China-linked TRUMP treasury stock crashes 98% after wild buyout claim

Two weeks ago, GD Culture Group (GDC), a bitcoin ($BTC) treasury stock with ties to Donald Trumps $TRUMP memecoin, published a “going private proposal” of $10.75 per share. Yesterday, the stock traded to a 52-week low below $0.10.

Aside from evaluating that non-binding, going-private proposal roughly 88 times higher than its actual stock price, GDC says it will soon provide “digital human creation and customization for social media influencers.”

Its all a little confusing.

On the day of the going-private proposal two weeks ago, shares spiked to $8.18 on momentary optimism that the deal was credible. Shares have subsequently crashed 98% as fact-checkers actually looked into the details.

Stock price of GD Culture Group, 2016-present. Source: TradingViewGD Culture Group and $TRUMP

Days before Donald Trumps May 2025 dinner at Mar-a-Lago for the top 220 holders of his $TRUMP memecoin, GDC announced a $300 million stock purchase agreement with an unnamed buyer in the British Virgin Islands (BVI).

The stated purpose was a “crypto asset treasury strategy, including the purchase of $BTC and $TRUMP.”

The generous announcement out of the BVI conveniently coincided with Trumps decision to delay enforcement actions against TikTok.

Trump-controlled entities CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC together held 80% of the post-ICO token supply of $TRUMP. Therefore, any purchase funded by GDC or its BVI buyer would enrich the president directly through supply reduction and trading fees.

Soon after GDC‘s dubious announcement, US representatives Adam Smith and Sean Casten led 35 House Democrats in a letter to the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section.

They demanded an investigation into whether GDCs dinner-for-tokens scheme violated federal bribery laws or the foreign emoluments clause.

Based on public filings, its unclear whether GDC actually ended up purchasing $TRUMP tokens, but the company did end up acquiring $BTC through a circuitous path.

Members of that same consortium recently announced their dubious going-private proposal.

GDCs Q1 2026 quarterly report disclosed less than $50,000 in cash and a working capital deficit of $1.7 million. The 2025 annual report listed a mere five full-time employees.

The company has no substantial operating revenue.

Its only consequential asset is $BTC acquired through a transaction that the company itself disclosed as a related-party deal.

Collapse of a $TRUMP memecoin and $BTC treasury scheme

A Nasdaq-listed penny stock, GDC closed yesterdays trading session around $0.12, printing a fresh 52-week low yesterday near $0.09 during the day.

Its market capitalization is an embarrassing $7 million. Its 7,500 $BTC holdings, if someone can even call them holdings at this point, are worth roughly over half a billion dollars at current prices.

That is a discount of more than 98% or a multiple-to-Net Asset Value (mNAV) of 0.02x.

In other words, a company holding more than half a billion dollars of $BTC has a market cap worth less than an average New York City apartment.

Crypto treasury companies are trading for less than their holdings

GDC issued 39,189,344 new shares in exchange for the 7,500 $BTC. The 10-Q records the $BTC at a cost basis of $842 million, implying a share value of roughly $21.49 at issuance.

No cash changed hands. The same filing discloses the $BTC acquisition as a related-party transaction.

No $TRUMP memecoin purchase or holding has ever appeared in the companys SEC disclosures.

By February 2026, with the stock languishing, the GDC board authorized $BTC sales from the 7,500-coin reserve. Management earmarked the proceeds for a $100 million share repurchase program.

The board reserved discretion to sell at any time, in any number of transactions.

This abandoned the corporate $BTC reserve doctrine that competitors like Strategy spent years promoting, yet any share buybacks have evidently not helped the stock price, which hit a 52-week low yesterday.