President Donald Trump’s media company said Tuesday that institutional investors will buy $2.5 billion in the company’s stock, with the proceeds going to build up a bitcoin reserve.

About 50 institutional investors will put up $1.5 billion in the private placement for common shares in the company and another $1 billion for convertible senior notes, according to Trump Media and Technology Group, the operator of Truth Social and other companies.

Trump Media said it intends to use the proceeds for the creation of a “bitcoin treasury.”

“This investment will help defend our company against harassment and discrimination by financial institutions, which plague many Americans and U.S. firms,” said Trump Media CEO and Chairman Devin Nunes in prepared remarks. Shares of the Sarasota, Fla.-based company tumbled 9%.

Other companies have adopted similar strategies. Cloud and mobile software developer MicroStrategy Inc. has built up a treasury reserve containing billions worth of bitcoin through stock sales and debt financing.

Trump, who referred to cryptocurrencies in his first term as “not money,” citing volatility and a value “based on thin air,” has shifted his views on the technology.

During a campaign event at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida last May, Trump received assurances that crypto industry backers would spend lavishly to get him reelected.

Last week, Trump rewarded 220 of the top investors in another cryptocurrency project – the $Trump meme coin – with a swanky dinner at a luxury golf club in Virginia, spurring accusations that the president was mixing his duties in the White House with personal profit.

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