By ALAN SUDERMAN

President Donald Trump’s personal crypto ventures are expanding again, this time with plans for a digital asset treasury company that holds an alternative cryptocurrency.

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Trump Media and Technology Group, which operates the Truth Social media platform, announced Tuesday that it was partnering with the cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com to form a company that holds CRO, a token created by Crypto.com. A blank check company tied to Yorkville Advisors is another co-founder of the new firm, called Trump Media CRO Strategy.

Trump Media said it plans to purchase $105 million worth of CRO. Yorkville said the total expected funding for the company’s treasury will be $1 billion worth of CRO, or about 19% of the token’s market cap, plus $420 million in cash and equivalents and as a $5 billion line of credit.

The announcement is part of the hottest trend in crypto, in which a wide variety of companies – many with no obvious ties to the world of digital assets – have made buying and holding cryptocurrency a primary part of their business plan. The model is based on MicroStrategy, a tech firm that first started buying bitcoin in 2020 and has seen its stock price soar.

“Companies of all sizes and sectors are strategically planning for the future by establishing digital asset treasuries anchored by assets that have created a comprehensive value proposition and are poised for even greater utility,” Devin Nunes, the chairman and CEO of Trump Media, said in a statement.

Trump Media said it plans to introduce a “rewards system” on Truth Social that uses Crypto.com digital wallet infrastructure. CRO saw its price jump Tuesday morning by about 30% to 21 cents a token. It’s still far off from its all-time high of nearly 97 cents a token that it hit in 2021.

Expanding Crypto Empire

Since taking office, the Trump administration has pushed for crypto-friendly regulations and laws, while the Trump family has aggressively sought to expand its crypto-related businesses.

That unprecedented dynamic has led to allegations of corruption from Democrats, though the president says he has entrusted the management of his business dealings to his sons.

In May, Trump rewarded top investors in his meme coin with a swanky dinner. Trump launched the coin just days before taking office. Fans of the president have also been able to buy crypto-themed Trump merchandise, including $100,000 watches and pricey sneakers.

Trump Media previously announced plans to hold a significant amount of bitcoin on its books as well as to create an exchange-traded fund tied to the prices of five popular cryptocurrencies.

World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company launched by Trump and his sons last year, has received significant boosts from an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates and Justin Sun, a China-born crypto entrepreneur. The Securities and Exchange Commission has paused a lawsuit it filed against Sun in 2023 alleging his company engaged in market manipulation and paid celebrities for undisclosed promotions.

A little-known firm called ALT5 Sigma recently announced it was planning to raise $1.5 billion to buy the digital coins created by World Liberty Financial and that Eric Trump, the president’s son, is joining the company’s board.

Also on Tuesday, a firm called Canary Capital filed paperwork with the SEC seeking to sell an exchange-traded fund that will track the price of the president’s meme coin.

Minnesota United ended up adding five players during the summer transfer window, but did the Loons’ roster improve for the final stretch of the year?

The pending loss of leading scorer Tani Oluwaseyi on a $8 million transfer to Villarreal in Spain’s La Liga is the main reason for pause. His exit will crimp what head coach Eric Ramsay will be able to do at forward to close out the MLS season.

But second-leading scorer Kelvin Yeboah — who has nine goals to Oluwaseyi’s 10 — remains with United, and that fact was where Chief Soccer Officer Khaled El-Ahmad went first when talking with reporters about the expected exit of Oluwaseyi on Tuesday.

“First and foremost, the leading striker has not left,” El-Ahmad said in reference to Yeboah.

El-Ahmad is tasked with trying to balance the short-term goal of winning a trophy at MNUFC this fall with the longer-term objective of keeping the club competitive for the long haul.

A club-record transfer fee for Oluwaseyi will help fund reinvestment into the club via maxing out its salary cap flexibility, future transfer fees to buy new players and improve infrastructure in Blaine — to name a few possible areas. Where installments of that money are ultimately directed will be decided by club ownership.

