Crypto Firm Tron, Led By 'Top Fan' of Trump, Is Going Public — Barrons.com

By Paul R. La MonicaAnother day, another crypto company plans to go public. This one has ties to President Donald Trump's sons Eric and Donald Jr.Tron, a blockchain company, is merging with SRM Entertainment, a toy and souvenir maker for theme parks, in a $210 million acquisition. The company will be renamed Tron Inc. and plans to invest company funds in the Tron cryptocurrency.It is a similar strategy to what software company MicroStrategy, led by Bitcoin bull Michael Saylor, and other companies such as GameStop have done with the cryptocurrency.Separately, the combined company will issue $100 million of stock to an unidentified investor. That money will be used to buy Tron tokens. The companies didn't say when they expect to complete the transactions.Shares of SRM soared 534% Monday afternoon on the news of the transaction, rising from $1.45 to close at $9.19. The deal comes on the heels of the blockbuster initial public offering of stablecoin company Circle earlier this month, as well as Wall Street debuts by eToro, a crypto and stockbrokerage firm and Galaxy Digital, a digital-asset investing company by Bitcoin bull Michael Novogratz.SRM didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from Barron's.SRM and Tron said in a press release that Dominari Securities LLC is the exclusive placement agent for the deal. Dominari Securities is a subsidiary of Dominari Holdings, which Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. invested in in February. Both are now members of its board of advisors.The Financial Times reported that Eric Trump may also take on some sort of executive role with Tron, which is led by Justin Sun. The crypto billionaire made waves in November by paying $6.2 million at a Sotheby's auction for a banana duct-taped to a wall. He later ate it.Tron and Dominari didn't immediately respond to requests for comment about the SRM-Tron deal and what role Eric Trump might have at the company.In a press release about the deal, Sun didn't address the Trump ties either, simply saying that "stablecoins and blockchain are revolutionizing global payments, enabling faster, cheaper, and more transparent transactions." Tron "strives to be the protocol of choice" for settlements of transactions.The White House said in a statement to Barron's that the transaction was a matter for Eric Trump and the Trump Organization and had "nothing to do" with the president. The Trump Organization didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.Sun is a big backer of Trump, posting on X in May that he was honored to support the president and was grateful for an invitation to attend a gala dinner for him "as his TOP fan!" Sun said he is the biggest holder of the TRUMP memecoin and that he was excited to discuss the future of the crypto industry with people at the dinner.In 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Sun and Tron with the "unregistered offer and sale of crypto asset securities" and with fraudulently manipulating the secondary market. Sun said in a post on X at the time that the claim lacked merit.Earlier this year, the SEC, which has become far friendlier to cryptos than it was under former Chair Gary Gensler during President Joe Biden's administration, told a judge the parties were moving to jointly stay the case in order to "explore a potential resolution." The SEC didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.Write to Paul R. La Monica at [email protected] content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.