Nasdaq-listed GDC plans to buy Bitcoin and TRUMP memecoin for $300M

GD Culture Group (GDC), a Nasdaq-listed holding company focused on livestreaming, e-commerce and artificial intelligence-powered digital human technology, plans to raise up to $300 million for a cryptocurrency treasury reserve.

In a May 12 statement, GDC and its subsidiary, AI Catalysis, announced entering into a common stock purchase agreement with a British Virgin Islands limited liability company to sell up to $300 million of its common stock.

The proceeds from the stock sale will be used to fund the firm’s crypto treasury, which will include purchases of Bitcoin (BTC) and the Official Trump (TRUMP) token.

“Under this initiative, and subject to certain limitations, GDC intends to allocate a significant portion of the proceeds from any share sales under the facility to the acquisition, long-term holding, and integration of crypto assets into its core treasury operations,” the company said in the announcement. 

GDC described the strategy as a move to align with the broader “decentralization transformation.”

Founded in 2016, GDC is a micro-cap company with a current $34 million market capitalization, according to Nasdaq data.

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GDC’s chairman and CEO, Xiaojian Wang, said the initiative builds on the company’s strengths in digital technologies and positions it for a blockchain-powered industrial shift.

“GDC’s adoption of crypto assets as treasury reserve holdings is a deliberate strategy that reflects both current industry trends and our unique strengths in digital technologies and the livestreaming e-commerce ecosystem,” Wang said.

The stock offering was announced over a month after the firm received a noncompliance warning from Nasdaq related to its stockholders’ equity. The notice indicated that the firm reported stockholders’ equity of only $2,643, well below the minimum requirement of $2.5 million.

The firm was given until May 4 to submit a plan to comply with the listing requirements. If accepted by Nasdaq, the compliance plan will allow up to 180 days from the notification period to comply with the requirements.

The Nevada-based company joins a small but growing group of public firms that are allocating part of their balance sheets to crypto assets.

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GDC’s announcement coincides with an upcoming high-profile event tied to the Trump token project. The 25 largest holders of TRUMP tokens are set to attend a private dinner at the White House on May 22.

However, the TRUMP memecoin project said in a May 12 X post that it has stopped considering additional purchases for the dinner and that the attendees had been notified to apply for background checks.

According to data provided on the project’s leaderboard, the top 220 wallets held more than 13.7 million tokens as of May 12, worth about $174 million at the time of publication.

Some US lawmakers have criticized the dinner. Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis reportedly said that the idea of the US president offering exclusive access for people willing to pay “gives [her] pause.”

Crypto regulation experts also fear that the Trump family’s crypto endeavors may trigger more regulatory scrutiny by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as politically affiliated memecoins introduce a new challenge for crypto legislation.

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