DRW Investments, controlled by American financier Don Wilson, invested around $100 million in Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), owned by the Trump family. According to the Financial Times, this investment was made to support the company's Bitcoin move, which has exceeded $2 billion.
The investment is notable because it comes just nine weeks after the SEC investigation into Wilson’s crypto company Cumberland concluded, after the SEC dropped a lawsuit against Cumberland in March that included allegations of being an “unregistered crypto broker.”
Chicago-based DRW bought about 4 million shares of TMTG last month, according to investor records, marking one of the largest investments ever made by TMTG, which is also behind the Truth Social app. The company’s largest investor in the funding round for Bitcoin was reportedly Jane Street, with a stake of about $375 million.
DRW stated that they evaluated the investment decision based on “the benefits of holding Bitcoin in company balance sheets.” The statement said, “We have been strategically involved in the crypto asset ecosystem for decades. This transaction was evaluated entirely from this perspective.”
Don Wilson has advocated for a restructuring of U.S. securities regulators, proposing the creation of “an entirely new regulatory agency” to replace the SEC and CFTC. “Wilson has long called for a clear regulatory framework,” a DRW spokesperson said.
Wilson’s interest in crypto is not new. In 2015, he auctioned off 70,000 Bitcoins that the U.S. government had seized from the Silk Road. The assets are worth about $7.7 billion today. DRW also has a number of funds tied to digital assets, including transactions related to MicroStrategy’s rebranded Bitcoin-focused entity “Strategy.”
*This is not investment advice.