Of the five newcomers, three appear most capable of raising the level of play for the second-place Loons: attacking midfielder Dominik Fitz, defensive midfielder Nectarios Triantis and striker Mamadou Dieng.

The Loons paid an approximately $2.5 million transfer fee to Sunderland for Triantis, a $2.1 million fee to Austria Wien for Fitz and $250,000 to Hartford Athletic for Dieng. MNUFC also added midfielder Alexis Farina on a one-year loan from Cerro Porteno, with an option to buy. Minnesota also paid $750,000 to Alajuelense for winger Kenyal Michel and loaned him back to the Costa Rican club for the rest of this year.

Fitz fits the Loons’ summer objective of adding (a No. 10) creative playmaker; the 26-year-old will end up being either a Designated Player or a TAM (Targeted Allocation Money) signing.

“I like his creativity,” El-Ahmad said. “He’s peak-age player, and he contributes offensively. I’m aware of the Austrian market.(It’s) a good transition from that league to this league. I signed Ismael Tajouri (-Shardi) back when I was at NYCFC from Austria Vienna. I know the club as well. … It was a good fit into what we want to do.”

The deal for Triantis came together just before Thursday’s deadline, and the 6-foot-3 player will help add to (a No. 6) defensive midfielder spot. He is an Under-22 Initiative signing.

“Calm on the ball, has a physical stature that we want to add to our team, good on set pieces, both defensively, offensively, deceivably good technique,” El-Ahmad said. “he can break lines” with his passing.

Dieng, who has 20 goals in USL Championship over the last two seasons, began training with MNUFC in Blaine this week and will be the first candidate to contribute on the field. Oluwaseyi, meanwhile, is in Nigeria working on his work visa for Spain and has likely played his last match for the Loons. .

And the Loons’ three other new signings are currently working their visas and are doubtful for Saturday’s game against Portland. That will be the eighth total game where new additions could have been on the field after the transfer window opened.

Two weeks ago, Ramsay expressed frustration that new additions had not yet hit his roster.

“We could have been more picky this year,” El-Ahmad said about why deals weren’t done until the final week of the summer window. “We’ve raised the level (of the roster) significantly, so just trying to get players early isn’t the main plan here. The plan here is to get the right player in.

“Would we all want the players to be here (when the window opened) July 24? 100%. It’s not like we plan and wait to get them in the last day of the window. But there’s context.”

For one, selling teams are playing in European competitions, and club decisions to keep or move on from players is sometimes based on those results and the revenue that comes from playing in UEFA Champions League, for instance.

“You can’t control those,” El-Ahmad said. “We stayed kind of patient, so we ended up getting the players that we looked at already back in June. We had conversation with (some) and then some players fall off. Then we made sure that we were ready with the next option. It’s not by design. I don’t sit and wait to the last (moments of the) window.”

Last year, Yeboah was added in July and Joaquin Pereyra came late in August. Pereyra had only one assist in MLS last fall, but four goals and six primary assists this season.

That led to Turkish club Trabzonspor putting in a $8 million bid for Pereyra, but MNUFC turned it down.

“The offers we received from various players has been very, very big,” El-Ahmad said. “And I think it’s important for me to then also say it on the record: It shows the testament of the owners, being patient, supporting. … Saying no to a player is as important as potentially spending money on the player. … When you asked me earlier, What do I think of the summer transfer window? I’m excited. I think we’re in a good place.”

Briefly

MNUFC pursued intra-league deals this window, but nothing came together like the move for Anthony Markanich last August. … The club is leaning toward the two-DP and four-U22 roster-building model. … Dieng played for Hartford in the U.S. Open Cup, so he is “cup-tied” and ineligible to play for Minnesota in the Open Cup semifinal vs. Portland on Sept. 17. … Morris Duggan received his green card and Hoyeon Jung’s season-ending injury freed up two international roster spots for new players. … Rookie forward Luke Hille tore his anterior cruciate ligament in a MNUFC2 match on Aug. 15. He’s expected to have surgery this week.

