Tron, the blockchain founded by billionaire Justin Sun, is looking to go public in the U.S., the Financial Times reported on Monday.
Tron will go public via a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed SRM Entertainment, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. The deal is being managed by Dominari Securities, an investment firm with ties to the Trump family, the report added.
The new firm will buy and hold Tron’s TRX
, similar to Michael Saylor-led bitcoin
holding firm Strategy (MSTR). Eric Trump, son of U.S. President Donald Trump, will take a role in the new firm called Tron Inc. Tron will add $210 million worth of tokens into the new firm.
TRX jumped nearly 4% to 28 cents after the FT report was published. Shares of SRM Entertainment jumped nearly 250% to $5.1 in pre-market trading.
The move comes as a slew of crypto firms have gone public in the U.S., including stablecoin giant Circle, whose shares have jumped more than three-fold from its IPO price of $31.
Sun is a close affiliate of the Trump family and attended the Presidential dinner hosted for the top holders of the TRUMP memecoin. He also owns $75 million worth of tokens from World Liberty Financial, the DeFi vehicle backed by the Trump family.
After Trump took office, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) paused a civil fraud case against the crypto billionaire.
UPDATE (Jun. 16, 13:13 UTC): Adds background on Tron, and Justin Sun. Adds additional details.
