The Major Bitcoin Warning Hidden In Trump Media’s Earnings
Trump Media & Technology Group reported second-quarter results showing $238 million in losses, the majority of which the Truth Social parent attributed to digital assets, but a footnote in a regulatory filing warned of potentially significant losses ahead.
Trump Media, in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday, disclosed a new risk factor absent from the firm’s prior filing, warning the firm had deployed some of its bitcoin holdings to third parties to generate additional income, exposing the assets to lending risks that could result in losses.
The filing warns the third parties handling Trump Media’s bitcoin may not have established credit ratings and could lend or pledge the assets to other firms, with no government insurance protecting Trump Media from losses if the counterparty fails or goes bankrupt.
Trump Media changed how it described income from selling bitcoin options, indicating it would now be paid in cash or, when a deal is completed, in bitcoin, after its first-quarter filing said those payments would be “immediately paid in cash.”
The second-quarter filing explicitly names FTX, Celsius, Voyager and BlockFi as cautionary examples, warning if a third party holding its bitcoin goes bankrupt, Trump Media’s cryptocurrency could become part of its bankruptcy estate and the firm would be left with “limited or no recovery.”
The filing warns of “significant contagion risks” in the crypto industry, where the failure of one firm could spread to others, and that Trump Media’s reliance on a limited number of third parties to generate income from its bitcoin increases its exposure.
6,338.07. That’s how much of Trump Media’s bitcoin—more than two-thirds of its roughly 9,477 bitcoin—is tied up: 4,260.73 bitcoin are being used as collateral backing $1 billion of debt, and 2,077.34 bitcoin are pledged as part of the firm’s bitcoin options strategy.
Trump Media raised $1 billion in convertible notes, a form of debt that can be converted into company stock, as part of its strategy to build a bitcoin treasury. The strategy heightened Trump Media’s sensitivity to bitcoin price swings. The company recorded nearly $361 million in realized and unrealized digital asset losses through the first half of 2026. Shares of Trump Media stumbled to a two-week low following its earnings report this week, and the social media platform has reportedly faced a 36% decline in monthly visitors from a year ago.
Two media organizations sued President Donald Trump on Wednesday over Truth Social’s plan to sell faster access to his social media posts in a program called “Truth API.” The Intercept Media and nonprofit Freedom of the Press Foundation alleged the president “stands to gain financially” by giving government information to those who are “willing and able to pay his personal company” in a practice they called “extraordinary, corrupt and unconstitutional.” Trump Media CEO Kevin McGurn said during the firm’s earnings call that more than 10 companies had reached agreements for Truth API, “generally in the range of $60,000 to $100,000 a month.”