By JOSH FUNK

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The prospects for additional consolidation in the rail industry derailed this week when both of CSX’s potential partners said they weren’t interested in a deal.

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Investors widely speculated that CSX would be an acquisition target once rumors of merger talks between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern emerged over the summer, because of the challenge of competing against a nationwide railroad.

CSX’s stock nearly hit a new 52-week high last week at $37.25 before falling to $32.31 Tuesday after it became clear that neither BNSF nor CPKC railroads is pursuing the Jacksonville, Florida-based railroad, one of the six remaining major freight railroads in North America.

The Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern deal still faces a lengthy review by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board that is likely to stretch on for at least two years. When Canadian Pacific acquired Kansas City Southern two years ago in the first major rail merger in more than two decades the board also spent two years reviewing that deal.

If the $85 billion megamerger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern does get approved that might change the calculus about whether a deal makes sense. But in the meantime, CSX and the other major freight railroads seem focused on finding ways to cooperate more to improve service without merging.

Just last week, CSX and BNSF announced an agreement to deliver some shipments seamlessly coast-to-coast without handing them off. Last month, CPKC and CSX announced a similar agreement to streamline shipments between Mexico, Texas and the Southeast.

A CSX freight pulls through Ohiopyle, Pa., on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

CPKC CEO Keith Creel said he thinks the industry should be more focused on agreements like that and efforts to improve service on each individual railroad.

“We believe that a transcontinental merger would trigger permanent restructuring of the industry and result in a disproportionately large railway whose size and scope would require others to take action,” Creel said. “This will likely result in an unnecessary wave of railway mergers that today is not the best way to support American businesses nor the public interest, and has the potential to create more issues than it solves.”

Indeed, the STB adopted a high standard for rail mergers in 2001 after a series of prolonged disruptions and delayed shipments that followed major deals in the 1990s. A merger between Union Pacific and Southern Pacific in 1996 led to an extended period of snarled traffic on U.S. rails. Three years later, Conrail was divvied up by Norfolk Southern and CSX, creating serious backups in the East.

FILE – Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, speaks during a game of bridge following the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb., May 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)

On Monday, Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate owns BNSF, said to CNBC that he’s not interested in buying another railroad even though he’s sitting on more than $344 billion in cash after several years without completing a major acquisition. Buffett and the man who will take over as Berkshire CEO in January, Greg Abel, did recently meet with CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs to discuss more ways to cooperate while making it clear that Berkshire won’t be bidding on CSX.

So CSX is going to have a hard time satisfying the demands of the Ancora Holdings fund and other investors who are putting pressure on the railroad to make a deal. Ancora sent a letter to the CSX board earlier this month urging them to act quickly to make a deal with another railroad or fire Hinrichs as CEO and reform the railroad to improve results.

CSX said in a statement that the railroad’s board remains “laser focused on exploring any and all opportunities to enhance shareholder value, drive profitable growth and provide industry leading customer service.” That echoes what Hinrichs said when CSX reported earnings earlier in July.

By FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. was released Sunday from a prison in northern Mexico where he was sent in August after being deported from the United States.

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The boxer, son of Mexican boxing great Julio César Chávez, is awaiting trial on accusations of involvement with cartels and illegally trafficking arms into Mexico.

Chávez was released after a judge in the northern Mexican city of Hermosillo said he wouldn’t have to remain in custody while awaiting trial, but that he was prohibited from leaving Mexico, a federal agent told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. The judge also set a three-month period for further investigation into the case.

Chávez’s lawyer, Rubén Fernando Benítez Alvarez has described the claims against his client as “speculation” and “urban legends.”

Chávez was detained in the U.S. in July after a high-profile match against American Jake Paul in Los Angeles. Mexican authorities had an order out for his arrest since 2023, but Mexico’s president said authorities hadn’t yet detained him because he was mostly in the U.S.

The case against Chávez is part of a broader investigation that Mexican prosecutors launched in 2019 against the Sinaloa Cartel for organized crime, human trafficking, arms trafficking and drug trafficking, following a complaint filed by the United States.