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  • Trump Media shareholder UAV sold nearly 11 million shares

    Trump Media shareholder UAV sold nearly 11 million shares

    United Atlantic Ventures, a significant shareholder in Trump Media, has sold nearly 11 million shares in the company, according to a regulatory filing Thursday, weeks after a federal judge cleared the way for the transaction.

    The move left UAV — an investment partnership of former “Apprentice” contestants Andrew Litinsky and Wes Moss — owning just 100 shares in Trump Media, which operates the Truth Social app.

    The amount of money UAV got from the stock sales, which occurred within the past week, was not disclosed.

    But the price range that DJT shares has traded at during that time – which saw unusually heavy trading volume — suggests that UAV would have received between $128 million and $170 million for its stock.

    UAV was allowed to dump its 5.4% stake in Trump Media after a lock-up agreement that barred company insiders from selling expired on Sept. 19.

    UAV is the only known insider to sell off shares after that day.

    Litinsky and Moss had pitched the idea of a social media company to former President Donald Trump, the star of the “Apprentice” show, and co-founded Trump Media with him in 2021.

    The two later fell out with Trump and since then have been embroiled in lawsuits with Trump Media over their shares.

    Trump owns 114.7 million DJT shares, more than 56% of Trump Media’s stock.

    After UAV’s sale of its stake, the only other entity that holds more than 5% of Trump Media shares is ARC Global Investments II LLC, which holds slightly more than 11 million shares.

    DJT stock closed Thursday at $13.98 per share, a decrease of about 1%.

    The Republican presidential nominee Trump on Sept. 13 said “I have absolutely no intention of selling” his shares in the company after the lock-up period expired.

    CNBC has requested comment from Trump Media and a lawyer for UAV about the sales by Litinsky and Moss’ company.

    Securities and Exchange Commission filings show that UAV owned 7,525,000 shares of Trump Media as of March 25, the day the company completed a merger with the blank-check company Digital World Acquisition Corp., which led to Trump’s company becoming publicly traded.

    UAV later was awarded another 3.44 million shares that were issued “for no additional consideration based on the performance of our shares of Common Stock,” Trump Media said in an SEC filing on Sept. 5.

    That left UAV owning more than 10.96 million shares.

    Thursday’s SEC filing disclosing UAV’s sale of the vast majority of those shares does not give the dates or prices for the selloff.

    Trump Media had warned in a Florida lawsuit that UAV was planning to sell “all of its shares as soon as possible” once the lock-up period expired.

    UAV’s disclosure of the sale in a 13G filing with the SEC came on the heels of a Sept. 6 ruling by a federal judge in Delaware in UAV’s favor in a lawsuit against a securities transfer agent, Odyssey Transfer and Trust Company.

    That ruling barred Odyssey from interfering with the transfer of UAV’s Trump Media shares to UAV when the lock-up period expired.

    Odyssey had indicated before the ruling that it would take directions from Trump Media on the transfer of share, and Trump Media had refused to say if it would allow Odyssey to remove transfer restrictions without preference to any shareholder.

    Trump Media stock soared in its trading debut on the Nasdaq, reaching an intraday high of $79.38 per share and sending the company’s market capitalization north of $10 billion.

    But DJT’s price quickly pulled back.

    In recent months it has suffered a downward slide that erased more than 80% of the company’s value at its post-merger peak. The company’s market cap is now below $2.8 billion.

    Analysts view DJT as a meme stock whose wild price swings were driven more by investors’ support for Trump, the majority shareholder and Truth Social’s main draw, than its business fundamentals.

    Trump Media has reported net losses of around $344 million on revenues of less than $2 million in its last two quarterly earnings reports.

  • Coinbase, a16z contribute $78 million to pro-crypto PAC for 2026 election

    Coinbase, a16z contribute $78 million to pro-crypto PAC for 2026 election

    Crypto donor Chris Larsen on why he's giving millions to the Harris campaign

    With one day to go until the U.S. general election, crypto companies have already poured tens of millions of dollars into the upcoming 2026 cycle. The pro-crypto and bipartisan super PAC Fairshake said Monday that the committee and its affiliates have raised $78 million for the 2026 midterm elections.

    That $78 million breaks down to more than $30 million raised, plus another $48 million in new commitments from centralized crypto exchange Coinbase and Silicon Valley venture fund Andreessen Horowitz, among other companies.

    Early Monday, a16z general partner Chris Dixon, who heads up the fund’s crypto book, published a note explaining why the company contributed another $23 million to Fairshake.

    “Regardless of what happens in the 2024 elections, we’re committed to supporting policymakers, irrespective of party affiliation, who will work to establish a practical regulatory framework that protects consumers while allowing the industry to grow,” the letter read.

    Dixon added that “supporting a PAC like Fairshake is just one crucial part of the strategy needed to achieve our larger policy goals” and that a16z would continue to meet with policymakers on both sides of the aisle to advocate for the industry.

    All in, a16z has given $70 million to Fairshake as the VC looks to support the PAC’s larger mission of building a Congress comprised of pro-crypto legislators.

    On Wednesday, Coinbase announced it would give another $25 million to Fairshake.

    Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange, was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission over claims that it engaged in unregistered sales of securities. It’s among Fairshake’s top contributors this cycle. The exchange has given more than $75 million to Fairshake and its affiliated PACs.

    “We know we need to have pro-crypto legislation passed in this country,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. Coinbase shares plummeted 15% after the company reported a miss on the top and bottom lines.

    Ripple Labs is another major political donor this cycle that has given around $50 million to Fairshake. A spokesperson said the company committed $25 million both this year and last year and intends to remain a strong force in DC for years to come.

    Coinbase's legal chief on crypto's 2024 election spending

    Fairshake told CNBC it’s raised around $170 million this cycle and disbursed approximately $135 million.

    The majority of the group’s funds can be traced to Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz and Ripple Labs. The remaining balance comes from a mix of companies and individual donors. Armstrong, for example, gave $1 million, while the Winklevoss twins put in $5 million.

    Fairshake was launched last year by a consortium of crypto firms and is one of the top-spending PACs in 2024, even against oil companies and banks, which have historically been big political contributors. Nearly half of all the corporate money flowing into the election has come from the crypto industry, according to a report from the nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen. 

    Fairshake’s spending, which has targeted House and Senate races in the 2024 cycle, is effective. Public Citizen’s report found that of the 42 primary races that attracted money from crypto-backed super PACs, 36 were won by the candidate supported by the crypto industry.

    Fairshake’s corporate and individual donors want crypto laws passed in the U.S.

    Dixon and others say they’re looking for comprehensive market structure legislation for digital assets and a law to govern stablecoins, tokens pegged to the value of a real-world asset that are now virtually synonymous with U.S. dollar-pegged coins.

    “Many industries come to DC asking to roll back rules, and we have come to DC asking to establish them,” Dixon wrote in his post Monday.

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