Media firm overhauls financial strategy as Trump Jr. buys stake
Donald Trump Jr., the eldest child of President Donald Trump, has acquired shares in a Los Angeles-based social media and advertising company that is building a crypto treasury.
As per a Bloomberg report published on July 9, Donald Jr. has bought 350,000 shares of Thumzup Media Corp. (Nasdaq: TZUP).
The stock was trading at $9.70 in pre-market hours, with Donald Jr.'s stake remaining at $3.39 million at the time of writing.
Though the company hasn't created much buzz in the market, it recently followed in the steps of companies like Strategy (Nasdaq: MSTR) that have perfected the strategy of stacking cryptocurrencies on their account books.
Holding only 19.106 Bitcoin on its balance sheet, Thumzup Media seems to be a rather small player in front of giants like Strategy.
However, the Trump family clearly has an eye for companies pivoting into crypto, and such firms have been quick to act on the cue.
Lo and behold!
Once the news of the president's eldest son holding a stake in Thumzup Media went public, the company issued a statement as per which its board of directors authorized the management to begin acquiring other leading cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum, XRP, Solana, USDC, Litecoin, and Dogecoin, to add to its balance sheet.
Thumzup CEO Robert Steele said:
"Expanding our exploration into other leading cryptocurrencies aligns with our commitment to innovation and prudent treasury management."
Conflicts of interest alleged
Besides being the First Family, the Trump family is also one of the most prominent business families in the U.S., and its involvement with crypto ventures has only surged once Donald Trump became the country's president for the second time in January.
Meme coins, crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs), crypto mining, decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs) — the Trump family is involved with nearly every aspect of the crypto business sphere.
As the president, Trump has vowed to make the U.S. “the crypto capital of the world" and has taken aggressive steps such as signing an order to create crypto stockpiles.
Given the First Family's involvement in several crypto ventures, Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have frequently accused the president of having conflicts of interest. But the president doesn't seem to be bothered.