Dominari and Yorkville are handling billions in crypto deals for the Trump family

The Trump family’s crypto push is not being powered by Wall Street giants, but rather, two small financial institutions most people have never heard of. One sits inside Trump Tower in Manhattan, while the other operates out of a small New Jersey office between a junkyard and a funeral home. These firms are Dominari Holdings and Yorkville Advisors, and both have moved from quiet obscurity into the middle of a flood of crypto deals linked to the Trump sons this year.

Eric Trump highlighted the family’s reasoning behind these partnerships, emphasizing speed and trust. He said, “Some of the smaller guys are faster, more nimble, and some of them have become great friends.” Eric contrasted this with big banks like Goldman Sachs, describing meetings there as formal and stifling, like sitting in a “fancy conference room over expensive finger food.”

Yorkville Advisors played a pivotal role, helping Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) raise $2.5 billion this year to buy bitcoin and launch five “America First” themed exchange-traded funds. In August, TMTG collaborated with Crypto.com and Yorkville Acquisition Corp to purchase $1 billion of Cronos cryptocurrency.

Notably, Yorkville secured a $5 billion equity line of credit for the new company formed from the Cronos transaction. While Cronos initially surged after TMTG announced its purchase of 6.3 billion tokens, its price eventually declined.

Yorkville employed its traditional standby equity purchase model, which involves buying shares at a discount and selling them for cash when needed. A Wall Street veteran described this method bluntly as “death-spiral financing.” For example, Yorkville agreed in July 2024 to purchase up to $2.5 billion of TMTG stock at a 2.75% discount, raising about $450 million by acquiring more than 20 million shares last year.

Yorkville has faced significant pressure and scrutiny in the past. The company was charged with fraud by the SEC in 2012 during a regulatory inquiry, though the case was dismissed six years later. Yorkville has denied wrongdoing, with executives rejecting what they describe as “false and misleading characterization” of their strategy and investors.

Despite previous challenges, Yorkville has seen financial highs and lows. Its hedge fund generated $272 million in taxable income over three years but incurred $352 million in losses between 2009 and 2011 due to the financial crisis. An ongoing IRS dispute claims the company owes about $100 million in taxes and penalties. Currently, Yorkville’s assets under management are estimated at $323 million, according to reports from the Financial Times.

Dominari emerged as a key player after its executive, Kyle Wool, connected with the Trump brothers at Long Island charity golf events about four years ago. Wool emphasized that Dominari focuses on delivering “elegant solutions” for smaller companies dealing with SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies).

Dominari’s CEO, Anthony Hayes, highlighted their work ethos, stating, “We hustle, we’re scrappy, and we work incredibly hard.” In February, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. joined Dominari’s advisory board, collectively holding 12% of the company’s stock. A subsidiary of Dominari, originally called American Data Centers, rebranded as American Bitcoin when the Trump brothers became involved.

Dominari listed through a reverse merger with Nasdaq in record time, as claimed by Wool. Eric Trump’s stake now exceeds $300 million, with Dominari’s operations expanding from just five employees in Trump Tower in 2021 to about 70 staff today. Since May 2023, its broker-dealer unit has facilitated over 200 IPOs, private placements, and follow-on offerings—averaging one deal every three business days.

Dominari has ventured beyond crypto into emerging tech sectors. They recently advised a deal between Safety Shot, a healthcare company, and BONK.fun, a memecoin group. Additionally, Safety Shot had been a major shareholder in SRM Entertainment, which merged with Tron—a crypto ecosystem owned by Justin Sun—with Dominari facilitating.

Dominari also targets early-stage investments in high-value private companies. These investments include defense contractor Anduril, AI company Databricks, and xAI, founded by Elon Musk. Wool claimed to have achieved a return of “probably 10x” on the xAI investment. He noted a focus on areas such as quantum computing, rocket technology, and health and longevity companies. Wool reflected on humanity’s age-old desire for immortality, citing the first emperor of China as an example, and stated, “People want to invest in that.”

Dominari’s stock surged by 580% in the six weeks leading up to the February announcement of the Trump sons joining the advisory board. In the quarter ending in June, the company’s revenue increased by 520%. Dominari’s stock remains up about 350% for the year, with a market valuation near $75 million.

A managing director at another U.S. investment bank summarized Dominari’s position: “They’re uniquely positioned, with access to capital and strong relationships with the Trump sons.”