Today in crypto, Trump Media has finalized its ETF deal with Crypto.com, publicly listed companies are broadening their crypto reserves to include more tokens, and Oregon’s attorney general labels XRP and other digital assets as unregistered securities in a lawsuit.
Trump Media inks deal with Crypto.com for crypto, ‘Made in America’ ETFs
US President Donald Trump’s company, Trump Media and Technology Group, signed a binding agreement with crypto exchange Crypto.com on April 22 to launch exchange-traded funds (ETFs) “with a Made in America focus.”
Trump Media said the funds, set to go live later this year, will launch through its decentralized finance brand Truth.Fi and will be available through Crypto.com’s broker-dealer, Foris Capital.
The company said the ETFs “are expected to comprise digital assets as well as securities with a Made in America focus spanning diverse industries such as energy.”
The finalization of the agreement follows Trump Media and Crypto.com signing a non-binding deal in March.
The ETFs will be the latest crypto-related venture involving Trump or his family. The president has financial ties to the crypto platform World Liberty Financial, which has a token and plans for a stablecoin, and he and First Lady Melania Trump both launched memecoins days before entering office.
President Trump’s sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., have also gone in on a crypto mining venture called American Bitcoin.
DeFi Development Corp adds $11.5M SOL, shares jump 12%
DeFi Development Corporation, formerly known as Janover, is ramping up its Solana treasury strategy following a buyout led by Kraken executives.
According to an April 22 announcement, the company added 88,164 Solana (SOL) to its treasury, worth $11.5 million and bringing its Solana stake to $34.4 million.
On April 7, DeFi Development Corporation was acquired by a group of former Kraken executives. As part of the deal, the company announced a shift toward crypto, including a rebrand and a Solana-based reserve treasury. Before the transition, Janover operated in the real estate financing space, linking lenders with commercial property buyers.
Since the takeover, the company has made multiple purchases of SOL, including a buy of $10.5 million on April 16. With the latest purchase, DeFi Development Corporation’s total holdings stand at 251,842. The company plans to stake the tokens to generate additional yield.
Shares of DeFi Development Corporation (JNVR) were up 12.83% on the news, according to Google Finance.
Oregon AG lawsuit against Coinbase calls XRP unregistered security
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield’s lawsuit against Coinbase argues that XRP and other digital assets are unregistered securities.
Rayield sued US-based, publicly traded crypto exchange Coinbase for allegedly violating Oregon’s securities law. In an April 18 announcement, the Oregon Department of Justice said the suit was part of an effort to fill what it described as a regulatory vacuum left by federal agencies under the Trump administration:
“States must fill enforcement vacuum being left by federal regulators who are abandoning these cases under Trump administration,“ the department said.
Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal voiced his frustration over the lawsuit in an April 21 X post. Justin Slaughter, the vice president of regulatory affairs at crypto investment firm Paradigm, pointed out that the lawsuit claims a long list of digital assets, including XRP (XRP), are unregistered securities.
Yarden Noy, partner at crypto legal firm DLT Law, told Cointelegraph that if the court ruled these assets are securities, it “would mostly create more confusion in this regard.” It would not be a binding precedent in other cases, not even within Oregon, he added.
