Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is investigating JPMorgan Chase for allegedly terminating banking services to Trump Media & Technology Group in coordination with a federal probe, according to Uthmeier’s Monday statement.
Florida Targets JPMorgan Over Trump Media Debanking
Florida’s top law enforcement official opens a formal inquiry into whether JPMorgan Chase cut off banking services to a publicly traded media company in early 2024, shortly before the company went public.
“We launched an investigation into JP Morgan Chase. While coordinating with Jack Smith in the Biden DOJ’s Operation Arctic Frost, JP Morgan de-banked the Florida-based Trump Media Group, harming the company before it went public,” Uthmeier said Monday.
Trump Media & Technology Group went public on March 26, 2024, through a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, and began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker DJT. The timing of the alleged banking termination occurred in early 2024, according to Fox Business reporting.
Crypto Context: Two-Thirds of Treasury in Bitcoin
Although the de-banking occurred before any crypto holdings, TMTG has since moved aggressively into Bitcoin. As of November 10, 2025, Swan, a BTC-only financial services firm, highlighted that $2 billion of TMTG’s $3 billion liquid assets are now in Bitcoin, representing roughly two-thirds of the company’s treasury.
Swan emphasized the scale in a recent X post: “Trump Media just revealed $2B of its $3B liquid assets are now in Bitcoin. Two-thirds of their treasury is BTC. Let that sink in.”
Separately, Arkham Intelligence reports that TMTG holds 11,091 BTC, valued at approximately $1.17 billion at current market prices. The slightly lower figure compared to Swan likely reflects market price differences, but both sources confirm TMTG as one of the largest publicly disclosed corporate Bitcoin holders in the U.S.
While JPMorgan’s pre-IPO actions did not affect these holdings, the company’s crypto exposure highlights broader banking and regulatory risks for politically connected firms entering digital assets.
Federal Probe Scope Revealed
Senator Chuck Grassley disclosed details of Operation Arctic Frost in October 2025, revealing the probe involved 197 subpoenas to 34 entities targeting over 400 Republicans. “The Biden administration’s partisan Arctic Frost operation targeted the entire Republican political apparatus,” Grassley said in a New York Post report.
The operation, led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, included surveillance of eight Republican senators and requests for financial records from banks including JPMorgan Chase, according to Senate Judiciary Committee documents released October 6 and October 29, 2025.
JPMorgan Industry Faces Debanking Scrutiny
JPMorgan Chase disclosed it’s under U.S. government investigation over alleged conservative debanking practices on November 5, 2025, according to New York Post reporting. The probe coincides with renewed regulatory attention on banks’ account closure policies.
U.S. banks closed over 3,000 accounts in 2023 for political reasons, according to House Judiciary Committee reports. The practice has affected cryptocurrency companies and organizations supporting conservative causes, according to Politico reporting on the Biden administration’s regulatory approach to digital assets.
Market and Regulatory Implications
TMTG stock has experienced volatility since the merger, with pre-merger peaks at $97.54 and post-merger 52-week highs of $79.38. While Bitcoin acquisitions occurred later, TMTG’s multi-billion-dollar crypto treasury adds complexity for regulators and investors monitoring politically sensitive firms with digital asset exposure.
JPMorgan is facing federal scrutiny over de-banking policies, while Trump-era executive orders against discriminatory account closures aim to protect firms, particularly those with significant crypto holdings, from politically motivated exclusions.
Chain Street Take
TMTG’s evolution, from pre-IPO de-banking to a $2 billion Bitcoin treasury, illustrates the intertwined risks of political alignment and crypto exposure. Florida’s probe could set precedent for how banks handle politically connected clients entering the digital asset economy, signaling a new front in debates over financial access, innovation, and partisanship.
