President-elect Donald Trump's media arm, the Trump Media and Expertise Group (TMTG), is reportedly in superior talks to accumulate Bakkt, the cryptocurrency buying and selling platform owned by Intercontinental Trade (ICE), the Monetary Occasions reported on November 18.
In keeping with the report, the settlement would come with the acquisition of all shareswhich is TMTG's transfer to diversify operations and enter the rising crypto market.
The information despatched Bakkt's inventory worth up roughly 165% to $29 at press time, in keeping with fromcrypto knowledge.
TMTG is the guardian firm of Reality Social and has develop into one of the unstable and actively traded shares since Trump's election victory. Regardless of solely producing $2.6 million in income this yr, TMTG is value $6 billion.
Sources conversant in the talks informed the FT that Bakkt's cryptocurrency custody enterprise was excluded from the proposed transaction because it struggled to achieve traction and was anticipated to be spun off.
By buying Bakkt, TMTG would acquire entry to a platform geared toward institutional buyers, a market section that Bakkt targets with its deliberate buying and selling infrastructure.
If accomplished, the deal would additionally broaden Trump's rising involvement within the crypto business and complement his just lately introduced crypto enterprise, the stablecoin-focused credit score platform World Liberty Monetary.
ICE and Bakkt declined to touch upon the matter, and TMTG didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Bakkt's struggles
Based by ICE in 2018, Bakkt has confronted ongoing challenges in reaching profitability.
Its cryptocurrency custody enterprise, which holds cryptocurrencies corresponding to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) for patrons, reported minimal income of $328,000 and an working lack of $27,000 within the third quarter of 2023.
Moreover, the corporate narrowly averted being delisted from the New York Inventory Trade earlier this yr by a 1-for-25 inventory buyback.
Regardless of the issues, Bakkt's institutional focus and ties to ICE, the proprietor of the New York Inventory Trade, might supply strategic worth to TMTG. Bakkt's first CEO, Kelly Loeffler, is an in depth Trump ally and co-chair of his inaugural committee.
