The Trump family media company is seeking to launch a bitcoin exchange traded fund in its latest push to capitalise on surging enthusiasm for digital currencies. 

Trump Media & Technology Group, which runs the president’s preferred social media app Truth Social, announced on Thursday that it had filed an application with US regulators to create the “Truth Social Bitcoin ETF”. 

The ETF will be operated by Florida-based Yorkville America Digital — an “America-first asset management firm” — and will hold bitcoin directly, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If approved, shares in the fund will be listed on NYSE Arca, an ETF exchange. Shares in TMTG, which trades under the ticker DJT, initially fell 2.4 per cent on Thursday morning.