Key Insights:
- Trump Media submits Bitcoin and Cronos ETFs to the market as the rivalry in the US market intensifies.
- Senators urge CFIUS review of a reported $500M foreign stake in WLFI deal.
- Crypto.com partners on custody, liquidity, and staking, pending approval.
Trump Media and Technology Group has filed applications for two cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds tied to Bitcoin, Ether, and the Cronos blockchain, extending its push into digital assets. At the same time, lawmakers simultaneously call for a federal review of a separate crypto venture linked to the Trump family.
Trump Media and Technology Group Expands ETF Strategy
The new ETF filings, submitted by the company’s asset management arm, come as competition intensifies in the U.S. crypto investment market and as scrutiny grows over foreign investment in digital asset businesses connected to political figures.
Truth Social Funds, the ETF division of Trump Media and Technology Group, applied for approval of the “Truth Social Bitcoin and Ether ETF” and the “Truth Social Cronos Yield Maximizer ETF.”
The proposed Bitcoin and Ether product would track the performance of the two largest cryptocurrencies by market value, with reports indicating that the allocation would be weighted toward Bitcoin. The second fund would provide exposure to CRO, the native token of the Cronos blockchain, and incorporate staking rewards.
Source: Co-Founder BigoSoft Iqbal Khan
According to the filings, Crypto.com is partnering with Trump Media and Technology Group on the products and is expected to provide custody, liquidity, and staking services. Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek stated that the company supports the proposed funds and plans to enable trading access once they receive regulatory clearance.
The applications follow earlier efforts by Trump Media and Technology Group to enter the digital asset investment space. In addition, it has disclosed plans to establish a corporate crypto treasury using CRO and to distribute a digital token to shareholders on the Cronos network.
The ETF market remains competitive. Asset managers, including BlackRock, Fidelity, and Grayscale, already operate widely traded Bitcoin investment vehicles that offer indirect exposure to cryptocurrency markets without requiring investors to hold tokens directly.
Against that backdrop, Trump Media and Technology Group is positioning its offerings within an established but expanding segment of the financial industry.
Last year, the company also announced a partnership with Crypto.com to integrate prediction markets into the Truth Social platform, describing the initiative as a first for a publicly traded social media company.
Lawmakers Request CFIUS Review of WLFI Investment
While Trump Media and Technology Group advances its ETF plans, two U.S. senators have asked the Treasury Department to examine a reported foreign investment in a separate crypto venture tied to the Trump family.
In a letter dated Friday, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey requested that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent determine whether the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States should review a transaction involving World Liberty Financial (WLFI).
According to the letter, a United Arab Emirates–backed investment vehicle agreed to purchase a 49% stake in WLFI for approximately $500 million. The senators wrote that the transaction reportedly occurred days before Donald Trump’s inauguration and would make the foreign fund WLFI’s largest shareholder and only publicly known outside investor.
They asked Bessent, who chairs CFIUS, to confirm whether the committee had been notified of the deal and, if not, to conduct what they described as a comprehensive and unbiased investigation. The lawmakers stated that the investment was reportedly backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser.
According to the letter, about $187 million from the agreement would be directed to entities linked to the Trump family. The arrangement also allegedly grants two board seats to executives affiliated with G42, a technology company that has previously faced scrutiny from U.S. intelligence agencies over concerns about ties to China.
Warren and Kim argued in their correspondence that the transaction structure could allow a foreign government to exert influence over a U.S.-based company that handles financial and personal information.
They cited WLFI’s privacy disclosures, which state that the firm collects wallet addresses, IP addresses, device identifiers, and approximate location data, as well as certain identity records obtained from service providers. The senators requested responses from the Treasury Department by March 5 regarding whether the committee has assessed or plans to assess the reported investment.
