39 billion worth of Bitcoin on their balance sheets. Tech companies outside of the crypto industry are also among the holders: Tesla’s (TSLA-3.33%) stash is worth $1.27 billion.

Much of the crypto industry anticipates rallying further in the coming years, in light of President Donald Trump’s desire to make the U.S. “the crypto capital of the word.” His “crypto taskforce” will share regulatory recommendations by July, paving the way for Congress to pass first-of-its-kind crypto legislation. Financial institutions would be green lit to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies while complying with the law. Forecasting a golden era for crypto, firms are scrambling to market Bitcoin’s dazzling returns to Wall Street investors as the U.S. stock market dwarfs crypto markets in terms of liquidity.

Crypto firms handed blank checks

There’s also been a rise in listed special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), also known as blank check companies, merging with or acquiring crypto firms in order to bring them public.

One “Bitcoin-native” company, Twenty One Capital, Inc., launched in April following a merger with Cantor Equity Partners, a SPAC formerly led by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. Twenty One Capital holds over $3.47 billion of Bitcoin. Its chief aim is to maximize Bitcoin ownership per share and “become the most effective public vehicle for Bitcoin accumulation and monetization.” In March, Renatus Tactical Acquisition Corp I, a SPAC tied to Trump Media, was unveiled, with the aim to raise $179 million through an IPO to broker cryptocurrency and blockchain deals.

Stablecoin issuer Circle almost went public in 2022, following a $9 billion blank-check deal with Concord Acquisition Corp., a SPAC, but the merger fell through. On Tuesday, however, Bloomberg reported that Circle is seeking to raise up to $624 million in an initial public offering. The Securities and Exchange Commission declared in April that it does not consider stablecoins to be securities, paving the way for Circle’s IPO.

Crypto-related ETFs hit $143 billion

There are also 30 exchange-traded funds that track the price of digital assets currently trading on the U.S. stock market, a list that has grown since the Securities and Exchange Commission first approved spot Bitcoin ETFs last year. The funds have more than $143 billion in assets under management.

As of April 2025, there are 72 active applications for crypto-related ETFs, according to SEC filings, including funds for $TRUMP, the president’s memecoin, and $DOGE.