Trump Media & Technology Group, of which President-elect Donald Trump owns a 53% stake, on Monday filed a trademark application for "Truthfi," a platform used for trading digital assets and other payment processing services. The filing also mentioned services for "Downloadable computer software for use as a digital wallet."
The New York Times was the first to report the news on Thursday.
The application was filed the same day a report broke that Trump Media & Technology Group was in “advanced talks” to acquire Bakkt, the crypto platform that offers licensed and regulated custody and trading for digital assets.
"Josh Gerben, a Washington D.C.-based trademark lawyer, said that [Truthfi] filing is a way for Trump Media to reserve the TruthFi name if it goes forward with a crypto business," the Times reports. "He said that companies can usually reserve a name for as long as a few years. But companies typically file a trademark application with the intent to use it."
The Block reached out to Trump Media & Technology Group for comment.
Trump positioned himself as a pro-crypto candidate this year, notably calling for the firing of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler when speaking at an industry conference in July. On Thursday, Gensler announced plans to leave his post on Jan. 20, 2025, the same day Trump will be inaugurated as president.
Trump's team is also considering creating a position specifically focused on crypto policy, a White House-first, according to Bloomberg. "Crypto Dad" Chris Giancarlo is a frontrunner to hold that position, according to Fox Business.
Trump Media & Technology Group's stock (ticker DJT) jumped on Thursday's news, trading higher by 4% at publication time. The stock is up 78% in the year-to-date period, giving the company a market cap near $7 billion.
Bakkt's stock (BKKT) also spiked on the news but has since pared most of those gains. Shares have nearly tripled in price since Monday's report of a possible acquisition, giving the company a $455 million market cap.
Another notable crypto project with ties to Trump — World Liberty Financial — has generated WLFI token sales of $20 million since going live on Oct. 15, according to Dune Analytics. Half of that total was generated on their first day of sales alone – a far cry from the $300 million the DeFi project expected to raise.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
