Trump Media's new Truth API service is already generating more than $1 million a month from a small group of subscribers, but the company's second-quarter results show the cost of holding Bitcoin and other assets. The service, which launched in early August, gives machine-readable access to posts from Truth Social's most-followed accounts, including Trump's. Interim CEO Kevin McGurn disclosed the fee range during the company's first-ever earnings call, calling the rollout "the early innings."
The subscription business
Truth API has more than 10 subscribers, each paying between $60,000 and $100,000 per month. That's a tidy recurring revenue stream for a company that reported just $1.7 million in total revenue for the quarter, up 89% from a year earlier. But the service has also drawn political scrutiny. Representative Jamie Raskin sent a letter to McGurn in late July demanding a full list of subscribers, and Democratic lawmakers have separately pushed for a formal SEC investigation, arguing the service effectively sells access to market-moving information tied to the presidency.
The earnings hit
The revenue growth didn't come close to offsetting the losses. Trump Media posted a second-quarter net loss of $238 million, more than 10 times the loss reported a year earlier. Unrealized markdowns on Bitcoin and equity holdings drove most of the shortfall. Analyst Markus Thielen of 10x Research put it bluntly: Trump Media "operates more like a crypto fund than a media company."
Crypto ambitions pull back
That crypto exposure is getting smaller, though. Trump Media walked away from a planned prediction-market venture with Crypto.com, part of a broader pullback under McGurn. The company still aims to close a merger with fusion firm TAE Technologies, but McGurn originally expected that deal to close months ago. It hasn't.
Shares have been choppy in recent days after a rally, and the delayed merger plus the widening losses leave investors with more questions than answers. The next concrete step is the TAE deal, which the company says is still on track — but the timeline has already slipped once.
